book promotions – The Princelings Books: Jemima Pett

8 November, 20234 March, 2024

A review of 2023

2023 has been an eventful year for me, mainly due to health reasons. I don’t want to bore you with the details, but if you want to know more, and don’t regularly follow me at jemimapett.com, then skip over there and check out the IWSG posts, which sort of tell the story.

The Cavies of Flexford Common

After some interesting problems, I managed to publish Roscoe & Neville’s story for 7 year olds (Key Stage 1 in the UK). I’ve been selling it at Craft fairs since July, and hope it will do well for Christmas presents.

As it is for younger readers, it is only available as a paperback. To save printing costs, is only available through Blurb, or direct from me at £6 plus postage (shipping), or you can arrange to pick it up at a craft fair (see below). You can check it out and view the purchase page at Blurb through this preview.

Personal appearances

I’ve been able to continue doing my schedule of Mynt Image Ltd Craft and Gift Fairs, thanks to the incredible support of the Mynt Image staff. Basically, they unload my car and get all my stuff to my table, then pack it all back in the car afterwards. They have been so helpful. If any of you authors are based in south-central England, check their venues out and have a go yourself.

I have four more fairs this side of Christmas, in Lymington, Salisbury, Romsey, and Lyndhurst. The posters and dates are displayed on my blog’s front page. You can get a feel for them here.

I am not doing so many next year, but basically have booked one every two weeks from mid-April through to the end of August. Same venues plus one in Chichester. I go to Romsey most often. I’ll decide whether to do more in the summer.

Paperback Prices

One of the features of this year’s fairs has been keeping the cost of books affordable when the basic prices keep going up. It’s gone in four stages – price of paper put the base price up, then distribution costs from Ingram put the add-on up, then they took out the basic level distribution percentage, so they now get 40% of the advertised price! And then the cost of paper/printing went up again.

The price online is the price that online stores can do. The price I do for fairs is the price I can do, and reflects what I’ve bought the stock in at. Some of the books (not many) I sell cheaper than Amazon. But when I next have to buy stock I’ll have to raise my own prices. Which takes me back to the decision next summer on whether to continue doing the craft fairs. Watch this space!

Other possible titles

I have not written anything else this year, partly because of my health issues. I occasionally think of the other projects I had in mind, like a collection of Princelings short stories, including some new ones featuring ‘what happened after book 10’. A second volume of Cavies of Flexford Common really depends on how well it sells at the craft fairs in the next two months.

I do think I should have done an Epilogue for book 10, though. I aim to write that, and reissue the ebook version of Princelings Revolution, which should generate a notification from your online supplier that you can update your edition free. I won’t do a new paperback version, but I will put the epilogue on this website for people to access/print out, and include an amendment slip in my paperbacks.

I’ve been developing a sort of timeline of major characters, mainly for the Amazon promotion pages. I’m not sure how good it looks, but I may test it on you first.

If anything else happens, I’ll let you know, but I hope you have a nice Christmas, and a good new year.

11 August, 202228 July, 2022

More Craft and Gift fairs in Southern England

I’m doing more craft and gift fairs during the rest of the year. You’ll remember from my January post that I’m doing the Mynt Image Craft and Gift Fairs in the Hampshire/Wiltshire area.

Here’s a selection of stalls during the first half of the year:

I tend to put my banners back to back, with the one for the ‘Meet the Author’ short story volumes and for White Water Landings facing the way people are walking around the room. I’ve sold a good number of Princelings books, mainly the first one, not surprisingly. White Water Landings goes extremely well in this area, as many people remember the Sunderland base at Calshot from after the war until the sixties. Many people tell me what their own fathers or grandfathers did in the war as a result of chatting about my father’s memoirs.

Book sales itinerary for autumn 2022

For the rest of the year I’ll be visiting as follows:

20 August: Lyndhurst Community Centre
26 August (Friday): Lymington (Masonic Hall)
17 September: Lyndhurst Community Centre
1 October: Romsey Town Hall
5 November: Lyndhurst Community Centre
19 November: Romsey Town Hall
3 December: Lyndhurst Community Centre
I may get a late entry to Salisbury in December or late November, also.

All the fairs are free entry, and run from 10 am to 4 pm.

If you’re in the area, maybe visiting the New Forest, or the Isle of Wight, or Salisbury’s Cathedral (or Winchester’s for that matter), or even Stonehenge, why not divert to one of the events and meet me in person!

I’ll have all the Princelings books (and Messenger Misadventures) with me – unless I’ve sold out!

Talent Seekers country

This is all Talent Seekers country. Castle White Horse would be located among the chalk downs beyond Salisbury; Castle Forest is sort of in the New Forest, and Castle Deeping is roughly where the Queen Elizabeth Country Park is, north of Fareham (on the A3). But I took a great deal of liberty with the geography of this area–best to say it’s fictitious, but inspired by certain landforms!

1 January, 202222 December, 2021

Welcome to 2022

2022 is going to give me a lot of trouble. I typed that four times before I got the right number of 2s in the right order!

Happy New Year!

What’s in store for 2022

In the Princelings world, there are only a couple of incidents that are firmed up, and both appeared somewhere in the blogoverse in 2011. One made it into the paperback as a bonus chapter, and follows the trip Mariusz made to see Fred and the Realms as you read in my Christmas story. Actually, I suppose it shouldn’t be called the Realms any more, as they are not exactly kingdoms. But it’ll do.

I have two projects involving the Princelings on my list of things to do. Neither is listed as to do in 2022, but I may get started on them.

A set of short stories involving Roscoe and Neville, possibly as seafarers, we’ll see. I’m not sure I can come up with four or five 5000 word stories for them. They may or may not involve other Princelings characters. That’s how it starts: just ‘stories with Roscoe and Neville’.
The second is a very long-term project, maybe over ten years. A Princelings Encyclopedia, or some such title. Maybe I’ll start it off here and see how far I get with it.

I’m also awaiting the edited version of the Princelings and the Lost City audiobook.

Personal Appearances

The Craft & Gift Fairs I did last autumn may not have been a huge success, but they were successful in that I sold books and probably raised my author profile by several hundred percent. I think if I’m prepared to invest in advertising, I have to consider this as an effective way of putting my books in front of, maybe fewer people, but one who are more inclined to read them. I sold copies of books 1,2 3,4 and 7, and a couple of Messenger Misadventures, too.

So I’ve booked four venues in Hampshire and Wiltshire for the coming year:

Lymington (Masonic Hall) — leisure sailing port: March 26, June 25, and possibly August dates
Salisbury (Guildhall) — tourist destination: April 9, July 9, and possibly August and December
Romsey (Town Hall) — local to me: May 7, July 23 , and possibly October and December
Lyndhurst (Community Centre) — heart of the New Forest: June 4, August 20.

I’m also investigating other venues, including the summer shows (agricultural etc) and book fairs, if I can find them.

These are all subject to English Covid rules, of course. And they may (are likely to) change. And hopefully change back. I think people are willing to mask up and get out and about, but the venues have to be strict to keep their licences etc.

Zoom Events

If you are a teacher or librarian and would like a Zoom event for your pupils/members, please get in touch. So far I’ve only been on the receiving end of these.

Keep safe, have a productive year, and look after your well-being and that of your loved ones.

15 November, 201730 October, 2017

Build-up to Princelings of the North launch starts today

The Princelings of the North (POTN) launch is just over ten weeks away, and the build-up starts now!

We have a series of promotions running on BookGoodies in the Bargain Books Under $3 area. That means that all the Princelings books, including the box set, will be priced at $2.99 or less at some time during the run up to book 8’s launch, still scheduled for January 30th.

I’m also running Goodreads and Amazon advertising campaigns, although those don’t really ramp up till after the holiday period.

At present you can pre-order the Princelings of the North on iTunes, Kobo and B&N for Nook. You will shortly be able to do so on Amazon. You can get all the other books on all those retailers plus Smashwords, save for the Box set, which is at present not on Amazon, although I’m working on that.

Don’t forget that I’m running a fundraiser for the Ulva Buyout, so if you buy any Princelings book, I’d be grateful if you’d pop over to my fundraising page at JustGiving, and at least read about what the islanders are trying to achieve. Thanks. If you decide to donate, I’ll send you a link to a free new ebook novella starring Dylan & Dougall (the princelings of the north) called Dylan and the Lights of Ulva.