Pillars of the Earth and other works

Looking back over the week, I can see I’ve been busy but I can also
remember how much rain there has been. Monday was torrential. Tuesday we went
on a coach trip to Salisbury and it rained there as well, all day. We went into
the cathedral. It was the first time for me, but this is the 800^th year
of the signing of the Magna Carta (1215), and I wanted to go into the cathedral
and get a sense of the history behind our heritage. While I was in there
admiring the huge structure, I thought of Ken Follet’s book, Pillars of the
Earth. It took about 38 years to build the central section of the building so
it could be consecrated and used, but about another 60 years to complete the
whole thing. Absolutely magnificent.

I had a couple of promotions on this week: Hell’s Gate and North Slope.
Unusually, I didn’t see much in the way of results. I had a small shift in
daily sales but the figures soon dropped.

I’m making progress with my WIP. I’m inching my way to a climactic
ending (hopefully). I can’t see me finishing the draft before I go to Spain in five
weeks’ time, although I could just about scramble it in. Then the hard work
begins again as I go through it with an editor’s pencil and re-write it. I’m
looking at Christmas as the target to finish.

I received my proof copy of Past Imperfect from CreateSpace. It took
about two weeks to arrive. It’s not bad, but I need to make a few changes. I
checked the jacket against the cover I had prepared, but for some reason it
doesn’t look the same. I went back to the digital proofer, and sure enough, the
jacket CreateSpace produced is the one I sent them. So I’m scratching my head
and wondering if I made the mistake. There are a couple of typos inside that
need sorting out, so I’ll get those finished and send the updated files away
for printing. Or I may just rely on the digital proofer. Once I’m happy with that,
I’ll have the files printed by Ingram Spark, but with the ISBN changed for the
Nielsen number.

I sent five copies of The Devil’s Trinity to the Legal Deposit as
required by law and a copy each of that and Hell’s Gate to the British Library.
It’s all pay! Hopefully I’ll earn some of that back in royalties.

My subscriber list continues to climb. I’m up to 364 now, having just
added ten new names. At my rate of increase, I would expect to hit the 1000
mark by this time next year! Hopefully the rise in names will increase more
rapidly and I’ll reach that figure by Christmas. I think the promotion I did
this week probably accounted for the increase of ten in one day; usually it’s
about two or three. I have read of spectacular rises among a few of the writers
I meet on a particular Facebook group I’m with. Amazing results achieved simply
by following the same advice I am following. One guy achieved 3000 subscribers
in about two months, and notched his sales up to around 100 a day from about
one or two a week before joining the group. My results could be said to mirror
his, but although they probably started out like that on day one, his figures
left me standing still. I am pleased for him and it gives me the encouragement
to press on and not panic; I’m sure it will come. Wish me luck!

Project planning

My week kicked off with another kind of project which meant a brief
survey and a trip to B&Q (our major, D-I-Y outlet in UK). We are planning
to change our kitchen round a bit and will have an electric cooker & hob
installed in place of our gas cooker. But because we have no dedicated circuit
for an electric cooker, yours truly has to put one in. It isn’t beyond my
technical capability, but physically I’m getting too old for what we often
referred to “house bashing” in the trade. B&Q couldn’t provide the right
materials, so I bought them from an electrical supplier. I’m halfway through
the installation, too old or not.

Monday evening was the night of our monthly CHINDI group meeting. We
managed to get through a great deal of planning, with quite a schedule leading
up to Christmas. I enjoy being part of this proactive group, even if it means
getting involved in a ‘hands-on’ way and bringing stuff to the table. We are
preparing for a charity event where we raise money for the charity,
“Words4Wounded”. I don’t have much involvement in that other than to turn up,
bring friends with money and my books.

We are also planning ahead for our ‘One Big Launch’. This will be a
book launch by eight of us in the group, bringing our latest, self-published
titles along. There will be a lot of time and effort invested in this, and
although we are only at the early planning stage, there is already a growing list
of things to do, including my own tasks.

On the home front, apart from crawling around beneath our Park Home
getting covered in cobwebs and banging my head, I have made real progress with
my book jacket. I have to admit though that I was going nowhere until our son,
Terry, got involved. Having designed all my paperback jackets he had decided to
leave this one to me. But when he realised I was struggling, he came up with
the goods. I am in the process of uploading the files to CreateSpace. I’m
holding back on the cover file for a day or so, just in case I want to make one
or two tweaks. Next week should see the finished article.

Another surprise during the week: I received an e-mail from the Legal
Deposit Libraries asking for five copies of The Devil’s Trinity. This is
something that is required by law and I have an obligation as the registered
publisher of the book to send them. I also have to send one to The British
Library. This will be a requirement for all the titles I self-publish with a
Nielsen registered ISBN number. Such is life in the book world.

So next week, hopefully, I will be able to knuckle down and crack on
with my WIP. This is something I promised myself (at the beginning of this
year), I would have completed by June. But other things just got in the way.
Wish me luck!

A Thai curry with books

August 9^th

Began the week with a Thai curry at a local Thai restaurant in
Chichester. It was with the CHINDI authors. There were seven of us there, and
it was great to talk about books, writing, self-publishing, ‘do’s and don’ts’
etc. A lot information flowed around the table and it meant I picked up a few
tips. I thought I might have found myself a reasonably priced designer to help
me with my book jacket. One of the writers there uses her for all his jackets.
I checked her website out and was well impressed. Unfortunately she was unable to
take me on because of her current workload. In a way it helped me knuckle down
and get on with Photoshop. I have managed to make good progress and believe I
am a lot closer to having a finished design very soon. That doesn’t necessarily
mean I will have created a brilliant jacket, but at least it will be a measure
of the progress I’ve made. Once that’s done and the book is complete, I can get
on with my WIP.

Apart from spending hours in front of my computer gazing at free images
on Pixabay and coming up with nothing, I have managed to make inroads into
other jobs that need my attention, not least sorting stuff out in the garden
for Pat and also doing a little survey, a technical one, into how easy it will
be to install a cooker circuit into our Park Home. At the moment we have a gas
cooker, but Pat wants an electric one. I agree with her, but the house doesn’t
have a cooker circuit installed. This might sound odd, but when I contacted the
manufacturer and spoke to the chief engineer, he told me it wasn’t unusual because
the spec for the house when built would have been for a gas installation only.

Last Tuesday we took Pat’s small, roll-top desk over to a second hand
furniture shop and left it there to be sold. We bought a bookcase which now
resides in my room in place of the desk. Naturally it is now filled with books,
most of them mine, but I do have a shelf with signed books. They are all,
almost, unknown writers who I have supported when their books have been
published, but a couple of famous names reside there: Spike Milligan and Dick
Francis. The value of a book is increased by the author’s signature, so I’m
told, which means that all mine or worth more than their retail price. I wonder
by how much though?

My book sales on KDP are managing to keep above the flat line at the
bottom. At the moment I am averaging about two sales a day. I get quite a lift
when I see three or four sales in one day. It helps when the figures flat line
for a day or two. My subscriber list continues to grow and has now reached 338.
I think this is the reason for my sales figures. I will continue promoting my
books of course; it wouldn’t do to rely on a hope that people will buy simply because
they have subscribed. I have a promotion coming up for Hell’s Gate: 25/26^th.
August. Next month I will try a Facebook campaign. It could be good. Wish me
luck!

Winning the Battle

I’m making progress this week with Photoshop. I am gradually figuring
out which tool does what and the importance of working with layer masks. One of
the downsides to watching help videos on You tube is that you often see a
screen, or an action that you can’t replicate. I watched as one photograph was
merged into another with a very simple, sliding action. I tried it and failed.
I watched that section of the video repeatedly, but it didn’t happen for me.
Oh, I have the latest version of Photoshop by the way. In another the guy
pulled down a window to disable an application, then reinstated it. I pulled
down the same window but the application wasn’t there. It’s frustrating, and
forces you to try things that aren’t part of the plan. But eventually, some
things begin to make sense and I can see a light at the end of the tunnel. I
currently have the makings of a book jacket, and hopefully I will have the
finished article by the end of the coming week. Once I’m happy with it, I’ll
set about publishing Past Imperfect.

Yesterday my radio interview on Angel Radio Havant (101.fm) was aired.
Me and my wife sat listening to it recalling things from our past as I went
through the years and selected songs that meant something to me. At the end of
the show I left a hardback copy of my latest novel so that the radio station
could offer it as a prize. I would like to think the show will bring some
reaction from listeners wanting to know more about me and my books, but I will
have to wait and see.

This morning (Saturday) we went across to a local town called Barnham.
It was to visit Pixie Flowers http://www.pixieflowers.com/ where the
owner, Pam was opening her shop for the first time. She is developing an arts
and craft side to the flower business, and that included books from my writing group,
CHINDI. I went across to offer some support and also to buy a bunch of flowers
for Pat. We spent an hour wandering around Windmill Village, where the shop is
based. It was a pleasant day: sun was shining. Lovely.

Those of you reading this blog who are writers too, will understand
what writer’s block is like. This is something I’ve been suffering from for a
few weeks now on which way to take my latest thriller. Well, last week, during
the night, I lay awake for a while thinking about the story and bang – the ending
came to me. Now, when I have finished the Photoshop project, I can get on with
my WIP. Looking ahead at my schedule for the month, I believe I can see a
reasonable period of relative calm, which means I could finish two projects: my
latest, self-published paperback, and my current WIP. Wish me luck!