Another Sunday …

C tells me the heart’s the wrong way round, and should be the other way where there’s no seam …

Another Sunday … this time, of course, it’s Valentine’s Day, which is another ‘must buy a gift day’ between Christmas/New Year and Mothering Sunday, and then Easter. It is a marketeer’s dream and drives me round the bend a little bit. C and I, a bit like Christmas, made a firm pledge that we wouldn’t buy cards or, indeed presents. The result of the pact was, I think, two lovely and completely free gifts. (I had to make sure the Amazon cardboard packaging was covid-19 free) … anyhow, cost to us = nothing; benefit – a little bit of love.

Along those lines, like the Scrooge I am, I am still collecting data for our electricity. Bearing in mind how blooming cold it’s been, we’ve managed to get the maximum cost down to £4.15 a day, of which three-quarters is economy 7/overnight. It has been an interesting exercise and might be worth giving it a go, if you have the energy (did you know one shower costs us 12p?). I reckon we’ll save at least £30 a month, noting that we’ve not been cold – although C might dispute that claim – and have had plenty of hot water.

Work has been good. I’ve finished the Departmental Planning aide for the school in Hampshire. I’ve got to proof it again on Monday, and then it can go. And I’m coming to a conclusion with the MoD team I’m working with. That’s gone well, I think, although I don’t know what they want the next step to be … I’ll find out next week. In both cases it’s not a great deal of money, because my rates are so low, but it really does add to the ‘do I feel valued?’ part of my psyche which, I guess with most semi-retired people, is a constant terrier at your ankles. It is for me.

Book sales are also sensible – my stock average is a book day across the world, which is nothing in cash terms but is, as I understand it, a very good return for authors without a publisher. I sold 24 books in December and 32 in January. This month I’m ahead of the curve (20 by the 14th), so I’m not complaining. It is, at the end of the day, about marketing. When Amazon selected Fuelling the Fire via the Kindle Scout programme, the first four months of sales (which included a significant upturn for Unsuspecting Hero) in 2016 were: 670, 607, 1095 and 321. They were ‘best-selling’ figures – and the reviews averaged at 4.2/5, which was also among the best. At that point I was very excited about becoming the next Len Deighton. Alas as the advertising support dropped, so did the sales … to pick up with the release of new titles, but only as a blip. Sales have since been a slow decline to a steady state of 30 books a month. [I did have one month over a year ago when I sold just seven … at which point I was close to undabbing my quill.]

I really should do something about marketing … especially if I’m going to get anywhere near my target of 300 books a month before I peg it.

Our Jen’s getting v good at these cartoon characters

Other than that, we’re fine. The news from Korea is all good. Our Jen (and James) are, like all of us, plodding along, and my mum’s boiler went on the blink yesterday. Thankfully she has v good neighbours. Six hours later a friend of a friend who is a plumber popped round and sorted out a new controller and a replacement valve out and now she’s back to cooking on gas. We are so lucky …

Keep safe, as always. I’m guessing C and I will get the call for a jab in March sometime. It won’t change our behaviour, but it will make us both feel a lot safer. I’m sure we can hang on for a month.