Well it’ll be three weeks on Wednesday since Beastie saw the light of day. I like to think of this one as being on the prowl, due to the nature of its content. Anyone who has read it will know that there is a delightful twist in the tail of this book but of course I’m not about to reveal what that is. You will just have to read it yourselves.

I can’t tell you how happy I am with Beastie. It’s one of the very best books I have written, in my honest and humble opinion. Up there with The Pheasants Revolt when it comes to vying for the position of my personal favourite. Yeah, that good.

But the burning question, as always, is how is it performing?

Ok, hands up, not as well as I’d initially hoped. But it is into double figures.

I’ve never shied away from the fact that I am totally shit at marketing and therein lies the problem. Our granddaughter Erin introduced me to Capcut, the online content creation website, recently and I have to say it has helped me no end as I feel I am producing some pretty nifty social media posts for promoting Beastie. I’ve gone for a black, white and burgundy colour scheme and am being consistent with fonts and images. Also, I’ve learnt how to add music to my Instagram posts which is rather good as there is a huge library of tunes on there to choose from.

So far I’ve used Born to Be Wild by Steppenwolf, Bad to the Bone by George Thorogood, Wild Thing by The Troggs, Psycho Killer by Talking Heads, and of course Beastie by Jethro Tull. And it’s been a lot of fun to do.

Being an independent one-man band does limit me in many ways but conversely it also allows me certain freedoms that traditionally published authors don’t have. And it’s not as if I don’t have a lot of time on my hands either. Being physically disabled can have its advantages as well as being an utter bastard on occasions. Having more time is a boon when it comes to promo work.

And it’s not like I don’t have ideas. Believe me if you could see what I’ve got planned for Joe Wilkie over the next six or seven years you’d be amazed. So ideas aren’t the biggest problem either. The problem is that my ideas may not resonate with the novel buying public and I do wonder if it’s a case of me putting the right hooks out but with the wrong bait on them.

As much as I loathe modern television advertising I can’t help but admire the people who come up with the concepts (not all, but a lot) and how they manage to tap into their target audience with such effortless ease.

Case in point: all those adverts for Flash cleaning products that are on pretty much every ad break. They really do appeal to house-proud ladies, particularly the ones where it is either the man of the house or the kiddies doing the work. It’s the power of suggestion – simply buy Dust Magnet and Speed Mop and your family will be so overjoyed that they will clean the house top to bottom for you in less time than it takes to sing the theme tune.

And it is a constant bombardment. Literally, every time there is a commercial break on TV you hear someone singing, “Spray, wipe, done!” or warbling about another Flash product.

 So who is my target audience?

Well, people who enjoy reading comedy for one thing, obviously. But the net does spread further than that. There are elements of pathos, romance and dare I say, inspiration, in all the Joe Wilkie/Blessham Books and I feel their appeal is a lot broader than just for their comedic value.

But all my social media posts in the last three weeks, since Beastie has been on the prowl, have all been entirely comedy focussed. In the book there is a new love interest for Joe and maybe I should try and blend that in alongside the comedy.

Of course, at the end of the day, it is a comedy novel at the core and that has to take precedence in any form of promotional material. But I can’t help feeling there are other angles I should be homing in on. Hmmm… food for thought.

Anyway. The main thing is that Beastie is most assuredly now on the prowl and if you want to laugh your socks off at the funniest novel you will read this year then get thee sen a copy HERE.