Claire Ridgway

Best-selling author and blogger

Mar
19

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2000 Copies of My First Book Sold in Less than 5 Weeks!

Category: The Anne Boleyn Collection Tags: , Leave a Comment

It only seems like yesterday that I was celebrating hitting the 1000 book sales mark on the 8th March and now, less than 5 weeks after publication, my first book, The Anne Boleyn Collection, has sold over 2000 copies! It’s also still No. 1 on one of the Amazon Best Sellers Charts.

I am delighted with its success and with the emails I’m receiving every day from people who have enjoyed it, it makes all the hard work worth it.

Thank you to everyone for the continued support and encouragement!

You can find out more about The Anne Boleyn Collection at the book website – www.theanneboleyncollection.com

Mar
13

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Self-publishing Success – My First Book is a Bestseller!

Category: Self-publishing, The Anne Boleyn Collection Tags: , , , , 1 Comment

I am thrilled to announced that my first book, The Anne Boleyn Collection, hit the Number 1 spot on one of Amazon’s bestseller lists today in under a month since publication.

As you know, The Anne Boleyn Collection went live on Amazon on the 16th February 2012 and today, 13th March 2012, it got to number one in the Biographies & Memoirs>Historical section of the Amazon UK Kindle store.

At this moment in time, I have sold 1459 copies of my book, so I am incredibly happy. It is a wonderful feeling to see your book on the No.1 spot and know that it’s being read by so many people. I never dreamed that this would happen with my first self-published book and it’s been a wonderful journey so far.

Here are today’s Amazon rankings too…

Amazon UK Rankings

Amazon UK Rankings

Mar
8

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Over 1000 Books Sold in 3 Weeks!

Category: Self-publishing, The Anne Boleyn Collection Tags: , , , , 2 Comments

If you have read my previous posts you will know that I self-published my first book, The Anne Boleyn Collection, on the 16th February 2012 through Amazon’s POD service, CreateSpace, and also through Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP). The Kindle version went live on the Amazon website on Thursday 16th February, so today marks 3 weeks since its publication.

I logged into Create Space and KDP this morning at 10.30 Central European time (so today had only just begun) to learn that I have sold a total of 1024 copies of my book in just 3 weeks. Seeing as 100 copies was my aim for the first month, I am completely blown away. Ecstatic just doesn’t cover it! The bubbly is in the fridge chilling and I will be enjoying it later!

Now, I could get all big-headed and diva-ish about this achievement (and probably will after a glass of bubbly), but I realise that The Anne Boleyn Collection is actually a team effort. Obviously I did the writing and research, but it’s thanks to followers of www.theanneboleynfiles.com that this book got written and it’s thanks to the Tudor history community that the book has sold so well. Anne Boleyn Files followers gave me the idea to publish this collection of articles (thank you to Dr Linda Saether!) and encouraged me all the way. Once the book was published, they then spread the word and I’m now in the middle of a virtual book tour hopping from Tudor blog to Tudor blog, which would not be possible without the kindness of those bloggers. It’s been an amazing journey and I’m still humble enough to know that I have been blessed with a loyal following.

So, what happens now?

Well, I’m continuing with my virtual book tour, which is so much fun, and I’m just finishing up on book two. I will also be continuing blogging on here about the progress of  The Anne Boleyn Collection and my experiences with self-publishing. You can also catch me on The Anne Boleyn Files blogging about all things Tudor.

For information on The Anne Boleyn Collection and my virtual book tour, please see www.TheAnneBoleynCollection.com

Mar
1

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The Virtual Book Tour

Category: Marketing your book, The Anne Boleyn Collection Tags: , , 1 Comment

The Anne Boleyn CollectionIn my last post I talked about how I took my first book “The Anne Boleyn Collection” to market and today’s post is a continuation of that, another idea that you might want to use to create “buzz” about your book. Now, remember, this is early days for me – my book was published just 2 weeks ago! – and I am in no way an expert on publishing, self-publishing or marketing, I’m just simply sharing my own experiences.

As I live in the virtual world, i.e. I am a blogger, I thought it was only right and fitting to do a virtual book tour. I really don’t have the finance in place or the time to do a proper book tour with book readings, signings and appearances, so I’m doing it virtually. Next week, I am going blog-hopping. I am visiting a different Tudor blog or Facebook page each day for an event or giveaway. The best way to explain this is to share my schedule with you:-

  • Monday 5th March  The Tudor Tutor – I’ll be answering questions from Barb’s blog and Facebook followers and giving away a signed copy of “The Anne Boleyn Collection” plus a set of Henry VIII and Six Wives drink charms.
  • Tuesday 6th March Let Them Grumble – I have written a guest article on Anne Boleyn for Libby over at her Let Them Grumble blog. I’ll also be offering a signed copy of my book and a pair of Anne Boleyn earrings from our “The Tudors” range. See Libby’s page tomorrow for details.
  • Wednesday 7th March Anne Boleyn: From Queen to History – Over at Sarah’s Anne Boleyn: From Queen to History blog, I have written a guest article on Anne and George Boleyn and will be offering a signed copy of my book plus an Anne Boleyn B necklace or A necklace.
  • Thursday 8th March Queen Anne Boleyn Facebook page – On the 8th March I will be answering questions posed by Sylwia’s followers and giving away a signed copy of “The Anne Boleyn Collection” plus an Anne Boleyn scarf.
  • Friday 9th March On the Tudor Trail – Natalie will be interviewing me over at her On the Tudor Trail blog. I will also be giving away a signed copy of my book and an Anne Boleyn wine stopper.
  • Monday 12th March NEW DATE The Everything Tudor ‘Tudor Book Blog’ – Elizabeth from Everything Tudor and The Tudor Tattler will be interviewing me on her Tudor Book Blog and I will be giving away a signed copy of my book along with an Anne Boleyn tote bag.
  • Tuesday 13th March (to be confirmed) Legendary Women – I will be dropping in to the Legendary Women website as part of their Women’s History Month with my guest article on Anne Boleyn. I will be giving away a signed copy of my book and a Tudor themed prize. More details to come…

This virtual book tour is a win-win situation for me and the bloggers involved. I get publicity for my book and the opportunity to connect with their followers, and they get free content for their blogs and publicity via my blog. This was easy for me to arrange because I had already built up good relationships within the Tudor history blogging community, but you could easily connect with blogs by doing a Google search for your subject area. You could offer to write guest posts, do a giveaway or offer bloggers the opportunity to review your book. You could even come up with something more creative, it’s up to you.

I am really excited about this virtual book tour! It will be great to meet and interact with new people. Fun, fun, fun!