No internet today because we are waiting for a carpet fitter. This meant emptying the lounge and dining room, hence no router plugged in. It’s amazing how, in today’s world, being without Wi-Fi tends to render one helpless for a while. So, waiting for the carpet fitter to arrive meant I could finish my current reading: Lamentations by C.J.Sansom. This is an historical novel, a best seller, but one that a Goodreads search could not find. I tried twice because I wanted to leave a review for a quite outstanding novel. Perhaps Goodreads were ‘wireless’ too!

I’ve begun distributing my bookmarkers to the family who all seem quite happy to pass them around their social circles and leave them in bars and restaurants. I’ve distributed a few, but not as many as I would want. I think it’s because it isn’t something I am used to doing, or maybe I don’t get out much! But I’ll persevere.

And on the subject of perseverance: I am still struggling to get my book jacket uploaded to CreateSpace. Not being a dab hand at this kind of thing, I have to use the subjective approach. I’m getting closer and hoped to have had it uploaded today if it wasn’t for the carpet fitter. Maybe this evening. Needless to say I did not work on my current novel last week. I do have excuses, mainly down to other, unavoidable commitments. I suspect it will be after Christmas before I can crack on with it.

I had a nice surprise last week: my title, The Devil’s Trinity, shot up the rankings after a small promotion. It reached 469 in the thriller category and managed to sell about 40 copies in one day. For me that is a major step up, particularly as it was wallowing at the bottom of the swamp. The sales have tailed off now, but the promotion with Choosy Books cost me $9.99 was a worthwhile investment. It was a one-off deal the company offered. I’ll go with them again. Lot cheaper than BookBub, but not with the same results.

I read last week that Amazon are now third in the top 100 book sellers. Smashwords are second. I forget who came top though. I also read of the problem Amazon’s new Kindle scheme is creating for the top writers. If I lend a book from Amazon’s library, the writer gets a set royalty, and it is the same value for an unknown writer. Whereas a purchased copy of the top writer’s novel would yield a higher royalty compared to the cheaper, unknown writer. It doesn’t affect me because none of my titles are in the Amazon library programme. Not that it made any difference to me when my books were enrolled: I never made more than a couple of dollars in a year anyway.

So I press on and look forward to calmer times when I can get down to serious writing and promotion. The carpet fitter is due in a hour, and the store just phoned to say that the furniture will be delivered on Saturday. We’ll have a totally new front room and dining area then.

Once again, wishing all my readers a merry Christmas and a Happy New year. See you all in 2015.