Going on Radio Solent

I can now say I have witnessed the beginning and end of the year's shortest night. Knowing that I had to get up at 5am to go to the BBC Radio Solent studios was enough to make me wake up every hour, but Wally barking at 2.30am to go out really did the trick. So I can tell you, at this time of year you can see the first shred of light coming across the Eastern skies at around 3.05am. At 4.15 I took the dogs for a walk and only saw a man talking on his mobile - the sun still hadn't risen. It comes over the horizon at 4.52am.

So...Radio Solent?
It all started last week when Emily Hudson, one of the producers at the Radio station rang me to ask if I'd like to review the newspapers on Sasha Twining's Saturday morning show. How exciting!! I listen to the show most weeks, so I knew what to expect. At 6am I was waiting outside the newsagent in Cowes to buy a few papers and get a head start. 

The BBC Studio in Southampton

The other guests were Fran, a lady from Southampton City Council's Fostering and Adoption Unit and Bobby, a lawyer. Emily had bought croissants and gave us tea/coffee but I was much to nervous to eat anything. We whizzed through the papers and chose 3 front pages to talk about and some inside stories and before we knew it, 8 o'clock had come and we were on air.

One of the radio studios

Of course, I had to have the squeaky chair, so I was really conscious of keeping still so it didn't sound like someone was re-creating Frankenstein's monster on the mixing desk; then my throat went dry, which made me want to cough!! but after a few minutes it just felt like sitting in a room with 3 other people, chatting. Sasha was absolutely lovely and made us all feel at ease and I was glad to be sitting next to Bobby, who really sounded like he knew what he was talking about when the subject of the Middle East came up.

It was really useful to have highlighted some quotes from the pages and stuck big pink post-its on the side of the newspapers to find the pages quickly. 

Before we knew it, 9am had come and I was off to do some shopping in Southampton before heading back to the Island.

I'm delighted to find that this morning that I have sold some more books over the weekend; this I must put down to the lovely article that the Isle of Wight County Press had in this week's edition or my appearance on the radio. It's very exciting when things move fast!

From the Isle of Wight County Press, 21 June 2014

If you want to order a copy of The House on Hare Hill, you can HERE. It comes straight from me, so I can sign it for you, if you'd like to let me know who it is for.

Have a groovy week!!
Jules
xx

The M word; How to Market your Book.

Marketing. Yikes.

Now that the excitement of receiving my boxes of books has died down the tough work of 'getting it out there' starts. Here are a promo pic I took for The Isle of Wight County Press - my gorgeous friends Amelie and Alis and their chums.

Technically speaking, this is the bit of publishing children's books I'm least comfortable with. It's pretty hard to tell everyone how wonderful/terrific/genius/educational/insert-your-own-adjective - when you're a typical Brit who doesn't like to blow trumpets in general, let alone one's own. 

There's a good way of circumnavigating this difficulty and it comes from my Uncle's philosophy of 'Get Over Yourself'. I used his advice on Artist's Block, where he suggested the best way to break through that barrier was to 'make some sort of bloody mark on the paper'. So, the best way to get over feeling shy about your fabulous piece of work is to say some bloody words about it!! preferably nice ones. 

How do you start?

Here's my top ten tips:
1. Imagine you are someone else talking about your work. You really like it a lot. What would you say?

2. Get someone to quiz you about how you made it/ why you made it/ what you are going to do with it etc, so you have some answers stored as a back up.

3. This is your livelihood or hobby. You'd better bloomin' like what you've made - so tell people your story. People like to hear the history of a piece of work.

4. Understand how to write a press release. Google it. There are loads of ideas and tips on the Internet.

5. If you feel the urge to say something like 'It would have been better if I had...(insert your own end of the sentence), then roll up a virtual sock and shove it in your mouth. Only say positive things.

 6. Some people won't like what you do. This is because they have their own thing to do. Their thing is not your thing. Don't get hung up on it. If they say something unsavory, have a 'thanks for your comments, it all helps to build my next project' answer. Your next project might be an Hoover that exterminates negative-comment mutterers for all they know.

7.Invest in all the lovely things people say about your work. Keep them in your head (and maybe in your Amazon reviews if you are a book maker!)

8. Tell people about what you do like it's the first time you've said it. You might have told 3,000 people already, but this person is listening to you for the first time. 

9. Ask the people who are engaging in your work what they like about it. Ask them if they could leave you a review on Amazon/your website/ your blog/ twitter.

10. Get over yourself.

Oh and by the way, if you've seen my books and you like them, please can you leave me a review?
Here's some links that will take you straight there:
The House on Hare Hill
Flossie Bonce
Royal Fleas
Vincent and the Vampires
Wally and Bert, BFFs

Thank you so much! I owe you a cuppa!!
Jules x