Category: Writing

The Author Store [Part Two]

Happy July…smile.

Last month I started talking about my Author Store.  I finally have it up and running.  That’s the good news. Now for the bad or not as good as I would like it news.  No sales, yet.  However, there’s been plenty of traffic. Last month the store had almost one thousand visitors.  YEAH!  But no sales so far.

I have to admit I thought this would be easy, especially because I come from a retail background.  What I forgot is this is a new venture and most new ventures need time to garner momentum.

So what’s my plan?  Post about the store on social media.  Run Facebook ads and possibly reach out to some bloggers and do giveaways.  

I’m also working on a marketing campaign for the boxes.  The Facebook ads are great and so are the blog posts and mentions, but it’s that in your face mentality that will hopefully generate sales.

Here’s a little info on my Author Store.  I’m using Shopify.  I already have a store on Shopify and feel comfortable with them.  They have amazing customer service.  

Before I switched to Shopify, I designed my own site in Adobe Muse.  I liked it, but when I decided to offer signed print books as well as set up a store, I knew I had to switch to a shopping cart system.  I could have gotten Shopify Lite, which would allow me to add a  cart to my existing site for only $9.99 per month.  It was too complicated to attach my old site to this vehicle.  Instead, I opted for the basic Shopify plan which gave me more options. 

Switching to Shopify gave me access to some really amazing templates and things I wasn’t able to do with Adobe Muse.  One of the cool things about using one of their FREE templates, is you can adjust it for your needs.  I did some minor tweaking to a free template and was very surprised when Shopify complimented me.   

Another added perk to using Shopify, is the KIT VA Bot.  This is one of my favorite tools.  Kit sends me data based on internet activity and how it might relate to the products in my store. As well as marketing suggestions.  I’ve tried Kit on Facebook Ads, but they weren’t as targeted as I’d hope.  However, Kit is good for social media posts. Shopify also offers pretty good analytics.  They may not be as detailed  as Google, but they’re pretty good.  There are other website hosts you can use, but Shopify happens to be my favorite. 

So what’s in my store?  I have curated a small selection of items to start: A mug, book plates and subscription boxes. In the next few months, if not sooner, I’ll be adding exclusive print books.  I don’t want to overload my readers with a lot of choices in the beginning.  I want to keep things fresh, which may mean rotating the inventory.  

In the beginning, there will be a lot of trial and error and much needed feedback as to what to offer.  But I believe my Author Store will become a valuable and profitable asset for me.

If you’d like to see my store, stop by www.readtracyreed.com.  

Have an amazing month.

Quarter Days: Midsummer Magic

Happy Midsummer’s Day! We’re only a few days past the celebration of the summer solstice,

but I think the magical time of summer is a good time to talk about…

Fairies

I’m always on the hunt for tidbits of research I can use in one of my stories, particularly Celtic myths and superstitions. Fairies, Fauns, Selkies, Goblins, Elves, these delightful creatures populate stories for children (fairy tales), but they weren’t all sweet Tinkerbells!

A Chimney Elf

In Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream, The fairy king, Oberon, and his henchman, Puck, spread a great deal of mischief among the human characters. Fairies could sicken the livestock, ruin the crops.

Worse, fairies were known to steal human children and substitute fairy offspring (changelings). Fairies, elves, and all their kin were the original paranormal villains. For a really good article on this subject, check out Fairy Scapegoats: A History of the Persecution of Changeling Children.

Who Would Believe This Stuff?

Then, as in present times, a notion, no matter how unsupported by logic or facts, could take hold, spread, and in some cases lead to persecutions.

Besides stealing human children, magical creatures sometimes influenced humans who engaged in witchcraft. Most people have heard of the Salem Witch Trials, but witch hunts weren’t limited to the Colonies. In sixteenth century Scotland thousands of people were tried for witchcraft and executed. King James VI of Scotland (later James I of England) became obsessed with witchcraft and wrote a treatise on the subject, Daemonologie, in 1597:

The fearefull aboundinge at this time in this countrie, of these detestable slaves of the Devill, the Witches or enchaunters, hath moved me (beloved reader) to dispatch in post, this following treatise of mine…

Fairies and Quarter Days

These beliefs persisted well past the sixteenth century. The Secret Commonwealth of Elves, Fauns, and Fairies, written in 1691 by Robert Kirk, and reissued in 1893 is

An Essay on The Nature and Actions of the Subterranean (and, for the most Part,) Invisible People, heretofioir going under the name of Elves, Fauns, and Fairies, or the lyke, among the Low-Country Scots, as they are described by those who have the Second Sight…

Plucked from the Fairy Circle

In an earlier post, I mentioned that Quarter Days were important for paying rent (and sometimes absconding without paying!). These rent-payment days were apparently important for supernatural creatures also. Mr. Kirk describes the Invisible People’s activities at Quarter Days:

They remove to other Lodgings at the Beginning of each Quarter of the Year, so traversing till Doomsday…Their chamaelion-lyke Bodies swim in the Air near the Earth with Bag and Bagadge; and at such revolution of Time, Seers, or Men of the Second Sight, (Faemales being seldome so qualified) have very terrifying Encounters with them, even on High Ways.

Spiritual Armor

These men with the second sight understandably shunned quarterly travel and sought spiritual safeguards. They

thereby have made it a Custome to this Day among the Scottish-Irish to keep Church duely evry first Sunday of the Quarter to sene or hallow themselves, their Corns and Cattell, from the Shots and Stealth of these wandring Tribes; and many of these superstitious People will not be seen in Church againe till the nixt Quarter begin, as if no Duty were to be learned or done by them, but all the Use of Worship and Sermons were to save them from these Arrows that fly in the Dark.

Mr. Kirk was the seventh son of his father, and was thus “specially gifted.” I’m just delving into this book, but if you’re interested, click the link above and download a free copy from Googlebooks.

May your summer be happy, may you be safe from all the Fair Folk and Good People, and I’ll be back for another post at Michaelmas.

Image credits: Wikimedia Commons