The fourth book in the Sir Anthony Standen Adventures, Called to Account, is now available for pre-order as an ebook. I’ve set the publication day as Tuesday 8th November. I’m working with my New York base book publicist, Brian, to prepare for the launch. He’s arranging fifteen radio / podcast interviews. Meanwhile we’re doing weekly zoom calls to prepare me for the launch. This afternoon he’s going to try and teach me how to use social media more effectively for marketing. I’m hoping I’ll come away knowing how to post on Instagram and TikTok. I think I’ve got the hang of Facebook and Twitter, but Instagram and TikTok are a bit of a mystery to me. What’s a reel for heaven’s sake? Last week he went through my website with me. He found a few glitches and suggested some improvements. So I’m off to DigiPrint to discuss those with Tom this afternoon. It’s going to be a busy afternoon.
So far this morning I’ve made a video welcoming people to my website. Brian said that some people like to see the human behind the website. How many clips have I made and deleted? I lost count, twenty or thirty maybe. I made a short script and propped it next to the camera. It was OK but you could see I was reading. However minute the movement, my eyes were definitely reading. So I tried it another umpteen times off the cuff. Well, I hope the result is OK. I’m definitely human. I make mistakes.
I think the main point Brian had is the “Latest Book” banner that runs across the Home Page. Viewed on a phone, it dominates the screen. The heading is The Suggested Assassin, which was until just now the latest book. It’s next to the the book cover, so the title is a bit redundant as a heading. What do I want it to do? I can see the merit of having the latest book highlighted, but I also want it to scream series. I have some ideas to discuss with Tom.
Perhaps I should tell you something about Called to Account. The Suggested Assassin took place in 1610. I flicked forward through history, and didn’t find anything very exciting in 1611. In 1612 there was a pogrom. In further research I found that there was a mini-ice-age at the start of the 17th century. The resulting crop failures had to blamed on someone. This led to an outbreak of witch trials. Where there was a large Jewish population, they often took the blame instead. Why do we need someone to blame, someone to hate? There’s a theme. I hope you enjoy it