To Sell or not to sell?

It’s been quite a week, one way or another. It began with my birthday, which is always nice and seemed to get busier from then on. I’ve had little opportunity to write and find myself wondering if and when it will happen. The new jacket design for my novel, HELL’S GATE was submitted to Amazon and hopefully this will help to draw potential readers to the book. I have tried to attract book reviewers for my latest Amazon publication, SHDOW OF THE WOLF, but it is proving to be extremely difficult. I have asked for book reviewers on about four different websites, and have only received one response. Ironically it was for a print copy of the book, rather than the .mobi (Kindle) or PDF files I offered. The book is on its way to a young lady in America, and I hope she enjoys it enough to put a review on Amazon and other places.

Last Sunday afternoon a couple of people turned up at our gate and asked for details about the house (it’s for sale). We invited them in and they stayed for about an hour. They came back yesterday and this time stayed for three hours. They have shown a keen interest in the villa, but have two others they also like. They left us with a promise ringing in our ears that they wouldn’t keep us waiting. If they like our house and make an offer we are happy to accept, we could be back in UK in a couple of months. No doubt my next blog entry will tell all. I’m doing some odd jobs around the house: jobs that have been needed and one of those was to empty the swimming pool. A pool company will be coming in the week after next to overhaul the pool and bring it up to tip-top condition.

I have another busy week coming up, and one of the projects I have is to prepare a sermon for April 7^th at my local, Christian Fellowship, TCF (www.tcf-spain.org). Once I have that out of the way I can get on with other d-i-y jobs and, hopefully, get back to my writing.

So, as life keeps me busy and there’s always something to do, I will keep on living in the hope that I can put another novel on Amazon. I’m contracted to my publisher for my next, full length MS of course, but I still have one more title to which I have the e-book rights, and I expect to be releasing that later this year. The title is THE EAGLE’S COVENANT, and it will be published in paperback by Harlequin Books. I may wait until nearer Harlequin’s publishing date before releasing the e-book. Wish me luck!

Birthday Boy

It’s a special day today because it’s my birthday: 72 years old and (hopefully) still going strong. Birthdays are special to youngsters but the wonder disappears as you get older. Then as you reach the autumn of your years they become important again. Perhaps it means I’m like a kid because it’s my day today. We have some friends coming round this afternoon for a chat, a drink and to bring me a little gift. When we were younger our friends would probably have met me down the pub and we would have had a blast. Yes, I must be getting older. I can look back on some of my birthdays with a smile on my face. My 21^st. was celebrated at a friend’s home in Carterton in Oxfordshire. We were both twenty one that day. My 40^th? Can’t remember that one. I probably had a ‘Life begins at Forty’ party. My 50^th. was the day I planned to play a song on my keyboard. My son had given me his old keyboard and I set about learning how to play it. I was geared up for a song, but no-body wanted to listen. Perhaps they knew something about my musical ability that I didn’t. It was a good party; held in our house at West Winch in Norfolk. My 60^th. found me in Spain and what I can remember about that is that we celebrated in a restaurant and them went next door to a bar where St. Patrick’s Day was being celebrated. I remember wearing a funny, green hat. My 70^th (slowing down now) was a meal with friends, paid for by me at a restaurant, which was actually next door to the pub where I’d had my 60^th. Sedate affair that one, but enjoyable none-the-less. But let’s face it: birthdays are special, and it’s nice when people put a smile on their face for your benefit and mean it when they say “Happy Birthday!”.

And now for an update about my book titles. I have replaced the book jacket for HELL’S GATE, and modified the Kindle file slightly. I couldn’t figure out why the book wasn’t selling as well as I had expected, but the more I saw the jacket on Amazon, the more I wondered if a change was needed. Time will tell of course. My latest offering, SHADOW OF THE WOLF, seems to be refusing all attempts as persuading reviewers to look at it. I have advertised (unpaid) in several places asking for reviewers, but no-one seems interested. Perhaps it’s because it’s a war story. I’m trying slipstream marketing with this book. I have slipstreamed THE GUERNSEY LITERARY AND POTATO PEEL SOCIETY (Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows) together with RACHEL’S SHOE by Peter Lihou. Any readers of my blog who would be interested in reviewing it for me can contact me through this blog or through my website. I will send a .mobi or PDF file to the first, five people who request it. Why not have a look? Go on; it’s my birthday!

A Day of Mixed Emotions

Today is Monday and because it’s the beginning of the week it means different things to different people. In our household today it is a sad day because we are waiting for the vet to come to the house to put our lovely dog, Lucy, to sleep. Lucy is thirteen years old, an Alsatian Cross and a dearly loved pet. We found her in the garden of a holiday home where she had been dumped as a puppy. I brought her to the house and gave her a bath. I can remember how she looked, how she smelt and how nervous she was. We had another dog at the time: a cross between an Old English sheepdog and a black Labrador. She was called Missy and took Lucy under her wing. Missy lived for another couple of years and now we find ourselves going through the same scenario: calling the vet in. Someone asked why we pet owners put ourselves through this each time, but I suppose there’s no answer to that. We love animals and having them as pets around the house seems a natural thing. Ironically today is our cat’s birthday. Not that he knows that. He is fourteen years old today. He loves the dog and we wonder how he will react when the dog is no longer here. Men can be more stoical about these events, and I am fairly relaxed about it. My wife will be in bits when it’s all over, and I can understand that. But my apparent indifference is really only on the surface: I shall be upset when it happens and will miss our Lucy when she’s gone.

On the book front, today I will be linking up with Peter Lihou of Acclaimed Books to begin a campaign whereby we hope to increase the sales of our own books, released through the Acclaimed Books website and through Amazon. I have worked on-line with Pete for about five years now, and have met him once. I will be promoting my latest paperback/kindle novel: SHADOW OF THE WOLF and Pete will be promoting his novel, RACHEL’S SHOE. It will be a ‘slipstreaming’ promotion and hopefully will lift us both up in the Amazon rankings. Naturally we also hope for a knock-on effect with our other titles. You can see these books at www.acclaimedbooks.com and also on Amazon.

So, it’s a day of mixed feelings for me: excitement at the prospect of beginning a campaign and sadness at the loss of a faithful companion.

Ever Changing

It’s been quite a week since last Monday. We had four enquiries about the house. Two of those resulted in viewings: one lady from Hong Kong, and an English couple from Switzerland. The other two enquiries were by phone. The first viewing came fifteen minutes after the agent turned up at the gate asking if we would agree to his client having a look there and then. The second viewing was planned for Thursday, but while we were out shopping on the Wednesday, the agent rang to say he was at our gate with the client. The agent had managed to get the date wrong. So it was a quick dash back to the house. Nothing came of these two viewings or the two telephone enquiries, but that’s part and parcel of having your house on the market. Had a builder round to give me a price for a job that I wanted doing but didn’t really want to pay out for, but in the end it will add another plus to the house. This month will probably see the swimming pool emptied and given a facelift. I have the quote I want and once the pool is empty, the pool men can come in and get on with it. There are always jobs that need doing around the house and garden of course, but why do they all come at once when you want to sell your house? There have been other disruptions too during the week. Nothing dramatic, but it all interferes with my writing and my attempts to promote myself. During the week I put SHADOW OF THE WOLF on the market (Amazon) and was delighted to find that I’d sold two copies within a couple of days. Why delighted? Because I hadn’t got round to promoting it other than to forewarn any potential readers that it would soon be available. So hopefully some of you have been keeping an eye open for my books as they come on to the market. I have asked my four sons to buy a copy (Kindle). It will add to their inheritance I tell them. Only one response so far, but I’m sure the others will fall into line.

Another element of being a published author that we don’t shout about too much is when our books get ‘remaindered’. That means the publisher has no further use for the stock of unsold titles and more or less dumps them at a rock bottom price. One of my titles, A COVERT WAR (hardback) has been remaindered, and the copies I ordered for myself have just turned up at the gate by courier. Fortunately the book is still available as a paperback and Kindle, so it’s not all bad news.

But now it’s a case of looking ahead and pushing my name and my books, trusting my readers will help to promote my name out there because they enjoy my work. Wish me luck!

Wartime Thriller

The latest addition to my Amazon titles is SHADOW OF THE WOLF. This went on sale six days ago and should be available as a paperback within a few days. This is a World War Two story set off the north coast of Scotland on a small island called Cape Wrath. The island folk find themselves under the heel of the Nazi jackboot as Admiral Dönitz's naval storm troopers search for a missing U-boat captain and the secrets to Britain's centimetric radar. Learn more at http://www.amazon.com/dp/BOOBK79Y9A/?tag