Sunday, March 17, 2013

STARTING ANEW WITH PROMOTING MY BOOK

Hi All I know it's been a long long while since I last posted an entry. Well that might because essentially no one has bought any copies of my award winning children's book, "A Lesson My Cat Taught Me." This is in spite of the fact I had offered 15% - 20% discounts on it, if anyone would buy it through my e-store which had been set up for me by CreateSpace.com [the company I used to self-publish its re-released. I feel enough time has past since I last posted anything on the internet to really promote this book, that I'm going to start anew trying to promote my first children's book. I've already found a few sites where I've never posted before; and I'm going to Tweet to new places as well. I'll going to specifically point out the fact that it had been a runner-up in the 2011 Smart Writ Awards - Children's Books Category. I feel sooner or later there has to be an increase in people finally buying it for their children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, etc. As I've stated in the above I'm going to increase my presence on the internet again; and one of the ways I'm planning to do this is by searching bloggers who do interviews on their sites. One reason for my doing this at this present time is I finally sold another copy of my two about two days ago on Amazon.com My book is available on Amazon.com at: http://www.amazon.com/Lesson-My-Cat-Taught-Me/dp/1452810885 Hopefully this year my book will do better that it has since it's been published, and since I decided to self-publish it when my contract had ended with my publisher in March 2010. THANKS for having stuck around during my long period of inactivity here and elsewhere on the internet.

Thursday, August 30, 2012

DISTRACTIONS DISTRACTIONS DISTRACTIONS

The best laid plans of mice and men oft time go astray. In the past two weeks I've suffered through one distraction after another after an another. And for the past several days while I might be retired, my wife's still working; and right now she's on vacation, which needless to say this has left me without any time to any writing. Right now she still has five days left. I finally made the decision last week to go and try my hand at selling my first book at a street fair. The fee is $200, this includes a one-day license fee to sell my book, the base fee, but also includes $50 for the rental of a tent, table and two chairs. Hopefully with people able to actual hold the book in their hands, my reducing the price so when I add in the required sales tax, the new price is an even dollar amount, eliminating the need to have any loose change. I just hope that next week, that Saturday will be a beautiful day.

Friday, August 17, 2012

TIME TO SPEED UP

It's been about twelve days since my last post and I've only written a total of ten pages. Too many things keep popping up and getting in the way. Today, I'm schedule to participate in a paid survey so there goes about four hours. Tomorrow, in an attempt to sell more copies of my award winning book, I'm heading to a flea market about 70 miles away. Hopefully I can sell enough copies to finally make a small profit so I can finally proceed on publishing my other writing endeavors. But I hestitate in doing this because as far as I see, I need more people buying book online to give me a sense they're ready to see my next one coming out. I can also use these funds to pay for some good advertising in some newspaper, but that too is also a gamble. Or well, my goal is to complete 45 double-spaced pages of pure typing by the end of next month before I start editing and deleting portions.

Sunday, August 5, 2012

A BREAKTHROUGH HAS FINALLY OCCURRED

Sorry for the LOOONG DELAY since my last post, but after weeks of having a blank as to what to write as my fourth book a light bulb has FINALLY COME ON inside my head. I've been a member of the CWA [Cat Writer's of America] since 2010 and I felt it was time for me to write another children's book. probably another early reader that has a cat has the main character. And today I was at loooong fast able to time my first double-spaced page on my computer. I'm not going to rush in writing this as I still have two other manuscripts I would like to start the process of getting it published through CreatSpace, but I still need to generate sales on my first [award winning] children's book, "A Lesson My Cat Taught Me." to create the necessary funds to begin. I'm setting an easily attainable goal of two double-spaced pages a page. I'm taking it nice and easy, as the old saying goes "HASTE MAKES WASTE". So welcome back on board as I begin journey through this writing endeavor.

Sunday, June 10, 2012

I'VE DONE IT AGAIN

With everything I've been involved with for the past few weeks, I've neglect to take care of my blog here on blogspot.com. I went to the "Books Without Borders" event in Yonkers, NY yesterday I like I had planned, but unfortunately the weather [light showers on/off] kept everyone away. At least, I had enough people buying my award winning children's book to cover all of my costs for the event, with a few extra dollars to take my wife, who had occuppied me there, out for a late lunch. [we left about 2:15 PM]. And wouldn't you know it, when we arrived at our lunch destination the sun finally came out. I'm still trying to start writing my fourth manuscript for an early reader children's book. I'd like to write my second book with a cat as a main character, but every time I do, I hit a point where I can't take my story any further. It's not a matter of writer's block, because I've tried everything I know to overcome it. Maybe it's about time that I should move on to a different type of storyline. What I'd love to happen is for someone, anyone to give me a one to three word idea for a story so I can start my fingers moving across my keyboard again. Just as I wanted to get typing again for my fourth manuscript again, I got called for Grand Jury, which I've already served one week, with three more weeks to go. Perhaps I'll be able to sell a few copies of my book to my fellow jury members. If I don't, at least I can asked them for an idea. On a brighter note CreateSpace, which is owned by Amazon, has opened up the UK and several other European countries for free. This now means spending A LOT of time trying to find sites which deal with children's books, cat lovers, etc. It has also lowered the threshold for receving a royalty check from $20 to $10. So from now on I'm going to post on a more regular basis. Which means increasing the number of followers I get here and my website/blog at http://www.saweb22.webs.com. I also will have to increase my followers on Twitter http://www.twitter.com/catlesson.

Thursday, March 29, 2012

GETTING FORGETFUL

It has taken me until now to get back into here. I just forgot my password.
I'm OK now and I've got my logon/password coded in such a manner I can instantly recall it.

Anyway, I've decided after numerous rewrites to ditch my fourth early reader, a story revolving around a cat. I just couldn't get anywhere with it. It reached a point where no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't find the crucial sentence which would take me beyond where I'm stuck, to the light at the end of the tunnel.

So here I sit searching for a key word, phrase or idea which would ignite my flow of words again. For those who have decided to stick with me as followers of my blog here. I'd like to offer everyone here, a 10% discount on my award winning children's book, until April 30, 2012 when the code G3LQ6VCM is entered when checking out. Feel free to pass this offer on to your friends / family.

Saturday, March 3, 2012

JUST FINISHED REVIEWING # 1

I've finished reviewing the manuscript for one of my completed book.
The tentative title is The Magic Jumping Bean and it tries to convey
the idea of gaining self-confidence.

I've still need no increase in the sale of my 1st Early Reader - Children's Book which was a runner-up in the 2011 Smart Writ Awards - Children's Books Category.

I should be starting the review of my other manuscript which is also
an early reader before the end of the week.