Beating Bowel Cancer Fundraising Site

In terms of fundraising one of the disadvantages of selling the physical version of the book on Amazon is the small margin that it makes for the charity. With a £7.21 list price I receive £1.01 in royalties. That is the nature of print on demand. 

I have recently set up my own website www.bowelcancerfundraising.co.uk where I will be selling my books, mugs and t-shirts to raise money for the Beating Bowel Cancer charity. I am now able to sell copies of Beating Bowel Cancer on this site thereby cutting out Amazon. I am able to buy a batch direct  from CreateSpace at a discounted price and can sell them cheaper than Amazon and make more money for the charity. I can even sign copies if anyone really wants me to :) 

The books are on sale for £7 including P&P and can be bought by going to the new website here. All proceeds go to the charity.

Introductory Half Price Offer on Smashwords

The "Beating Bowel Cancer" fundraising book is half price on smashwords as an ebook until June 23rd simply type in the coupon code VT46U at checkout https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/542772The coupon is only valid on smashwords... 

A Member of Parliament Buys The Book

I spent Sunday night writing up the Gabby Logan chapter for the new fundraising book Lives & Times. As the evening was drawing to a close I had a notification on Twitter that the first book had sold another copy on Amazon. This copy had been bought by MP Nadine Dorries who sadly lost a good friend to bowel cancer. She subsequently put a picture up on Twitter showing where she had read up to, and she has also written a great review you can see here.

Of course what Nadine didn't realise was that this contact could only end up with me asking her to be in the new book so we are now trying to arrange that. What an amazing journey doing these books continues to be, but also not forgetting the aim of them is to help raise awareness about bowel cancer and raise funds for the Beating Bowel Cancer charity.

Beating Bowel Cancer Book Now On ITunes

It's taken me over two and a half years since the book was first published, but today it has finally become available on iTunes. Although there is a kindle app for use on Apple products such as iPhones, iPads, itouch and Macs, many people prefer to read ebooks using Apple's iBooks. So now there is no excuse not to buy a copy, and you can go to the page on iTunes by clicking here.

It has been quite a mission getting the book onto iTunes. I have used the Smashwords website, so the ebook is now available on a few more platforms including Kobo and Barnes & Noble. I thought it would be a simple case of just uploading the old file I originally used to publish the book on Amazon. Unfortunately just about every little bit of formatting caused an issue. I had to upload 9 differently formatted versions of the before it was finally approved, but it was worth it, and it will stand me in good stead when I come to publish the new book. 

The book is selling on iTunes for £2.99 and every penny I get goes to the Beating Bowel Cancer charity, and for each sale it looks like the figure will be approximately £1.79. Let's hope this new release gives the book a little extra impetus!

Combatendo o Câncer Colorretal - Beating Bowel Cancer Portuguese Version

I am really pleased to announce that the Beating Bowel Cancer fundraising book has been translated into Portuguese! I registered the book on a site called Babelcube and was contacted by Manuela Santini, a young lady living in Brazil who wanted to do the translation. 

Manuela has done a fantastic job, and I'm really grateful for her work on the book. I have of course started the ball rolling and downloaded it, but it's a shame I can't read any Portuguese! The only problem we've had has been putting the pictures back into the translated version, but all is now finally complete. So for those of you who speak Portuguese or have any friends that speak here are the links where you can buy it. 

Amazon

ITunes

Barnes & Noble

Kobo

The proceeds I receive from the sale of the book will still go to Beating Bowel Cancer.

I would love to receive some feedback from anyone who does buy this translation of the book.

Hardback Edition

The idea of getting the book released in a hardback edition seemed neither feasible or affordable when it was first published back in 2012. It was something that a few people enquired about at the time, and I would have liked a hardback copy for myself too.

With the new fundraising book for Beating Bowel Cancer, Lives & Times, nearing completion I decided to have another look. The good news is that is now possible for me to publish a hardback edition, which will be both affordable, and have a margin that will make some money for the charity too.

Of course it is unusual to put a book out in hardback 3 years after the paperback version. Will it actually sale any new copies? What I have decided to do is, solely for the hardback edition, to publish a revised edition that will contain some new bonus chapters. I should be able to have this ready in the next month or two.

The remaining decision is when to put this book out. I don't want it to clash with Lives & Times, so there are two possibilities. I might publish it very soon if the new book isn't ready to go. I am still waiting for a couple of people to give me dates, which is putting the new book back a little. However if the new book does come together sooner than anticipated I will delay releasing the hardback until after Lives & Times has been published.

I have been playing around with a new cover for the hardback edition, but this is just one idea for it at the moment. 

675 to Go....

I always get very excited when I get a notification of a book sale, and today the Beating Bowel Cancer book sold copy number 325. This particular sale was on kindle, so from the £2.65 charged by Amazon, the Beating Bowel Cancer charity will receive £1.39.

My original target was to sell 1,000 copies so I am still a very long way of that target figure. Realistically getting another 675 sales is unlikely to happen unless somehow the book leaps into more of a mainstream domain. Sales now are few and far between unfortunately, but at the same time I am really excited about the new photographic book I am doing for the charity, this time on the theme of people, which will hopefully be released in the next few months. It's not quite finished yet, but it's something I am incredibly proud of already.

Somewhere over £500 has been raised by the first book so far, which is wonderful and a massive thank you to everyone who has bought the book. Equally as important though is the part it also plays in raising bowel cancer awareness. 

There are some great facts and figures on the charity's website, It's well worth spending a couple of minutes reading, and you can see the page by clicking here. If caught early enough in the majority of cases it is very treatable. What is staggering is that "Over 93% of people diagnosed with bowel cancer at an early stage survive for at least five years compared to less than 7% of those diagnosed at a late stage."

My mum's cancer has unfortunately returned. A cancerous nodule on her left lung was discovered during her annual CT scan last November. Last week she underwent a 4 hour operation at Harefield Hospital to have it removed. The operation seems to have gone very well, and she was discharged just 4 days after the operation. She is now convalescing at home, and making great progress. There is a more detailed account of this on my other blog "Lives & Times" you can read here. 

New Blog For The New Book

As we enter 2015 the new book "Lives & Times" will be completed and published hopefully in the Spring. The first book "Beating Bowel Cancer" is pretty quiet at the moment. Sales remain at 323, and I don't see what else I can do with it at the moment to generate fresh interest. Obviously all my efforts now are going to be put into the new book this year, and see how much money it can raise for the charity. With that in mind I have created a brand new blog dedicated to it called "Lives & Times Fundraising Book" which you can find by clicking here. This blog will still be updated with news, but the more up to date information will be put onto the new blog.

As the release date of the new book approaches, I will be looking for help and support in spreading the message, and go for a big push when it is published. Once again I shall be self-publishing on Amazon so I will be grateful for any help with the marketing. Please take time to look at the new blog, and please spread the word. The Beating Bowel Cancer Charity needs our support to continue to provide support for cancer patients and their families.