Passion

Passion. What are you passionate about? Or is that too strong a word for whatever it is you have a deep, keenly held interest in? I am passionate about my writing and books in general. Through the years I have discovered new authors, new genres, new mysteries, and so on. I’ve no doubt that most, if not all of you who read this blog will feel the same kind of passion that I do. But because of that feeling, and because I have experienced the ups and downs of writing, I get exasperated when I come across a best-selling author who has had to credit a veritable army of people for practically writing his or her book. When you’ve spent hour after hour at the desk, or the kitchen table, or wherever it is that you do your writing, you end up with a wonderful sense of achievement once the manuscript is finished. Then no-one is interested. Or if they are, the book is published and then disappears without trace. Meanwhile, at the top of the tree, a whole literary army is involved in turning out a ‘best seller’. It’s disheartening, but it’s a fact of life; something we have to live with. So perhaps I should now credit the unsung people who work for my publisher, Robert Hale Ltd., of London. Whoever you are, whatever your names are and whatever effort you have put in to producing my latest novel, THE BOY FROM BERLIN, I want to thank you, sincerely.
Had a busy weekend, mainly because it was our Christian Fellowship’s 20th. birthday. The church began in a small house about twenty three years ago, moved from place to place as it grew and became officially registered as a church 20 years ago. We had a party on Saturday night, and a welcome acknowledgment to the originators followed on the Sunday at the main service. Good time had by all. You could see God’s footprints everywhere.
Sad news indeed to hear of the death of Gary Speed yesterday. For those of you who are unaware of this man, he was a famous footballer who graced the playing field for a good number of years. Well loved by his fans and others who had no reason to follow the teams he played for. He took his own life at the age of 42.
Now I have to get back on to the promotion and marketing trail, and in doing so direct people to my website and also to www.acclaimedbooks.com. Things are beginning to look up, and I sense that a lot will be happening in the coming months. Wish me luck!

Busy, Busy

Busy day again. I’m squeezing this post in between outings. This morning my wife and I were at a house group. It’s a weekly meeting for about ten of us from our local Christian Fellowship here in Torrevieja. I take my keyboard and play a hymn or two, and we spend about an hour discussing a particular topic and drifting away and talking of all manner of things. It’s amazing how people open up once they have become relaxed and know that what they say will not go beyond the group. Back home for lunch and then out again visiting a sick friend. She has cancer, and has been battling the disease for about three years now. She gets a reprieve and then another crisis develops. We can only keep praying for her and hope the Lord heals. This afternoon we will spend about an hour with our friend and her husband, not much more than that because of her frailty. So, rather hurriedly really, I’m writing my blog post now so I can get it out today, Thursday.
My son sent me a breakdown of my web statistics this morning. I’m not in the big league, but since we updated the web, my hits went from an average over seven months of about 11000 to 22738 in November. They say that one swallow doesn’t make a summer, but I’m chuffed to bits with that increase.
It is now possible to order copies of my hardback, THE BOY FROM BERLIN. Publication date in December 30th. from the publisher, Robert Hale Ltd. They sell at a generous discount, about 30% and will send the book post free in UK. For those who might want to buy a copy, log on to Hale’s website at www.halebooks.com. I’m looking forward to seeing the book in print. I’m like a kid with a new toy when I open up my parcel with the books inside. I always read my books through, beginning to end. Makes me feel good knowing that this is all my own work, edited and published at no cost to me. Lovely.
The Kindle version of ROSELLI’S GOLD is now available. Shouldn’t be too long before it’s available in paperback in UK. There’s so much going on for me right now, what with my work coming out and everything else. Next week I’ll be giving away three copies of Roselli’s Gold through the Goodreads giveaway promotion. If you haven’t signed up for it yet, why not pop over to Goodreads and check it out? You never know, you might win. See you all next week.

On Safari

When I began writing blogs, I was all over the place. Eventually I decided to cut it down to twice a week, writing on Monday and Thursday. But life gets in the way and the best laid plans etc. Mind you, yesterday I had a good reason not to post to my blog; my wife and I went on a coach trip. We headed up to the Aitana Safari Park. It’s in the Aitana mountain range, right at the top, about 33kms from the popular resort of Benidorm on the Costa Blanca here in Spain. Terrific place. The coach follows the park ranger round as he drops hay etc. for the various animals at feed time (3pm). This is simply a ‘snack’ for them, but it’s wonderful to see the different species of goat, deer, pony, gazelle, long horned cows that look more like buffaloes. The lions and tiger roam free, but of course the ranger doesn’t get out of his 4x4 to feed them. The coach drives through the enclosure and this gives the tourist the chance to see them up real close. There were also elephants, camels and hippos. Great day.
Now, back in the saddle again I am catching up with my inbox and getting this post written up before shooting off out again during the afternoon. I now know that my next hardback, THE BOY FROM BERLIN is available from my publisher at a 33% discount if purchased before publication day (December 30th). It is post free in UK. I’m also happy to say that ROSELLI’S GOLD is with Amazon in UK and it shouldn’t be too long before it’s available. The Kindle version should be on-line soon, hopefully. All in time for Christmas.
I haven’t any further news about the agreement reached with Moston Author Promotions about marketing my novels. It shouldn’t be too long. I know that the Acclaimed Books group of writers is waiting to see how this agreement unfolds. With luck, and the promotional skills of MAP, I could be climbing out of the mass of writers inhabiting the bottom of the pool and drifting slowly upwards. That would be nice. Wish me luck!

Profiles

Most of us who write our own profiles probably wish we could have said a lot more, but then we could end up with a potted history of ourselves. I began writing my life story about eight years ago, but only got as far as my twenties. I hope one day to be able to pick it up again and carry on, bringing it up to where I am now. Someone might say why not do it now? But ironically I’m too busy writing! I often think back to where I began and where I am now. I was born in March 1941 at the end of the London Blitz. I can truthfully say I survived the blitz because my mother carried me in her pregnancy throughout that traumatic period. I went on to survive the bombing until the end of the war. But to survive for what? To raise four sons with my lovely wife, Pat and to bring pleasure to thousands with my writing. Does that sound pretentious? Maybe, but I know I have a following in the UK public libraries as my annual loans statement testifies. And it’s a satisfying thought, knowing that people actually enjoy reading my novels.
I was always pretty good at story telling as a child. Maybe I used that skill when trying to convince my parents that it was not me that dropped mum’s precious ornament; it was my big brother (he usually got the blame anyway). So tomorrow, Friday, I need to use my story telling skills in a different way and convince two people to take me on as a client using their promotion and marketing skills to sell my books. I’m on the point of releasing ROSELLI’S GOLD in UK as a POD paperback to go with my two other POD novels, NORTH SLOPE and A COVERT WAR. It will also be available in Kindle too. All this should happen before Christmas in time hopefully for friends, family and readers of good books to buy them as stocking fillers (hidden beneath the bikes, prams and X boxes).
I’ve just had a thought that maybe I should add something of my writing career to these blogs. Maybe a snippet of how I began, who I met, the mistakes I made, but I need to get my head straight first and figure out if that’s the kind of stuff that people want to read. And just as a taster, I remember one of my stories as a junior at Tranmere Road Junior School in Wandsworth, London. It was about a submarine that came out of a cave beneath a cliff. Can’t remember the ending though. Bet it was good! See you next week, God willing.

Remembering & Looking ahead

It’s been quite a weekend for a lot of people associated with the United Kingdom, England and the Allied Forces that have lost men and women in horrendous wars. We had the argument about poppies; whether they could be worn on the England football shirts or not. An extremist Muslim group was banned because of their threat to disrupt the Cenotaph remembrance service, and the English Defence league was thwarted in its plans to see off the Muslim protestors. All in all a weekend of remembrance underwritten by argument and contention, but I suppose that’s what wars are all about. I heard over the weekend that there has been 40 minutes of peace in the world since the end of World War Two. What a crazy, lunatic bunch we are on this planet.
I’ve had little opportunity to progress on my manuscript, and I can see the inevitability of not getting much more accomplished until the New Year. But if I take that view, then I’m unlikely to find the impetus I need when the New year is upon us and suddenly January has gone and February is there. So, no excuses; I must not give up.
Those of you who do actually visit my web site will have noticed some changes. Well, if they haven’t been done yet, it’s because it’s a work in progress. My son had made a lot of changes to the way in which I can post to my blog and link out to other social networks. He is also changing the front page and moving things round a bit. I am hoping that the advent of 2012 will see me reaching out to more people and attracting them to my blog and my work. Inevitably the aim is to produce more sales of my books, and to that end I will be in discussion at the end of the week with two people who have an expertise in marketing and promotion with a view to generating sales. What with my next hardback, THE BOY FROM BERLIN due to appear on the shelves, I could be in for an interesting year. Wish me luck!

Sadness & Joy

It saddened me to hear of the second death of a Red Arrow pilot because of an ejector seat accident on the ground at RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire. It was particularly poignant even though I never knew the man, but I have an association with the RAF that goes deep. I served for 16 years, and my four sons joined up at a young age. Two of them are still serving, so it goes without saying that we are an Air Force family. I had the luck and privilege to fly in the back seat of a Harrier jump jet, piloted by my son Terry. I retired at 55, and this was a ‘gift’ from the RAF bosses in recognition of the fact that my sons were still serving and I had served myself. I had to understand the ejection seat safety procedures and felt a little nervous going through them immediately before the flight. When I was serving in the RAF I attended a few seat lectures. I also worked with armourers who prepared the seats. The seats are complicated and dangerous, but the arming and disarming while in the cockpit is a very simple procedure. I shudder to think what could have happened to this poor airman, but I hope it was a genuine accident and not pilot error.
On to happier and more prosaic things now. I was pleased to see that the ‘views’ on my blog, on Goodreads, has increased suddenly over the last few posts. From a succession of zero views, I have been really pleased to see a rise from zero, to two, to ten and subsequently to sixteen. If this continues upwards like an arithmetic progression (ever do those at school?), there’s a good chance it will go off the scale. But then I would find myself thinking of that old saying: ‘be careful what you wish for’. Imagine trying to write something sensible and interesting for a shed load of people.
I have been offered a proposition to allow someone who has experience in the field of internet marketing to promote my books. The deal would be no sales, no fee. I’ve got to work out the details yet, but I’m interested. I have actually met the person who has put this offer forward, so she isn’t a stranger in that sense. I also work with her brother as a member of Acclaimed Books. I’m quite excited about having somebody handling my promotion work because I just seem to have a scattergun approach to it, never knowing the best way to go or the best targets to aim for. That’s it then. Wish me luck!

Monday again

I know the title says it's Monday, but for some reason, the entry didn't appear on this blog. Anyway, here it is, and now I've got to check around and make sure the links to my ohter pages are working.

Monday again and I had great plans to get stuck into my MS, but life got in the way again. There are always things that need my attention, particularly around the house, and I seem to use these as an excuse to avoid writing. Mind you, I’ve been like this since the year dot. I had to go to a church Council meeting this morning, and this afternoon, once it has stopped raining, I’ve promised my neighbour I will go in and fix her fence. I wouldn’t mind, but I sorted one panel out on Saturday, but yesterday we had strong winds and another panel became unattached from its moorings (not the one I fixed!). It’s raining still, so that means I can stay indoors and get on with some work. Just need to get my social networking out of the way, which could take up a lot of time, post this blog and maybe, just maybe get started on my MS.
I’m currently reading Michael Chrichton’s novel, PREY. I think he’s a tremendous writer. I know he died a couple of years ago, and that’s a sad loss to the literary world. I haven’t read Jurassic Park, but the others of his that I’ve read have been cracking stories. I wouldn’t mind being as clever as he was. But I do have some strings to my bow, and I believe I have every right to be acknowledged as a genuine, thriller writer. Mind you, sometimes I wonder if I am just that: a thriller writer. If you look at my web page you’ll see that my stories cover different periods, different countries and different genres. Some could be called action, some thrillers, a war story, and certainly one can be called historical adventure. But whatever they are, I trust all my readers enjoy my work.

Reaching the summit?

I finally reached the end in my efforts to convert ROSELLI’S GOLD to Kindle. It didn’t quite work out how I wanted, but compared to a lot of Kindle books I’ve seen, my results are good. The only thing I couldn’t alter was the gap between each chapter (a carriage return in old money). I had advice from friends on how to achieve this, but it didn’t work for me. However, the result is OK, and it will look fine once it’s on Kindle.
I checked my sales info on Amazon and found that ROSELLI’S GOLD (the paperback) rocketed up the sales list from 1.25 million to 230,000 over a period of two days. Now I know we all think Amazon sales ranking is a bit suspect, and I’m not going to do cartwheels thinking my book is climbing the rankings, but what a lift that would give me if that was the case. At the moment the book is the subject of a 3 book giveaway on Goodreads. This will finish at the end of the month. Hopefully it will give me further publicity and sales.
I know that the key to selling books is to sell yourself, and that can only be achieved by marketing, promotion and social networking. Eventually I might see a few more responses to my blog, which I post on Blogger, Twitter and Facebook, but I can’t help thinking of that old saying; “be careful what you wish for”. If I ended up with hundreds of people wanting a piece of me, I might regret it. Well, maybe not, especially if they are buying my books.
A couple of my friends have just turned up. They are here for a late lunch and a game on the Wii. Frisbee golf? Works well in your front room. Amazing how far I can throw a Frisbee! That’s it, more later. Wish me luck.