Weekly Author Life Update: Sales Wins, Anniversaries & Pinterest Experiments

 

📚 Publishing Delays & Book Cover Dilemma

There hasn’t been much movement with An Irish Mystery this week. Draft2Digital still lists my book as “publishing” (I suspect the delay is due to updating my blurb). And with a new cover design in the works, it’s left me hesitant to advertise or join BookFunnel promos.

On Booksprout, I had one new claim — not the 100 I hoped for, but every reader counts, and it’s another chance for a valuable review.

👉 Unfortunatly this FREE review oppertunity is now over!

📈 Unexpected Wins

Even with no advertising, someone still found and bought my paperback on Amazon. Honestly, I wasn’t expecting any sales this month, so I’m calling that a win!

🎒 Back to School & Endless Paperwork

Last Wednesday marked the start of a new school year. Somehow, the school was ready in time — though if you’d seen it a week earlier, you’d never have believed it! Now I’m drowning in paperwork, trying to catch up.

💍 Celebrating 23 Years Married

Saturday was our wedding anniversary — 23 years married, 28 years together. We celebrated in our style: a morning coffee and sandwich from Greggs, then later some fun in town.

Highlights included:

• 🎯 Interactive darts (yes, I won!)

• ⛳ Glo Golf (crazy golf in neon lights, complete with silly challenges like playing one-handed)

• 🍹 Drinks and laughter that made for a great night.

Final score: me, 1 under par — thank you very much. 😎

📖 What I’m Reading

✅ Finished: Next House by Kate Bold — you can read my review on Goodreads (don’t forget to follow me).
📖 Currently: The Berlin Wife by Marion Kummerow. A gripping WWII historical novel full of danger, love, and sacrifice. You can check out the series here.

I’ll share my thoughts on Goodreads once I finish.

📌 Exploring Pinterest for Authors

This week I opened a Pinterest account focused on my blogs. My blog traffic had been climbing but dipped in recent weeks. After researching, Pinterest seems like a great platform to drive new readers to my posts.

The challenge? Balancing social media. I might need to drop one or two platforms to avoid spreading myself too thin.

📖 An American Treasure

What about An American Treasure, I hear you say? Don’t worry — it’s still very much the plan to release it this year. Originally, I had a cover design that tied it in with An Irish Mystery. But since I’m now updating the cover for Book 1, it makes sense to have the same design team create the cover for Book 2 as well. That way, the Newman Adventure series will have a consistent, professional look right from the start.

On top of that, I’ve been looking into formatting software to make my publishing process smoother. The one I’m leaning toward is Atticus — but, like everything in publishing, it comes with another cost. If you’d like to support me on this journey, you can always buy me a coffee on Ko-Fi ☕. Every little bit helps me invest in tools and resources that improve both my books and these blogs.

Hopefully, by the time I write next week’s blog, An Irish Mystery will finally be live on more book platforms — and maybe, just maybe, I’ll even have a brand-new cover to reveal. Fingers crossed!

📬 Want to follow the journey?

I send occasional emails about writing, publishing, and the stories behind The Newman Adventures.

Newsletter subscribers also get an exclusive sneak peek of Book 2, An American Treasure.

👉 Join here: The Newman Chronicle 

📖 Enjoyed this post?

An Irish Mystery is a fast-paced historical adventure about stolen treasures, hidden histories, and the cost of obsession.

Ebook, Kindle Unlimited, Paperback & hardcover

👉 Available on Amazon: An Irish Mystery

You can also find me on Instagram / Bluesky / X / Facbook, where I share writing updates and behind-the-scenes moments.

🌍 www.dcsalmonbooks.com