Doesn’t time fly? It feels like only a few months since I posted about last year’s village Christmas Fayre, yet I’ve just returned from this year’s KSM Christmas Fayre. There were a few differences. I had a different table this year, whereas I was by the entrance last year. I sold out last year, whereas this year I sold six books. The heating wasn’t working very well this year, and it was soooo cold. The positive thing this year is that several people who bought books last year told me how much they had enjoyed them. I asked if they’d put reviews or ratings on Amazon, no was the answer, although they enjoyed reading reviews before buying. Duh!
The other nice thing is that Carol was there. Last year I had a stall next to Carol’s and she told me about the Corsham Writer’s Circle. I was able to tell her about the success of Milktown Writers. Hopefully she’ll start attending when her wrist heals. It was Carol’s husband who told me about his card reader device from Square, and today I took my first card payment for a book.
I’m not suprised that I sold only six books today, because so many of the people there had bought them last year. It’s another six books out there, and fingers crossed they get some good reviews. At last year’s Christmas Fayre I had stacks of my four books in front of me and had barely begun researching the fifth book. Today I am 15,000 words into book 5 and am still on chapter three.
Who knows what next year’s Christmas Fayre will bring? I may have five stacks of books. I may have won an award. Perhaps I will be writing the sixth, or stuck on some problem with book 5. Following a talk at Chippenham library a few weeks ago I’m encouraged to try attracting a publisher to book 5. So I might be selling traditionally published books at next year’s Christmas Fayre. I certainly hope that I’ve got as far as finding a name for book 5.