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I defy anyone to read your post today and not feel sorry. Enthusiasm, drive, passion, and sheer hard work should have its reward. These are tough times indeed.

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Don't worry Alex, I've got some good news arriving in your inbox in the morning! Tomorrow is a new day!

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I have a friend who did a pop-up bookshop at the Chelsea Show, partly to promote her bookshop. I don't think it was worth her effort and investment, so was quite a disappointment.

You really have worked so hard on this but it sounds like it will need to be a hard headed decision about whether to set up permanently.. I know, from going out with my book, as a self published author, I have none of the resources that a publishing house will throw at one of their titles. Even at an event you might think a dead cert I haven't made many sales. I imagine it's the same for an indie bookshop, you have to make your own publicity, constantly, which is a big ask.I do wish you well, however you decide. Thank you for sharing your experiences. It's been really interesting to follow.

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Thank you Helen, yes it will definitely need to be a head over heart decision as to whether to continue because I just can't afford to take on risk and debt. Publishing houses are also being squeezed by places like Amazon and that's trickling down into the advances they offer to writers, so it's just squeezing the life out of creativity whichever part of the foodchain you belong to – unless you're Amazon of course! As I just said to someone else, they are the grey squirrels of the book world and we are the poor old red squirrels! ha!

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What a great analogy! Good news on the squirrel front though - they are close to perfecting a species-specific oral contraceptive for those greys. They are loosing too much newly planted woodland to the ring barking activities of those curly tailed critters.

I have to confess, I self published through Amazon. Even my bookshop friend told me it was probably the best way to go. Of course Amazon will have made more money than I ever will from my book. But it was a lifelong dream to write a book, so I paid a professional editor to work on it, and then asked Ant Press to format the book and design the cover for me. I have used some of the profits on sales in Spain to donate to animal charities, which has made the enterprise more worthwhile. But I would never make a living as an author, I know that now!

Hope this icy weather isn't keeping folks indoors too much and you make plenty if sales this week!

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