Thursday 18 April 2019

Failure at every turn.

Since my last Blog post only a few days ago, I have to report two pretty significant fails.
I reported that I had negotiated the Amazon system to create a book promotion week for The chalice of Saint Bee. I was so pleased with myself. As you all know Pride comes before a fall. Although I have a countdown promotion running in the United States at this very moment, I did not manage the same for the UK. I also got the prices entirely wrong.
You will be pleased to know that I have tried again.  I hope that the promotion in the UK starts on the 20th.
The relevant information is:
 Amazon.com
 17-20 April 99cents
20-24 April 1.99
Amazon UK
20-27 April 99p for the whole week.

I can promise nothing as I am not quite sure what I did wrong the first time.

The Other fail. This Blog.
 It has caused some interesting discussion in my writer's group.
Not edited well enough, not professional enough, not clear enough.
All true.
My first reaction was to think that I had better abandon the idea of having a writers blog for the following reasons;

  • I don’t know enough.

 Either about selling books or about editing. My knowledge of grammar is adequate but not good enough. I need to look things up all the time.

  • Time.

I cannot spend two weeks editing every blog entry, by the time I felt it was just right it would be out of date.  I want to finish my book. A book, of course, which also needs editing and which is very time-consuming.

  • Professional Face of me as an author.

 If the Blog is acting a promotional site, the entries acting a sample of my writing.  I would need to spend the time required to edit to a professional standard.
 But what would I write about? I simply don’t know enough about the profession.
 I am not the sort of person who has a professional Persona, so I can't give you rose-tinted glimpses of a well-ordered life. I am me, just me.

It cannot be a promotional site then.

There will be a blog.

So if this Blog does not exist purely for promoting books, does it have another purpose?

It will function primarily as a personal diary. It will record the ups and downs, the frustrations and the joys.

The style of writing has to reflect my personality because it will tell my story. My stories will be different in the way that they are written, in I hope the style will be appropriate for the story I am telling. (I don't have sufficient experience to be certain of that). 

It will be about writing, but not how to write.

 I will endeavour to make it as clear as I can without editing it in the way I would edit a book. I trust that I will get better as time goes on but you will walk with me. If you know something about Grammar or Clarity of writing or sentence construction or style that I obviously don’t, then tell me.

It might be a little bit muddled with overlong sentences, but then so am I.

My books, of course, will be promoted on the site but there will be more.

I will tell you what goes on in the background. Why I do things the way I do. I will tell you what it feels like and how often I end the day in tears. What the mechanics are, and why I wake up at two in the morning thinking of solutions to problems that I don’t yet have.

I hope that my readers are aspiring writers who want to share frustrations and joys, experienced writers who want to laugh and to remember what it used to be like. People curious about it all works are welcome as well.
I am looking for fellow pilgrims who will walk this road alongside me.
Reading the blog will be a way of meeting me, for anyone who would like to do that.

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