Marketing Books & Gardening

Hi People. I'm writing here about two things I sometimes do that I find quite difficult, for a variety of different reasons. The book marketing reasons mostly relate to me being a disorganised person who is unsure of the best way to go about 'selling myself' well enough. I fear irritating others, yeah - as if that's the worst thing in this troubled world ... I am somewhat known, in some books and writing related circles, so I'm not completely hopeless at this though, so I won't lose hope in the chance of getting better at this 'Book Marketing' thing. So this one is a Mental thing.

The Gardening thing, that's related physical reasons. I'll never be as strong or physically able as someone would need to be to keep all of our place tidy and under control. I can do little things, sometimes, but none of the big things. Some things I can't do, others I don't do. I've never started a mower in my life, for instance, and can see no reason why I should start doing it now. I can't cut down big branches, or heft heavy things. My husband is able to do these things, and I support him in this by keeping out of his way.

Both of these things have benefits of course. If I can find a book reader who would like to buy one of my books, I'm more than happy in signing a copy for them and selling them a copy! If someone wanted me to talk to a group of people who may be interested in my books, I am always happy to talk about the stuff I've written, whatever it is. Speaking in public is scary to many people and used to be scary to me too, but fortunately I'm over that now. (So if you need someone to talk, give me a call!)

The benefits of gardening are quite different. A garden gives beautiful things to look at, sniff, and eat. A garden brings birds and other creatures along, and I love watching the birds that visit our garden! I love the strawberries we have growing at the moment, I loved the capsicums we had until hubby pulled up the spent plants, I love the herbs that go into meals or cups of herbal tea. We have lots of garlic growing at the moment, and I love that we're going to keep up with our 'garlic' needs for a good few months (I hope). I love the fact that very soon, our tomato plants will have little cherry tomatoes that are red not green, as they ripen, yum!

The garden is blooming, but most of that is thanks to my husband's work, not mine. He is my carer as well as my husband, and he's doing a superb job of caring for me! He doesn't help with the book marketing side of my life though. He recognises that I'm the one who knows more about that stuff, even if I don't do lots and lots of it. I do have lots of books in my car, ready to sell to others, at any time though ... It would be lovely if it were as simple as just driving somewhere and opening the back of my car to sell books to hordes of desperate book buyers waiting for me ...

Buster the Dog, who is always with me, even if I don't acknowledge his presence at every moment of my life, he would do these things differently, I suspect. Buster is more of an excitable type, more Me, Me, Me! than I am. I'm quieter, more subdued. Of course I'm real and Buster is a figment of my imagination, so life is easy for him ...

So that's it for now, if you'd like to know more about me and my writing, get in touch! Woof!

Yes, Third Print Run, WooHoo!

Today I visited the printer who I've chosen to do the third print run of my book, Dig It! Gardening Tips For Dogs. Peter, from Bunyip Print gave me three copies of the book, for me to check and to get back to him if there were any changes needed, and to let him know if he could do the printing. (I'm a writer, a self-published one so I have to do all of these things myself. It's going well, and I'm enjoying myself with this!)

I had a quick look at it at Bunyip Print, and it all looked pretty good to me. I was advised by the woman who works there (sorry, I've forgotten your name), that I should take it home and give it a good look, to make sure it was all ready to go.

I didn't really think I'd need to actually do anything, but once I got home today, I fired up the computer and sat down with the book, and my copy of the manuscript that is on the computer. Imagine my horror when I discovered some paragraphs missing in the proof copy of the book!

On checking it back against an older copy, I was able to fill in the gaps, deleted an image that I'd used to fill in a gap, not realising there was a gap because I'd somehow deleted a paragraph of text. I hope I've fixed all of the errors. I changed the text in the caption of one of the illustrations, and in general checked everything.

After I did all of that, I sent the revised copy to Peter at Bunyip Print, with a list of the changes made. I've heard back from Peter, and I have to say, I am impressed by his promptness. I'm certainly going to talk up Bunyip Print - such attention to detail, and promptness is always impressive, and I feel they will do the best for my book, this one and any others I may produce in the future...

Dealing with the local businesses always feels good to me, and when they seem as good as this one, it makes me even happier to be doing business locally!

So Buster the Dog is going into the third print run of his book, and I launch back into promoting his book for him! I think my next move will be to produce some bookmarks, with words of Gardening Wisdom from Buster! Keep your eye out on this website, and please get in contact if you'd like a copy of the book - it will be $10.00 $AUD, with no charge for postage, unless the cost is huge...

Watch Out! Someone Let The Dog Out!

Well, they haven't let the dog out quite yet, but by this time next week, Buster will be out on the streets, and copies of his gardening book will be out there too!

Yes "Dig It! Gardening Tips For Dogs" is having its third print run, has been been reformatted and now has more pages! Yay, good times!

If you have a dog, have had a dog, know someone who has a dog, or know what a dog is, this is the book for you! It's all about dogs, and gardens, and life in general, really. There is much wisdom in this book, written by a dog that doesn't really exist. Or does he?

Buster and Carolyn Cordon produced the text for this lovely little book, Allyson Hean produced the illustrations, and you the reader will produce the huge laughter as you read it and see the pictures! There's no telling what Buster and Carolyn might come up with next, but rest assured, the X rated book some were waiting for is certainly never going to happen. Buster might be up for it, but Carolyn has a good reputation to uphold, and isn't interested in THAT project!

So, if you'd like to get yourself a copy of this great book, leave a message here, and we can discuss the details. The cost will be $15 AUD a copy, with no charge for postage (unless you want it sent to somewhere really expensive. Certainly no charge for postage in Australia.