Season 5, Episode 15 for Saturday 22nd April 2023.
Five Lists of Five Things Related To Writing
5 Things Which Didn't Move The Needle In My Writing Career
1: Paid for a book on a shelf at London Book Fair – cost me £144 (£36 discount) in 2015
2: Bookmarks, book banner & posters – 2015 – used a local designer (who’s great) Cost £187.35 for bookmarks & posters, Alpha Banner stand 2000mm wide £349.99 Delivery £28 – it was HUGE!
3: TV report [radio interview resulted in orders to local bookstore] STV in 2015: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9jHSIo3E0A
4: Built individual websites for each book
5: Social media (but ads did)
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5 Things Which Did Move The Needle In My Writing Career
1: Facebook ads
2: Bookbub featured deals
3: KDP Select [page reads specifically]
4: Writing in series & trilogies
5: Creating & selling boxsets
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5 things I don’t intend to do in my writing career
Note: I reserve the right to change my mind about everything here!
1: TikTok – too old! It would be embarrassing for me & viewers – I don’t have anything to say – I prefer audio.
2: Kickstarter – a LOT of work – would like to know the hourly rate [wouldn’t hesitate if I had a big audience]
3: Selling direct – too much hassle – don’t want to manage queries & returns [wouldn’t hesitate if I had a big audience]
4: Book reading to an audience – too shy & embarrassed
5: Use dictation to write my books – it’s not the way I think, hate making corrections
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5 things I’d like to do in my writing career but haven’t done yet
1: Traditionally published – vanity and approval! I’d like it to happen at least once – but self-publishing is very definitely a financial choice
2: TV or movie adaption – the dream!
3: Audiobook versions – not selling enough copies, can’t really afford it,
4: Hardback versions – nice to have, not a priority
5: A BookBub in all territories on one of my thriller box sets – PLEASE BookBub!!!
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5 x things I OUGHT to do but don’t and therefore self-sabotage my career
1: MailerLite
2: Learn Amazon Ads training and analytics work
3: Have more self-confidence – hence Dream Author Academy, Robin Sharma content
4: Edit and do more production work on my podcast – it wouldn’t get done if I did this
5: Learn to sell my books at a decent price rather than at bargain basement prices
One of my biggest challenges, I believe, is self-confidence!
Note: I reserve the right to change my mind about everything here!


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