The Sweet and Sour Price of fame...
I was really touched earlier this week by the excitement of the librarians in my local community about the forthcoming release of Catching the Eagle. I'm still recuperating from minor surgery and was getting a bit of cabin fever, so I decided to bimble into the village and call in at the library to ask a random question about Public Lending Rights. The next thing I knew, my details had been taken along with a handful of my promotional postcards.
Emails must have been flying around the county that afternoon because within 24 hours we had a phone call at the house, asking if I would talk to a readers' group in Skelton in January. There could be about 35 people present and they intend to sell tickets for the event. Naturally, I said 'yes' and just asked for my petrol expenses to be covered. However, as Skelton is the next village along, it is probably bit mean to be asking for even that. I am acutely aware that the library service the length and breadth of Britain is suffering dramatically under the government cutbacks; it feels right to try and help them in someway.
I love libraries and I am quite nostalgic about them. Mum and Dad used to take us every fortnight to Oakwood Library in Leeds to get an armful of books. This was a popular family outing, no one seemed to bother back then about a teenage girl helping herself to books from the adult section - even the racy ones. I usually came home with armfuls of historical fiction (especially Jean Plaidy) and I also remember a series of saucy historical romances about some heroine called 'Marianne' who had quite a thing for pirates. ;)
On a more sour note this week, I have noticed a new arrival on Catching the Eagle's Amazon book page. (Yes, I check it daily - the novelty has not worn off yet. :) Apart from Amazon, some bookseller in Florida is now also claiming that he has my novel in stock and for a cool £30+ he is offering to sell it. This of course, is a complete lie. The book is not available to buy yet (although it can be pre-ordered through Amazon or the Knox Robinson Publishing website) and any poor customer who is taken in by this add is going to be sadly disappointed; they won't get the book before anyone else.
Fortunately, this seller has had a lot of poor feedback and anyone who bothers to check this out before ordering should be warned off. I spent sometime trying to work out how to leave a cross message but yet again was baffled by the technology and backed off.
Beware: there's some wrong un's out there. :(
Emails must have been flying around the county that afternoon because within 24 hours we had a phone call at the house, asking if I would talk to a readers' group in Skelton in January. There could be about 35 people present and they intend to sell tickets for the event. Naturally, I said 'yes' and just asked for my petrol expenses to be covered. However, as Skelton is the next village along, it is probably bit mean to be asking for even that. I am acutely aware that the library service the length and breadth of Britain is suffering dramatically under the government cutbacks; it feels right to try and help them in someway.
I love libraries and I am quite nostalgic about them. Mum and Dad used to take us every fortnight to Oakwood Library in Leeds to get an armful of books. This was a popular family outing, no one seemed to bother back then about a teenage girl helping herself to books from the adult section - even the racy ones. I usually came home with armfuls of historical fiction (especially Jean Plaidy) and I also remember a series of saucy historical romances about some heroine called 'Marianne' who had quite a thing for pirates. ;)
On a more sour note this week, I have noticed a new arrival on Catching the Eagle's Amazon book page. (Yes, I check it daily - the novelty has not worn off yet. :) Apart from Amazon, some bookseller in Florida is now also claiming that he has my novel in stock and for a cool £30+ he is offering to sell it. This of course, is a complete lie. The book is not available to buy yet (although it can be pre-ordered through Amazon or the Knox Robinson Publishing website) and any poor customer who is taken in by this add is going to be sadly disappointed; they won't get the book before anyone else.
Fortunately, this seller has had a lot of poor feedback and anyone who bothers to check this out before ordering should be warned off. I spent sometime trying to work out how to leave a cross message but yet again was baffled by the technology and backed off.
Beware: there's some wrong un's out there. :(
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