Cast Your Vote
As I might have mentioned in the past, now living in Bulgaria, the UK show scene is no longer a logistically viable place to sell books. But there’s an infinite larger global audience on Amazon than at any individual bike show.
A guru I know said to me at the beginning of the year, ‘I know you despise what Amazon stand for, but you are one person, you will not bring them down. Embrace what they can offer, worldwide distribution, it’s never been easier to be an independent author.’
She’s right of course, so embrace it I have, well not a loving hug, more a nod of acknowledgment from across the street. Anyway, the point of this newsletter is: You know the pannier box set I do? The most inspired packaging in the travel book genre. Perhaps you read about its inception in Not Working, or was it Near Varna?
Well, doing that embrace thing I’ve come to learn I can do a virtual box set for kindle readers. My research even led me to read my first book on a kindle, (not my first book, just the first eBook I’ve ever read – god, English can be so confusing, perhaps I should write in Bulgarian). I still don’t like them (kindles, not Bulgarians). My life is too much screen time as it is, I want a physical book at the end of the day, a different view. But a lot of people love kindles so again, putting principles aside (selling out), I’ve embraced that virtual market to produce a kindle three book panier box set.
Like the physical one it will be cheaper to buy my first three books this way and they will look fab in a virtual bookshelf, probably. And this is where I would like to ask for your help. As with any project you immerse yourself in, be it building a bike, bathroom or box set, you get so immersed and involved in it that it’s tough to be objective. I’ve designed four covers. And I wondered which one you think is best as I’m just too damn obsessed with them now to make a clear and calculated decision. Before voting, bear in mind this will be a thumbnail icon on an Amazon page so it has to be striking rather than intricately intriguing.
Incidentally, the first kindle book I read was ‘More Ketchup than Salsa’ by Joe Cawley.
It’s about an English couple moving to Tenerife to open a bar, true story (I don’t read fiction), slightly embellished in places, I think, but that did give it page turning (or swiping in the kindle case) addiction. Good little story.
And finally, the new book I’ve been working on since January is now at 170,000 words and somewhere on the distant horizon an end is in sight, but the journey is still a long way from completion.
Cheers,
Graham
