Share Your Dream Friday Video

Yep. Made another video. This time, for the first time, in glorious technicolour as part of the great Edward Elliott's  Dream Project. Rather excitingly, it's only been up a few days and it's already got nearly as many views as the first part of Jilly Cooper's interview on her publisher's channel for the launch of her new book, (and more views than the second part). Jeepers! She's the queen of Cotswold authors. I feel honoured. Anyhow ... here's the vid. Hope you like it.

UPDATE: I don't really understand Amazon yet, but I'm guessing this isn't a bad sign (list of recently popular books in US under 'humor' and 'romance') ...

If you feel inclined to buy my book, Amazon stocks the Kindle version here

and all other versions can be found at PalacesAndCalluses.com

Please leave a comment below. Thank you. 

Won Orange Prize and My Book's on Amazon!

I won a bit of a contest. Orange (the telephone/broadband company) was picking up selected tweets and using a professional voice-over artist to make blockbuster movie voiceovers with them. They picked mine!! Check it out!

So ... why will I be obsessing over sales of my first ever book, this summer? Well ... after trialling a non-Amazon e-book approach for a couple of months - with pretty good results, which was a surprise - I've uploaded Palaces & Calluses to Amazon.

What Was I Thinking?

In a moment of pumped-up insanity I shall no doubt live to regret, I also informed someone that I plan to become an Amazon bestseller. Oh dear. I know. I'm an absolute ARSE sometimes. Never mind. The challenge is out there now, so I need to find a way to make it happen. Of course, all assistance on that front (reviews and wotnot) would be massively appreciated.

Spurred on by my chum Dan's bestselling success (see the previous post) I seized the moment and uploaded Palaces & Calluses. Amazon informed me the book wouldn't be published for a day or two, so I made a cup of tea and planned my promotion strategy over the next couple of days. Half way through my tea, I dreamily typed my name into Amazon search and ... there was my book! While I'm chuffed that Amazon considered my book to be well enough edited and formatted to publish immediately, I wasn't even slightly prepared. Panic stations!!

After a bit of flapping about and munching of chocolate, I checked back. Lo and behold, there were reviews! Lots of them. I flipping well LOVE word nerds. You are the best chums a writer could wish for and I'm hugely grateful for your support. You saved my butt.

Help My Little Book to Make Friends

If you like the idea of saving my butt further - and helping my book climb that old Amazon chart - you can point your chums to the URL of your choice. UK - http://amzn.to/rebeccaw US - http://amzn.to/palaces-and-calluses

Price-wise, my book will set your chums back the price of about three quarters of a latte - depending on where they procure their caffeinated treats, and depending upon currency shifts and taxes. Worst case scenario? Latte plus biscuit. US price is $2.99  (though, this will look different if you view from another country) and the UK price is sitting around the £2.00 mark at the mo. Take a look at the reviews. There are different reviews on the different sites. If you enjoyed the book, and want to leave a review too, you're my new best friend. Please share this post. I have no marketing budget, so whether this book makes it onto a bestseller list or not is entirely in your hands, my friends. THANK YOU!!!



P.S. Non-Kindle e-book formats are available from PalacesandCalluses.com

Word Nerd Knight is Amazon Bestseller!!!

One of my Word Nerd Knights - Dan Holloway - is in the TOP 15 ON AMAZON!

Back in 2009, Dan told me that we need a literary sensation. Well, we have one, and the personification of it is right there on Amazon. This moment, in case you hadn't realised, is historic. We are living through quotable times. People who realise there was more to William Morris than chintzy wallpaper are looking on with interest. There's a movement. Those people involved are not all alike in style, but they are alike in purpose. This is a revolution. No doubt about it. You're living through it. Cool, huh? I wrote more about it on Groupon's blog.

Buy Dan's book. It's not going to be cosy reading - that's not Dan's style - so if you scare easily, buy it for a friend, but buy it. You're part of history. Remember when we did this? Remember when we did this? We can do this. We can get Dan to number one. I'm probably going to see Dan next week. Give me something great to tell him.  Share this post. Tell people on Twitter and Facebook. Tell people on Goodreads. If you want to say you were part of this - when it's all over the news and the telly - then you have to get off your arse, cough up 70p, send out some tweets and BE part of it. Are you with me, Word Nerds?

Writers Need a List

One of the tools I use for list building

Well, hello, my word nerd chums!

For a long time, I didn't realise what I now do, and I collected faces on blogs. Hundreds and hundreds of them. Probably over 1000 now on my various blogs. What a wasted opportunity.

That's not what I want now. What I want is for people to opt-in to my list. For that reason, I didn't even put up a follower gadget here for AGES. In fact, I only put it up at the request of others. If you're scratching your head about that choice, wait until my course on building a list for your books comes out. All will be revealed.

Suffice to say, this blog puts LOTS of people onto my list. That gives me a much better relationship with them. I get postcards from people in different countries. This week, I got a beautiful, handwritten letter from one of my readers in America. Why? Because I build relationships with my readers via email. If you're on my list, you'll know that. If you're not, you're missing out! Every time I send out an autoresponder email, I get replies. Not just one or two. Not just short replies. I get letters, and I email back as many people as I can. That's how you build real relationships with people. I love that.

Obviously, click 'follow' if it makes life easier for you (it's a handy way to follow the blog, after all) but the way to get the inside scoop is to put your details into my opt-in box. That gives me the opportunity to share things with you that I wouldn't share with others. Everything that goes up here is free and easy for Google to access. Sometimes, I have special info I want to share with only a few, special, readers and writers. The only people who get that are the people on one of my lists. 

By the way, if you want to get started on building a list on your own blog - or on social networks like Facebook - you can use the tools I use without any up-front payment. Try them out for 30 days for free. You can leave any time, but use those 30 days wisely and start building a list. You can download that list at any time. It's yours whether you keep using the list building tools or not. It's a set of tools I've used for months, and I've recommended it to stacks of people. I haven't been paid to do so, either. I've done it purely to help out other people. Check it out and see what you think.