The 8 novels via Amazon

For those who nowadays buy their books via Amazon,these links will take you to the correct pages on the web.  And if you are into Kindle versions, these can also be accessed and ordered from Amazon.co.uk via the same links.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Angel-Mountain-Vol-Saga/dp/0905559800
http://www.amazon.co.uk/House-Angels-Angel-Mountain-Saga/dp/0905559819
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dark-Angel-Part-Mountain-Saga/dp/0905559827
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Rebecca-Angels-Angel-Mountain-Saga/dp/0905559835
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Flying-Angels-Angel-Mountain-Saga/dp/0905559843
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Guardian-Angel-Vol-Mountain-Saga/dp/090555986X
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sacrifice-Tale-Angel-Mountain-Saga/dp/0905559908
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Conspiracy-Angels-Angel-Mountain-Saga/dp/0905559932

Those old flying witches....

I have only just discovered this splendid illustration of two witches narrowly avoiding a head-on mid-air collision above an unnamed village somewhere in the English countryside.  Doesn't look very Welsh to me......

By the way, my book called "Wizards and Witches of Pembrokeshire" is sadly now out of print, but can still probably be obtained if you hunt around a bit.

Archipelago life....

In case anybody wondered, I'm out in the wilds of the Stockholm Archipelago, working hard.....

The Americymru interview

A couple of years ago I did an interview with Ceri Shaw for the Americymru web site.  In case you missed it, here it is:

http://americymru.blogspot.se/2011/10/interview-with-welsh-writer-brian-john.html

The early days of the Saga

Found this photo -- probably from 2001 -- following the delivery of one of the early reprints of "On Angel Mountain".  Note the old cover -- very different from that used in the recent editions.  The very first printing has "A Pembrokeshire Tale" as the subheading.

The book rolls on.  Sales are now nudging 35,000, and I think we are on the 7th or 8th printing.  I have lost track.......

Amazon Reviews

I have been very intrigued by the thought that the Angel Mountain Saga now has total sales well over 70,000 (around 35,000 for "On Angel Mountain" alone) but has very few customer reviews on Amazon.  So what does this tell us about me, the books, or Amazon?

Well, for a start, it shows that there are obviously people out there who like the books enough to want to buy them.  Secondly, the level of sales shows that there is a relatively buoyant book market in West Wales, where the books are set, since this is inevitably where most of my marketing effort is concentrated.  And thirdly, it tells us that very few of my readers are getting their copies of the books from Amazon -- so most are buying physical copies of the books (rather than Kindle versions) from bookshops and other trade outlets.  That's nice -- the power of Amazon is being resisted........ and it clearly does not yet dominate everything!

That having been said, I do supply Amazon with books on a pretty regular basis -- one or two orders a week, usually for very small quantities.  I make no money out of these sales -- their discounts demanded are so high, and the postal costs are so high, that having sent off an order there is no margin left for a small publisher like me.

So I use the Amazon web site as an advertising medium, and there is no doubt that it is very good at informing readers what a book is about and encouraging a purchase.  Amazon customers can literally do it with one click of the mouse these days.......

Bottom line -- I need more customer reviews!  So if anybody likes a particular book enough, and is happy to spend a few moments putting a brief (or long!) review onto Amazon.co.uk, I'd be very grateful indeed!  Whether we like it or not, one of the things which gets books moving is the number of reviews featured on Amazon, and the average rating given to a book by readers.  So even if you didn't buy your copy of the book from Amazon, please post up a review, or two, or three.......  or do it on Goodreads instead.

Thank you!

Here are the direct links through to the Amazon web site, for all 8 of the novels:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Angel-Mountain-Vol-Saga/dp/0905559800
http://www.amazon.co.uk/House-Angels-Angel-Mountain-Saga/dp/0905559819
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dark-Angel-Part-Mountain-Saga/dp/0905559827
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Rebecca-Angels-Angel-Mountain-Saga/dp/0905559835
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Flying-Angels-Angel-Mountain-Saga/dp/0905559843
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Guardian-Angel-Vol-Mountain-Saga/dp/090555986X
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sacrifice-Tale-Angel-Mountain-Saga/dp/0905559908
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Conspiracy-Angels-Angel-Mountain-Saga/dp/0905559932

Twenty-seven years of book sales

This is an interesting diagram -- showing the total number of invoices issued by Greencroft Books per year, between 1986 and 2013.  Over most of that time I have had between ten and twenty titles in print,  and year on year the number of invoices written out has fluctuated above and below the 200 mark.  The peak activity period between 2001 and 2009 coincides with the writing and publishing of the Angel Mountain books.

But the last 8 years have seen a gradual decline in activity, coinciding with the slow demise of bookshops as Amazon has stolen more and more of the book trade, and as Ebooks have appeared and made a dent in the market.  Now there are just a few bookshops left in West Wales, and ironically some of my best sales outlets are not bookshops at all, but stores like Vincent Davies in Haverfordwest,  Picton Castle, Tregwynt Woollen Mill, Window on Wales in Solva, Newport Information Centre, Ocean Lab in Goodwick, and -- of course -- the Pembrokeshire Candle Centre, which just happens to be run by my wife!!

The times they are a-changin'..............