Book Fairs, Zooming and other things

Got the T-shirt!

It's the last day of April - just squeezed in this month's blog!

As usual the month has seen me finding daily excuses for not writing, which is partially true.

The first week in April saw me take over the reins as Secretary of Tauranga Writers. I was flattered to be asked, especially since I'm around for only half the year. However most things can be done via Zoom these days, so not a problem. (Apart from the odd email sent out with no subject, and forgetting to Bcc so everybody knows everybody else's contact details).

On the 5th April I was interviewed on Zoom by Jessica from paepukapukanz.com in Invercargill. When I saw the slot was from 11-1pm I chortled a little. Guess how long it took? Yes, two hours. I'm sure a lot will be edited out before the September release, but I must say I did enjoy it, partly because a lot of it was unscripted. Paepukapuka books looks after Indie authors like myself, and you can choose to have a percentage of your audiobook sales directed to them, which I do.

The next Zoom session I had was with Women Writers Queensland, who meet once a month in Brisbane. They've been going since the early 1900s, and I'm amazed at the number of members who are over the age of 80 (more about age later). Because Qld is so vast, many authors can't get to the meetings, so the Zoom sessions and now YouTube are invaluable. They mentioned my new book in their monthly newsletter.

While on the topic of books (what else is there?), I must mention here the value of reviews. Thanks to those people who have given me a great review of 'Finding Miriama' on Amazon and GoodReads. Nothing below 3 stars as yet 🤞. It helps sales in other countries, potential customers who aren't family and friends. There are restrictions on who can write an Amazon review, so GoodReads is an easier option. Also just personal feedback is invaluable. (See recent one from Melbourne, below):

Thanks Sue 💕

Also, if you are a member of a library in New Zealand, and I'm sure overseas as well, you can put in an online request for a book to be added to their shelves. I received an order the other day from Wheelers books, which supplies libraries and schools in Australia and New Zealand, for nine copies of 'Greenstone', to go to three different libraries. If you were one of those people who requested it, a big THANK YOU.

Still on the subject of promotion, you may have noticed that my website has been updated. Kirsten from rightmeow.co.nz in Wellington took on the project, and I think it's now more user friendly. It has a comprehensive purchasing system for both books, which gives readers the choice of buying through Amazon or directly from me. I know that quite a few people now prefer to purchase directly, for various reasons. I can also send the books via Amazon if you don't have an account. It actually ends up cheaper, postage wise, for kiwis, which is nuts, considering the books are printed in Aussie. The world is just getting curiouser and curiouser.

Now for the main event news. The Ages of Pages Book Fair in Hamilton last weekend.

I thoroughly enjoyed it, from the meet and greet on the Friday night until the last drinks on Saturday night. I sold one more book than last year, and the encouraging thing is that people bought the two as a bundle. Let's hope I can get my act together for a third in time for next year.

The biggest takeout from the day, though, is meeting so many authors from NZ, Australia and even the US. We're all in it for the same reason, which is to produce books and get them out to readers. Not many of us are going down the traditional publishing track these days.

I shared a table this year with two other historical fiction writers, Owen Clough (owencloughbooks.com)and Peter Nicholl (sanctionsinparadise.com). Owen writes New Zealand rural stories with a bit of supernatural thrown in, and Peter has written a story based on his experience at the Commonwealth Finance Minister's Conference in the Seychelles in 1985. I've bought books from both of them.

I should say here that the three of us, along with my friend Pat Backley,(patbackley.com) who writes Memoir and Historical Fiction, have a combined age of 300! It was good to hold our own in a hall full of much younger writers. Even though the popular genres are now Romance, Fantasy, Sci-Fi and various combinations of those, we still sold books. May it continue. Next year though, I must vary my merchandise to compete. Pens aren't nearly as exciting as perfumes and candles.

Our trip to Europe and Canada is coming up quickly (in 36 days, so Tripit tells me), and we're determined to take only cabin baggage. We've done it before, although we had to buy coats on the Isle of Man last time and that required another bag. So I'm not taking my laptop. Instead I've purchased a nifty fold-up keyboard which can fit in your pocket. It connects to my phone and ipad via bluetooth and should be good for the plane(s) and random places where I may get inspiration. I'll report back on how well it worked. By the way, on the subject of packing, another author, Katherine Leamy, who I met at the book fair, is an intrepid traveller, and has a website called the5kilotraveller.com. Very inspiring.

We get back in July after 42 days, and in September I make my way to NZ again. I have a book launch for both novels at Hamilton City Library during that month as I couldn't fit it in this time. I chose Hamilton rather than Tauranga because a lot of the action happens in the Waikato. It also takes place in London, so maybe I'll throw out a hint while I'm there. I'm really looking forward to the Self-Publishing Show there on 25th June.

The last thing to mention this month, as per usual, is the number of books I've listened to. Rather than list them, here is an image provided by Audible for the last couple of months, together with a pic of me my daughter designed on AI.

That's all folks. The next update could be from Brisbane, or if not, from a cabin in the middle of the bush in the Coromandel. Happy reading!