KAREN CHARLTON
  • Home
  • Author
  • The York Ladies' Detective Agency Mysteries
    • The Mystery of Mad Alice Lane
    • Smoke & Cracked Mirrors
    • Dancing With Dusty Fossils
  • The Detective Lavender Mysteries
    • The Heiress of Linn Hagh
    • The Sans Pareil Mystery
    • The Sculthorpe Murder
    • Plauge Pits & River Bones
    • Murder on Park Lane
    • The Willow Marsh Murder
  • Detective Lavender Short Stories
    • Death At The Frost Fair
    • The Death of Irish Nell
    • The Piccadilly Pickpocket
    • The Mystery of the Skelton Diamonds
  • Catching the Eagle & February 1909
    • Catching the Eagle
    • February 1809
  • Seeking Our Eagle
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Events
  • Genealogy
    • James Charlton Senior (1700-1770)
    • John Charlton (1746-1818)
    • 'Pious John' Charlton (1769-)
    • James 'Jamie' Charlton (1774- )
    • The mysterious William Charlton
    • The Family Tree: Ten generations
Welcome to the official website of historical novelist KAREN CHARLTON

The Sweet and Sour price of fame...

29/10/2011

2 Comments

 

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.  :(
2 Comments
Finlay
30/10/2011 07:19:21 am

Playing catch-up here! Sorry to hear about your ill-health and surgery - hopefully nothing too serious (picked up on the word 'minor' although what is 'minor' or 'major' in today's parlance is open for debate!) Anyway hope all is well.

Just a suggestion - but have you thought about promoting your book at the school in which you work?

Having an English teacher who is also a PUBLISHED AUTHOR (!!!) could inspire your pupils to great things. If they were to see YOUR book on a shelf in Smith's or Waterstone's how many people could turn around and say 'Mrs Charlton's MY English teacher!!!' (Although I think their response would probably be more 'OMG!!!'

Just a thought!


Reply
Karen Charlton
31/10/2011 04:49:41 am

Thanks for the suggestion Finlay, but promoting my book through the students at school has ethical issues. 'Catching the Eagle' contains adult themes and some of my students are only eleven years old. To be honest, I think most of my students will react in the same way as my own kids have done - with a mixture of embarrassment and curiosity. ;)

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    For an occasional newsletter containing news, events and other information from historical novelist, Karen Charlton, please subscribe to the mailing list below.

    Archives

    January 2023
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    June 2022
    April 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    November 2018
    June 2018
    April 2018
    November 2017
    October 2017
    August 2017
    June 2017
    April 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    October 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    June 2014
    February 2014
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    March 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011

    Categories

    All
    Articles
    Book Reviews
    Catching The Eagle
    Crime Fiction
    Dancing With Dusty Fossils
    Death At The Frost Fair
    Events
    Favourite Authors
    February 1809
    Genealogy
    Getting Published
    Guests
    Having Fun
    Historical Fiction
    Literary Awards
    Marketing
    Murder In Park Lane
    Musings On Life
    News
    Non Fiction
    Non-Fiction
    Northumberland
    Plague Pits & River Bones
    Reading For Pleasure
    Research
    Sales News
    Seeking Our Eagle
    Smoke & Cracked Mirrors
    Stephen Lavender
    Talks And Workshops
    The Border Reivers
    The Death Of Irish Nell
    The Detective Lavender Series
    The Gemma James Mysteries
    The Golden Age Of Crime Fiction
    The Heiress Of Linn Hagh
    The Missing Heiress
    The Mystery Of Mad Alice Lane
    The Mystery Of The Skelton Diamonds
    The Piccadilly Pickpocket
    The Sans Pareil Mystery
    The Sculthorpe Murder
    The Willow Marsh Murder
    The York Ladies' Detective Agency Mysteries
    Writing In General

    RSS Feed