Looking Ahead

As the old year succumbs to Father Time, so we all look
forward to what the following year might hold for us all. I’m no different and
tend to feel a sense of optimism as the New Year approaches. This time last
year I was in the middle of chemo therapy, living in Spain and wondering what
the future held for me. Now we are living in England and I have no worries
about my condition. We are settled into our new life and I have great hopes for
my continuing progress in the book world. I have a 30 day promotion with IBD
(Independent Book Authors) for my title, The Eagle’s Covenant, beginning on
January 3^rd. This is a low key, low budget promotion, but it’s a
promotion at least. Second week in January I will be meeting up with the Chindi
Authors (www.chindi-authors.co.uk) who I hope will teach me a lot about
promoting and marketing my books. I also have plans to continue publishing my
titles on Amazon under my name as publisher. At the moment they are published
by www.acclaimedbooks.com.
This is a ‘collective’: a small group of writers from all over the world
publishing under one heading. We are all “directors” of this group but in
reality the bulk of the work is done by Peter Lihou, the CEO of the outfit. (He
pays our royalties!). Although I will be removing my books from Acclaimed Books,
I will still remain a member of the group. But although I will be fully
independent, I still have a publisher at www.halebooks.com (Robert Hale Ltd) and
Harlequin Books in Canada www.harlequin.com. So I have a lot going
for me and titles out there over which I have no control.

My current work in progress (WIP) is back on the shelf
again, but simply because of the Christmas period and all that it entails. I
have been learning Scrivener and have been putting my WIP there. I’m a long way
from being competent at it, but once I get back into some sort of groove in the
New Year, I’m sure things will take off. I am also learning Photoshop with a
view to buying the software. This is something I need to do if I am to
republish my own titles as an Indie on Amazon. It’s more for CreateSpace than
the e-books. I’m using the 30 day trial at the moment. I also want to trim my
social networking and rationalise it somewhat. By that I mean the use of
Twitter, Goodreads and other associated network forums and sites. It can be complicated,
time consuming and pointless sometimes, but I do need to understand the why and
wherefore of web marketing etc. Pinterest is another which I am told is the
No.1 site for promotion (Free). If I could afford it, I would use BookBub: it
does what it says on the tin and is a great source for writers.

Well, I knew what I was doing this time last year and I
wonder what I’ll be doing this time next year. With luck I will have established
myself as a favourite among readers of my genre,
and have a better grasp of how to manage myself. But we are all in God’s hands
and only He knows what’s in store for us. I do hope that all the readers of my
blog, and my books, whatever your beliefs, have a wonderful, happy 2015. See
you all next year!

The waiting game

No internet today because
we are waiting for a carpet fitter. This meant emptying the lounge and dining
room, hence no router plugged in. It’s amazing how, in today’s world, being
without Wi-Fi tends to render one helpless for a while. So, waiting for the
carpet fitter to arrive meant I could finish my current reading: Lamentations
by C.J.Sansom. This is an historical novel, a best seller, but one that a
Goodreads search could not find. I tried twice because I wanted to leave a
review for a quite outstanding novel. Perhaps Goodreads were ‘wireless’ too!

I’ve begun distributing
my bookmarkers to the family who all seem quite happy to pass them around their
social circles and leave them in bars and restaurants. I’ve distributed a few,
but not as many as I would want. I think it’s because it isn’t something I am
used to doing, or maybe I don’t get out much! 
But I’ll persevere.

And on the subject of
perseverance: I am still struggling to get my book jacket uploaded to
CreateSpace. Not being a dab hand at this kind of thing, I have to use the
subjective approach. I’m getting closer and hoped to have had it uploaded today
if it wasn’t for the carpet fitter. Maybe this evening. Needless to say I did
not work on my current novel last week. I do have excuses, mainly down to
other, unavoidable commitments. I suspect it will be after Christmas before I
can crack on with it.

I had a nice surprise
last week: my title, The Devil’s Trinity,
shot up the rankings after a small promotion. It reached 469 in the thriller
category and managed to sell about 40 copies in one day. For me that is a major
step up, particularly as it was wallowing at the bottom of the swamp. The sales
have tailed off now, but the promotion with Choosy Books cost me $9.99 was a
worthwhile investment. It was a one-off deal the company offered. I’ll go with
them again. Lot cheaper than BookBub, but not with the same results.

I read last week that
Amazon are now third in the top 100 book sellers. Smashwords are second. I
forget who came top though. I also read of the problem Amazon’s new Kindle
scheme is creating for the top writers. If I lend a book from Amazon’s library,
the writer gets a set royalty, and it is the same value for an unknown writer.
Whereas a purchased copy of the top writer’s novel would yield a higher royalty
compared to the cheaper, unknown writer. It doesn’t affect me because none of
my titles are in the Amazon library programme. Not that it made any difference
to me when my books were enrolled: I never made more than a couple of dollars
in a year anyway.

So I press on and look
forward to calmer times when I can get down to serious writing and promotion.
The carpet fitter is due in a hour, and the store just phoned to say that the
furniture will be delivered on Saturday. We’ll have a totally new front room
and dining area then.

Once again, wishing all
my readers a merry Christmas and a Happy New year. See you all in 2015.

Making progress and meeting other authors.

I made some progress last
week with my manuscript, but it was more of a reviewing of my work and learning
to put it on Scrivener at the same time. It will take a while yet,
notwithstanding the fact that Christmas will get in the way. I’ve no trouble with
that. After all; Christmas is to be enjoyed and used as a time to forget the
pressures, whether self-imposed or not, that we all have to endure throughout
the year. I also resurrected my attempts to get an acceptable, book jacket
uploaded to CreateSpace for the paperback version of The Eagle’s Covenant. I’m still struggling with that, but I will
persevere.

Last Friday I met a local
author, Christopher Joyce, in Chichester. Christopher is a founder member of
the Chindi Writers group, www.chindi-authors.co.uk. This is the group of
self-published writers I mentioned in my blog last week. I missed them last
Monday, so caught up with Chris at Carluccio’s in town. I was encouraged by
what he had to tell me, particularly in the way the group promote themselves
publicly. They are not a collection of writers who meet to praise each other’s
work, but use their collective skills to bring their books and their group to
the public. This week they have a stall open in Chichester promoting their
books and providing help, advice and encouragement to whoever wants it.

I’ve noticed a movement
in my book sales on Amazon over the last couple of weeks. Nothing dramatic but
certainly an improvement on November. There won’t be much more now until I
begin pushing the boat out in the New Year. Hopefully my efforts will yield
some positive results. Maybe my bookmarkers will help too. I sent 100 out to
our youngest son in Australia. Some of those will go to America and hopefully
nudge people over there into looking at my website and checking out my titles.
My eldest son, whose job takes him all over the country has promised to put
some about. He’ll be receiving his quota shortly. One of our grandsons works in
Scotland, running his own business, www.brokenblonde.com and often meets up with
people who might be interested, so he has agreed to help. And so it goes on.
Whether it will make much difference remains to be seen, but I live in I hopes.

This week will be a
mixture of visiting family, shopping, decorations (putting up) and all the
usual things that we fit into the build-up to Christmas. Then it gets manic.
Lovely! If I don’t get round to publishing my blog next week, although I will
try, I want to wish you all a very merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.