Days and times to remember

November 22, 2015

I’ve just typed the date in and realised it’s the day my
father died in 1955. (22-11-55). I was fourteen at the time. I sometimes wonder
what affect it had on me as a teenager. I do remember one night, it was late,
and me and my mates were slowly making our way home from somewhere, when one of
them said: “My old man will kill me when I get home.” My immediate thought was
that I had no “old man” to go home to. I know my time at school was affected by
his death because I went downhill, academically, after that. Got into a lot of
trouble along with the bunch of school mates I hung around with. We were always
getting caned by the headmaster. I dropped four class grades from A down to D.
I wanted to leave school so I could help my mum with the finances, but the
headmaster talked her out of it. So I stayed on and failed all my GCE exams,
leaving school with no prospects and little to offer any employer when it came
to brains. But like a lot of youngsters, the brains were there: they just
needed stimulation. I found that in reading and writing. It’s a great way to
educate yourself, particularly if you can learn from life’s experiences too.
And so I went on to become a happily married man with a lovely wife, four sons,
ten grandchildren, two great-grandchildren and a writing hobby that has so far
produced ten books. I have not achieved financial success through my writing,
but success is not necessarily measured in financial rewards. When I look back
over the last twelve months, my writing has occupied a great deal of my time
and brought me a lot of pleasure. There has been some angst in there too, with
which my wife would agree, but as we approach the end of the year, I believe I
can see a clearer path for my books.

Last week I enjoyed the CHINDI writers’ OBL at Chichester
and know that we have events in the pipeline for next year. I have almost
mastered the art of self-publishing. By that I mean the submission of book
jackets and interior files to Amazon etc. I don’t have the artistic skills to
create dazzling jackets, but I can accomplish an element of creativity by perseverance
and unlocking the potential I had as a sixteen year old leaving school. Failing
that I can always twist my son’s arm and get him to do the jackets for me.

Last week I wrote a piece here about Kindle Scout. I felt
inspired but since then have come to realise it’s a little bit of a sales pitch
from Amazon and certainly akin to a lottery. The more tickets you buy (the more
nominations you get), the better the chance of winning the prize. I have read
of a couple of authors who are treating it as a massive campaign. One writer is
throwing the equivalent of a web party every day just to increase her chances
of getting a result. Me? I’m letting my FB advert do most of the work for me,
although I am plugging it on Twitter and FB. Here too, by the way. So why not
nominate me? The link is — https://kindlescout.amazon.com/p/1TW0QYIN2N95B

Once my Kindle Scout campaign
has finished, I will set about launching the book (A Dangerous Game) if it hasn’t been taken up by Amazon. I’ll be
offering it to my subscribers at a launch price of $0.99 (£0.75) for about one
week before putting the price up to the standard $2.99. I will also be using
Facebook to advertise it. And I hope to have the paperback ready as well,
although the jacket design may take a little bit of time. Then it’s back to the
pen and the beginning of another thriller. Wish me luck!

Two Events, two different outcomes

Looking at the last paragraph of my last blog, I mentioned the
Remembrance Day service and how killing should be confined to the pages of
fiction. On Friday well over a hundred, innocent people were murdered in Paris
by Isis jihadists claiming their right and responsibility is ordained by god. I
use the small case to spell god because my God is a God of love, and love
cannot harbour violence: He abhors it.

Back to the world of fiction. Last Friday our CHINDI group enjoyed its
One Big Launch — the OBL — at the Pallant Suite in Chichester. It was a great
evening where nine of us launched our latest books. We laid on entertainment, a
bar and a snack buffet. The evening was rounded off with a 30 minute gig from
Lara King: local singer and comedienne. We all sold books: some doing better
than others, but overall it was a good experience and encouraged us to think
and plan for next year. I had ordered books from Amazon, but they failed to
appear. Fortunately I had a few I was able to offer, backed up by some other
titles.

During the week I entered my latest, unpublished manuscript into a
Kindle Scout campaign. I have 30 days in which to persuade people to nominate
my book, A
Dangerous Game. If my campaign is
successful, I will win a contract with Amazon and all those people who
nominated me will receive a free copy (eBook) from Amazon before the launch.
The benefits outweigh the disadvantages in my case, but I have nothing to lose.
I hope I can persuade you to vote for me by clicking the link:

https://kindlescout.amazon.com/p/1TW0QYIN2N95B

I have sent
e-mails to all my subscribers, advertised on FB and Twitter, and hope to
achieve at least a reasonable pile of votes. If you click the link, I will be
eternally grateful. I’m up against some pretty stiff competition, but you never
know —  he who dares?

Having
completed the book and entered the competition, I am now in a kind of limbo. I
want to start my next novel, but I know I have to spend a little more time on
promotion and marketing for A Dangerous
Game. Whatever the outcome, I expect the launch to be early next year.

As we get
closer to the end of November, so the thought of Christmas becomes prevalent in
our minds and our planning. Our calendar is getting fuller and we will be
spending some time away on family visits, shopping trips and a few days in
London during the run-up to Christmas: which brings me back to those murdering
terrorists. It would be easy to cancel our London trip and the two shows we
have booked, but that would mean the murdering cowards are winning the battle.
Whatever the cost, we must not give in to them, and hope that our politicians,
the leaders we voted in, will have the guts to introduce measures that will
offer us more protection instead of the useless sound-bites they spout. We need
statesmen like Churchill and Roosevelt, and only then will we stand a chance of
defeating the enemy.

Ups and downs and a little poser

Nov. 8th. 2015

It’s been
ups and downs for me this week. I received my copy of Past Imperfect from
Ingram Spark and was very disappointed with the result (the jacket). Unfortunately
I didn’t keep a copy of the digital proof, so have to accept the final product
as my responsibility. I decided I couldn’t use the book for my launch on Friday
13^th, so I ordered 25 copies from CreateSpace. It’s now six days and
they haven’t e-mailed me to say the books are on their way. It’s unlikely they
will arrive by the end of the week now. I live in hopes but am expecting to go
to the launch party with eight copies. Hardly the stuff of competency.

On the up
side, Pat has finished the read through and I have completed my manuscript. I
knocked up a book jacket and sent it our four sons for their comments. I also
gave it a new title: A Dangerous Game. I expect to use
the jacket for the e-book, but will ask our son, Terry, to do the paperback for
me. That way I might avoid the problems I experienced with Ingram Spark. I hadn’t
made up my mind when to launch the book, but Amazon may have made up my mind
for me. I received an e-mail from them today inviting me to try Kindle Scout.
The idea is that I submit my MS plus jacket, blurb etc., to them. If they agree
to put it into the Kindle Scout project, I will go into a contract with them
with certain guarantees and get a $1500 advance. I will be given thirty days to
persuade all my social network contacts and friends to “select” my book. At the
end of 45 days I will either have a contract with Amazon or be on my own. And
because I had been thinking of a launch in January, the 45 day period fits in
nicely without really disturbing my plans.  So I could be going that route within the next
couple of days. I’ve nothing to lose anyway.

My permafree
title, The Eagle’s Covenant was on promotion last Tuesday with
Kboards, and I have seen an upswing in the downloads. Hopefully this will
increase my e-mail subscription list.

I have also placed
an advert on Facebook. This is more of a trial for me. I’m hoping to become
more proficient and release a decent advert in the New Year, perhaps to coincide
with the launch of A Dangerous Game. So far my advert has reached 10,000 people
and had 50 clicks. It doesn’t seem a lot, but it means that fifty people, since
last Monday, have looked at my website: that’s fifty more than might have done.
Maybe I’ll pick up more subscribers, more sales. Who knows? We all live in
hope.

And today we
went to a Remembrance Day service at our local church. We remember fallen
comrades and family members and know that for our tomorrow they gave their
today. It beggars belief that mankind has never learned from the horrors of war,
and will continue to go with the slaughter. Far better to confine the killing
to the pages of fiction. Would we be so lucky?

In my wife's hands now.

Nov. 2^nd. 2015

Well, I finally made it: finished the edit of my WIP and handed it to
my lovely, patient wife to read through. I printed the manuscript out double
spaced, which makes it easier for Pat to make her red line entries. She comes
up with some remarkable insights at times, and I’m beholden to her for taking
on the job. Next step will be to edit the MS again, before thinking about a
book launch. But before I can do that, I need a jacket. Fortunately I have
persuaded our son, Terry to take on that task. He designed all my other jackets,
so I’m confident I’m in good hands.

I had a problem last week with Lightning Source. After uploading my
corrected, interior file for Past Imperfect, I found a blank page in the
digital proof. Although IS wouldn’t acknowledge it at first, they eventually admitted
causing the problem by reloading the previous file: the one with the blank page
in it. I was finally able to approve the digital proof and order a copy last
Thursday. I am expecting it today. If it is better than the paperback I have
from CreateSpace, I will order twenty copies or so for my book launch on the 13^th.
I have several to hand but don’t expect to sell too many at the launch. But I’m
sweating on that single copy to turn up before I can do anything.

Since writing my last blog entry, I have sat in on a webinar with Mark
Dawson and Nick Stephenson, learning about Facebook advertising. Although the
facts and figures produced by these authors are mouth-watering, I still see
other authors complaining of their disastrous FB campaigns where very few books
are sold. I expect I will aim my advert at potential subscribers, and by that I
mean advertising my permafree novel, The
Eagle’s Covenant. If I can attract a large number, then they will benefit
from my second, free novel, The Devil’s
Trinity. And if any of you reading this blog have not looked into my offer,
why not do that now? By downloading the permafree book you will have a thriller
that has attracted plenty of reviews and is currently averaging 4 stars. Why
not try it now and pick up a second, free book?

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00LZRKJ4O/?tag

This evening I am off to the CHINDI meeting where we’ll be planning our
One Big Launch and the Christmas market stall. There has already been an
invitation to produce a book event at Worthing Library next year, and we are
also planning an event with other writers’ groups. Plus we have an event
pencilled in for the Chichester Festival. I’m sure there will be more to come.
You can check out our website www.chindi-authors.co.uk
and learn more about what we do and where we’re at. So on the whole, I think
that with what’s coming and my own plans, the literary future looks a little
brighter. Wish me luck!