…and I’m back in the room – with a publishing agreement!

You’d have thought with all those months of Covid related lockdown, I’d have got myself sorted and completed the long awaited, humorous fantasy I’ve been promising for so many years.

Nope!

I think I have the attention span of a bluebottle.

I spent so much time reconnecting with friends from school I had neither seen nor spoken to for up to forty-five years, that I ended up starting a ’70s themed blog. Together with a pal from Primary school, we founded Once Upon a Time in The ’70s where contributors are invited to recount tales of growing up in the late ’60s and through the ’70s.

It’s doing alright, thank you very much.

Just prior to that, I had begun writing a themed series of short stories, but the ’70s blog somewhat took over through 2021. (Technically, I don’t suppose I can call half a story a ‘series’ anyway, but the intention’s there at least.)

However, the enthusiasm and determination has been given a welcome boost by rather unexpectedly signing a publishing agreement with Victor Publishing. In their words, they are at the moment, still classed by Amazon and one of the ‘little guys,’ but I was pleasantly surprised to see I actually have three of their books on my bookshelf.

Us ‘little guys’ need to stick together, you know!

The immediate result is that my 2015, self-published book, ‘Damp Dogs & Rabbit Wee,’ which had just been sitting on Amazon’s virtual shelf gathering virtual dust for the past five years, has been re-published.

The book cover now displays the slightly amended title of: ‘Damp Dogs & Rabbit Wee – The life and smells of a Pet Professional’ and is available across all Amazon platforms. The hope is it will also eventually be stocked by certain High Street stores.

That’d be pretty cool!

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#1 INTERNATIONAL BEST SELLER, BABY!

Damp Dogs & Rabbit Wee - 200That’s right – ‘Damp Dogs & Rabbit Wee,’ can now legitimately be classed as a #1, International Best Seller.

OK, it’s kinda stretching things a tad, but following a wee promotional push on the USA, Amazon.com site this week, ‘D&RW’ rose from an overall ranking of 1,127,973 to 15,902. (I believe there are over three million titles available on that platform.)

Not only that, but, wait for it …. it reached the #1 slot in the ‘Books > Crafts, Hobbies & Home > Pet & Animal Care > Rabbits.

It also reached a ranking high of #3 on Amazon UK – Kindle Store > Books > Home & Garden > Animal Care & Pets . Essays.

Yeah, they’re rather niche classifications, I know. It’s all good fun, though.

So that’s now a year since its release. It’s sold reasonably well and has served its purpose as an experiment in writing and finding my way around the publication / marketing landscape.

The latter really is most time consuming and is a necessary evil for indie publishers. Keep on top of it, and the book will steadily climb / maintain its position in the rankings. Stop, and unless you are an established writer with a substantial fan base, the title will drop like a stone to settle somewhere amongst the silt and dust that forms beneath the virtual shelves at Amazon.

But proactive marketing is a big distraction from new projects. So ‘stop,’ I must.

Maybe now’s the time to take ‘Damp Dogs & Rabbit Wee’ on that sad, last journey to the book vet. I mean, there’s no point staggering on trying to flog a dead, erm … well – you know.

Anyhows! Right now I have a rather bad tempered, cantankerous crow (or rook – I haven’t yet decided) and a psychopomp banging on the inside of my head, desperate for an introduction to y’all in the next few months.

You’ll know them when you see them.

Rook 300

SOUL SURVIVOR - working cover