This little piggy went to America - wee-wee-wee

The American market is such a difficult one to break into, particularly for books written in British English and with a very British sense of humour.

Despite doing very well in the UK, 'Sell the Pig' had done nothing more than land a tentative trotter on the other side of the pond. But thanks to the most amazing marketing help from my new publisher Ant Press, this little piggy has now got all four trotters in the trough Stateside and is the Amazon No 1 bestseller in its Senior Travel category both in US and UK markets.

I had so much help from New York Times bestselling author Victoria Twead. Sell the Pig went on special promotion for the month of October through various outlets but notably through the amazing BookBub who were fantastic to work with and incredibly helpful. It was a nail biting time waiting to see if the sales would start to go up and huge thanks to Victoria for being constantly at the end of a message to reassure me, and to put up with my squeaks of delight as little old Pig started its steady climb up through the rankings.

There are more than 1.5 million books in Amazon's Kindle store and Pig made it up to #No 54 of all of them, a truly remarkable effort for a modest little first instalment memoir in a fairly specialised market. And Pig's spectacular rise has had a great effect on little brother 'Is That Billinge Lump?' which has also reached No 1 in its category on more than one occasion.

So now I suppose I had better get on and write Part III. I promised to start it this winter. As we often get snowed up here, it's good for making me sit down and write as there is not a lot else I can do. They are threatening us with the worst winter in 100 years, so I dread to think what that is going to be like. Just as long as I still have electricity - my hands are getting too bad to hand write a full length book these days!

A welcome break in the Cantal after the launch of Sell the Pig sequel

Giving birth to a book is an exhausting process, I can tell you! Once 'Sell the Pig' sequel 'Is That Billinge Lump' was safely published by Ant Press, I was in need of a break, a bit of R&R. So I headed once more to the beautiful and peaceful Lac des Estives at Montgreleix in the Cantal.

I had an old friend staying so took him with me and once again we were lucky enough to have the pretty and funky yellow chalet I stayed in in July, with its peaceful views of cattle grazing on the summer pastures. My friend was really blown away by the fabulous scenery and the abundance of wildlife.

He also quickly became a convert to the fabulous food in the Auvergne, and was delighted with how friendly and welcoming the people are. On our last evening, we ate at table with the hosts and about a dozen French guests, from various parts of France.

We had a lovely time driving round the beautiful area, seeing all the sights, including watching a short toed eagle hunting. Of course, the dogs, Ci and Fleur came too. Fleur was having a blonde moment and kept wriggling out of camera shot, and even Ci would only show his rear view!

On our way back, we visited the national Maquis memorial and museum  at Mont Mouchet. As my friend said, if it hadn't been for the French resistance stopping the Germans in their tracks in the Massif Central and preventing them from getting to Normandy, some of us would not be here today. His father drove a mine-seeking tank on the beaches.

We also visited the splendid Garabit viaduct, another stunning example of Eiffel engineering.

So the sequel is safely launched and it and Sell the Pig are taking it in turns to hold the No 1 and 2 slots in their category on Amazon.

As soon as the winter nights start drawing in so I can't be tempted to play outside, I promise to make a start on Part 3 of the tale of Tottie's adventures in France.

Sell the Pig sequel is officially "awesome"

I promised you some exciting news about the sequel to Sell the Pig, and here it is. I've just received confirmation that the indie publisher Ant Press has agreed to publish it. And as you can see from their website, they only take on "awesome books and awesome authors".

Ant Press is "a small, family-run, dynamic publishing company with a passion for engrossing, well-written books". And furthermore, they state: "Ant Press will only accept books they love and believe in." So I'm even more thrilled that they have agreed to take the sequel.

One of the faces behind Ant Press is New York Times best-selling author Victoria Twead, who wrote Chickens, Mules and Two Old Fools,  Two Old Fools - Olé, and Two Old Fools on a Camel. 

The Pig sequel is written, the deal is done, I just now need to trim and tidy up my final draft, send it to Victoria for proof-reading and formatting, then it will be available soon in Kindle format, to be followed by a paperback at a later date.

So there you have it.  Keep watching this space for the publication date!

A paperback is born!

Finally, after a long and protracted labour, I have given birth - to a paperback!

Pleased and proud to report that Sell the Pig is now available in paperback from Amazon (.com and most of the Europe channels).

Sell the Pig in paperback

As ever, do please leave a review when you've read it as your feedback is always most welcome and I have finally got Amazon to allow me to leave replies, although it won't let me leave them as Tottie which is seems to think is a rude word - it isn't!

And if you like it, do please tell your friends. Thanks so much.

Sell the Pig - coming soon in paperback!

It's beginning to look a lot like a paperback!

Latest estimate is that Sell the Pig should be out as a real, hold it in your hand paperback book by mid January 2013. It has a brand new cover picture, which I hope you will all like, and there are some  images inside (black and white in this first edition) so you should finally be able to put names to faces.

I do hope you will like this new version, it has some minor changes from the Kindle version. Perhaps if you enjoyed reading it on Kindle, you might be kind enough to suggest the paperback to your friends.

Here's a quick sneak peek at what the new cover looks like:

and yes, for those of you who magnify it enough to read, I know there's a typo there, it will be picked up on the next round :)

I'll keep you all posted here, on Twitter and on Facebook, the Dark Side, when I get final confirmation of the release date.

A kitchen, a cushion and a lot of gingham

Because I couldn't get the blasted photo to swivel itself the right way round, here's a link to the blog of my good friend Fiona Ridley with some lovely photos of said cushion and all about how she made it for me. She's now taking commissions!

Thrilled to say that sales of Sell the Pig are creeping up nicely since the big giveaway last Friday. And it's also nice to see some more reviews coming in and especially reviews from people who are completely unknown to me. When one self-publishes, it's inevitable that the first people to buy and review tend to be family and friends so it's reassuring to hear that it seems to be going down as well with complete strangers as with those who already know, or know of, me.

In that greedy way of authors hungry for praise, would love to see some more so if you've not yet left a review, please do. Thanks.

Life in France after Sell the Pig

Thought it was about time I updated the blog as it seems to have gone very quiet on here lately.

Those of you who follow me on Twitter and Facebook will know that, some five years after the end of Sell the Pig I'm still happily living in France, though no longer at the Pink House, I plan to stay here, and recently celebrated my 60th birthday here in my own little "grottage".

I enjoy giving as much as receiving on my birthday, so to mark the occasion I gave away copies of Sell the Pig for the first and only time. Some 400+ new readers took advantage of the occasion to get their free copies, so I very much look forward to reading some more reviews.

Since living in France I've discovered the delights of Twitter and Facebook and have made many new friends, some in the flesh, some still as cyber-friends. And it turns out I have some very talented friends, judging by the marvellous presents I received.

Being totally useless at any form of crafts and completely unable to thread a needle or cast on to knitting needles or whatever, I was amazed at the stunning hand-made crochet cushion from my clever friend Fiona Ridley, whose stunning crafty skills you can discover for yourself at her blog KnitKnatKnotUK.

 And another very talented friend who is closer to home is Christine Phillips, who painted a beautiful water colour of my favourite rose, Wild Edric, taking proud centre stage in this photo. Christine runs the wonderful B&B and gite, Les Hirondelles, at Chabanol, barely an hour's drive from here, and you honestly couldn't find a nicer place to stay if you're visiting the Auvergne.

Also in the picture is the gorgeous fan sent to me by my soul sister Kay, back in UK, because while poor old UK has been freezing and drowning, we've been languishing in temperatures well into the 30s.

As usual, I do hope you will take the time to add your comments here and please, if you haven't already done so, do please add your review for Sell the Pig on the Amazon site from which you bought it. Thanks.

Another review of Sell the Pig from Goodreads

When it comes to all things t'internet, I'm a bit slow on the uptake, as you'll have gathered if you've either read Sell the Pig or followed any of my witterings on either Twitter or Facebook. Which is why I've only just discovered that there are some more reviews for Sell the Pig on the Goodreads site, including one which I hadn't yet seen myself.

So for anyone who doesn't have access for that site and who might be interested, I'll post it here. It's a kind 3-star review from Clair whom I don't know, I don't think, but who, like me, made the move from Lincolnshire to France. Clair says:

This is the story of a lady who makes the move from rural Lincolnshire - like myself - to rural France - like myself. Though the similarities between us end there. 
Whereas I came over here as a fresh-faced 22 year-old dragging a couple of suitcases along on a Eurolines coach, Tottie makes the move much later on in life, together with her 90-year old mother, who suffers from vascular dementia, and her brother and his depressed dipsomania. Oh, and we mustn't forget Meic, her epileptic dog. All of them, with a nurse and carer accompanying them for the trip, in a motorhome and an old van.
It's a very touching read that takes us back to Tottie's childhood and around the UK and France, as we learn about her family and her later quest for a new home, somewhere to live her dream and let her mother enjoy one final adventure. Tottie's style is open and honest, raising a smile here and touching a nerve there. 
I have to admit I was a little bit disappointed not to learn more about their actual life in France - this book is really about the search for their new home and how they make their move, but I guess that means that the adventures they experienced once settled in the Auvergne are all to come. Now I've followed them this far on their journey, I do hope that their is a future episode and we get to find out how it all worked out for them.


Thanks for the review, Clair, really appreciate you taking the time to write it, as one Yellowbelly to another, albeit adoptive, one.