Wishing a Happy Easter time to all Bookrix bookworms and Leseratten!

Finally managed to update my Inspektor Beagle blog, but my spelling is really atrocious. Without a German language Microsoft spell checker that actually works, I am lost. Am writing in German on an English-language keyboard, which doesn't help. Go to http://inspektorbeagle.wordpress.com, if you'd like to try a dose of war-time fish soup - Marguerite Patten's recipe. Please ignore the errors, dear German readers:(

As my first full length "Inspector Beagle" murder mystery is nearing the end, I'm almost sad to release my characters back into the wilderness that is "off-page" life. What will they get up to during their author's absence?

Will Monty the Basset develop a taste for vegetarian meals? Can Sergeant Beanstalk's wife get over her dislike for a certain type of alotment? Will Inspector Beagle fall in love again?

Before I can start their next adventure, I must still go through the editing and proofreading process, a part of publishing I loathe. But not as much as translating my own own work. I see from my sales stats that Inspector Beagle's German language short stories have made a good start. That is very encouraging - but the English language contingent here on Bookrix only seems to download books they can get for free, which is very disappointing. A cultural thing? Most likely.

Which gives me a valid excuse NOT to bother translating my Beagle adventures...Yep, there's always a silver lining!

http://www.bookrix.de/_ebook-sekkon-k-je-suis-charlene/

Ein klein bisschen Werbung muss sein - ich hoffe, es ist ok für dich und würde mich über einen Kommentar von dir zu meiner neuen Kurzgeschichte natürlich sehr freuen!

So oder so - viele Grüße und viel Schreibfreude weiterhin!

Sekkon

Wishing everyone a wonderful Festive Season. May all your writerly dreams come true in 2015!

Sorry for my long absence - I'm travelling diong lots of research for an upcoming book series. Client work also rather a lot. Was pleased to see that book sales via Bookrix are gradually picking up. Yay!

I've just been reading some interest stuff on how to improve one's Google+ profile and ranking, which of course helps with book marketing and ultimately with sales. Have a read of what Doris Heilmann, book marketeer extraordinaire has to say about using Google hashtags:
http://savvybookwriters.wordpress.com/2014/07/30/hidden-gems-google-hashtags/

Since my laptop died I have been like a junie without a fix! What a thing to happen to a writer. A kind friend has lent me her old laptop, so I can start to catch up with things.

Going through my various online accounts I find that there are still an awful lot of authors out there who simply don't get what social media outlets are for and that it is one of the worst rookie mistakes to spam other writers with "read my book" requests. There have been dozens of people on Goodreads, About.Me and various other sites, including this one, where I have received this type of spam - and that's what it is, my dears, it is NOT book promotion.

If you want somebody to do a review of your book, send them a polite note, possibly offering to do a review of their book, too. Better still, recommend a book written by somebody you really admire, perhaps even a friend's book. This will make you look interesting and also show you as somebody willing to promote other people's work. It lends "value" to your brand name, you as an author and shows you as somebody who cares about the reading experience of others.

At those type of requests most readers/authors will look and respond positively. They will look up your page on Goodreads or wherever and check out your work. Bombard other people with messages full of sales links and "read my latest work" and you'll only get yourself de-friended and blocked as a spammer.

Sorry for not responding to messages everyone, my laptop is on its last little leg and keeps shutting down unexpectedly, the moment I go online. Will get back to everyone as soon as it's fixed.

I couldn't find the promised link about litary translation yesterday, but here it finally is for all those of you whose book is selling well and is therefore worth translating - I mean from a cost versus profit point of view. The British Society of Literary Translation is mainly an organisation for literary translators, however, they publish an excellent FREE downloadable guide for anyone thinking of having their literary work translated. Here's the general link first of all:
http://www.bclt.org.uk/

Click on the FAQ link and then find a few paragraphs down the link for Translation in Practice. Just click on it and it takes you straight to the PDF.

The document is invaluable guidance for anyone thinking of having their literary work translated, because there are a number of legal requirements one must fulfil and naturally, it should ideally be a close collaboration between author and translator, who is not a Google-type machine, but a living, breathing being who RECREATES your work and is therefore entitled to have their name in the credits of your book and can also claim royalties, unless both parties agree in a legally binding contract a different kind of remuneration.

The initial price for your translated book will vary according to the translator's experience, the length of your work and the difficulty of the contents. For example, if you are writing a true crime novel, the legal bodies your work mentions and the laws your baddies are breaking may not translate at all into the other language - simply because such organisations may not exist in such a format in the other language's country or because such legislation doesn't exist.

Your translator may have to do a lot of research to "localise" your work so that it becomes not just understandable for the reader of the other language but also fun and thrilling to read. Globally speaking, translators charge between $0.035 and $0.09 per word, but this may reduce upwards or downwards according to the above mentioned points.