a catch up about the journey

Sorry it's been a wee while since my last blog. It has been a very busy time. Since my last blog I have been inland to Emerald & Clermont and then travelled up to Cairns and surrounding towns. I was getting a little bit down a few weeks ago and then got some fantastic news. Angus & Robertson have put Sooo Over Shakes on their account at head office.!! I was crying tears of joy and excitement. Now I am visiting every A & R store in Queensland so will be setting off for Brisbane way next week.

Lesson learnt: Sometimes when you believe in something and it doesn't happen the way you envision it,you need to pick yourself up by the bootstraps, slap yourself around a little bit and just keep on working towards your goal because you know what?? You never know whats around the corner!! Yes, we may get down because things aren't going quite the way we would like it to go, but sometimes things take a little bit longer. if we give up our challenge - are we giving up a little too early? Are we giving up before we've rounded that corner?

I thought self publishing a book would become easier after the book was published. No no no! The hard work starts afterward. In promoting Sooo Over Shakes, I have:

Dropped the book into businesses for staff to look through and then gone back later for orders. (One day, Bec & I dropped 66 books off and got 1 order!! Bloody hard work!) Mind you some days were better than others but it's not very succesful in the long run as it is so time consuming and I think it's better to talk to people one on one.

The next thing I did was contact 7 P & C groups in Mackay and offered Sooo Over Shakes as a fundraiser. That was 8 weeks ago. I have received 1 reply - which was a knock back. Ok - Time to come up with another idea!

Attended a ladies evening with about 130 ladies there. - Ok, I got to have a few drinks and a go at Karaoke which was fun. (I think I sung really well - or was it the wine??) 2 booksales there.

Contacted a couple of sportsclubs via email offering a fundraiser - no reply!! (So you can see why I got a little down about it all.)

Dropping Sooo Over Shakes to newsagents and gyms has been quite successful and the bookshops I have approached have been really great so that's the path I am going to keep following. Now Sooo Over Shakes is available from Mackay through to Emerald & Clermont and in every town from Mackay right up to Cairns. So tell your friends they don't have to purchase via website, they can go direct to stores and save postage & handling. If you have friends in Melbourne, tell them to head to Readings. I am really rapt that they are putting Sooo Over Shakes on their shelves.

Until next time - keep on plodding on, try new ideas and believe that if you are passionate about a project and you work at it everyday - something has to change. Take care.