News and Reviews

I am shocked to find that I haven’t posted here for a month – my apologies if you’re following. It doesn’t mean nothing has been happening, but I have taken the opportunity to return to my sci-fi writing, before the next push.

The great news is that my initial print run of 200 has sold out! There are still books out in the shops, but I have only a couple of copies at home, so I have to work out how many to print on the second run. The major factor in this is the re-opening of Oystermouth Castle.

As reported on the council web site, Oystermouth Castle has had a major refurbishment, and will have a grand re-opening on 16th June, with a medieval tournament and re-enactment. I plan to be there and advertise the book to the public, and either sell copies, or point customers to the stall where they can buy it. Final details will be worked out in a meeting with the chairman of the Friends of Oystermouth Castle, Roger Parmiter, on 1st June.

I’m producing a poster to tie my book in with the re-opening, which I’ll distribute to the shops in the next week or two. I’ve also ordered postcards to hand out.

As for reviews: there aren’t any. I haven’t sold many ebooks, where people are likely to be prompted to review it, and the people who buy print books, aren’t necessarily ones who are web-savvy. So a plea to all my friends and followers – please review the book. I’m not asking for falsely good reviews – please be honest – but I hope you genuinely liked it, and it would be great to tell the world.

You can review the ebook on Smashwords.

You can review the ebook and the print book on Amazon.

Thanks.

Coming Down

Well, after all the excitement, capped by the book launch, I’m finally coming down to earth. I’m actually finding it hard to get my head together.

Since the book launch I have had so many people ask how it went and other people tell them how great it was. There was a piece in the Evening Post with a photo, and I have been contacted by Swansea Life Magazine for them to do a piece. And the Gower News online magazine is devoting a whole page to me next month.

This is so unreal! But I have worked so hard for it, and there is more to come. Oystermouth Castle re-opens with a medieval fair on 16th June, and Alina built the chapel there, so it’s a big opportunity. Kidwell-e Festival is a new ebook festival at the end of July, and I am speaking there, which is another new experience. Wow! Maybe I’m not coming down yet!

Book Launch Night

Sorry I haven’t posted for a week, but it’s been all go. The book launch was on Wednesday night (day before yesterday) and it went better than I could have hoped.

My daughters made gorgeous cup cakes and cookies, and Carrie (the illustrator)’s mum made punch and brought some other nibbles. The shop was so packed that we ran out of chairs and there were people standing at the back.

Carrie’s family came down en masse, my family were there, my housegroup from church were well represented, and there were friends from my writers circle and a few others. David, the lecturer who put Carrie and I together, came, and so did Colin from the Historical Association, Swansea.

I was wearing my new T shirt with a picture of the book and ‘Ask me about Alina de Breos’ on the front and back, which went down well. I welcomed everyone and spoke about how I came to write the book and the beginning of the story, then Carrie spoke very well about the illustrations. Then it was everyone queueing to buy the book and have it signed by both of us, and Carrie sold lots of prints of the illustrations. She presented me with a print of the White Lady and we bought one of Queen Isabella on a horse, which seems to be quite a favourite.

I had my photo taken by the Evening Post the day before, as the photographer wasn’t free on the night, but I didn’t see the reporter on the night, and it’s not appeared in the paper yet. We’re keeping watch.

Retail Outlets for Alina, The White Lady of Oystermouth

The book is now available at the following outlets in Swansea and Gower:

Swansea Museum
National Waterfront Museum
Town Centre Tourist Information Centre
Uplands Bookshop
Mumbles Tourist Information Centre
Cover to Cover Bookshop
Shepherds at Parkmill
Gower Heritage Centre
Gower Kite and Surf Centre, Pitton Cross Caravan Park, Rhossili
Reynoldston Post Office
Crofty Post Office

I am also talking to these outlets, with a view to them carrying the book:
W H Smith
Waterstones
Tesco

When Oystermouth Castle re-opens on 16th June, the book will be on sale in the Visitors Centre, in Alina’s Chapel.

There!

The book came from the printer and we have delivered it to some outlets, the rest tomorrow. So the book is out there, finally. And two friends have already bought a copy from me. Doesn’t sound like much, but most people want to buy them at the launch event.

And the icing on the cake is that I was interviewed live on local radio today.  It was my first time, but I wasn’t very nervous and it went really well.

Once the books are out there, I can concentrate on my talks, which I have the material for, I just have to organise it. The next big thing is the book launch on 18th April.

Nearly There!

Publishing my book is soooo close now.

The last illustrations arrived overnight and I put them in the print book file straight away Monday morning. The files were delivered to the printer on Monday, and I was so excited that I forgot to take the disc with the cover files, and my husband had to go back with them. Then I had to wait until Thursday for the proof copy, but it was perfect.

Since then I have been round to many of the shops which agreed to sell the book, and showed them the proof copy and delivered a poster and flyers. The two museums in Swansea both wanted to see the book before deciding whether to take it. I saw them today, and they both came on board. In fact, the Waterfront Museum want ten copies on sale or return, and the Swansea Museum want five TO BUY. The only outlet willing to pay up front.

Meanwhile, I put the illustrations in the ebook and uploaded it to Smashwords to give it a try. The Smashwords guide warned that the conversion could take some time and throw up errors, and I had been warned that illustrations in ebooks were tricky. I decided to try them and take them out if they didn’t work. The book loaded in ten minutes with no errors, illustrations and all!

Right now it’s only available on Smashwords here, but in the next week they will be sending it out to all the ereader platforms, except Kindle. Smashwords don’t send books to Amazon for Kindle until they sell $1000 worth, and at $3.99 (£2.51) it is not likely to reach that, so I’m going to upload it to Amazon myself.

The print books will be ready by Thursday, and delivered to the shops on Good Friday. And we’ll be live!

Book Launch Poster