Archive for the ‘book tours’ Category
Book Tour Week 3 – Writer’s Retreat
Posted in book tours, Time to write, writing fiction, writing life, Writing retreats, tagged Australian fiction, buladelha, indie publishing, inspiration, writing retreats on December 14, 2015| Leave a Comment »
Family Matters – Balancing Work and Play
Posted in book tours, indie publishing, simply writing, writing life, tagged australian writers, Forster-Tuncurry, The writing life, Work life balance on December 13, 2015| Leave a Comment »
Writing Inspiation
Posted in book tours, imagination, Inspiration, location free living, middle grade fiction, simply writing, Time to write, writing life, tagged living the writing dream, the writing habit, The writing life on December 12, 2015| Leave a Comment »
Ready and waiting at Coffs
Posted in Book stalls, book tours, indie publishing, tagged Australian literature, book marketing, book tours, Coffs Harbour on December 10, 2015| Leave a Comment »
On Tour – join us tomorrow at our book stall
Posted in author signings, Book stalls, book tours, indie publishing, marketing books, marketing fiction, middle grade fiction, writing life, tagged book tours, Coffs Harbour, indie publishing, market stalls on December 9, 2015| Leave a Comment »
On Tour – Week 1 – Coffs Harbour
Posted in book tours, Choosing the writing life, indie publishing, marketing books, middle grade fiction, writing life, tagged book marketing, Coffs Harbour, indie publishing on December 4, 2015| 3 Comments »
The Caravan Goes On: The Four P’s of surviving an Australian Christmas Book Tour
Posted in author signings, book tours, indie publishing, middle grade fiction, tagged Australian fiction, australian writers, book tours, books, Caravan tours, Christmas holiday reading, east coast Australia, Enid Blyton, Newcastle, Port Macquarie, Singleton on November 15, 2015| 1 Comment »
‘Oh, yes, I almost forgot. She was a writing phenomenon.’
In 1932, Enid Blyton wrote a 90,000 word novel in a month for adults titled ‘The Caravan Goes On’. It was never published so I’ve purloined the title for our book tour next month…actually, the title could very well suit me for some time to come.
** note to self: organising a book tour in five main shopping centers on the east coast of Australia at Christmas is not one of your better ideas, Hammo…
Today, the east coast of Australia and tomorrow who knows?? That’s the good thing about caravan book tours…they need never end…except for the fact that I’m traveling with kids, dogs, cat and cantankerous Cracker aboard.
**note to self: brothers and sisters should never lock themselves in caravans together for extended periods of time, especially in summer, and especially at Christmas..
The four four P’s of surviving the hair-brained idea of a book tour on the east coast of Australia with kids and animals at Christmas runs like this:
- Planning – complete book tour in three weeks leading up to visiting Cracker and just hand him the cash in an envelope on Christmas Eve…
- Preparation – remember that all the last minute ‘to do’ things on the list are crucial and all of them must happen prior to departure…there’s nothing like the deadline of Santa coming and Cracker waiting under the tree with his hand out to point to the critical issue of time equally days left to actually finish, upload and print the third Cracker & Gilly novel. It’s called incentive…
- Promotion – press releases, caravan signage, itinerary and packing boxes and boxes of books in the caravan, keeping in mind weight distribution, tare and making sure the tow ball doesn’t collapse under the weight of my ambitions. **note to self: what does a fully laden caravan weigh with kids, cats, dogs, surfboards, bikes, billy carts and boxes of books actually weigh??
- Patience – all good things come to those who wait…and wait…thank you Cracker for your patience…the Cracker & Gilly Mystery Series Book Tour in gathering speed and rolling your way…here’s hoping you and Santa are ready for us. ** note to self: do not, under any circumstances, even in good cheer, especially in good cheer, mention Book 4 until the New Year…nobody, not even Cracker, would deny his family the joy of plotting another mystery in that good old Australian tradition, camping at the Abercrombie…who knows what mischief the Cracker & Gilly team could get up to with a whole new year in front of them??
Cracker and Gilly Author Tour coming your way soon
Posted in Book launch, book tours, collaboration, Fiction, middle grade fiction, writing life, tagged Bateman's Bay, book tours, caravanning, marketing middle grade fiction, The writing life on October 18, 2015| 1 Comment »
It’s almost time to hit the road and celebrate the launch of our third Cracker & Gilly Mystery, Merinda’s Gold. Six weeks to go but who’s counting…
Call us intrepid or brave or downright foolish but we’re off to the place where Cracker and Gilly manage to get themselves into – and out of – so much trouble with the help of Cracker’s foot soldiers, Trann and Bone.
Two authors setting off on a grand adventure, meandering down the magical Southern New South Wales coastline – well, two authors, two kids, two dogs and a cat – to the the place it all began.
Did I mention the authors are related? That, in fact, all who know them are watching on in glee to see whether the brother and sister authors survive the caravan touring challenge at all. Will there even be a fourth Cracker & Gilly Mystery, they ask?
Bateman’s Bay may never be the same again but rest assured intrepid readers, Book 4 is not only started (well, Cracker’s written a chapter…somewhere…haven’t you Cracker?) but the coast is where we do our best – and only – planning.
Stay tuned for the details…and if you want to interview us, buy our books or set up and author signing just let us know. Otherwise, you’ll find us us the beach.
Bring on summer…
Do Author Signings Work?
Posted in author signings, book tours, Fiction, indie publishing, marketing books, middle grade fiction, platform, Writing, tagged Author Signing, book marketing, Book Promotion, middle grade fiction on July 27, 2014| 3 Comments »
Marketing is time consuming, there’s no doubt about it, but the benefits are about far more than selling a few books.
From two signings I have sold books, sure, but what I didn’t expect were the associated benefits.
Here’s the list:
1. I met Nick who works in the bookshop where my signings took place. His day job is as a journalist with a local radio station. I donated half a dozen books and he promoted Dirt Busters in prime time. His promotions manager also contacted me.
2. I met Steve who is also an Indie Author. We met later for coffee and it turns out he is a motivational coach in his spare time. His day job is with local schools where he runs Outdoors Programs. He is going to help me set up and run Writers Retreats for students.
3. I met Janet who bought Dirt Busters fir her grandson. Her hometown is co-ordinating their inaugural Writers Festival and she gave me the details of the organiser. Janet also works at the local library and she suggested I contact the Head Librarian. I did and I’m now in discussions about literacy workshops.
4. A elderly lady didn’t want to buy a book but we chatted for awhile anyway. Two of her daughters are local primary school teachers who are keen to invite writers into their classrooms and the third works for Education Queensland and travels to over three hundred primary schools.
book by book
Posted in book publishing, book tours, ebooks, Fiction, indie publishing, marketing books, middle grade fiction, platform, print books, social media, Teen Fiction, traditional book publishing, virtual book tours, Writing, tagged authors and amazon, Ebooks, indie publishing, marketing, middle grade fiction, virtual book tours, writing and publishing on June 15, 2014| 1 Comment »
three middle grade novels ready to launch, market and sell
almost
to find out how
stay tuned
…let the countdown begin…
growing up writing 