Half my life is an act of revision

Half my life is an act of revision.
- John Irving

So as part of my new years resolution is all about adding colour to my life. I have to admit it's proving difficult – especially when the closest people around me are anti-colour. But I have been adding pops of colour here and there. I think I am going to rev the colour up for April though. H&M seems the best place to start with coloured vests and cardigans that can go over or under the fail safe black!

Anyway enough of that! I hope everyone had a fab Easter. I didn’t do much writing at all. I had a mini break on the sofa eating chocolate, but it's back to Chupplejeep this week. This first revision is not like my usual revisions- it's not a quick read through- it's like the deep clean revision 4 happening at revision 1 – is the first draft really that bad? Or am I progressing as a writer? I hope it’s the latter.

In other news I played around with the price for GT again. I put it up by £0.20p! yep this kindle malarkey is rock and roll! No seriously. I’ll let you know what the change in price does to sales. Last time I upped the price sales doubled. Its still at a low price so I am thinking its worth trying. If after three months sales fall I’ll drop the price back down. If they rise or stay the same I will keep the price as it is for a while before I increase it again (if I choose to do so). I must say playing with the price like this is good experience and fascinating- but remember dont piss off your readers by doing it too often or for the sake of it. You need to be consistent and professional as a publisher/author. But in saying that I think that being able to monitor your price is the great thing about self pubbing to kindle. You really get to be the publisher! Being able to see how many sales you made is a huge benefit and can be motivating when you are feeling down about your work-in-progress.

I have also heard from my agent that the signed contract is with him – and I can now reveal the publisher is Thames River Press. So I am just waiting for my copy! What is even more exciting is that they are hoping for a November 2013 release and I have been provided with a contact at the publishing house! Woohoo!!! So I emailed over my manuscript and some other bits and bobs and had my first email back- Yes it’s the little things in life that make me happy. I think since this whole process started it’s the first time I can sit back a little and take it all in! Bring on November. Bit by bit I will let you know how it goes working with a traditional publisher. I can say that I am extremely happy with my decision to self publish before this because (although it is a different process) I feel I know more about the industry now than I would have done a couple of years ago. So if you are debating self publishing - go for it!

I have also (just this week) discovered Pinterest! I may have mentioned it yonks back when it was invitation only or something like that- anyway now I am on it! Although (and this is lame) I have 0, yes 0 followers! In my defence I have only been on it for a couple of days.  I have had some likes and re-pinning going on but no followers and I follow people or boards- Is there no follow back rule - what is Pinterest etiquette? Mmm let me know on twitter @marissadeluna

Nicola Morgan, I need a Pinterest guide  - a bit like Tweet Right! Anyway I though Pinterest would be another string to my marketing bow. Every little helps right? I have also set myself little goals for GT such as making a certain number of sales, getting another 100 followers of Twitter etc. I think it is important to have little goals like that especially when you are working on another book or like me have a full time job- otherwise it's easy to forget what you are supposed to do.

I am also thinking (and this is in order to achieve my Twitter goal) to spend dedicated time on Twitter as in 1 hour a day. Not just when I get five minutes on my smart phone. By using one hour without distraction I believe I can get more out of it. Anyway my goal for the end of the year is to have 500 followers. I know this doesn't seem like much but I am not actively following people to get follows back- maybe that's something I need to work on but are these just pointless follows? - Secretly I am yet to see (unless you are lady Gaga) the power of twitter for the small time author but as with most things I am doing right now- Watch this space!  

Anyway must persevere!

Happy writing people.