Karoo Plainsong leaps across the Pond, or onto an e-reader?

Just had my sales figures for the first 4 months of Karoo Plainsong's life. It makes interesting reading, because it tells me who is selling the most books - and therefore where my readers are actually located.

Given all my launches and recent Waterstones signings, it's no surprise that the bulk of my readership is in the UK. But, intriguingly, there is a growing band of readers buying the book in the USA, where it is printed "on demand" whenever an order is received from a US bookshop or online retailer. Hooray! The book has successfully crossed the pond! Keep it up, please!

What I can't see is the number of readers further afield e.g. in SA or Australia, who have ordered the book online for delivery worldwide. I know you're out there, though, particularly in South Africa, to where my publisher, Troubador, is increasingly shipping. These "home" orders are really special for me, please keep them coming!

I've also seen a spurt in e-Book sales. The growing popularity of Kindles and iPads and other e-readers is taking booksales to another level. While I prefer to have a book in my hand and to feel each page as I read, there's no doubt that more and more people are taking to e-readers, especially when they travel. I have read Karoo Plainsong on an iPad, and after being initially disconcerted by how quickly it downloaded - all my work in only 30 secs! - I soon found it easy to use and so convenient. It also means that wherever you are, you're only a few seconds away from reading that book you've been meaning to buy for so long...

Karoo Plainsong hits SA Press not once, but...

What is that saying about waiting forever for a bus to arrive, then 2 come along at once?

Well, that's what I felt recently when, after waiting for ages for my first SA publicity for Karoo Plainsong, suddenly several articles appeared at the same time:
The Weekend Post, Die Burger, 'O' Mag online, Rhodos...
Now what I'd really like is an interview with an SA radio station to match the ones I've had here in the UK with the BBC. Any takers out there? I'm in contact with John Maytham at Cape Talk but nothing so far.

Like the story of those buses arriving en masse, this weekend sees the start of not one, but a series of 8 book signings at Waterstones branches throughout the South East. It seems that they have decided I have the ability to shift stock, so I am discovering parts of the coutryside I never knew before. We start in East Grinstead, and make our stately progress through Godalming, Staines, Walton on Thames, (then brief respite for 1 week) resume with Windsor (Royal approval?) Dorking, (then free weekend - gasp) followed by Winchester Writers' Conference, then back to Waterstones at Redhill, then Crawley..

Please check on my website for the exact dates of when I will be at a Waterstones near you, and come along!