Hi there

I write to you this month from a much-changed world, where (or so I heard on the news on Friday) over a quarter of the global population is now living under some form of COVID-19 lockdown.

Here in South Africa, we're on the fifth day of our twenty-one day lockdown, where all non-essential businesses are closed and we're not allowed to leave the house except to buy basic supplies, collect social grants, or seek medical attention.

And there's no guarantee it's going to end on twenty-one days either, with Italy recently announcing they've extended their own lockdown to at least 31 July 2020. 

On the eve of the lockdown, those of us with websites hosted in the .za namespace found out that we'd all been ordered by the South African government to change our sites to include prominent links to the official South African COVID-19 portal.

For many, it's a scary, uncertain time. An unprecedented time. I'm confident that no-one alive in the world today has ever faced anything quite like it. One thing's for sure: even when all this is over, the world is never going to be the same again.

What's it like for you where you are? Have you been allowed to work from home, or are you considered an "essential service" (if so, thank you for everything you do), and still having to go to the office?

And how's your reading life been? I know people who say they've been getting lots of reading done, but others are just way too stressed.

The show must go on, though, as they say. And I have a bit of news to share for March. I hope reading it gives you some reprieve....

Blog Posts

Here are all the blog posts I've written since the last newsletter. Click on a title to view it in your browser.

By the way, you'll notice there's only two this month. That's because I'm scaling down on my blog writing, and will only be posting when I have something to say. I'm not convinced many people read my blog anyway (if they do, I hardly ever get any comments), so I'm hoping this gives me more time to focus on my business, marketing, and writing.

The following blurb was written by South African indie author John West, whom I featured in this newsletter in December 2019. He's the person responsible for discovering Shorty and helping her get published:

Drinking outside Hells Kitchen one warm Johannesburg evening, after a respectable amount of beer, a pint-sized street urchin bounced across the sidewalk and asked if we'd like to hear some poetry.

"Why not?" we laughed. This was different. No outright begging. As a writer myself, I respected the effort being made.

Then she recited her poetry, and I suddenly understood what real writing sounded like.

I was so impressed, I decided to publish her work.

Treat yourself. Read these poems. Let them reach inside and tug on strings you never knew you had.

Welcome to life on the colourful streets of Melville, Johannesburg.

All digital royalties, and all proceeds from the sale of local paperbacks, go to Shorty. I'm not taking a cent.

Finances: February 2020

Sadly, I made a significant loss last month. I sold one book, a paperback of Animals: Premium Children's Colouring Books... I haven't sold one of those in a while, though, so I was quite chuffed.

My expenses were also quite high: February was the annual renewal of BookFunnel, which is the service I use to deliver my subscribers' free books to them when they sign up. I also needed to buy proof copies of the new Stingers paperback. One they arrive and I approve them (if they arrive, what with this lockdown), you'll start seeing them replace the old ones in your favourite stores.

Here are my February figures:

• Income:  R  49.76
• Expense: R 656.58
• Loss:    R 606.82

Want to Help?

If you'd like to help support me and my business, there are plenty of ways.

First, buy and read my books. It sounds obvious, but so many people open this email religiously every month, click on my links, even reply to tell me how happy or proud they are of me... and haven't read any of my books.

Second, if you've read one of my books and enjoyed it, tell a friend. Although authors like me put a lot of effort, and spend a lot of money, on marketing, the very best marketing remains word of mouth. Nobody's going to know about us unless people tell them.

And if you're really passionate about the book, don't stop at just telling your friend about it. Why not buy it for them as a gift? Plenty of ebook stores allow gifting, and if they don't, you'll surely be able to buy them a voucher or gift card, and gently suggest that they use it to buy my book.

Third, write a review. Reviews are word-of-mouth marketing meant to reach people you've never met. It takes very little time to pop onto Goodreads and rate and review one of my books. In fact, my personal philosophy is, "If there's no review, it never happened!"

Finally, if you're really dedicated and want to make a living out of it, have you considered becoming an affiliate marketer? Most stores have this option: sign up for their affiliate programs, then advertise their products (which hopefully includes my books), and earn commission when people buy them. It's a lot of fun, and many people make respectable livings on affiliate marketing alone.

Month in Books

It's been a while since I read four books in a month. Granted, one of them was a short story, but every little bit counts, right?

Click on any of these covers to view my review on Goodreads, which also contains a link to where you can get the book.

Have you read any of these?

That's it for me, everyone. Until next time, stay safe, stay healthy, and stay sane. And remember....

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Affiliate Marketing Notice

Many of the links shared in this newsletter are affiliate links. If you click on any of those links, and make a purchase from the site in question, I stand to earn a small commission from them.