My new book “Legends and Folklore of Bridgend and the Vale” has now been out for one whole week.
As a new author I got to taste some of the more trying issues around the launch of a new book. The first print run had already been done when a spelling mistake was spotted on the back cover so the whole lot had to be re-done. That pushed launch back nearly two weeks. By the time the books finally arrived last Friday, I had already started receiving polite but concerned emails from people who had placed pre-orders as a result of the newspaper articles in the Barry and District News and The Penarth Times enquiring what the delay was, and when they could expect their delivery.
I dearly would have loved to have written a blog back then; about the emotional roll-a-coaster of finally seeing my books after the disappointment of the delay; the excitement of stuffing them into envelopes; the frustration at having to drive for miles to find a post office to send them from, as all the ones near me no longer open on Saturdays as apparently Coronavirus is more virulent on Saturdays than other days of the week.
The reason I didn’t get to write that blog is because my feet have not touched the ground since. The book is selling at a rate commensurate with how my dog gobbled up a rasher of bacon my stepson dropped on the kitchen floor this morning. It was gone in a flash, probably micro-seconds after sliding off the plate, let alone before anyone could retrieve it from him.
260 books have gone out in a week.
As I am juggling order fulfilment with a full-time job, that would normally have been really challenging. In the strangest of ways however, I have been saved by the Vale of Glamorgan being put into local lockdown. A total nuisance for everyone, but for me, a shrouded blessing. If I had been commuting to Bristol everyday as I would be under normal circumstances, I don’t think I could have coped.
What is really humbling however, is that the people who received the first copies have now read them and are starting to post reviews about it. I could not be more proud of the comments I have seen.
If you have not yet bought yourself a copy (or got it as a present for someone you love for Christmas) I would be more than pleased to be rushed off my feet a bit more in future weeks too.
Just visit the book’s website at https://bridgendvale.co.uk for all the information you need. It is also available from Amazon (although they charge £12.99 + P&P and I only charge £10 + P&P).
