No Time Like The Present

I’ve decided instead of using Facebook day to day as a place to chat, I shall use my blog. After all I’m paying for it. Somehow Facebook isn’t the place it used to be. Three times I have been locked out of my Facebook account, and been accused of spamming after sharing my Nature Walks Videos to two of my village Facebook groups where the admin was happy for me to share them.

Now I’ve been left feeling disheartened by it, so I’m just going to focus on my writing. I haven’t found Facebook very helpful as far as marketing my novels. The Facebook promotional groups seem to be flooded with authors only, while the reading groups are mainly for readers to chat about the books they have read. The only place I find really helpful is Twitter.

So with that in mind, I’ve come back to my blog. I need to find a way of using this platform better to promote my books and writing. After all, I am paying for it, so I need to make it pay for itself.

At the moment, I’m working on promoting my village’s Garage Sale. Yes, I know that doesn’t have anything to do with writing. In a way, it does as it is supporting my husband as well as the village too. My husband used to enjoy selling at the local car boot sales, but that has become expensive, with the cost of the sites, plus petrol. Also, running the garage sale in the village allows single income families a way of generating extra money, while helping the environment too.

Of course, for me it is a way of meeting my readers in person as I set up a table to promote my books. So it is a win, win situation. Today, a lovely couple came to buy a bike my husband had finished restoring. My husband takes unloved bicycles, cleans them up and repairs them before finding them new homes. While the wife was trying the bike out for size and comfort, I got chatting with the husband. After chatting about my husband’s hobby, the hot weather and our garden, I mentioned I was busy writing a book. The gentleman asked me, “Is your name, Paula, and do you post the Nature Walks on NextDoor.”

“Yes, I am.” And that’s when the conversation turned to my other books. It turned out the couple were both avid readers, both reading more than one book a week. The husband said, the telly goes off and they enjoy the peace and quiet of reading. So after they finished making arrangements with my husband to when they would be able to collect their bike, as their car wasn’t suitable to take it with them, they took one of my book business cards and a copy of the Funeral Birds, too. They both use Kindle, so will be checking my other books out on Amazon.

Oh, if only, the world was full of more readers like that.