BOOKS 'N STUFF

Yesterday I happened to visit my PayPal account because I had just bought something on the Internet. I found that a customer had bought a copy of The Election some three weeks ago and PayPal hadn't bothered to tell me about it. When I asked for an explanation the e-mail in response virtually laid the problem at my door. So, after a year of using PayPal with them notifying me of payments received without any problems suddenly it's my fault (or my computer's fault) because no notification was sent out. They are, unfortunately, a necessary evil. I have now given them two e-mail addresses so hopefully I'll get notified one way or the other.

As for the customer, I sent the book to him immediatley by express post. A bit of a loss incurred there but I would rather look after customers than save a few dollars.

And on the positive side, it was another sale I didn't realise I had.

I've just entered another competition, this time in the UK. I've submitted an entry using a sample of my manuscript for Sleeping With The Angels. Well, you never know.

BOOKS

My talk at the Helensvale Library went down extremely well yesterday. It was gratifying to hear from people who had already read The Election and enjoyed it and to know that so many more people now want to read it. I managed to sell a copy there and then and there were loads of enquiries so more sales will come out of it. People were also interested to know when I'm doing another talk!

Last night I attended the Christmas party of the local Chamber of Commerce and a few of the members of a local book club were there. They had all read The Election and loved it and I had previously given a talk at one of their lunches. But what was very pleasing was that a few of them had read the manuscript of my next novel to be published Calvus and they loved it. One person said she thought it was even better than The Election. I hope their thoughts on it are mirrored by commissioning editors or literary agents I'm submitting to at present.

The rain is wreaking havoc here at present and it looks as though I won't be able to join a colleague at the beach market tomorrow. A sunny day in the run up to Christmas would have been a good time to sell a few copies of The Election. However there will be another opportunity later in the month.

"THE ELECTION"

It was gratifying to receive yet another positive review of "The Election," this time by Carolyn Davis for The US Review of Books. The review can be seen at www.theUSreview.com for a month but it's also on my own website www.darrylgreer.com.

My talk at the Helensvale Library is coming up this Friday. I'm really looking forward to that. I understand it is being actively promoted by the library so hopefully there'll be a good number of people attending. Better still if it translates into more sales.

BOOKS

Saturday's meetings (both committee and general) of the Gold Coast Writers' Association went well. I have been chosen as this month's Member of the Month which was gratifying given the short period of time I've been a member.

There was an enlightening talk by children's author Peter Taylor although writers of children's and young adults' books would have benefitted most.

BOOKS 'N STUFF

I had a great comment from a book club member the other day on my manuscript Calvus. It was to be one of two books for discussion at their next meeting. I hope it went down well with all the members and I look forward to hearing further. In any event it was great encouragement to receive positive feedback from an avid book reader and impetus for my current submissions of that particular manuscript to mainstream publishers and quality agents.

"THE ELECTION"

The Election was mentioned again in today's Gold Coast Bulletin as their reviewer, Michael Jacobson agreed to reprint it today without errors! This time the price is right, my name is spelt correctly and my web address www.darrylgreer.com is mentioned so anyone interested can buy it online. I'm most grateful to Michael for taking the trouble to do that.

BOOKS 'N STUFF

Sunday was Mudgeeraba Fun Day and I manned the Chamber of Commerce stall for a while. I managed to sell just one copy of "The Election" but a sale is a sale and I was only there for an hour or so after the Day officially opened.

I thought it was a lost opportunity for local businesses though. Some people said they had only heard of the event by word of mouth, not from any advertising and two actually said they did not realise Mudgeeraba had a Chamber of Commerce. I also think it would have been better if we had not run out of things to give out only an hour into the Day. A lot of businesses who are Chamber members did not provide anything, not even a brochure, to give out which was disappointing.

But those who turned up seemed to enjoy the day and with any luck it will be an annual event and we can learn as we go along.