Got started …

Have we had the dullest Christmas (in terms of weather) on record? It has been awful and for those of us who love the sun and, it’s probably fair to say, suffer a little from SAD, it’s hardly helping. Life is so much better with Mrs Sun kicking around. She was out this morning (cold and crisp) when we drove to Steven’s dad’s house in Lichfield to pick up B, S and H, and take them to Birmingham airport. By the time we’d dropped them off, it was cloudy and bleak again. We came back via Currys where, having ummed and ahhed about getting a new Chromebook and/or a second hand laptop, I ordered an ASUS Chromebook which, via their business section, was £50 cheaper than anywhere else. It is amazing what £200 can buy you nowadays. Let’s hope it’s as good as the reviews.

nice Bentley

The last couple of days with Bex, Steven and Henry were just as chaotic and exhausting as the previous, but I still love the little chap. We all watched No Time To Die, which we bought from Prime. Is it any good? Yes. Is it sensational? I’m not sure it is. But it was a great way to spend a couple of hours, even if at the start we were working hard to put Henry to bed.

What now? Well I have begun, as I said I would, the process of becoming a marketeer for my books. I still have book eight in the series to edit … and that needs to be out in the summer, but I have started as I mean to go on. First, the metadata for the series and the individual books. These are the keywords, classification and book descriptions. I have had a go before but, having read up on how to make the best of the whole lot, I have hopefully improved the books’ discoverability. In short metadata = search engine optimisation. In the end I have sorted everything but only updated Unsuspecting Hero. Why just one? Well, I have the covers to do on all of the others and the paperbacks to compress. I will update each whole book in one go when everything is ready. The aim is to have this finished by the end of January. I think that’s a stretch with Jen’s availability, but I have to have a target.

metadata (12 pages of it)

Then I’m starting the Amazon ads course on Monday, which lasts for 10 days. It’s free so I have no idea whether or not I’m going to learn anything. Amazon ads (and maybe Facebook ads) might be the big thing when it comes to marketing, but I am also going to try a number of smaller tries. Local book clubs, a book fair, getting books into my local library, some independent Bristol book shops … etc. At the same time I need to be much more active on social media, and I am going to work hard on that with a daily schedule of interaction. I’d hope to start all of that on 1 February, but in many ways I don’t want to do much until I have the books sorted (covers, compressed paperbacks and metadata). One, I think, will follow the other. It’s all part of the plan.

And I’m going to keep my eyes open for other opportunities. Like local radio, etc. And I do need to think of a separate strategy for promoting the audiobook. I think that’s a different set of tools. The good news is that I can get on with that as a singleton project as there is no particular link between the two formats. I’m going to look at that over the weekend and get that started.

So, it’s all go. As for wider stuff, we’ve decided to pop and see mum on Sunday and then onto Mary’s for Monday/Tuesday. Doris goes in for her MoT the following Monday and, hopefully, we’ll look to take her away for a week or so. We both need a proper break. Having Henry (and Bex and Steven) is a delight, but you couldn’t call it a break. And whilst that goes on we’re keeping an eye on the Alps and their availability. Somehow or other we’re pretty determined to put on a pair of skis this season. Fingers crossed.

I don’t know who’s more tired?

Keep safe everyone. And let’s all pray to the weather gods. Hopefully we might see a change soon.