May/June

Whew! Once again the days are rushing by in a whirlwind of activities. It’s all good! (our slogan on Jekyll Island) and we’re giving thanks for all our blessings! Besides our book business--writing and marketing--we wear another smaller business hat. We started renting out the loft above our home: ALOFT and now that Spring is here and Summer’s on its way, we find ourselves busy with book keeping, cleaning and meeting new guests. If you’re interested, visit www.vrbo.com and type in 259282.

We have all our books as ebooks with Kindle, with the exception of The Kiska Trilogy. We’ve also put Splendid Isolation on Smashwords and other ebook formats. I encourage my author friends to get your books into digital formats: the growing trend in publishing.

Splendid Isolation continues to astound us with amazing sales and great reviews. Right out of the gate its sales and interest have certainly surpassed the other seven books I’ve written. We’ve re-printed 3,000 books for the “first print,” and if it continues selling at this rate, we’ll be printing the second print by Fall. It is featured this week on www.authorsroundthesouth.com, a Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance affiliation, as “Her Ladyship’s Pick of the Week.” A great deal of its success is due to the independent bookstores and their wonderful employees who hand sell it. Thank you so much to each one of you!!!

The month of May will wrap up school author visits for me with a three-day presentation at Corner Lake Middle School in Orlando, FL. June, July and August will fill up with book signings at both independent and large bookstores. We are booked in South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida at this time, and will look into several signings in North Carolina as well. Mike and I love to travel, so this is a great way to combine business with exploration of new areas!

No, I’m not yet researching the next book. I really am taking this year off from researching and writing. The primary activity for Piñata Publishing this year is Marketing. You writers know how important that is, and you know that you are the best one to market your work, so we’re following the advice we give you. But yes, I will begin to read more stories of the south, so that by next year, I’ll have a better idea of what area I want to explore in my next novel. There are so many stories out there, and I’m looking forward to becoming passionate about someone else and his/her life journeys.

Have a blessed Summer,

Pamela