08/05/2022
As a Supporter of AFS Publishing, and in particular my latest opus, 'The Treasure of Stella Bay’ – and I thank you for that – here’s an update on recent efforts to promote our work. And a few other Doug Jordan doings.
• On The Treasure of Stella Bay front I had these bits of positive news:
◦ One of my readers (my defamation lawyer actually) sent me accolades and promises to post reviews on Goodreads, etc.
◦ Even more surprising, one of my twitter correspondents, a journalist, discovered I am an author and that my book, The TSB, is historical fiction (his preferred genre) set in the 1960s Ontario. He ordered a copy on Kobo for reading on vacation this week. I hope he liked it and will tell all his friends.
◦ I sold two more copies to friends at the Sunday Supper club. What took them so long??? But what we’re finding is, interest continues in this book as the theme and period doesn’t go out of date.
◦ My vendor on Amherst Island, The Woolshed at Topsy Farms, has sold out of their inventory of 15 copies and have ordered 10 more. They are now my #1 vendor at 40 copies to date.
• I took the plunge and bought a table at the forthcoming Ottawa Book Expo at Landsdowne Park August 26, 27, 28. Now I have to ‘SWAG' the number of copies of my books I’m likely to sell – and hope to at least cover all my costs: for that I need to sell 100 copies. The fact that I’ve signed up suggests hope exceeded rationality. If I sell out of TSB (!) maybe I can persuade customers to buy copies of The Maxim Chronicles, or The Hallelujah Chorus, of which I have many unsold copies from the last big book fair I attended – The Word on the Street in Toronto in 2018. SWAG was way wide of the plate that time. (SWAG? Sweet Wild Ass Guess, a well-known technique used by many prognosticators.)
• Another way you might support AFS Publishing, if you haven't already, is to ’Follow’ my pages on LinkedIn and Facebook.
• I’ve almost finished the 3rd Draft of my autobiography, ‘My Story, Mostly’ but I am going to fall behind my schedule – too many hours spent rummaging through old photograph albums and trying to solve long forgotten ancient mysteries. And the bloody thing continues to grow as I find more and more ‘interesting' things I can’t resist including: now up to 137,000 words (429 pages)! Still, I hope to order a print copy next week, then to find in the 4th Draft all the errors I missed on the screen.
◦ In this regard, I’ve recruited two ‘editors' to find errors and provide me feedback by mid-October when I return from The Philippines.
◦ My goal is to have the product available for Christmas Giving, at least to my immediate family. (Let me know if you’re interested in acquiring a copy for yourself.)
◦ I’ve asked my graphics designer (One Fish Creative, who designed the cover to Travels With Myself) to take a stab at the cover for 'My Story, Mostly’. Not sure what Amanda and company will come up with. I’ve provided her with the general idea of what I want and a photo of moi for the front cover (it's after all an autobiography!) and two cute photos for the back cover of key people who also were a big part of ‘My Story, Mostly’. I still have to come up with the descriptive text. Suggestions welcome.