May 2026 blog post.

 

Looking back and looking ahead. 

My last blog post was in February, and reading through it, I seem to be quite enthusiastic about my progress in the Indie world of books. But the reality, unfortunately, has been a little different. Although my book, Shadow Over Paris, was doing well, followed by the sequel, I started losing inspiration. And then Amazon sent me an email asking if I would like them to promote my book, free of charge, for the month of April. They’d done this for me in December, same book too, so I wondered what is was about my book that ‘clicked’ with Amazon.

 I used AI to ask what Amazon’s algorithms look for when selecting a book to promote. It came back with eight different reasons, and my book ticked every one of those boxes. During the promotion, I watched the book climb to No 7 in the Historical French fiction category, it nudged itself into the top 20 Historical fiction and came a respectable 70^th or so in Historical literature. It also peaked at 4120 in Amazon’s overall list of titles. This meant I needed to find a way of keeping the balls in the air once the promotion had finished.

And there’s the rub; I was cleverly scammed last year, which left me feeling violated and, let’s be honest, quite stupid to fall for the trickster. This meant that I could no longer trust anyone who contacted me by email, promising to elevate me and my work to a higher place. The majority of them never addressed me by name, it was always ‘Hi author’, ‘Hello’, ‘I read your work (which work?)’, and so on and so forth. I decided it was down to me to run another campaign on Facebook, which was responsible for acquiring over one million page reads for the book in six months. I tried Amazon ads, but I suck at them and achieved nothing. So, where to go from here? 

Quite by chance, I received an email addressed to me but wanting to discuss my book and maybe do some publicity stuff. I returned the email with the words: ‘Not my book’. But the woman wrote back, and from there we exchanged about twenty emails, and in that time, I used AI to check up on the authenticity of this person because I was convinced it was a scam. I looked at other sources as well and now find myself enjoying a small uptick in my sales. She opened my eyes to the mechanics of using the correct keywords etc, changed my blurb, told me to use a recent photo, and then we dived into the dreaded world of Goodreads. Wow, that took some doing, but we finally managed it, and now we will be looking at a Goodreads giveaway, followed by (maybe) a 30-minute Zoom call to see where we go from there. Am I excited? No, not yet, but it’s time for me to up my game and see just how I can reach higher and enjoy some real validation in the world of Indie books.

On a sad note, I had to say goodbye to my ten-year-old Cockapoo, Tuppence. She developed a terminal illness that couldn’t be controlled despite the medication and change of diet. She has been my constant companion since I lost my lovely Pat over five years ago; she has been the centre of my universe, and the reason I couldn’t make any decisions without considering her welfare first. Now she’s gone, and I find myself living in an empty house. I’m going to put a little memorial to her in a pot beneath the bird feeder. That was her favourite place in the garden, and I would often see her sitting there, wagging her tail, waiting for the birds to drop something.

 So, from here? I’m working on the trilogy (slowly) and planning a trip to Norfolk to see my eldest boy and his wife, then my elder brother Jim, followed by a quick trip into Lincolnshire to visit my friend, Pauline. And while I’m in Lincolnshire, I hope to catch up with my granddaughter, Sarah, and her family. So, things are looking up, but I still have mountains to climb.

 Wish me luck!                                                                                Michael Parker

 

 January 2026 Blog post

 Looking up and wondering if...

The beginning of 2026 was the point where I could relax and forget about all the jottings on the calendar for December and the build-up to Christmas, but life gets in the way, and it’s kind of a situation normal again. I often tell people that if you want to put a smile on God’s face, just tell Him what your plans are.

I was looking forward to going to Atlanta again for our great-grandson, Elliott’s 2^nd birthday, and to see the new addition to his family, who is due in April. Boy or girl? We won’t know until April. But I’ve cancelled the trip because they will all be here four weeks later and, yes, they will be coming to Pagham to see me, so I decided to save myself a few thousand quid and cancelled the trip. They will be here for our Grandson, Adam’s, wedding to his fiancée, Agata, in August. 

After a relatively minor op last November, I now find myself having to visit the nurse twice a week to have the dressing changed on my leg. It’s just a giant sticking plaster, but it means marking it up on the calendar. Oh, and the Gardner is here every Thursday for an hour if it isn’t raining. My church House Group started up again, which meant more additions to the calendar. There’s always a book club meeting at Littlehampton once a month. Church itself, etc. So, with God smiling, I’m busy filling up the days. Oh, and I’m planning a trip up to Norfolk in April, then round to my friend, Pauline, in Lincolnshire for a short stay. And in between all that, I’m trying to write a third book in my WW2 series. 

Those of you who read my last monthly blog post will know that I decided to give up writing, having published the sequel to Shadow Over Paris. I just didn’t want to write books anymore. But after a couple of weeks sitting on my bum with nothing to do other than watch TV  (Netflix and football), I knew I had to do something. So, I picked up my virtual pen and began putting together something for a third book. — a Trilogy. 

But there was another reason too. The first of the two books had done very well in the last few months of 2025, bringing in high sales and page reads. I published the sequel in November, and that started selling, slowly at first, but it was beginning to chase after its big brother. And I wasn’t even promoting them. It was obvious what I had to do, so I began a Facebook campaign in the USA and the UK this year. The pick-up was slow at first, but now they are gaining momentum and hitting figures that are putting a big smile on my face. The trick now is to keep those balls in the air and see how far I can push those numbers, although it will mean spending more money on Promotion and Advertising. 

There is also another reason why I knew I needed to write the third book, and that was the unusual interest I was getting from unexpected sources. I get several emails a day promising me they can advance my book, but they are usually web crawlers and robots out for my money. The difference now is that I’ve been approached by a book club called ‘The Paris Story Book Club’, and another club called ‘The Lisbon Raft Book Club’. I was dubious about them both, but no money is involved (yet!); they simply want permission to feature Shadow Over Paris. They both have different ways of doing this, which is too involved to explain here, but it’s another outlet for me to explore and, hopefully, extend my reach into the world of books. 

After writing that piece, I received an email from the Raft Book Club offering to make a video trailer for me at a cost of $100. See what I mean? It often ends in a ‘rider’ to the ‘free’ promotion they are offering. 

For anyone reading this who has no idea of what kind of level I’m at in this game, I can promise you I am still what I call a ‘Bottom Feeder’. I’ve seen sales figures from other authors like me that would make the fictional Gecko of Wall Street weep with envy, and to reach those heights at my current rate of progress would take me years. But I can dream, can’t I? 

It’s late evening on January 31^st as I’m writing this. I’ve just watched an episode of The Lincoln Lawyer on Netflix. I watched the series last year, all 30 episodes. When I think of the screenwriters who knock out script after script, week in, week out, I can only marvel at the way they can produce story lines that help keep Series like that at the top. I suppose it has to be said of the Soaps as well, but I do despair at the dross some TV Dramas peddle out at times. But then, I’m not a screenwriter; I would probably find it hard, particularly as it takes me a year to write a book. On the other hand, maybe… 

Anyway, back to earth. I’ve just ordered a non-fiction paperback about the French Resistance during WW2, so it looks as though this could give me something gritty and near the knuckle to include in the third book — as if transporting and murdering Jews wasn’t enough! We’ll see.

 

Wish me luck!

 

 End of year blog 2025

 

Today is the last day of 2025; time to reflect, to look back, and to look forward. My year has been a mixture of highs and lows, although I prefer to think of the latter as ‘not so high’. There are two significant highs, one of which was my trip to Atlanta to help celebrate our 5^th great-grandson, Elliott’s first birthday. The other was a long weekend in Prague to help our Grandson, Adam, celebrate his 40^th birthday. Both events were helped by the addition of several members of the Parker family. In Atlanta, they came from Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom. In Prague, the same crowd turned up, plus others from Scotland and, of course, England. It isn’t necessary to name them all, but in Atlanta, there were five of us to help swell the numbers, and in Prague, there were an additional twelve. Brilliant. My trip to Atlanta included a ball game — Baseball at the home of the Atlanta Braves. I thoroughly enjoyed it but didn’t have a clue what was going on, not that it mattered.

 

The Prague visit in December was an eye-opener. I’ve told people that the place was like a Netflix Christmas RomCom; there were Christmas decorations everywhere. I stayed in an upmarket Airbnb with my family and the baby, Elliott. I did a lot of walking, had some tram rides, and a River Cruise. And the weather was sublime. All in all, a lovely time.

 

The ‘not so highs’ were really all about my health. It seemed to go downhill after my Atlanta trip. It could have been my age or the fact that my lifestyle changed considerably for a couple of weeks, enough to knock me for six. But what the hell, I recovered. It took time, but I got there. Until Prague! It’s almost de rigeur these days that airline travel will come with some kind of bug, and that’s what happened to me. It took two consecutive courses of antibiotics to get rid of my chest infection. But I am back to normal now. Well, my kind of normal.

 

The run-up to Christmas was very busy and, I have to admit, made me a bit downbeat at times. But that’s all down to my age and lengthy recovery periods. Now that it has passed, I can look ahead to some unhurried routine stuff (after taking down the decorations and tidying up!).

 

In my world of books, I achieved a few high points, which put a huge smile on my face. My WW2 story, Shadow Over Paris, started taking off once I advertised it on Facebook in March. It reached the top 10 in Historical French Fiction and managed to creep high up into the top 100 of Historical Fiction. And to finish the year off, Amazon chose to promote it for the whole of December in America and Canada at no cost to me. That will finish today as will my own promotion for the UK.

 

Another high in my book world was finishing the Sequel: ShadowOver Paris – Beyond Midnight. It has been out for two months now and is picking up sales and page reads, chasing its big brother up the charts.

 

But then comes a ‘Not so high’ — I’ve decided to give up writing. I made the decision after publishing the Sequel because I found it such hard work that I wondered if I would ever get to the end. And now I seem to have run out of steam and inclination. I realise that I will never achieve what the majority of writers aspire to, and that is bestseller status. I know that if I were to achieve that, a lot of people would want a piece of me, want me to do a speaking event and book signings, etc., which would mean travel. Interviews? Expectations? It isn’t difficult to imagine, but at my age (I’m 84), that isn’t what I want. I might have done twenty years ago, but not now; I just need a quiet life. (But we’ll see).

 

So, what’s to come for Michael Parker next year? There are two significant events: Taryn in America is expecting and due to have her baby in April. That will be our sixth great-grandchild. I’m planning to go to Atlanta in July for Elliott’s second birthday and to see the baby. I’m not concerned about how tiring it will be; I just want to be there. And the other significant event for me is our Grandson, Adam, and his fiancée, Agata’s wedding in August. Agata has asked me to walk her down the aisle, which I will be honoured to do. I’ve got to keep fit for that — no health issues.

 

I will be planning some kind of advertising for my WW2 books in 2026, but I will need to keep a close eye on the cost. My campaigns this year saw me running at a small loss each week while the campaigns were running, but the aim was to push the books and my name. The result meant that once the campaigns had finished, the books, including some of my other titles, managed to garner sales and page reads, leaving me in profit for the year and put a big smile on my face.

 

So, that’s my offering for what has passed and what might come. And you never know, I night even become a best-selling author. Really?. Wish me luck

 

Happy New Year to all of you, even those who have given me one-star reviews (at least you bought my book!). See you in 2026.

                                                                                                                   Michael Parker

 

 Highs and lows of my November 

How quickly time flies. Here we are, just four weeks from Christmas, and it’s time to get the decorations out, write and post the Christmas cards, and decide what and how you want to spend the time. But this blog post isn’t about my plans, but how I’ve got through the four weeks of November, and whether I’m on the road to becoming a best-selling author. That last part is a given: there’s no way I’ll hit those heady heights, but I will keep trying. 

I had the misfortune to be scammed (Catfished?) by a crooked publicist. It was very skilfully done over several weeks, leading me to think I was being helped along the way to achieving those dreams most authors have. It was quite by chance that I cottoned on and managed to extricate myself from their clutches. I use the plural here because I believe it was not the work of one person. The result of being caught is that you feel violated, and it brings home the fact that these people are very good at what they do. I think I can promise myself that it won’t happen again.

 

The highlight of the month was the publication of the sequel to my WW2 novel, Shadow Over Paris. The title of the sequel is Shadow Over Paris — Beyond Midnight. I published the book on the 12^th, one year and a day after the Shadow Over Paris. I have just posted a campaign on Facebook, so it’s early days to say whether the sequel will be as successful as the first. So far, I’ve sold sixteen copies and notched up just over 4000 page reads, so at least readers are catching on. Shadow Over Paris sold 1200 copies and notched up 800,000 page reads, so it looks like the sequel has got some catching up to do.

 

Although I said that was the highlight of the month, there was another, and that was Amazon (KDP) getting in touch with me to say I had been successful in the draw for a book promotion, and they will be promoting Shadow Over Paris during the month of December. The price will be $1.99 in Canada and the United States. Amazon will run the promotion, and it won’t cost me a penny. 

When I check how well my books are doing, KDP provides all the information very clearly and easily accessible. It gives me the opportunity to see a snapshot of everything. One thing that surprised me when looking at November’s sales figures, the third highest country for the book was India. I never would have expected that. The wise gurus will tell me to advertise more, specifically in India, to capitalise on that market. It would make sense, but it would probably cost me more in advertising than I would earn through sales. I still have to concentrate on the UK and the United States, though. But it has crossed my mind to push my Emma Carney Romances. It’s a huge market, but one in which it would be unlikely for me to make much of an impact.

 I have no plans to write anymore; I think I’ve reached the end of the road in that respect. I know you can say, “Never say never”, but I just cannot see any way in which I would be inspired. It occurred to me that those readers who wanted me to write a sequel would want me to write a third book, so I would have a Trilogy of WW2 stories. Well, the truth is; I already have a trilogy — Shadow of the Wolf is set in 1943, so that makes a trilogy, although not in the proper sense, I have to admit. 

So, what now for Michael Parker? Next weekend I will be in Prague to help my grandson, Adam, celebrate his 40^th birthday. He doesn’t live there, but that’s where the family is going for the birthday bash, and they are coming from England, Scotland, Canada, the USA, and Australia. Should be fun. Then Christmas to look forward to. I hope all you who read this blog post will have a happy, enjoyable Christmas, with much to look forward to in the New Year. I plan to. 

Wish me luck!

 On a Wing and a Prayer

 

Writing a monthly blog post isn’t something I look forward to each month because it is probably the least productive of anything I do that’s connected with the written word. If I had thousands of ardent fans who hung on my every word, it would be different, but the truth is, it’s only family and friends, maybe some neighbours, who actually read my blog. But it is what it is, so I press on and try to deliver something meaningful and interesting.

 

Looking back through my diary, there are the usual suspects: walking the dog, hoovering, washing, making the bed etc. Going to church, attending an Alpha Course, which is something for new and non-Christians, really, but something I thought I needed to help me get to know a few more people. I did meet someone, not on the course, but in a roundabout way, because of it. She was someone Pat and I knew from our earlier years here on Mill Farm. She came round for tea, and we were able to chat about the ups and downs we’d been through.  After listening to her, I told her she had a story to tell (a good one), but she was reluctant to consider it.

 

Which brings me, conveniently, to the written word. I completed the sequel to my WW2 story, Shadow Over Paris, and sent the manuscript to my son, John, after going through it myself. John did a great job, almost like a professional, and sent back his observations and complaints. I dealt with them and posted it on Amazon for a Proof Copy. This came, which I went through with a red pen. Once I was satisfied (will I ever be?), I ordered a book jacket from Nat at the Booktypsetters.com. I posted the final edit and am now waiting for another Proof Copy, which I expect to receive in a few days. The title is Shadow Over Paris – Beyond Midnight.

 

Writing the sequel was not something I can honestly say I enjoyed doing. And that bothered me because I felt I wouldn’t be able to tell the story and achieve the success I had with the first book. Time will tell of course; all it needs is for me to spend money on promotion and marketing (more of that later).

 

I did make an effort to get myself known on TikTok. I posted a few videos of me at the piano, playing a tune and talking about my book, hoping that the video would go viral and I would sell thousands of books. I’m still waiting…

 

So, what about Promotion and Marketing? Well, I can tell you that a good P&M expert, one who isn’t out to scam or con you, would set you back about $4000 (£3500) for their services (no, they don’t come cheap). I promoted my book, first on Amazon Ads, and sold about six or seven books. Then I tried Facebook. Overall cost to me? For six months, I lost roughly £20 a week (not a fortune). I spent $2500 on FB and earned $2000 in royalties. I sold just over 1000 books (Shadow Over Paris) and had over 700,000 page reads. For me that was a success. I stopped advertising because the ad was running out of steam. But I hadn’t given up, which is where Lila Rose comes in. No, she isn’t a character in my next novel; Lila is a book publicist, and boy, have we tussled over the last six weeks.

 

Lila found me in the usual way and contacted me. I immediately told her no thanks and that was it as far as I was concerned. But she persisted and always answered the questions I put to her. I did some research and even spoke to three New York Times best-selling authors with whom Lila had worked. Eventually, I agreed to part with my money, but in dribs and drabs. I’m still with Lila and may end up with egg on my face, but if Lila is all she claims to be, I could be looking at a profitable association with a professional marketing expert. All I can do is keep my fingers crossed and hope my investment proves worthwhile.

 

Of course, there is another way if your are Reece Witherspoon. She wanted to write a thriller, so she thought, why not give Harlan Coben a ring? So she did. And she had interviews alongside Harlan Coben on BBC News, Radio 2, Virgin radio, and, no doubt, half of America. Now she is a New York Times best-selling author. So that’s how you do it — ring Harlan Coben. I think I’ll follow Reece Witherspoon’s advice and kick Lila into touch. 

 

Wish me luck!                                                                     Michael Parker

 

 

 The Intrepid Traveller (my July blog post) 

I usually write my monthly blog post early in the month, but on July 1st, I will be travelling to Atlanta in Georgia, USA. I’m going over to stay with my Grandson, Sam, and his wife, Taryn, to help celebrate their son, Elliott’s, first birthday on July 5th. Sam’s brother, Jamie, will be flying down from Vancouver with his girlfriend, Lexi, and Sam’s Mum and Dad will be over from Australia. Taryn’s family will be coming down from Michigan, so it will be quite a gathering, and I’m looking forward to it very much. I’m flying Virgin Atlantic Upper Class — something else to look forward to. 

This won’t be the first time I’ve been to the States. I’ve been a few times, but my first visit was as an eighteen-year-old in 1958. I was in the Merchant Navy working as a waiter with P&O. We did a world cruise, which incorporated a Pacific cruise before sailing through the Panama Canal for home. As a consequence of that, I got to visit Hawaii twice (not an American State at the time), Vancouver twice, plus a short stop and a five-day layover in San Fransico. There were lots of highlights, of course, and I’ll never forget being driven along a Freeway in a pink Cadillac thinking what a blast it was; here in the land of Bill Haley, Elvis Presley (he had a pink Cadillac), Buddy Holly and the Everley Brothers — the list goes on. I was a bit of a dreamer then (still am, I think). 

My highlights for this trip that I know of in advance include a visit to a Writers’ group, a fireworks display to celebrate July 4th, Elliott’s christening on the morning of his birthday, and, of course, the birthday party. I’m also scheduled to go to a baseball game, something I asked my grandson to arrange. Any game will do, I said, so long as it’s not English football. Anything after all that will be a bonus. Oh, and I’ve been promised a Hummingbird T-shirt. That’s the name of the Running Club my Grandson, Jamie, set up in Vancouver along with a couple of his mates. 

So what about my world of books? Well, my current WW2 story, Shadow Over Paris, is doing very well. It sells every day and is holding it’s own in the top 20 of Historical French fiction, so I’m well pleased. But I’m struggling to come up with a worthwhile sequel, which some readers have asked me to do. I’m just past the 40,000-word mark, which means about halfway, but I need to keep the excitement level up if it’s to emulate the success of my current book. But I am picking up sales and page reads on some of my other books, which is always good to see. It means people are noticing me and are getting curious. Being in Kindle Unlimited helps as well, and I have about eight of my books in KU. I may take the plunge and put all my books there.

 Away from all the glitz and glamour of International travel and the world of books, my domestic routines haven’t changed. I’m sure most of you are in the same place as me. The weather has been good, but not for the garden, except the weeds! The grass is brown, but my pots and hanging baskets are surviving. Life goes on despite the best practices of the international warmongers and the mendacious politicians who think we’re all senile and don’t have a clue. So, don’t worry about things over which you have no control, take life as it comes, and spread a little of your own sunshine. I hope I’m doing that with my books. Wish me luck!

 

 

 Fun, Family, and Fans

Fun, family and fans

 

How does the song go? ‘Where do I begin?’ Looking back on the month of May, there has been a lot going on in my life one way or another. I can see some significant moments as I look at my diary; always surrounded by the usual domestic chores of course. So I’ll skip those routines and talk about memorable stuff (for me, anyway).

 

VE Day was significant. There was an event on our local green area, I went along, took a chair, and, hopefully, dressed the part. One very interesting woman I met was 99 and worked as a Land Army girl when she was seventeen. I’m afraid I can’t remember her name, but it could have been Alice, or Helen, or… I often see her early mornings when I’m walking Tuppence. As we go by in the car, Alice (for now) waves. So to actually get to speak to her was a real pleasure. I was four years old when the war ended, so had nothing other than vague memories to swap with her.

 

Another really memorable day was my Saturday trip to Goodwoof. No, I haven’t spelled it wrong. Goodwoof is a two-day dog event at Goodwood. I met my son, Terry, with his wife, Claire, and one of their sons, Freddie. They had my Great-grandson, Orin, with them, who is eight years old. It was fortunate for me because they took control of Tuppence. I must say the event was brilliant. I imagine I would have enjoyed it even if I’d been on my own. I won’t go into details, but suffice to say it was worth going. If my boy wants to do the same next year, I’ll join him.

 

I had a neighbour, Pam, who is in her nineties, come over for a cup of tea and a chat. Pam is into motoring and has been an enthusiast for a good many years. It’s surprising what you learn about people when they begin to reveal something of their past. Pam loves rallies and that kind of thing, and she told me of an amazing, sponsored London to Moscow trip she did many years ago. Fascinating.

 

Another event was the monthly Arun Scribes book club meeting in Littlehampton. It isn’t always about books; often you end up talking to someone, like Pam, who has a really interesting story that has nothing to do with books. One chap I got talking to (Stanley) was in the Army and did a tour in Belize many years ago. As it happens, our son, Terry, was a Harrier pilot, and did an eighteen-month tour there. Pat and I spent a couple of weeks with him and his family in Belize; a place we would never have dreamed of visiting. So, me and Stanley had a great deal to talk about.

 

Another good day for me was when our Granddaughter, Gemma, came over with her husband, Max, and their two boys, Orin and Liri. Orin is eight, Liri is 15 months. Gemma cooked lunch for us while Max and I kept an eye on the boys. Liri liked putting his hand in Tuppence’s water bowl for some reason and kept throwing Postman Pat in there for a swim. But when I walked into the kitchen and found the dog bowl upside down, I had to get the mop out and put the bowl away. But for all the dramas and the fascination (for me) of watching Gemma and Max dealing with them, it was a pure joy to have them here. I think it might have worn Tuppence out, though. Lovely day.

 

But this blog wouldn’t be worth posting without a mention of my world of books. I uploaded my family saga, Past Imperfect, after getting the rights back from the American publisher. I had to pay for a new jacket, but it’s out there and, hopefully, it might sell. I am also preparing the love element of that saga as a pure Romance called Max and Emma. It will be published under the pseudonym (Emma Carney) I use for my Romance novels. It will be a novella, which I plan to sell at £0.99. It will mean I have five Emma Carney titles out there. But my favourite talking point (if anyone asks) is about the progress of my latest work, Shadow Over Paris. At my level, which is loosely described as a ‘bottom feeder’, the book is selling really well. But along with that are the ‘page reads’. Last month I had 99,000 page reads. It puts a big smile on my face. I am now working on a sequel to the book, which I find very difficult because I have never written a sequel before. So, that’s it so far. Four weeks from today, I’ll be in America with my family celebrating the first birthday of our fifth Great-grandson, Elliott. Wish me luck!