Enjoying achievement

Here it is again - back to my original picture. I'm feeling philosophical today. I've written enough about the promotional tour for my first book. It has been a very exciting summer, so I'm sure you'll forgive me for having wittered on - and on - about my book signings, talks, interviews, blog, etc etc and all the shinnanigans that go along with being published. But you must be getting very bored with reading about all that by now. So, the summer's almost over and I'm going to return to the original purpose of this blog: asking questions and sharing experiences. I hope you join in the discussion. Otherwise it's just me, and I don't want to sit here talking to myself . . .

What I want to know is, WHO MOVED THE GOALPOSTS? Let me explain. It involves travelling back in time, but don't worry, we're not going far.
If anyone had told me just two months ago how many of my books would have sold by now, or that I would have been interviewed on BBC Radio (not once, but 3 times!) or met so many enthusiastic readers, I would have jumped for joy so vigorously I would have been over the moon in no time. Probably hit my head on a distant star on the far side of the moon . . . Yet here I am, two months on with all that 'success' to bolster me up, and I'm wondering why Cut Short has fallen down the amazon sales ratings today. Why aren't more people buying Cut Short on amazon?
So here's the big question -
Does enjoying our achievements only lead to complacency?
Is it better to feel dissatisfied, because that is what spurs us on?
What do you think?

LINKS
author schedule - http://www.noexit.co.uk/features/authortour.php
amazon.co.uk - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cut-Short-DI-Geraldine-Steel/dp/1842432710
amazon.com - http://www.amazon.com/Cut-Short-DI-Geraldine-Steel-No/dp/1842432710

In the Summertime . . .

I went out for lunch with The Curzon Group today and then called in at my local bookshop for a chat with the manager. The staff there are as helpful as they can be, but sadly they're limited in what they're allowed to do to promote Cut Short. It doesn't have a big enough marketing budget to interest Head Office. Such is the way of the world.


Why is no one buying Cut Short on amazon at the moment?

Here's a lovely photo of Cut Short in someone's garden. It looks like a good summer read, doesn't it?
(Cut Short, if you're new to my blog, is the first in my series of crime thrillers).

Here are a few links (yes, I'm being a lazy blogger) -

a link to The Bookseller blog
http://www.thebookseller.com/blogs/95602-no-limits.html

the link to my schedule of appearances on my publisher's website http://www.noexit.co.uk/features/authortour.php
and links to amazon
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cut-Short-DI-Geraldine-Steel/dp/1842432710
and
http://www.amazon.com/Cut-Short-Geraldine-Steel-No/dp/1842432710/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1240166084&sr=1-1

three gentlemen, one bag lady

THE CURZON AIRPORT TOUR.
We signed at a civilised time at Manchester Airport on Friday (midday start) - no photographers turned up. Here we are at East Midlands Airport (5am start) - and yes, a very nice photographer turned up to record the bags under my eyes for posterity . . . It's the best picture I've got, so I swallowed my vanity (not much to swallow) to share this with you. Also in the picture you can see, from left to right, author Richard Jay Parker, the manager of WH Smith's East Midlands Airport, me and author Matt Lynn (who is clearly a morning person.)
It sounds a little more glamorous on the East Midlands Airport website
http://www.eastmidlandsairport.com/emaweb.nsf/Content/BookSigning but you know the truth behind the real bags I carried with me to the airport . . .

I probably told you that my publisher is currently reprinting as Cut Short has been selling so fast! Thank you very much to all of you who have bought it and helped to create this fantastic success. If you'd like a copy - or even another one for a friend - order now for the first edition (!) and remember to email me on leighrussell2009@live.co.uk for a personal inscription and scanned signature.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cut-Short-DI-Geraldine-Steel/dp/1842432710

http://www.amazon.com/Cut-Short-DI-Geraldine-Steel/dp/1842432710

link to my schedule of events - please come along if you can!
http://www.noexit.co.uk/features/authortour.php

Following in Cut Short's footsteps...

This will be me tomorrow . . . on a train to Manchester Airport! Off on my holidays? Not exactly . . .

Tomorrow sees the start of the Curzon Group Airport Tour. Authors Matt Lynn, Richard Jay Parker, and I (yes, me!) will be signing copies of our thrillers from midday. When we finish, we're driving to East Midlands Airport for an overnight stay ready to start signing again at 5 am!!!

I'm feeling really guilty as I haven't posted here for such a long time, but I've been a whisker short of insanely busy. Bath, Bournemouth, Cambridge, Harrow, Hatch End, Hatfield, Henley, Central London, North London, London Colney, Pinner, Shepherds Bush, Uxbridge, Watford and after Manchester and East Midlands it's Brighton, York, Kenton, Heathrow T5, Richmond, Ruislip, Oxford, Ealing, St Albans - plus lots of local talks and signings. And then there are the festivals, and the radio interviews (yes, me on BBC Radio Bristol, BBC Radio Sussex, BBC Radio Solent - I have to go to BBC Studios!) Did I mention my interviews on the BBC ?

Other news - hot off the press - Cut Short has been selling so well that a reprint is in hand as I type this! New stock will be ready at the end of next week . . . but I won't be here to see the new books, I'll be in York, or is it Richmond . . . ?

Writers' block? No. Writers' panic? YES

Cut Short on amazon.co.uk

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cut-Short-DI-Geraldine-Steel/dp/1842432710

also now on amazon.com

http://www.amazon.com/Cut-Short-DI-Geraldine-Steel/dp/1842432710

I've been working, on and off, on Road Closed, the second book in the Geraldine Steel series. I've been happily travelling around, visiting reading and writing groups, and meeting people in book shops (still maintaining an average sale of 44 books at a signing). Staff in the bookshops are friendly, and the readers writers I've met have been really lovely. And all the while, the elephant has been in the room, lurking in the shadows . . .

Someone asked me recently if I feel any pressure having to live up to Cut Short with the next book. "No," I answered cheerfully. "I'm really enjoying writing it." That was absolutely true at the time. But the day approaches . . . Soon, I'll have to show my new MS to my publisher . . . my editor . . . readers . . .

I'm in a complete panic! No one has seen one word of the new MS. Should I show it to my family or just send it to my publisher and hope for the best? What if no one likes it? Help help help! (That's the sound of me panicking). As for my blase reply to the question about feeling under pressure - I wasn't feeling stressed then. I am now. Oh help!

Cut Short in Cambridge

Cut Short in the window of Heffers in Cambridge. It looks very small. Can you see it?
Every year Heffers in Cambridge run an event called Bodies in the Bookshop where they invite crime writers to display their books. I was on the debut table with a group of intelligent, serious authors who all had vast piles of impressive looking hardbacks. They were talking about New York and Harrogate, their contacts and reviews, their international travel and their huge advances . . . And then there was me with my inexpensive little paperback, squeezed onto a corner of the table . . .
Many of the visitors were dealers who, I discovered, turn their noses up at paperbacks. Talk about judging a book by its cover! My low point came when a dealer upset a glass of wine over my folder. Not only did he not apologise, he didn't even buy a copy of my book. (I know, it is only a paperback.)
On a positive note, almost all of my books were bought, not by dealers but by ordinary readers who just wanted to read it - my kind of buyer. If anyone who came to Bodies in the Bookshop is reading this blog: I hope you enjoy reading Cut Short as much as I enjoyed meeting you.

And if you haven't yet managed to read Cut Short, it's in stock again on amazon. (Did I tell you that amazon sold out, resulting in Cut Short plummeting down the sales ratings - no books = zero sales. It went from 2 to 83 in one category in less than a day!)

Cut Short goes to Istanbul

I received this photo of someone reading Cut Short in Istanbul.
I haven't been posting much lately. In case you think that's due to laziness, here's a peek at my coming week.
Saturday - Book signing in Waterstones Bath
Sunday - Visit to Waitrose after offer to stock Cut Short in 3 stores
Monday - Day off for husband's birthday! (I'll be working on Book 2 )
Tuesday - Bodies in the Bookshop event Heffers, Cambridge
Wednesday - Talking to local NWR group
Thursday - Talking to local writers' circle
Friday - Meeting local journalist to discuss blog
Saturday - Book signing in Waterstones Harrow
Not to mention the posts I'm writing for two local papers and the Curzon Group, and an article I've written for a book trade journal.
Did I say I was working on Book 2? I think there might be some description of Geraldine Steel feeling knackered! Should be a convincing description... very believable...
Just when I'm beginning to wonder why I'm working so hard, I see a picture of Cut Short in a country I've never even visited. I'm not sure why, but I'm very excited about that.