I went in to Waterstone's this morning to fulfil my promise to sign the latest batch of Caligulas and was pleased to discover it is now No. 7 on the shop's best-seller list. David, the manager, was delighted to see me and gave me a desk where I could put my name on the sixteen books they have in stock. When it was done, he slapped a black 'signed by author' sticker on each of them and back on the shelf they went. They are really happy to promote a local author, which is great.
I've come to realise it's up to a first-time author, indeed any author, to help sell every book he can, and I'm looking for other ways to do that. I've made arrangements to sign books at stores in Edinburgh next week, and I'll try to get to Glasgow before the end of the month. I've also put up personally signed copies for competitions in three local newspapers. What I'd really like is a few more reviews on Amazon, which I think helps raise the profile of a book and get it talked about. I had two, but one has been withdrawn after a crazy internet spat.
I'm also pleased to announce that Caligula has gone even more international. Portugal and Serbia have now been added to the united nations of Italy, Poland and Russia which are publishing the book.
I'm working on Simon's notes for the follow-up at the moment and I think it's going really well. I've altered the structure to remove one of the main characters and I'm now developing some of the scenes he felt had more potential. Next I'll start work on the new ending, but I know where I'm heading with it.
1 comment:
Great work Doug. I've been following your progress on Youwriteon, have you seen the post there? I added a link on that thread to this blog. Hope that's OK!
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