Over the past couple of months I’ve mentioned a few of my writing-related activities and I thought it was time to give an update.
At the beginning of April, I announced that I was going to use April as a ‘private’ NaNoWriMo and try to write a rough first draft of my next novel. This actually took longer than planned. Partway through I realised that one of my minor characters had much more potential than one of my main protagonists. So I had to re-work much of what I’d done. I killed off the boring main protagonist (when he was only a baby!) and brought the minor character to the fore. I now have 58,000 words and a LOT of work to do.
At the beginning of June, I wrote that I’d uploaded Bedsit Three to Smashwords in order to get it into the Overdrive store, from which many public libraries purchase e-books. Once I could see it available in Overdrive, I went to my local library to ask for the contact details of Birmingham’s e-book buyer so that I could make myself known as a local author. Unfortunately, I was told that there was no budget at all for new books – not even e-books. On the plus side, they were receptive to the idea of an author event and (fingers crossed) will be contacting me in September when all the school holiday activities are over.
A couple of weeks ago, I launched a price promotion on Kindle for Bedsit Three. I reduced it from £2.25 to 99p for 2 weeks. I calculated that I needed to sell 4.5 times as many books at 99p as at £2.25 to make it a viable long-term price point. That number of sales hasn’t materialised so, barring a sudden surge today (30th June 2016) the price will rise again tomorrow.
And finally, I was pleased to receive a gift from Iain Pattison this week – a paperback copy of That’s Why The Lady is a Vamp. It’s a collection of off-beat comedy tales, full of unexpected twists and lots of humour. Plus, the high spot is a guest appearance by yours truly! If you’d like a free e-copy of one of Iain’s books pop along to his website now.
So that’s me. Anyone else got any news?
Sally Jenkins 
#1 by susanjanejone on June 30, 2016 - 11:21 am
Lots to celebrate there, Sally. I too was lined up for a library talk, but they haven’t got back to me yet. Since then I’ve had 2 pocket novels accepted by My Weekly, and a star letter published in Simply knitting where I showed what’s on my needles at the moment. I won a big bag of wool, and so far I’ve knitted a summer jumper. Now I’m working on a short story, or should be:))
I’ve got Lady and the vamp on kindle and it’s a great read.
#2 by Sally Jenkins on June 30, 2016 - 11:56 am
Susan, it sounds like you’re going to have lots more to talk about when you’re library date eventually comes around! Best wishes.
#3 by juliathorley on June 30, 2016 - 12:12 pm
You’ve been very productive. Note to self: contact Northants Library Service.
#4 by Sally Jenkins on June 30, 2016 - 12:31 pm
Yes, Julia – worth contacting the local library service.
#5 by Wendy Clarke on July 3, 2016 - 8:36 am
Sounds like you’ve been incredibly busy, Sally. good luck with the library talk, if it takes place.
#6 by Sally Jenkins on July 3, 2016 - 6:06 pm
Thanks, Wendy!
#7 by Susan A Eames on July 4, 2016 - 4:25 pm
Busy lady! What have I been doing? I recently received copies of an anthology I’m in, I’m preparing to read at the Cork Literary Festival in a couple of week’s time, I’ve signed up for a workshop and I’m working on an outline for my book about my years in Fiji. 🙂
Susan at
Travel, Fiction and Photos
#8 by Sally Jenkins on July 4, 2016 - 7:07 pm
You sound pretty busy yourself, Susan! I hope the reading goes well and enjoy the workshop!