Small Business Saturday and a Bout of Food Poisoning at 5AM

I started the day strong at St. James Espresso in Kirkland with the Elsewhere NaNoWriMo meetup and had a pecan sticky bun (but don’t worry I didn’t eat the pecans, just the good part). I got a couple thousand words in!

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Off to the Small Business Saturday event at the Neverending Bookshop in Bothell for a joint author event with debut author Lori Summerville and her debut fantasy novel, “Fall Through.”

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Then Paul took us out to lunch across the street at the lovely Alexa’s Cafe! I’d never been and couldn’t help but get one of their peculiar looking cinnamon rolls and it was THE BEST EVER! My curry chicken sandwich on a croissant was also quite delicious.

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On the way to Paul’s gig at Tab’s in Kenmore, I stopped in at my favorite local donut shop, Daddy’s and tried out one of the seasonal combos!

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After eating leftover Thai food and two snacks and two drinks at Tab’s I finished the day with mild food poisoning at 5AM…

All about the Donuts – Donuts Aftermath! How sales channels/marketing/promotion worked

Percentage of sales from different outlets:

Ingramspark =42%
Amazon =24%
Createspace =4%
In person =14%
Sales events (MVD/Oddmall/release parties) =16%

 

Marketing prior to book release: Accounts for 10% of total sales (tracked with pre-order sales)

 

Marketing post book release: Accounts for 52% of total sales

 

 

Marketing going forward: Accounts for 38% of total sales

  • Ingramspark Third Place Books order = copies still available for purchase account for 38% of total sales
  • Weekend Writing Warriors
  • Newsletter
  • All About the Donuts
  • Local Donut Shop Reviews
  • Word of Mouth
  • Future sales events
    • Capital Indie Book Con
    • Oddmall Holiday Event

 

All About the Donuts Newsletter from May:

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All About the Donuts: Donuts in an Empty Field (For the Love of Donuts Book 1) Publication Day June 3rd!

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Alright Daddy’s Donuts Friends & Family…. In honor of National Donut Day ( June 3rd) We are going to do a really fun Contest with the help of our friend Rachel!!!

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💥 Contest: All you have to do is inbox us with a 250+ word paragraph about what you love about donuts!!! ( This should only be about your love for donuts in general)
https://www.facebook.com/DaddyDonutsbothell/

Contest winner will be picked by Rachel and announced June 3rd and could possibly make it into her next donut book!!! Good Luck!!!!

⭐️Prize: ⭐️
A Giant basket of goodies!!!! $20 gift card to Daddy’s, selfie stick, donuts socks, coffee, perfume, a time turner, donut keychain pieces, and a fun book of challenges

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Local young adult writer, Rachel Barnard, will release the first novel in her young adult For the Love of Donuts series titled Donuts in an Empty Field with Life’s a Book Publishing, June 3rd, 2016 (AKA National Donut Day). Pre-order your copy HERE.

Letting go of anger is life’s greatest challenge.

Vanessa hasn’t been the same since her father’s death. A hero until the end, he died saving a restaurant owner’s son from a burning building. Nessa blames the boy, but her best friend Nichole thinks it’s time to let go of the past. In a last ditch effort to break Nessa’s obsession, Nichole hopes signing up for the local food challenge will bust her out of her shell. A single choice defines the road ahead for Nessa. Doing the right thing isn’t easy, but living with the consequences of doing nothing might be worse.

Don’t forget to subscribe to Rachel’s newsletter to receive important updates and promotions, if you haven’t already. Signup HERE

Come celebrate the awaited release of the first book in the For the Love of Donuts series – “Donuts in an Empty Field” by Rachel Barnard,  Online Here

Don’t forget: Enter the free raffle to win neat goodies HERE

Add the book to your Goodreads shelf HERE

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All About the Donuts: Local Donut Shop Review – Daddy’s Donuts

Daddy’s Donuts

Kenmore, WA

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7018 Bothell Way NE, Kenmore, WA 98028

(206) 496-3670

Website: http://www.daddysdonuts.net/

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Review criteria:

Most popular donut at the shop: Straw-bella

Signature shop donut: Caramel apple

Most popular US donut: glazed (not available)

2nd most popular US donut: Boston crème (not available)

Donut Hole: Only mini-donuts are made/sold

 

What I tried:

Daddy’s Original, Original with cinnamon sugar, Original with powdered sugar, Straw-Bella, Coco-Loco, Caramel Apple, Funky Monkey, Robot Roberta, Happy Camper, 12th Man, Tayo Tornado, Confetti Eddie, Al Capone

I’ve also tried their mocha, hot chocolate and steamed flavored milk (hazelnut)

 

What to expect:

Daddy’s specializes in mini-donuts that are all based on the cake donut. They are fresh and made to order. Each order takes a couple of minutes to put together. They make their own cream and use fresh fruit (organic or local when possible). You will not find most of the “typical” donuts in this shop.

 

Perks:

If you like cake donuts, these are the best in the area that you’ll find. They are perfectly bite sized and come out fresh and warm, ready to eat. The cream, for the varieties with cream on top, is handmade and won’t instantly melt from the warm donuts. The fruit is fresh as well. The owner combines his love of robots and donuts in this store and the place is covered in both! It’s a wonderfully fun shop for kids.

 

Don’t Worry:

The shop is tiny, fitting around ten people at a time. There is a bathroom on location. Parking is limited to around 8 spots. It’s right off the highway, so make sure to keep your eyes out for the little single story shop and get into the turn lane/bus only lane in time to make the sharp right. (there is no left because they are on one side of a divided highway). If you’re getting groceries at Safeway, a sandwich at Subway, hitting up the ATM at Bank of America or making a quick stop at the UPS, be sure to walk over and snag some mini donuts, you’ll be glad that you did.

 

My favorite:

The owner is such a sweet person. He is enthusiastic and inviting and will remember who you are! He wants the customer to be happy as much as he wants his shop to succeed. My favorite combo at his shop is the straw-bella.

Foodie Fridays: Nano Win Reward – Daddy’s Donuts Kenmore “one of everything”

Nano Stats coming Monday – but I decided to reward myself with an immediate donut foray for accomplishing all my goals in November for NaNoWriMo and a challenge/reward to come in 2016 (stay tuned for what it is on Monday).

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My first reward for finishing both first drafts of my For the Love of Donuts Book 2’s was to buy “one of everything” from my new favorite donut vendor and local business Daddy’s Donuts in Kenmore.

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I chose today as the big day and headed over when they open (8AM) but had to wait for their new machine to be setup, and Daddy himself (Eduardo) gave me a complementary mocha (how nice!) to enjoy while I waited.

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See how excited I am as I wait to ask for “one of everything.”

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Check out the ‘tip’ jar.

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And the donuts start coming out!

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Thanks Daddy’s!

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The guys at the office loved ’em!

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About my series, For the Love of Donuts, and the two books I wrote first drafts of this November:

The Optimist Sees the Donut (For the Love of Donuts Book 2) & The Pessimist Sees the Hole (For the Love of Donuts Book 2)

Genre: Young Adult

Synopsis

Their friendship has been the one unbreakable thing, the one certainty in their lives, but Nichole Adams and Vanessa Smith are developing into their own persons and their individual life dramas distract them from each other.

Vanessa has never had many friends in her life and even though she wanted to stay friends with Nichole, she met new people in college and is moving on. She has school, she has social activities, and a new group of friends even though she can’t seem to find the right guy.

Nichole is jealous of Vanessa’s ease of everything in the real world. Nessa has no trouble with jobs, money, school, or getting and going places. Nichole, on the other hand was preemptively kicked out of her mom’s house after graduating high school and has been floundering ever since. The only thing she has easy in her life is flirting and getting dates, or at least a guy that will let her crash at his house. Nichole doesn’t always have the best of luck with men.

Forever hopeful that things will change, Nichole still clings to the hope that Vanessa will come back to their friendship and be the best friend from high school that Nichole misses. When guy after guy doesn’t work out for her, Vanessa changes more and more of her personality to attract the right guy, drifting farther and farther from who she really is. Something’s gotta give and this story of how friendships get off track, lies become reality, and bad luck tails bad choices will bring you in and around the little town of Sarasota, Florida that you grew to love in book one of the series – Donuts in an Empty Field.

 

 

Nano November: Day of Donuts Halfway Hustle – 10,321 new words!

Here are my spoils left at the end of the day:

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Daddy’s Donuts – open 8am – 7pm Sunday November 15th

Address: 7018 NE Bothell Way, Kenmore Wa 98028

Writing Time: 8:20AM – 9:10AM

Words written: 1,762

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Daddy’s is a small little place with a plethora of donut signs indicating the little house actually sells donuts. They specialize in mini donuts that rival Pike’s Place mini donut vendor. They are fresh and not bogged down in oil. Unlike Pike’s, I could eat a dozen of these babies without feeling sick. They are like cake and I loved every bite of them. Prices are decent, but don’t come if you want a donut as big as your fist. They are mini, they are lovely, and the employees are bright and helpful.

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Sampled/Money spent: $9.32 for the straw-bella and the plain and $1.64 for a 8 oz. hot chocolate

 

CountrySide Donut House – open 5:30am – 3pm Sunday November 15th

Address: 10032 Main St, Bothell, WA 98011

Writing Time: 9:30AM – 10:45AM

Words written: 2,547

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It’s cold in here, the double doors let out any heat that comes from the back, if there is any. The donuts are displayed prominently, proudly in a large display that you see as soon as you step inside. The most popular is the maple bar, hands down but I was more intrigued by the cinnamon roll. They only take cash and checks (who still takes checks? Who would write a check for donuts?) The worker was short and snappy behind the counter, making sure he moved the customers along and that no line developed. There’s almost no standing room.

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 Sampled/Money Spent: $2.20 for a french cruller (one of my favorites) and a cinnamon roll donut.

 

Factory Donuts – open 5AM-2PM Sunday November 15th

Address: 12505 NE 144th St., Kirkland, WA 98034

Writing Time: 11AM – 12:15PM

Words written: 1672

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 Why are donut houses so cold? I’ve been here before. You can’t go wrong with a croissant and as much as I like odnuts I was glad for the change. It was very delicious and I ate it up! The lady behind the counter is hilarious with a great sense of humor.

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Sampled/Money spent: Apple fritter and ham & Cheese croissant $4.11

 

 

Sunrise Donuts & Espresso – open 6AM – 2PM Sunday November 15th

Address: 7299 West Lake Sammamish Pkwy NE, Redmond, WA 98052

Writing Time: 12:30 – 1:45PM planned, showed up at 12:15PM to see the closed sign

Words written:

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Better get here early because by noon ish they were closed for lack of inventory.

Money Spent/Sampled: none

 

Westernco – Bellevue – open 4AM – 5:30PM Sunday November 15th

Address: 1412 156th Ave NE., Bellevue, WA 98007

Writing Time: x, got my donuts and left because I was tired of being cold

Words written: 0

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Sampled/Money spent: $2.00 on a jelly donut and a custard donut.

I Decided I wanted a warmer writing place and hopped North to join my new favorite bookstore’s write in at Neverending Bookstore in Bothell.

 

Words written at the Neverending Bookstore with my apples: 2181

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Top Pot – Bellevue – open 7AM – 5:30PM Sunday November 15th

Address: 10600 NE 9th Place, Bellevue, WA 98004

Writing Time: 3:30PM – 4:30PM

Words written: 2160

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Money spent/Sampled: $2.18+3.82 for a regular old fashioned and a raspberry old fashioned.

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Decidedly the most open/most space/most expensive/least exciting donuts of the bunch. It’s hard to go wrong in Bellevue though and I was glad Sheri joined me!

Total donuts consumed: 13 mini donuts at Daddy’s, 1/2 French Cruller at CountrySide Donut House, 1 croissant ham n cheese sandwich at Factory Donuts, 3/4 Old Fashioned at Top Pot. Total words: 10,321. Total time: 7:30AM – 5:30PM from leaving my house to getting back to my house.