Thrilled by little steps forward.
The book is still doing well at Pengwern Books and is now also on sale at Waterstone's.
Meanwhile, the Eat Up and Poppy's restaurants have displayed some promotional postcards for me.
It still appears to be selling steadily on amazon.
And there's going to be a piece about it in December's Shropshire Magazine. All is good.
Monday, 18 November 2013
Friday, 13 September 2013
Amazon, Condover, Pengwern, Battlefield, Pauline Fisk
Two weeks into September and I feel the need to record here five little items regarding the small but significant ripples being made here and there by Shrewsbury Station Just After Six.
ONE:
AMAZON REVIEWS
Two very nice reviews of SSJAS have appeared on amazon.co.uk. It's wonderful to have this kind of feedback and it all helps to generate interest.
TWO:
CONDOVER COUPLE
A charming elderly couple from Condover rang me at the office recently, asking how to get hold of a copy of my book. They rarely came into town these days and they certainly did not have access to a computer to order one from amazon. So, having made sure that they realised SSJAS was a work of fiction and not a collection of my Shrewsbury Chronicle column (of which they were fans), and that they definitely still wanted this book, I said I would get a copy to them. I drove out to see them and presented them with a copy of the book. They were a super couple and it was one of those strange little moments you don't forget in a hurry. Ahhhhhh.
THREE:
PENGWERN BOOKS - MORE COPIES PLEASE
Susan from Pengwern Books asked for further copies as it continues to sell steadily. It does the heart good to know these things.
FOUR:
BATTLEFIELD 1403 farm shop and visitor centre
Local artist Linda Edwards (friend of Susan Caroline and Pauline Fisk) persuaded me to get copies of the book out for sale at the marquee at Battlefield 1403 farm shop and visitor centre. This was a happy little episode one Sunday afternoon in September, an episode during which we sold three copies and I made a new friend in Linda.
FIVE:
PAULINE FISK
And talking of new friends, I made another new friend when Pauline Fisk (award-winning children's author who lives in Shrewsbury and who writes an excellent blog on the town) and I met up at The Boathouse Inn to interview one another. She was writing about me for her blog and I was writing about her for my Shrewsbury Chronicle column. It was a highly successful and enjoyable meeting. Must do it again sometime.
ONE:
AMAZON REVIEWS
Two very nice reviews of SSJAS have appeared on amazon.co.uk. It's wonderful to have this kind of feedback and it all helps to generate interest.
TWO:
CONDOVER COUPLE
A charming elderly couple from Condover rang me at the office recently, asking how to get hold of a copy of my book. They rarely came into town these days and they certainly did not have access to a computer to order one from amazon. So, having made sure that they realised SSJAS was a work of fiction and not a collection of my Shrewsbury Chronicle column (of which they were fans), and that they definitely still wanted this book, I said I would get a copy to them. I drove out to see them and presented them with a copy of the book. They were a super couple and it was one of those strange little moments you don't forget in a hurry. Ahhhhhh.
THREE:
PENGWERN BOOKS - MORE COPIES PLEASE
Susan from Pengwern Books asked for further copies as it continues to sell steadily. It does the heart good to know these things.
FOUR:
BATTLEFIELD 1403 farm shop and visitor centre
Local artist Linda Edwards (friend of Susan Caroline and Pauline Fisk) persuaded me to get copies of the book out for sale at the marquee at Battlefield 1403 farm shop and visitor centre. This was a happy little episode one Sunday afternoon in September, an episode during which we sold three copies and I made a new friend in Linda.
FIVE:
PAULINE FISK
And talking of new friends, I made another new friend when Pauline Fisk (award-winning children's author who lives in Shrewsbury and who writes an excellent blog on the town) and I met up at The Boathouse Inn to interview one another. She was writing about me for her blog and I was writing about her for my Shrewsbury Chronicle column. It was a highly successful and enjoyable meeting. Must do it again sometime.
Sunday, 18 August 2013
Exciting few days
It's been a really exciting few days for SSJAS. On Tuesday I had an email from Susan at Pengwern Books, saying she had almost sold out and desperately needed more copies. So I drove round to her place after work with a fresh batch. Meanwhile, there were some hilarious tweets flying back and forth between fern dell bed and breakfast and frantic twitter Shroppiemon, pleading with Susan to reserve them a copy, and threatening to wrestle each other for the last book.
Then, on Saturday, an innocent little tweet from me to Ashley's Bar in town, saying they are mentioned in SSJAS resulted in an invitation to pop in later in the day. I took them a comp copy for them to keep behind the bar as a talking point, plus a pile of SSJAS business cards. And Ashley arranged for the two of us to have our photograph taken there and then for Ashley's Facebook page and for them to tweet to publicise the link between the bar and the book.
All good fun.
That same Saturday, a quick trip to the market hall resulted in signing a copy for one of Susan's customers and the news that Susan was again running short of copies!
Great to see my book on prominent display as well.
Must get some more copies in.
Then, on Saturday, an innocent little tweet from me to Ashley's Bar in town, saying they are mentioned in SSJAS resulted in an invitation to pop in later in the day. I took them a comp copy for them to keep behind the bar as a talking point, plus a pile of SSJAS business cards. And Ashley arranged for the two of us to have our photograph taken there and then for Ashley's Facebook page and for them to tweet to publicise the link between the bar and the book.
All good fun.
That same Saturday, a quick trip to the market hall resulted in signing a copy for one of Susan's customers and the news that Susan was again running short of copies!
Great to see my book on prominent display as well.
Must get some more copies in.
Sunday, 4 August 2013
Outside the station... appropriately enough
My good friend Paul Richmond turned up with his niece and a bunch of photographic equipment to capture the moment. Many thanks to all concerned!
Monday, 29 July 2013
Copies ordered for Pengwern Books
Just ordered a batch of 20 books for Pengwern Books in anticipation of a proper launch soon and some serious promotion. There simply hasn't been a good moment so far to shout about this from the rooftops, but that moment is approaching.
Saturday, 27 July 2013
Early feedback. Establishing contact with Pengwern Books
A good 24 hours for SSJAS.
Last night got some early feedback. Mansel's wife, Clare, is currently reading it. Mansel told me she is enjoying it, she likes my style, and she thinks I'm on to something.
Interesting.
I look forward to more detailed feedback from Clare when she's finished it.
Today I made contact with Susan Caroline, owner of the book shop, Pengwern Books. It was great to chat with her after not having seen her for quite a while.
She sold some copies of Here Comes The Sun for me back in 2005.
I went to meet her at her shop in Shrewsbury Market and we had a long and fruitful chat.
She likes the book and has agreed to stock it.
I love the idea of working with local independent bookshops.
We also talked about doing some promotion which will help both my book and her business.
Great stuff.
Last night got some early feedback. Mansel's wife, Clare, is currently reading it. Mansel told me she is enjoying it, she likes my style, and she thinks I'm on to something.
Interesting.
I look forward to more detailed feedback from Clare when she's finished it.
Today I made contact with Susan Caroline, owner of the book shop, Pengwern Books. It was great to chat with her after not having seen her for quite a while.
She sold some copies of Here Comes The Sun for me back in 2005.
I went to meet her at her shop in Shrewsbury Market and we had a long and fruitful chat.
She likes the book and has agreed to stock it.
I love the idea of working with local independent bookshops.
We also talked about doing some promotion which will help both my book and her business.
Great stuff.
Saturday, 13 July 2013
First moves
By June 1, 2013, 'Shrewsbury Station Just After Six' was pretty much good to go with all the formatting complete and the cover, thanks to Dave and Laura's efforts, now in place.
I was making final preparations to push the button.
Then there were a few delays. Well of course. There are always a few delays.
The trim size for the cover had to be amended so this would have to be looked at by our Dave.
In the meantime, a whole host of other commitments got in our way.
A full-time job for starters. A holiday of sorts in Hull. Me being the judge in a scarecrow competition. Going to see the mighty Bruce Springsteen at the Ricoh Arena. The Shrewsbury Food Festival. You know how it is.
Anyway. Somewhere along the way the project was completed.
I received the first copies on July 3.
Very happy. It looks really good.
I was making final preparations to push the button.
Then there were a few delays. Well of course. There are always a few delays.
The trim size for the cover had to be amended so this would have to be looked at by our Dave.
In the meantime, a whole host of other commitments got in our way.
A full-time job for starters. A holiday of sorts in Hull. Me being the judge in a scarecrow competition. Going to see the mighty Bruce Springsteen at the Ricoh Arena. The Shrewsbury Food Festival. You know how it is.
Anyway. Somewhere along the way the project was completed.
I received the first copies on July 3.
Very happy. It looks really good.
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