JOEL GRIFFETT

This blog still lives on despite my absence, although not in the same form. Last week my custom domain and the paid plan from WordPress expired and I haven’t renewed either (I made sure it wouldn’t all disappear before I turned off auto-renewal).

This project is now split between this blog and my website (jag-books.com) where I sell the books and I am not sure how to combine the two (or where). The website is hosted by Shopify, which is fantastic for online sales but the built in blogging features are deliberately limited in order to encourage further money spending. Free plans of blog extensions and SEO optimisation are available but the full version would set me back £25/month and right now I haven’t the money for that.

WordPress is best for blogging and presumably there is some way to combine WordPress and Shopify but for someone who is supposedly a “digital native” I am surprisingly incompetent with all things technological. I may also change the domain for jag-books to jg-books or something similar. My initials are JAG, but because I don’t write under the name Joel A. Griffett, no one has made the link between the two and realistically that is not a surprise.

This year has been a learning curve and I struggle most with the marketing side of things. The idea of ‘building a brand’ is key to self-publishing or any small business venture and I have continually and wilfully neglected such tasks; tasks as simple as keeping this blog updated, or posting regularly on social media. I excuse myself from this duty by telling myself I am not cut out for the business side of things, which while true, is the reason I haven’t sold as many books as I could have so far.

With all that I have learned about myself and about self-publishing this year I am keeping my options open but one thing is certain: part two is well on the way. It may take a different form, rebranded with a catchier and less wordy title; I may even pursue the acquisition of a literary agent and in turn a publishing deal, which would save me a whole lot of time and stress (and money).

Nothing is certain. Self-publishing could still be a lucrative way to share my next book, provided I do it properly. A release party; Trevithick Day 2025; copies available in bookshops across Cornwall and beyond the Tamar; a book tour; appearances at various book fairs and festivals across the South West – all of these combined and I’ve got a relatively successful book without ever appearing on the radar of national press or garnering a traditional publishers attention, all the while maintaining total control of the story I want to write.

In short, I am at least halfway through the second book, the first part of a single book I intended to write when I first left for Latin America, just over 2 years ago. If you enjoyed my long detour through Chile and Bolivia, then you’ll love my travels across Peru, finally sinking my teeth into the history of Trevithick in the country. The travels are even more interesting and the subject matter is far more comprehensively researched.

Long Road to Nowhere (Part One) is still available from jag-books.com and is now available from Clemo Books in Newquay, The Cornish Store in Falmouth and All Occasions in Perranporth

Finally, I am doing a talk on the 9th October for the Perranzabuloe Old Cornwall Society at the Memorial Hall in Perranporth and another one at King Edward Mine on 10th January 2025 for the Trevithick Society, both extended talks on the subject of Trevithick in Latin America.