It is one year since I started writing draft 1 of my supernatural horror (novel WIP # 4). Last November was when I decided to expand the short story version of this work in progress into a novel length project. Amidst all the intensity of the last two and a half weeks since publication of The Buddha’s Bone, I had completely forgotten that fact – until now. I am up to 75k words, hurray!
I am nearing the end of this draft, but in order to write the epilogue I’m back to reading the entire draft from the start, just to get the continuity straight. It’s tough going. I’m in the thick of it so much at the moment that I may even need to take a short break over the coming weeks.
But for now, ploughing on. My goal is to get draft 1 finished by the end of this year, ready to go to my editor, followed by copy editor, then beta readers and so on. Fingers crossed.
Rest assured you shall be hearing more on this topic very soon…
Now that my second novel is published, I’ve been thinking about my author branding. After all, my writing is not about individual books, but my author career as a whole.
A reader got in touch recently to say that after having read my debut novel Gods of Avalon Road and now my second novel The Buddha’s Bone, she was surprised about how both books are very different. In case you haven’t read either of them, Gods of Avalon Road is an urban fantasy set in modern day London with flashbacks to Iron Age Britain and has elements of paranormal romance, whereas The Buddha’s Bone is a literary fiction book set in contemporary Japan. Two very different genres, but they have one common theme: both have main characters who thought they knew themselves, have a crisis of identity and create a new sense of self. To explore this further, I’m going to have to give you a spoiler alert warning if you want to read on. Otherwise, you can stop reading now until you’ve finished the books.
Last night I read excerpts from my second novel, The Buddha’s Bone, at the Purely Poetry event in the Crescent Arts Centre, Belfast. Although a novel, my main character Kimberly expresses her darkest feelings during her journey in Japan through poetry.
The novel looks at many serious topics, although protagonist Kimberly tends to use her poetry as an outlet for her depression and sense of loneliness and isolation as she goes on a journey of self-discovery. I wrote the poems in Kimberly’s voice rather than my own style as a poet.
Some of my Advance Review Copy (ARC) readers in fact enjoyed Kimberly’s poetry so much that they commented in the Goodreads and Amazon reviews that my main character’s poems were among their favourite parts of the novel, as they helped with her characterisation and to show what she was truly feeling.
What do you think? If you’ve been reading The Buddha’s Bone, do you enjoy Kimberly’s poetry, or the novel as a whole? I’m always interested to hear what readers think because, after all, your thoughts keep me motivated to write more books!
Many thanks to Darrell at Snowflakes in a Blizzard for promoting The Buddha’s Bone today! Here you can learn more about my second novel and where you can get yourself a copy.
Kimberly Thatcher wasn’t an English teacher. She wasn’t a poet. She wasn’t an adventurer. Now she wasn’t even a fiancée. But when one of her fellow non-Japanese colleagues tried to make her a victim, she said no.
Cremation
In Japan on a one-year teaching contract at a private English language school, and with her troubled relationship far behind her in London, Kimberly set out to make new friends. She would soon discover the darker side of travelling alone – and people’s true intentions.
Rebirth
As she came to question the nature of all those around her – and herself – Kimberly was forced to embark on a soul-searching journey into emptiness. What came next after you looked into the abyss? Could Kimberly overcome…
(The Buddha’s Bone:Ebook, Hardcover and Paperback)
It’s been two weeks since my second novel, The Buddha’s Bone was published. This is a good moment to reflect as it has been quite the whirlwind. During publication week I ended up sick with flu. I didn’t have much time to rest, as I also had a sick child to mind. There’s nothing tougher as a parent than being sick when you have to take care of someone else.
Nevertheless, promotion has gone well. I’ve had more reviews coming in on Goodreads and Amazon – both UK and US marketplaces – from both ARC reviewers and readers. Some moments of the past two weeks have been as expected and some moments have been surreal. Here’s a rundown, which I’ll break into successes and surprises:
Sales successes
I’m astonished to say that sales of The Buddha’s Bone have exceeded expectations. In two weeks, I’ve sold more copies than the total number my debut novel, Gods of Avalon Road, sold in two years. Yep, you read that right – I’m amazed too! As the author of both books, I can say that they’re very different novels, but both are of similar quality in terms of writing and production. The difference is that I sent out ARCs (Advance Review Copies) of The Buddha’s Bone three months before publication, building up a few reviews, which I really think helped readers decide whether to buy or not. I didn’t know much about the impact of ARC reviewers at the time of my first novel. I also ran an advertisement in the Ingram Advance catalog for The Buddha’s Bone. I went into this blindly as I had no experience of running ads, but decided to risk the $85/£67 fee for a blurb of 50 or fewer words, knowing that it would be distributed to all the libraries, bookstores, wholesalers in the US in addition to 27,000 subscribers worldwide. That decision paid off. I’ll go into that a bit more in my next point.
Sales surprises – good
During my research over the summer, before publication, I had read that as an Indie author you should expect to mainly sell ebooks and few, if any print copies. I’m astounded to say that in my case the opposite has happened. 80% of my sales have been the hardcover version of my book which I produced through Ingramspark and I’m selling at $18.99/£14.99 a copy. About 12% of my sales have been the Kindle ebook at £1.99 and 8% the paperback version at £8.99 through Amazon. The majority of my hardcover sales have been in the US (about 87%), with 13% in the UK. If any author is undecided about whether to use Ingramspark for their hardcover book, and to avail of the option to advertise in the Ingram Advance catalog, I wholeheartedly say yes – to both. It costs $49/£35 to produce a print book and $85/£67 for the ad in Ingram advance catalog, but it’s worth the investment in my experience.
Publishing directly on Kindle for my ebook and Amazon for my paperback has worked out well too. I’m having steady sales trickling in and the royalties are higher than I was expecting too, without a publisher taking a percentage of the profits. Don’t misunderstand what I mean when I say ‘profit’ either – I had start-up costs since this was my first book under my own imprint (ISBNs/set up fees/business cards, etc) so it will be a while (a long, long while) before I break even between royalties and expenses.
Sales surprises – bad (and good)
As an author, I’m sure that I’m not alone in saying that few people I know in real life are supporters of my writing. Many are initially interested in the process of writing a novel. Some show no interest at all – and I respect that; it’s honest! A few are genuine supporters of my work. I’m grateful to those friends across the world who gave messages of support, liked my posts and videos or have asked about how my book is doing since it was published. It means a lot; even more so because this is my first book under my own imprint. But the truth of the matter is that only 8% of my sales for The Buddha’s Bone are from people I know in real life. On a positive note, it means that 92% of sales are from new readers and therefore I have expanded my readership in a way I hadn’t previously done with my debut novel, despite having a publisher for that one. I’ll get into the personal side of writing, relating to friends and family buying books versus unknown readers in another post. For now, The Buddha’s Bone is reaching a new audience somewhere out there in the wide world. In readership terms, I have achieved success if I am comparing to what I had previously achieved with Gods of Avalon Road. I can only compare myself to past achievements, and so in that sense my writing career is moving forwards, as I have now expanded my readership and surpassed what I had previously reached with Gods of Avalon Road. But in monetary terms it probably wouldn’t count as success, since I have yet to break even with the balance between expenses and royalties. Between readership or monetary gain, reaching new readers is my priority for now. What writer wouldn’t feel the same way?
Many thanks to Sofia at Soph’s Book World for her wonderful review of The Buddha’s Bone, which you can read here. Sofia’s favourite parts of the novel are the main character Kimberly’s poetry, which she uses to process her emotional journey in Japan. Sofia also liked my descriptions of Japan, which she thought were beautiful. Japan certainly is a stunning country and I hope I do it justice in my book.
You can also read and follow Sofia’s reviews at Goodreads. If you’d like to buy The Buddha’s Bone, and you enjoy it, please do leave a review or even just a star rating on Amazon UK, Amazon.com or Goodreads. I’m delighted that my book has been so well received so far and I read every review posted. Your readership is why I keep writing books!
What a week it has been. I can’t believe that it has been eight days since my second novel, The Buddha’s Bone, was released. It has been a good week. My book is out there in the world, in Ebook, Paperback and Hardcover versions. People watched my book launch video to celebrate with me, and bought copies of my book to support my writing. So what now?
If you’re one of the lovely folks who bought my novel, and made my week, month and whole year, please consider leaving a review. Even a star rating is appreciated as it helps my book reach more readers and gain more visibility. I welcome your honest feedback and I read every review that readers leave for me. Believe it or not, it motivates me to keep doing what I love – writing more books for you to read!
You can leave a review on Amazon UK, Amazon.com or Goodreads. It’s very much appreciated and I look forward to hearing your thoughts on my book. ☺️
Today I posted a hardcover copy of my recently published novel, The Buddha’s Bone, to the British Library. There’s a process called legal deposit and – fascinating fact – it has been part of English law since 1662. Publishers have to send one copy of every new book to the British Library within a month of publication. You can read more about legal deposit here.
For me, this process is simply one more way of making my publication feel ‘real’, especially since, because of the current covid restrictions, I haven’t been able to organise an official book signing event at a local bookstore. I had previously done a book launch event at Waterstones in Belfast with my debut novel, Gods of Avalon Road, right before the pandemic struck and we went into lockdown. How lucky I had been with my first novel back in 2019 that I had been able to have a celebration with all the works! But now, in the covid era, the bulk of my promotion is online. It’s quite a different world out there, both for literary endeavours and life in general.
So, on that note, please feel free to check out my latest book! It’s available in Ebook, Paperback and Hardcover from all of the major online retailers – you can find all the links here. If you read it and like the book, please do leave a review on Amazon or Goodreads. It would make an Indie author very happy!
Thank you to everyone who helped me to celebrate my book launch yesterday for The Buddha’s Bone. You’re all amazing and it means the world to me!
To those of you who watched my book launch video and to those who bought a copy of my book, I hope you enjoy it. If you like it, feel free to spread the word, as it helps introduce my work to other readers. Better still, why not drop me a review or even a star rating on Amazon, Goodreads etc, as it will help my book to find its audience. Here are the links to leave a review on: Amazon UK, Amazon US and Goodreads.
To those who liked my book launch posts and who shared their kind wishes, it means more than you realise. 🤗 In the meantime, my celebration continues! 😘💕
Today is the book launch for my second novel, The Buddha’s Bone. It’s available as an Ebook for £1.99/$2.99, Paperback for £8.99/$12.44 or Hardcover for £14.99/$18.99. You can buy copies from all of the major online retailers at the link above on the book title.
Due to covid restrictions, I haven’t been able to organise a live signing event at Waterstones as I did for my debut novel, Gods of Avalon Road in October 2019. Instead, you can watch me reading an excerpt below and help celebrate the release day of my literary novel.
So, what am I doing with the rest of my publication day? A celebratory lunch with family and a nice bottle of prosecco later with my fellow writer hubby, Joseph Robert. It’s a low-key launch day, but the adventure really only begins from this moment onwards. Today, I start my marketing and promotion journey. Wish me luck!
![The Buddha's Bone by [Leilanie Stewart]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41pU-ML8ZnL.jpg)
Leilanie Stewart 