Welcome back blog readers,
Within the last few weeks, I was invited to join a local writers group that meets up on Monday evenings at the library in town. I accepted the invitation and have met a very diverse group of local authors with a wide array of experience and knowledge.
This writer’s group is organizing a Showcase for Local Authors at the end of this month. Many will have a table set up to sell their book, perhaps even sign their books. Some authors will be on a panel to speak for 15 minutes and take part in a question & answer segment. Prizes are being awarded to a handful of lucky guests.
One minute I’m being invited to join the online group, the next minute I was invited to join them for this event! Of course, I agreed! This was the push that I needed to get out of my comfort zone and take my writing to the next step.
I rushed to place an order for a Square reader for my android phone to allow me the ability to accept credit card payments. The device is FREE, so why not take advantage and have that means of payment available.
An order was placed to Amazon for 15 copies of my book, Breaking the Cycle of Abuse: My Journey from Victim to Survivor. Trust me, I would have loved to order more, but the shipping costs and import fees from the USA to Canada are outrageous. At my price (author price) I pay $3.83 per copy, which is what it costs amazon to print each paperback on demand. Fifteen copies came to $57.45, plus the shipping, plus the import fees, plus the tax came to $88.69, that $88.69 is in USD which gets converted to $116.68 CAD. So yeah, I was hesitant to order any more than that. Luckily I still have a few copies stored away that I can add to the pile.
After talking with a few other indie authors that had already attended a book signing event, they suggested that I order some custom bookmarks to hand out. Assuming I will sell through the 19 copies of my book during the four-hour event; at least I have something to hand out to potential readers. I placed an order through VistaPrint for 50 custom bookmarks.
I was fortunate to have enough time to allow all of my orders to arrive before the event at the end of this month.
Overall, it’s been a pretty good month for book sales, actually, it’s the best month so far.
I have no complaints and I’m really excited about making my first public appearance. Hopefully, I remember to take a few pictures so I can share them with you here in a later post.
Inspired Indie Author~ Hannah
Reinbeck Studio, Creative Space 