Fame at last!


The Akaroa Mail is a popular local free newspaper, produced fortnightly and frequently running to more than 12 pages. I recently made it to page 4! I am sure they held the front page for a while but the story about tomato plants growing in gutter of Akaroa's main street just sneaked in before me! Garry Brittenden has written a very kind review in the latest edition and he wouldn't even let me buy him a coffee when we met last week in a local cafe. 

The newspaper was first published in 1876 and it was an invaluable resource for me as I researched  the novel. Like most New Zealand newspapers, there is an extensive archive on-line and many of the events I included in my novel were first researched from this archive. For example, you can find the original account of the "football match" here:

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AMBPA19130527.2.8.3

Meanwhile my simple marketing campaign continues. I am learning a lot about what publishers do for their money: everything from calculating stock levels to pitching the product on-line, as well as to selected local outlets. The novel is now available at the store in Duvauchelle, "Pot Pourri" in Akaroa and I'm off to see the art gallery in Little River this afternoon. Watch this space!




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