A long time ago, I wrote a post declaring that I was aiming to put “Beyond the Red Door” - the reprint - on amazon.com.

I thought it would be a simple process. But it was far from that.

Why I wanted my reprint listed was for two reasons:

1. only two copies of the first edition are listed on amazon.com and one is hugely inflated in price; and
2. postage from Australia is so expensive that I wanted to reduce costs for people in the USA and Europe.

The Saga

But the first time I went through the painstaking process of getting all the relevant information on their site, I discovered months later that it had vanished.

Prompted by a friend to have another go, I sat back down at my keyboard, armed with all the same information, and filled out all the boxes again. You can imagine my surprise when I got a congratulatory message from amazon saying that my book was listed.

But that wasn’t the end of it!

An order came through for me to send them one copy. Sounds simple, right? Wrong!

Right from the start I was under the pump. I had one business day to respond to their request or it would be cancelled. It wasn’t just a matter of banging off an email telling them I’d be sending the book. I had to plough through all the rules and instructions about how to ship the book, how to package it and how not to, what documents to send with it, and the need to inform them of tracking and reference numbers.

If none of this was done, the book would be rejected on delivery.

After reading everything twice, I somberly packaged my book and headed for the post office. So terrified was I of “breaking the rules” that I interrogated the poor woman at the post office about the method of posting my parcel from Australia. I eventually accepted the fact that we have only one international courier with a tracking number. All the other numbers amazon had requested just didn’t exist here.

Next step, after posting my baby, was to inform amazon that it was coming. Imagine my frustration when on filling in all the information on their website, I was given an error message and told to try again. I hadn’t given them enough shipping and tracking numbers. But I only had the one!

After a series of angry emails to amazon - they kept telling me to use carriers that didn’t exist here in Australia - it was accepted that I couldn’t supply them with everything they needed, but that it didn’t matter. Phew!

The Good News

“Beyond the Red Door” has arrived and is listed on amazon.com!

So now you can buy the 2007 edition and not incur huge postal costs. On checking their site, they have a special offer running if you buy before December 10. Problem is, they only have one copy. Once they see it will sell, they’ll order more from me.

To find it on their site, go to amazon’s website and search for “Beyond the Red Door”, then click on “books” in the search results. You’ll see the 2007 edition listed there.

There is no difference between the first edition and the reprint, just that the cover isn’t the same for the reprint. When I’m feeling a bit braver, I’ll try and upload it to this blog. But you can see it on amazon.com.

So get your orders in and let me help you by supplying more copies to amazon.com and reducing your costs.

With the Boyup Brook Book Bonanza coming up soon (May 19 & 20), I’ve been thinking about what I could give away with my books.

The perfect answer, of course, is a bookmark. Then it came down to design, who should do it and how much would it cost. I did a lot of research on bookmarks and discovered that what I wanted - which was quality and longevity - would cost quite a bit.

So the next best thing was to be creative and do it myself, so to speak.

It was actually my mother who came up with the fantastic design idea and who became the hands-on producer. Why not have the bookmark as a red door with panelling and a door handle?

It was a brilliant idea. And having control over a product and producing it yourself is so satisfying. I think there is more pride in creating something yourself. I certainly felt happier when I did the reprint of ‘Beyond the Red Door’, just because I was in charge of the design and content.

I’ll describe the bookmark to you - if I was really clever, I could take a photo, upload it to a blog post and let you see it. But I’m not clever, so here’s the description. The bookmark is made of a high quality plastic, red in colour, of course. The panels are etched in gold paint and so is the door handle. And to top it off, there is a beautiful red rope tassle.

I’ll be giving these away at the book fare in May, but will also include them when you buy your copy through my site. Please click here to purchase your copy and get your free bookmark.