"Miss Mousey" meets her public
L-R: Angela, Lynn, Heather, SueWhen I met Lynn Taylor through a women's walking group last autumn, I could not have imagine

Finding the right audience - one hit and miss experience!
As writers, when we start out in drafting a book, we should have a clear idea of the age group and audience we are writing for, and tailor the language and content accordingly. Our marketing efforts are also targeted according to the ideal customer that we have in mind. However, I found that this can go completely awry when accepting invitations to read! I was thrilled to be invited to do a reading at my local library during half term. It is close to Platt Fields park, where my character Mrs Mallard and her family live and I hoped therefore, that the audience would known and identif

Trying to Conquer the World - How to get your book out there
Once you've published your book, you face the problem of how to get it out there to the customer. We all know the stereotypical image of the author with boxes of their own books under the bed gathering dust. Distributing your book yourself takes a considerable amount of time and effort (time which I would prefer to spend illustrating) and you also need a lot of nerve. One of my friends recently bought 300 copies of her own book. She's retired so has the time to do the footwork around bookshops and libraries, and she has had some success. It seems that my grandma's mantra of "if you don't ask, you don't get" is really true, but much of the time I don't have the ner

Normal service will be resumed shortly, folks
Apologies to all following my blog that it has been taking a back burner during the last two weeks. My oldest two cats (almost 18) went quickly into decline together and had to be put to sleep last weekend. To lose two of my feline models in one blow has taken some getting my head around! Then one of my younger cats began moping and refusing to get out of bed and a visit to the vet revealed a sky-high temperature. Thankfully after a few injections, he's back out terrorising the neighbourhood, but all in all it hasn't been a good week for cats.My home is now under invasion from various opportunists who real

A Week of Challenges
When I first started self-publishing, it was more a means of getting my books into print without the fear of being cheated or disappointed again. I never really saw myself as s publisher, so I surprised myself late last year by agreeing to publish a children's book for a retired woman who I met through my w