Of books

 I only work a few hours each week at the library, being allegedly retired and all. My primary responsibility is helping patrons learn how to use their computers, tablets and e-readers to borrow books from the digital library. When I am on site and people using the public access computers have problems, I am the person other librarians call in to assist.

Recently a woman who is thinking about purchasing an e-reader came to get advice, but she also wanted to talk about publishing a book she is writing. We had talked about that one day when I was helping her with a related task on one of our computers. I showed her what I had done through Amazon/CreateSpace, because that is the platform she intends to use for her book. She had previously written a book and published it through another group, but she had not been happy with the result.

One of the things we discussed was marketing. I mentioned that I no longer actively market my books, although they are available on Amazon in print and Kindle formats. (Hint, hint!) As a result, although I put no effort into it and Amazon certainly puts no effort into it beyond having the books on their list for people to stumble across, even this rather passive approach means that every month a few shekels trickle in. Trickle is definitely the word. If I ever finish the novel I began last November, I will have to give some thought to actually marketing it.My first three had a ready-made Carmelite audience, and that was my marketing target when I began. This one is not designed for that particular niche. And someday I may paste together some rambling thoughts from this blog to give family and friends for Christmas. That'll teach 'em!

Anyway, when I  looked at my Kindle sales reports this morning I discovered that this month someone in Italy bought a copy of Elijah and the Ravens of Carith. That it would be Elijah does not surprise me, that being my best-selling title. Beyond the (primarily) English-speaking nations, I am only aware of having sold this one book in Italy and one in Germany. At any rate, I can at least claim to have an international readership.

Whether that means I am doing my part to spread unity or only contributing to world tensions, I will not venture to guess.