My One Month Birthday!

I’m being a little selfish today, sorry – actually, no I’m not – as I’m going to talk about me and my book. My lovely little book. Mmm.

The ebook version of Winell Road was published on the penultimate day of April, so we’re coming up to its one month birthday. And it’s been a pretty positive start to my writing career. I haven’t asked about sales figures – other than saying to my editor in an almost apologetic tone, ‘I hope sales haven’t been too bad,’ and to which he replied, 'Yes, there have been some sales' – and I’ve tried not to go too crazy with mentioning it in every tweet, FB post and blog.

I've been invited to do a few interviews and have written a couple of promotional blogs, but as the paperback is due out shortly, I’ve scheduled more, plus some Goodreads giveaways, for the coming months to help celebrate this next milestone. I'm setting up my author profile here and there, and SCBWI and WWWB have given me wonderful FB shout outs, too. Thank you guys!

I’ve received six 4 and 5* ratings and three reviews on Goodreads – so much more than I was expecting at this early stage. The beautiful people that are book reviewers have been so kind in agreeing to read the book, I couldn’t be any more grateful to them for their support.

My author website, although very much a construction site, is up and running and I'm working, when time allows, on improving this. I have a list of some gorgeous kiddlies lined up to read and review the paperback, and will be posting, with every child and parent’s approval of course, these on to the Reviews Page. I plan to run some little giveaways in the future for all the kids eager enough to take part, regardless of whether their review is positive or not.

Winell Road is only available to buy via the publisher’s website at the moment, but actually this is a really good thing as a massive 20% of all sales are donated to the Australian Literacy and Numeracy Foundation. So even when wider distribution of Winell Road opens up, it would be much more beneficial to purchase the ebook direct from Jet Black Publishing. Cue link!

http://www.jetblackpublishing.com/shop/winell-road

There are lots of exciting things still in the pipeline for the book. First, this is just the first in a series, so hopefully book number two will follow soon. Second, there is the possibility of collector cards to accompany the series coming in the near future!

So yay! Thank you to everyone who has helped me celebrate and who have supported me during my first month as a published author. It sounds so cliché and cheesy, but I really don’t think I’d have made it this far without the kindness of the virtual writing and reading community. If you’d like to help me continue spreading the word, then I would love to hear from you, too. Or, if you have or know a child who might like a fun sci-fi adventure and who might also be willing to write a little review, then let me know. I have a bottomless pot of invitations to the ongoing Winell Road party.

On a final note, this weekend is also exactly one year since I waved goodbye to England, boarded a plane for a tremendously long and arduous flight to Australia. One year! It has absolutely flown. I have achieved more than I dreamed of in this time and I haven’t looked back once. I miss my family and friends still living in the cold wetness that is England, but Australia is now my home; in fact, it has felt like home since the day I arrived.