Great to read about other writers' success stories with Lulu. Corinne McKay has written a book about working as a freelance translator and gone on to sell 2,500 copies since publication in 2006. I admire her resolve in keeping on writing every day to get the book finished - even if some days it was just one sentence. Now if only I did that on my next book I might get it finished! Like me, her book supports her business - and vice-versa.
I'm a bit shocked. Last month I sold 69 books. This month it was 506. My previous record was 308 - and I was pretty pleased with that! Certainly my book is an education text book and it does better at the beginning of school terms, but this was a fantastic surprise.
I was pleased to note that I had a big increase in US sales - from a previous high of 46 to 108. I am currently tweaking my listing on Amazon using methods in Aaron Shephard's Aiming for Amazon and hope for even more sales! I use the Amazon blog facility which enables you to add extra information. It makes the page more interactive and has already brought in another customer review.
I love playing drama games and began collecting them in a big folder when I started acting in the seventies. Soon I was trying them out on other people, and I noticed that both children and adults enjoyed them. I kept playing my favourite ones, adapting them, and learning more. As soon as the internet arrived, I posted a selection for others to use and this grew into a now-thriving website. An e-book followed and I soon realised the potential for publishing this paperback.
It's packed full of activities that have been tried and tested for over thirty years. As an actor, I've used the games as warm-ups. As a director, I've used the games in rehearsals to stimulate ideas. As a teacher and drama consultant I use them to help children's learning in history, literacy and across the curriculum. I love the fact that whoever tries them out next will find a new way of using them.
If you want to find out more about these games and activities, here is the website that started it all:
www.dramaresource.com
This month I've sold over 320 copies of 101 Drama Games and Activities, mainly in the UK through Amazon. US sales are beginning to creep up too. I've just been reading Plug Your Book by Steve Weber, which is very readable and has dozens of ideas for promoting books online, especially in the States - very useful.
Chatting to somebody recently who has just written a text book for a publishing house, I've realised that I am making ten times as much per copy - because I've self-published using Print on Demand. So this has really bucked me up to get started on my next book. I'm pulling together notes and articles from my website and computer and have already amassed over 17,000 words - as much as in my current book.
The tragic news about the banker who was beaten to death in Norwich on Sunday morning, had a particular resonance for me. I had my own experience of a brawl in Norwich the day before - in the vegetable aisle of Sainsbury's. As I was pushing the trolley a man in his 70s suddenly fell heavily onto the floor in front of me. His face was bleeding, he looked stunned and was finding it difficult to breath. I immediately knelt down to see if I could help him. Meanwhile another man started shouting loudly, "He tripped me up. He pushed me!" to the injured man's wife, whilst acting in a threatening way to the man lying prone on the floor.
The wife meanwhile was telling me her husband had emphysema, which explained his breathing difficulties. He looked as though he might not make it. My partner and I got help from the staff who put the guy into the recovery position and rang an ambulance. Meanwhile, the angry man - who was at least 60 himself - went off shopping and was arrested by police after being found in the alcohol section. We tried to continue shopping but couldn't really concentrate. We saw the man - Colin - being helped into a wheelchair and later talked to him at the police station where we went to give a statement. It turns out the other man had punched him because he wouldn't move his trolley out of the way.
My self-published book has come a long way since it first appeared as a paperback in September 2006. Despite not having the backing of a standard publisher, it is now the top-selling book published by Lulu.com in Great Britain. This is apparent when you visit BookButler which also informs me that the book is the ninth-best selling book in Great Britain for the keyword "drama", just behind "The Empty Space" by Peter Brook.
How did this happen? It's a long story and involves a website, an email newsletter, a lot of work and a fair share of luck. I am writing a detailed article about the book's journey to success at www.dramaresource.com/printondemand
I am feeling more than a little bit pleased with the book's success at the moment!
I've learnt about self-publishing the hard way. However, with over 100 copies of my book selling each month in the UK and USA markets, it seems well worth the investment of time. Two of my friends have watched my efforts and published their own books with my help. Daryl Fraser has produced The Inner Traveller's Guidebook, for which I also designed the cover and Jonathan Lambert has published Adventures in Sound, which was originally available through my website as an e-book. Both have been published through www.lulu.com. All they have to do now is sell some copies.
To help other people who may want to do something similar, I have written my own guide to Print on Demand (POD) publishing, which can be found at http://dramaresource.com/index.php/Featured-Articles/How-to-publish-a-book.html
I wanted some Amazon buttons for my website and couldn't see any available on the Amazon sites, so I made two of my own. I'm quite pleased with them. Take them and use them if you like.
