Challenging Times

December 22^nd. 2018

I expect this will be my last blog post this year. I would like to say that 2018 has been a tremendous year from the book point of view, but what began with me in high hopes has practically ended as a damp squib. On the domestic front of course, the main focus is now Pat’s cancer diagnosis: not so much a damp squib; more like a bombshell. However, let’s talk books for a moment.

As readers of my blog will know, I have been struggling with my WIP and failing to get to grips with something I’ve been pretty useful at for some time now: writing. I came up with the idea of introducing another character into the story, and that has helped. But yesterday, while mulling over something else, I decided I would bring the WIP to an end and publish it as a novella. It sounds like a cop-out, but there’s little point in stretching the story and making it weaker. So, one novella coming up (maybe!).

Another direction for me is the prospect of ghost writing. Most of you know I am a member of the Mark Dawson group. Mark has asked the thriller writers of the group if they would be interested in a project he’s working on. I threw my hat into the ring, as did many of us, so much so that he’s swamped with interested parties. He knew he would be. I made Mark’s short list with a small submission and as a result he spelt out the details of what was to be expected. Although I made the short list, he will only run with two or three ghost writers. If I’m selected, it will mean a lot of intense writing with a kind of self-imposed deadline. The only kudos for me would be the fee: quite generous too. Other than that, there will be no acknowledgement of the ghost’s input, which is understandable.  I have a kind of thin plot to hand which needs a lot of work, and once I’ve buffed it up and lifted it to the standard Mark requires, I’ll submit it to him. If it’s a go, I’ll be happy. If it’s a no, I’ll publish it myself: another novella!

On the subject of ghost writing; some years ago I came across a group of writers who called themselves The Curzon Group. They are still around and one of their luminaries is Jeffrey Archer. One of the group was a ghost writer for Random House. He wrote action stuff the kind of which Andy Macnab writes. No, he wasn’t writing Andy Macnab thrillers. But he had decided to give up ghost writing and write for himself. He admitted it would be a wrench because he was earning £100,000 per year as a ghost writer.

Incidentally, the Curzon Group are up in arms with what they call thriller factory books coming out of America. Writers like James Patterson, John Grisham, Dan Brown and David Baldacci employ other writers to help them churn out thrillers. They claimed that Patterson has eight writers working for him, which kind of dilutes the authenticity and style of the Patterson books. They believe thrillers should be more cerebral like John le Carre novels. Not sure I entirely agree, but those writers in America are simply writing to a market and selling books.

Back to thoughts much closer to home now. I took Pat to hospital last Wednesday, both of us expecting to hear how the tests went and when the treatment could be started, only to be told that neither of the tests were any good and would have to be done again. Pat was extremely upset. Me? I was just pissed off! I felt so sorry for Pat, but she has Hobson’s choice and has to go through the tests again. She had one yesterday and the other will be on the 3^rd. January. It would have been next week, but Christmas got in the way. This is probably the only time I wish they could have cancelled Christmas. So instead of singing The First Noel, I’ll sing The First Novella, and see what comes up.

Happy Christmas everyone. I’ll see you in the New Year. Wish us both luck!

Going through the valley

December 15^th, 2018

The old year is almost out and the new year about to begin. I’m looking ahead with a certain amount of doubt and uncertainty, but also with optimism. My doubt is that 2019 will not be a successful time in my literary life as I would like it to be, and the optimism is that Pat will come through her illness with flying colours. The reason I have doubts about my books is because I am beginning to see the reality of the burgeoning indie world. It’s often easy to look back and find excuses and reasons why things didn’t work out, and to immerse oneself in metaphorical self-harming, but the truth is, the world of indie publishing is metamorphosing into a giant that will soon rival, if not outstrip, traditional publishing, and the keys to the executive rooms will only be held by those who truly know how to play the long game.

So what brings me to this conclusion? Well, I see how I have trod the same path as other successful authors — been there, got the tee shirt — but without having a clue how to use the tools that were available to me to take me to the top. I have the plaudits like “Gifted narrator”; No.1 best seller; given away thousands of books; built an email list, picked up some cracking reviews and sold lots of books through BookBub featured deals, but I still can’t sell books in the usual way even though I spend money on advertising. Oh sure, I sell a few, but nowhere near enough to get my head over the parapet for other readers to see me. So what’s the answer to this conundrum? I must work harder. Simple. I think.

I am optimistic though because I will be releasing two books next year. My romance, Past Imperfect, should be ready to roll by the end of January. I intend spending some cash on promotion for that. I also expect to have my next Marcus Blake thriller ready by the Spring. It’s my current WIP, and although I’m struggling to stitch the plot together, I am making inroads. I admit that I prevaricate a lot: I find all kinds of reasons not to get my head down and write, but that’s an affliction many of us indie writers are familiar with. One good excuse is Christmas of course. I had to put time aside to sit down and write out the Christmas cards, wrap some presents for posting and spend time shopping. I’m still looking after Pat, so that’s another reason not to write, but the truth is, I do find time later in the day to sit in front of my computer and fall asleep!

I dug my digital voice recorder out the other day. I decided I had to keep it handy for those ideas that pop into my head when I’m out walking Tuppence on the beach (another excuse!). It’s infuriates me when I get a good idea that I can work into my plot only to forget what it was when I want to use it. I also have the unusual problem of running two plots in my head, two completely different stories, when I should only be concentrating on one. I’m constantly thinking of one of my characters, Conor Lenihan, who was a nasty piece of work in my thriller, The Eagle’s Covenant, and using him in a new book. Believe it or not, I’ve already written about 15,000 words for that, but they are stored in the dusty shelf of my PC.

Looking ahead then, I have to give a lot of consideration to Pat now because she should be starting her treatment in January. She had a lung biopsy earlier in the week (she wasn’t happy; said it was like being shot!), and the diagnosis will be dealt with by the specialists next week. We have been told that nothing is likely to happen before Christmas, so we have to hope it will be very soon after. I will try not to let the workload I’m expecting with nursing Pat to swamp my own free time. The writing will definitely come second of course, but I know Pat will want me to snatch those moments when I can put pen to paper and try to keep sane. Wish me luck!

A Mixed Bag

Decorations going up, a few more words added to my WIP and another book sale. Three actually. An elderly lady came round to the house during the week to buy two of my books. She wanted them as a Christmas present for a friend of hers who has read a couple of mine and wanted to read more. I sold one at the HSBC stall earlier in the week — well, not me really, one of the Chindi volunteers — so that makes three. You know, even then I can’t be sure because D2D keep adjusting my previous months sales, even though we are well over a week into December they’ve adjusted the number up by a count of three. Add a couple already sold this month on D2D and, hey, I’m looking good!

Staying with D2D, I received a royalty statement telling me I had earned $0.56 for the sale of three books on Bibliotecha. No, that’s not a typo: $0.56! I tried to log on to the Bibliotecha website, but it wasn’t available, so I contacted D2D asking them to confirm the royalty. They have contacted me and said they will have to consult their accountants and get back to me. It could be a library loan, but unless I see something to convince me otherwise, I’ll be asking D2D to remove all my books from that site.

I’m looking ahead to 2019 and the re-launch of my novel, Past Imperfect and wondering how best to promote it. I know I could do a countdown deal with Amazon, but I’m reluctant to let it remain exclusive to them for three months. That’s a decision I’ll come to later. I finished the read-through and made a couple of changes to the book. That makes two readings in less than two weeks, and I still think it’s good. I’ve been in touch with Christine Hammacott, a member of our Chindi group, and we will be producing a new jacket for the launch. Christine has been a graphic designer for over twenty years and has done a couple of jackets for our members. This is a professional contract by the way, not a freebie.

I am committed to and book talk next year at the local women’s friendship club in our village hall. This was booked a year ago! The event will be the first week in March. I hope the women get real friendly and buy lots of my books.

I would like to mention one of our Chindi authors, Rosemary Noble, who has written a trilogy about a corner of Australian history, each a stand-alone novel, but all linked. The trilogy was inspired by the transportation to Australia of British felons in the 18^th and 19^th century. Rosemary has attracted some terrific reviews, and is currently on blog tour. Why not look her up? https://dbgreviews.blogspot.com/2018/12/sadies-war-australian-saga-by-rosemary.html

My current situation at home with Pat still means I am the chief cook and bottle washer. I cooked a stir-fry last night. Pretty good it was too! Pat’s leg swelling is going down but at a very slow rate. Next Tuesday she has her lung biopsy for the cancer treatment, which we hope will start as soon as possible. Pat’s in good spirits under the circumstances, but it’s something we have to deal with. We have Christmas to look forward to though. After that? Well, wish us good luck.

The Long and Winding Road

It’s always good to see fellow indie authors from our Chindi book group doing well at local events. Three of our stalwart members — Angela Petch, Rosemary Noble and Patricia Feinberg Stoner — launched new books at Worthing yesterday. Early comments show there were some good results. This coming week it’s the turn of more of our group doing their bit for the Alzheimer’s Society. They’ll be turning up at the HSBC bank at Rustington tomorrow and Friday to showcase their books and raise money for the society. The post code, if you can get along to the event, is BN16 3DB.

I won’t be involved in any more Chindi events for a while because changes here in the Parker home leave me having to look after Pat. Her leg infection hasn’t gone down yet, and the cancer diagnosis leaves us with a fairly rocky road ahead. For that reason I’ve withdrawn from Chindi events for the simple reason I can’t make promises about my availability over the next six months or so.

Despite being chief cook and bottle washer, I have tried to keep up with my writing. I managed to send out the second part of Natasha’s story to my subscribers (http://bit.ly/2SjUIiz). I received two replies and had eleven unsubs! The open rate was poor, but it simply reinforces the fact that you have to work at this game, otherwise it will all whither on the vine. I also made another decision about my romance, Past Imperfect. I have decided to launch it next year with a professionally designed jacket and spend some money advertising. I read through the book last week. I managed that by reading it on my laptop while Pat was watching TV. I even had football on in the background listening to the commentary. Makes no sense, I know, but I eventually turned the commentary off. I finished the read-through and have now embarked on an edit. It was professionally edited by the way (Robert Hale), but there were a few typos and a couple of oddities I knew could be changed.

I’m learning more about the game when it comes to running Michael Parker Books as a business. Not doing much about it mind you, but there is so much information coming from the web that it fries your brain. Well, it does mine! I have managed an infitessimally small gain in my advertising, but nothing to shout about. I know it needs more work and soaking up more instruction from Mark Dawson’s SPF course. Mark has updated the whole thing, particularly Amazon Advertising. Seems even Mark has been caught out by Amazon’s drive for competitiveness. It looks like the weak will go to the wall unless they cough up more money. I’m talking about Amazon, not Mark Dawson!

I managed to get some work done on my WIP, and will soon be reaching that point when I have to write Natasha into the story, hoping that I can do that with subtlety. It’s a conundrum, but that’s what writers do, particularly writers of mystery.

Looking ahead then, Christmas could be different for me and Pat this year. Then into 2019 without a real clear view how it will be. When I look back a year ago, I had great plans for 2018. It all seemed to start well, but looks like it’s coming to a disappointing end. I’m hoping 2019 will be better. So what with my writing plans and looking after Pat, it looks like it’s going to be a long and winding road. Wish me luck!

Stop — Go

November 24^th. 2018

I missed the blog post last week because of Pat being in hospital. Hopefully the thousands of readers who read my blog will excuse me for that. (What’s the Latin for “Tongue in cheek”?) But I’m back now, despite being chief cook and bottle-washer in the house. It looks like it might go on for some time too!

I was able to get some work done on my WIP, and that at least gives me some satisfaction. I’ve also been keeping up with the ‘trends’ on Promotion & Marketing. I gave up on Instagram. I had signed up for a course with Bex Gorsuch, but it didn’t take me long to realise that my heart wasn’t in it. And with Pat to look after, there was no way I could get to grips with it. Bex was pretty good about it when I contacted her and pulled out.

There has been a lot of talk on the various forums about the sudden drop in sales on Amazon. Being a Mark Dawson student, I understand that this could be a deliberate shift in Amazon’s tactics to draw closer to the giants of Google and Facebook, and consequently we indie authors are faced with the prospect of having to beef up our advertising and start paying out considerably more money. Mark has upgraded his AMS ads course to help us all develop our advertising skills, and one thing he has promised is how to crack the Amazon Advantage entry rules. I tried to sign up to Advantage so I could advertise in the UK, but it seems to be screwed in favour of vendors. I’m not a vendor, but I was asked for a vendor code and my VAT registration number. However, Mark has promised us that he will uncover the mystery of completing the Advantage application process which he admits is quite complicated.

One of the decisions I made while on holiday in Australia was to let my AMS and BB ads run without any tinkering. It just happened that this was the moment when Amazon cut people’s sales figures by as much as 40% due to their change in the way in which they position product and sponsored ads. It meant virtually no sales for me at all. This week I decided to change the ‘copy’ on my BB ad for Roselli’s Gold. It had languished on 2 sales in almost three weeks. Within 24 hours of rewording the ad, I sold four copies. Not a lot by most authors’ standards, but it did show that advertising copy is a mystery that needs to be revealed to authors like me. I now need to have a go at my AMS ad, but I think it might be better for me if I go through Mark’s updated course before doing anything.

I haven’t done anything to Past Imperfect. As I mentioned in my last blog, I now have the eBook rights back. The change in circumstances in the Parker household has simply shoved the project on to the back-burner, and it’s unlikely to see any change before Christmas. I think I’m probably telling myself that it won’t happen for some considerable time; certainly not until I am happy with Pat’s progress.

I’ve just finished reading the crime novel, I See You by Claire Mackintosh. It’s extremely well written, but unusually it’s written in the 3^rd. and 1^st person. It took me a while to get used to the switch in narration but I managed it in the end. It isn’t something I would try; I think I’m even scared of trying to write a novel in the 1^st person at all — much too difficult. I’ll stick to my tried and trusted method. You never know, I might even get my book finished! Wish me luck.

Just when I thought...

November 11^th. 2018

Just when I thought I was getting ahead; the whole plan went to pop. Today I should be going to a Remembrance Service with Pat, but she’s in hospital. Last week I thought I had my writing plan on track when it became clear that the treatment Pat was getting for the spider bite was not working. We spent all day Monday in A&E, followed by daily trips there. By yesterday it was clear that she wasn’t improving, so she was admitted. At the moment she is OK, but being monitored and receiving treatment. So, here I am trying to get my head together, scrabbling round and getting some jobs out of the way, and spending some time with Tuppence (our Cockapoo), who will think she’s being neglected and will want to leave home. Hopefully Pat will be home tomorrow.

When I said my plan was on track, it also involved the intent to give some serious thought to my AMS and BB promotions, but even that’s gone flat, and I can’t be bothered to look at it for now. I did manage to get about one hour on my WIP, but my heart wasn’t in it. The reason I’m able to get this blog written is because I’m pinching time by not going to the service today. I usually look forward to the Remembrance Service. Being an Air Force family, it makes sense. Between me and our four sons, we have notched up a total of 120 years’ service, and our youngest, Stephen, is still in the Royal Australian Air Force. So yes; an Air Force family.

On the subject of promotions going flat, there has been a great deal of talk, particularly on the SPF forum, about the lack of sales, and disappearance of critical data, from Amazon. The blame is laid at the absence of “Also boughts”, although some writers are destroying that argument by buoyant sales. But despite the pros and cons of the argument, my sales are pathetic, and they mirror the virtual flat-lining of book sales on Amazon (according to the complainants). But I had to smile when one of the SPF group complained. He was spending $6000 a month on advertising, his sales were down significantly but he was still making a profit! Which brings me on to another trend (I think). Comparing that author to me, he spends about 6000 times the amount I spend. Although I follow the expert advice and give Amazon the opportunity to take my money, it doesn’t. So who is the more valuable customer? And why doesn’t Amazon take my money? Someone has mooted the possibility that AMS and BB are moving the goalposts and favouring the big spenders and traditional authors. To highlight that, I watched a Brian Cohen podcast on SPF in which he talked about book jacket design. He showed some of the covers he had designed for authors like John le Carre and Mark Dawson — and also Denis Wheatley! Denis Wheatley must have died before Brian Cohen was born, but yesterday I saw the same book advertised on the daily email I receive from BookBub for their featured deals. And it isn’t unusual for those BB ads to include several best-selling authors every day. I think this makes it tricky for writers like me who write across different genres, but I will live in hopes and keep pushing the ads.

So what now? Well, I finally have the official letter from the publisher handing me back the eBook rights to Past Imperfect. It has been removed from the on-line book sellers, leaving it clear for me to publish. But I still can’t make up my mind about publishing the book under my own name, or use a feminine pen-name because it’s a romance. And I need to think about the book jacket. Pat has promised to pay for a book jacket design as a Christmas present for me. The trouble is, I don’t know which book to change, either Past Imperfect or Where the Wicked Dwell. Do I need these problems? Ah well, we’ll see. Wish me luck!

Bonfire of insanity

November 3^rd. 2018

This weekend in UK there will be fireworks and bonfires when we will all be celebrating Bonfire Night — the burning of effigies representing Guy Fawkes who tried to blow up Parliament in 1605. It became known as the ‘Gunpowder Plot’. It has been said that Guy Fawkes was the only man to enter Parliament with honest intentions! My Chindi colleague, Carol Thomas, has penned a lovely blog celebrating dear Mr. Fawkes, and has included some memories from our members about their experiences on bonfire night. You can read Carol’s blog here: http://bit.ly/2P8cg42.

I sometimes feel my efforts at completing a book and immersing myself in promotion and advertising are simply stoking an imaginary bonfire, and they are all going up in smoke. But last Sunday I was at the UK Southern Book Show and managed to sell six books. That’s quite an achievement for me at such an event; after all, I was one of probably fifty authors. The competition was pretty good, so I came away with a smile on my face. I met some interesting people: some were published writers, others were wannabe authors. I sometimes feel as if I’m being tested when an established writer asks me pertinent questions about my role as a writer. Two guys turned at my table, Alex Shaw and a colleague of his who had been nominated for the Thriller of the Year by the International Thriller Writers in USA. That’s gold standard in my world. It turned out these two had nothing to learn from me, even though I’ve been in the game longer than them.

I have now ventured into the world of Instagram. Having watched Bex Gorsuch on an SPF podcast, I decided to have a look into it. That’s when I discovered I already have an Instagram account — in Spanish! I think I’m my own worst enemy at times when it comes to social media and how to use it. Anyway, I’m making a stab at it, learning from Bex’s videos and private Facebook group. Should be there by Christmas with a bit of luck. I have to change the language on my home page to English, but for some reason it will not default to that language. Yes, I went on to the support page: it told me exactly what to do except that particular operation isn’t available on my account. Must be because it originated in Spain and hasn’t been used for a few years. Perhaps I need to download the latest version. On second thoughts, why bother?

I’m making progress with my WIP and cracking the whip over myself as a result of posting part one of Natasha’s Story to my subscribers last week. I lost eighteen subs as a result of that: something that usually happens when I post to them. My open rate was about 25%, which isn’t too bad. It means about four hundred subs opened the email. I asked them to make comments about Natasha’s story if they wanted to, but nothing yet. I live in hopes.

So, what’s next? I expect to get an official response from my publisher about the eBook rights to my romance, Past Imperfect. I have had the email from them, but now need to see they have unpublished the eBook before I can republish. Wish me luck.

Re-engaging and living in hope

October 27^th. 2018

Pat and I have just returned from a five week trip abroad which included two weeks with our son Stephen in Australia. Stephen took two years to build a house: two years of hard work, legal stuff, dilemmas and dramas, deadlines, and the need to work at his normal job as an Air Traffic Controller in the Royal Australian Air Force. Why am I telling you this? Because his dedication and doggedness meant that he achieved his dream, and it kind of inspires me to keep on working at what I perceive my dream to be. I won’t say ‘no matter how long it takes’ because I’m of an age where that phrase may not be appropriate. But no matter; my WIP will receive my constant attention, and to achieve that, I’m about to hang myself out to dry by posting extracts on my Newsletter. Some of you might say I’m daft, but I need someone to crack the whip, and maybe the thought of my subscribers waiting for another instalment will help.

I mentioned last week that I now have the rights back to my Romance, Past Imperfect. I asked one of my Chindi authors for some advice about where I might find an on-line publisher. She told me that she believed on-line publishers want to establish a relationship with their authors, and in view of the genre in which I write, they may not see any future in publishing me. I can understand that so will keep that in mind when I keep getting rejections. The other small dilemma I have is whether to use a pen name. I’m not really keen on the idea, but it’s something else I need to consider. I talked it over with Pat; she said I might have to become a romance writer if Past Imperfect started out-selling my other titles.

Tomorrow (Sunday 28^th) I’m off to the UK Southern Book Show at Worthing (on the south coast). Events like these offer an opportunity to meet potential readers, let them get to know you and, hopefully, sell some books. This will be the second such show this year in Worthing. I sold a couple of books then, if I remember. It would be nice if someone came up to buy more of my books because of meeting me at that earlier event.

More irons in the fire? Yes; I’m going to resurrect my Instagram platform. It’s another avenue to pursue, but I need to exercise a measure of control over how much time I spend on Social Media rather than writing. I often feel that platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Snapchat etc., go through popularity troughs, depending on the success, or lack of it, that they offer. So for me I’m going to try an Instagram kick, but just to be on the safe side, I’ll still use AMS  and BookBub ads.

What’s next on the horizon? Well, Christmas will be upon us before we know it. I also have another book event to do, and also some legal business to deal with for our Chindi group. Something tells me that I’ll be arriving at 2019 with that New Year’s resolution all prepared. But it could simply be a repeat of what I promised myself at the beginning of this year. Oh, and back to that newsletter business: this is the link I’ll be sending to my subscribers. http://bit.ly/2AsgiLp. Wish me luck!

The Eagle has landed

October 20^th. 2018

Safely back home after a five week sojourn in Australia, the Middle East and Singapore. Like my writing; this was a marathon, not a sprint. As much as me and Pat enjoyed our time, we are glad to be back home. But now the work begins: bills to be paid, business to catch up with and a time to contemplate the promises I made to myself with respect to my writing and adding more effort to my application. No more procrastination I hear you say? Hopefully not. The photo (for those who can see it) sums up the plight of many writers: unknown, constantly writing in hope, and papering the walls with rejection slips. We came across this in Chinatown, Singapore. I admit I had some moments of inspiration and began writing an addition to my current WiP. I’ve introduced a character who was never meant to be part of my story, but the change has given me inspiration and the hope that I can now move forward and get to the end of my own particular marathon.

Another small progress I‘ve made is to finally get the eBook rights from my publisher for my novel, Past Imperfect. Because this book, which is available in paperback, can only be classed as a Romance, I need to consider a different approach to promoting it. It’s quite a departure from my usual bag of mixed genres, that I can only see a new readership being interested. But how do I get to them? And although the eBook has been available for a few years, my publisher has achieved virtually no sales with it. That means I can look at it as a new book. If I can make real progress with my WiP, it could mean two books launched within a couple of months of each other.

I see there have been a lot of complaints made against Amazon for the apparent lack of sales over the last month or two. I’ve seen this on the SPF Facebook group mainly (Mark Dawson’s crowd). People are suggesting that Amazon (and in some respects, Facebook) are not reporting the figures correctly or are unable to. But I smile when I hear complaints that sales have dropped from a thousand a month to about five hundred. Or even $1000 down to $500. Those smaller figures are almost stratospheric to me. I’m lucky to be selling one book a day, even when I doing well. So that’s why there’s a smile on my face. And yes, my sales this month have been abysmal, but I put that down to me being away on holiday for five weeks and not tweaking my ads on AMS and BookBub. However, I can’t help but think that Amazon has a tiger by the tail and it’s difficult to control.

One joy of returning home after five weeks away was to see our little Cockapoo, Tuppence, come hurtling through the gate when she was brought home by the dog-sitting company. She was yelping, twirling and doing all kinds of somersaults. It was so good to see her. It’s funny how you can get emotional about a furry little animal, but they steal your heart, don’t they? Next on the agenda is to settle down, get practical and get on with the routines, the writing and all that comes with it. Wish me luck!

Memories

September 15^th. 2018

I often start with how the week began. Today I have to say the week began sadly with the news that my younger brother, Arthur, had died. It wasn’t unexpected; he had been ill for some time, but nevertheless, it was a shock. And now I have memories, not of a 75 year-old man, but me and my little brother when we were kids and the antics we got up to. I’ve known him for 75 years — longer than I’ve known my wife — and I could probably write a book about our life as young kids and how we changed when we grew up and became part of a world that was never something we thought of; too busy being children I suppose. And as a writer of action thrillers where I can dispense savage justice and kill my characters with impunity, death is simply ink on the paper. But we all know that the reality is different, and I will mourn my brother’s passing like most siblings would.

This being the week before we fly out to Australia meant there was a lot to do, eyes to dot and tees to cross, and with very little thought to writing. My WIP remains untouched, and will remain so until we get back, but I did embark on something unexpected. One of the Chindi group pointed out that there was nowhere to leave a comment on my blog page: something I’d never even thought of. So I decided I would have a go. I followed the WIX help section and managed to get a comment box at the bottom of my blog page. So far so good, but when I checked the live site, my comments box was in Spanish! It took me ages to figure out why. It turned out that I had used the Facebook comment box, and it was that which defaulted to Spanish. I checked the settings on my FB account: all were set to English, but because I opened my account when we lived in Spain, some gremlin in there decided it couldn’t relinquish a little bit of the Español.

I am still plugging away at ads with BookBub and AMS. There’s still no distinctive edge to either of them, although AMS do seem to be giving me a slightly better return than BB. My ROI is negative, and I suppose it will always be that way until I master the art of promotion. Whenever I see podcasts and read posts about the way forward, I know there is nothing new for me; I’ve been there, done that and got the Tee shirt, but never the prize of sumptuous sales figures. I still watch and read in case some little nugget is dropped that I can pick up and run with.

The Parker household is low at the moment, because the dog company Barking Mad has picked up our Tuppence. They’ve taken her away to her new home for four weeks. Now we can get on with our packing and missing her.

There probably won’t be a blog post from me while we’re away, although I might try to put some photos up on Facebook. But before I sign off, I just want to dedicate this post to my little brother, Arthur. R.I.P.

Getting some results

September 9^th. 2018

Lots of things happened this week because we are getting closer to our holiday. A trip to the travel agent, the clothes shop, the boutique and the dentist — not all for me of course. But that’s preparation and making sure you have the priorities right. I did get some new Tee shirts, I must admit, but I was pressurised into buying them. (Must be a soft touch). There seems to be so much to do and so much to think about that it leaves little room for writing. I received an email from Paula at BookHub giving me the names of those lucky winners who had chosen my book The Devil’s Trinity as their choice of book, which left me with little option but to type out a congratulatory message along with the download link. I’ve asked all those who won (about 25 people) to put a review up on Amazon for me. What will be more interesting, I think, is how many of those who won will send me a thank you email or even put up a review.

I am still hanging in there with the AMS ads. Last month my average sales combined with D2D were just over one a day. This month started in a similar fashion, but a slight improvement has lifted my average to two a day. I hope it will continue to improve at that rate and give me a good return on my investment. At the moment I’m losing money, but because it’s my hobby, I’m prepared to accept it. While we’re away I will keep a close eye on my AMS ads in case they get out of hand. To date, over three weeks, I have spent about $29, so I’m not exactly breaking the bank.

I also got back to my WIP with a vengeance almost. I introduced a character which I believe has changed the whole shape of the plot, and given me something of a lift. In fact the character was already part of the story, but not involved in any of it and there was no plan to change that. Then suddenly it all kicked in, and now I can see a definite outline bringing the plot to a conclusion which had been open-ended and bugging me. Once we’re back from OZ, I might be able to get on with some serious writing.

I also contacted one of our Chindi group about designing a cover for one of my current titles. It was a kind of ‘toe in the water’ approach really. I have done my own covers using Photoshop, but am now thinking of seeing how much of an improvement a professionally designed cover will do when it comes to promotion and marketing. It will need a lot of sales to cover the cost of the work, I know, but it will be a subjective experiment. If I like the result (of the sales, not the artwork) I would be tempted to go the whole hog for my current WIP when it’s finally ready.

Yesterday we spent some time with our No.3 son and his wife in Dorset. Walked with the dogs through the woods and parkland, had home-made pizzas for lunch (our boy is an excellent cook) and generally chilled out before tackling the mad, crazy A27 drive home. Fortunately the drive was uneventful, which make a change.

Getting closer now. One week today and we’ll be airborne. Then no more WIP for a while, enjoy some sightseeing round Dubai, OZ and Singapore. Spend my royalties. Dig into my savings and come home to the news that some film impresario wants to make a film of my book (anyone!). Wish me luck!

Dedication

September 1^st. 2018

Dedication is something most of us are familiar with, particularly when it comes to writing books. I often read of authors in the book groups of which I’m a member on Facebook that demonstrate a high degree of dedication in achieving significant sales of their work each month. Last week I watched Adam Croft being interviewed. He maxed out his credit cards, his wife’s and even asked members of his family to help him spend more. He became a best-selling indie author (one million books sold) on Amazon; so for him it worked. I don’t think I have that kind of dedication though.

Today I witnessed another kind of dedication at the Guagemaster exhibition of model railways over at Ford in West Sussex. The layouts were spectacular, intricate and painstakingly assembled, lovingly detailed and worth more than you could probably put a price on. I spoke to one chap who had a French railway layout, correct in every detail. He told me that you needed to get everything right, and it can only be done by research and looking for the proper rolling stock, vehicles, figurines and model buildings. That struck a chord with me because of the parallel nature of our hobbies: creating something almost real through dedication, research and application. The largest display at the exhibition had twenty trains running at the same time. I tried counting them but they kept disappearing through tunnels and stopping at stations as other trains swept by. I had to ask in the end.

But there is another kind of dedication, one I came across years ago that probably dwarfs everything I’ve spoken about here. When I was a young man in the Royal Air Force, I was at a training camp in a post-graduate billet. There were eight of us in a twenty-man billet. In the single bunk where the NCO i/c usually slept was a Malaysian lad. He was a Junior Technician and not part of our group. We used to see him from time to time going through to the ablutions and we’d nod, naturally. But one day I got a chance to talk to him. I asked him where he was from. He told me Kuala Lumpa. I thought he would have lived in England so I asked if he joined the RAF over there in Malaya. He said no, that he had to come to England to do that. I thought about my time in the Merchant navy when the ship I was on did the Far East trips taking Empire Builders (Diplomatic Corps) out, and bringing immigrants back. I wondered if he had been on one of those trips. He said no. I asked him if he flew over. He said, “No — I cycled”. Cycled! It took him three months. He wanted to join the RAF and that was the only way he could afford to get here. I suppose at that time I might have felt a little superior to him because of all the immigrants I’d seen in my time on those runs and my young age: probably thought because I was British I had some kind of right to feel a little elevated. But this lad’s dedication had a telling affect on me; it left me almost gasping in shock and complete admiration. It taught me a great deal about strength of mind and determination.

So when I think about my own efforts at writing, promotion, marketing and aiming high, I wonder if I really do possess what it takes to get to the top. Has that young Malaysian youth’s dedication taught me anything? I suppose I can take comfort in the fact that I have written twelve full length novels, been traditionally published and am still at it. I hope so. Wish me luck!

Life in the Slow Lane

August 26^th. 2018

The Arundel Festival sales are going well; we’re exceeding the figures we achieved last year. I should qualify that statement really: they, our magnificent Chindi stalwarts manning the stall, are exceeding expectations. But today, unfortunately, the opportunity to raise more money for the charity has been rained off. Our Chindi girl, Carol, tried gamely to set the stall up but the continuing downpour meant it was in vain. Ah well, tomorrow is another day. Sunshine is forecast and it’s a Bank Holiday. Fingers crossed then.

My AMS ads are proving to be a continuing mystery, despite seeing slow, steady sales of Hell’s Gate, I have yet to see anything significant for Roselli’s Gold. I also have a weekly spend on tweets: only about one pound a week, but it means five of my books are tweeted and retweeted by Author Sidekick. Trouble with that is that there is no way of knowing if those tweets result in any sales. Interestingly, though, I am getting a lot of searches on LinkedIn, and a lot of views on my Facebook page. I guess it means that people are becoming more aware of my name as an indie writer, and are looking at me via social media. I just wish they were buying my books though!

I’m currently reading Sam Bourne’s thriller, To Kill the President. It’s too early to say if I’m enjoying the book (I’ve read Sam Bourne before), but I did wonder if he is writing a scenario that he would like enacted in the Whitehouse and have Donald Trump done away with.

I’m also bobbing between Brian Meeks’ book on AMS ads, Tammy Labrecque in email marketing and Adam Croft on the indie author mindset. He’s the featured writer on the SPF podcast this week, so I’ll be looking at that later.

I have made some inroads into my WIP. Slow progress I must admit, but I have had to juggle several things this week: not least an on-line meeting with the new, proposed Chindi Directors. Yes, me and the other directors are jumping ship. Well, not quite that drastic, but stepping aside to let new faces in and give them the opportunity to spread our Chindi wings further.

During the week we hosted an evening meal for a Romanian family. They are over here for the wedding of one of our church members. Pastor Nelu, his wife Florica and their daughter, Tabitha who came along to translate for them. Nelu’s English is not too good, but Tabitha is fluent. Lovely family. Nelu is a beekeeper and brought us over three jars of different honey. We also had our No.3 Great Grandson over for lunch on Friday. Well, his mum and grandad came too of course. Orin (the toddler), spent most of the time running around and playing. It was lovely to see him; he’s always smiling. Just another reason why I wasn’t in my room sweating over my WIP.

Looking ahead, I have some admin work to do for Chindi as well as preparing for our trip to Australia in three weeks’ time. We needed a Doctor’s certificate in order to get a Visa for OZ because of our ages. That was a surprise, but we have the visas now. Oh, and something else happened to make me think: I received a royalty statement from D2D for my Barnes & Noble royalties for $124 last August (2017 — a year ago)! Not bad eh? But I think that must have been an error; I’ve had royalties from B&N each month. Not much, but something. Perhaps I’ll get some more backdated stuff, eh? I hope. Wish me luck!.

Changing perspective: casting my nets.

August 19^th. 2018

Another big week for the Chindi group as the Arundel Festival kicks off to ten days of fun, art, mayhem and lots of tourists. Our members have set up their stall outside the Cancer UK Research charity shop with over 200 titles available, all signed, the proceeds of which will go to the cancer charity. We have done this for the last three years and exceeded our targets each time. I won’t be there this year, but the ten days will be covered in shifts by our lovely, talented writers.

My week began with another nail-biting venture into Amazon ads. The four ads I’d put on a few weeks ago did little for me. I cancelled three and left one running. So far my ‘aCos’ has dropped to less that 100%, which (I think) means I’m spending marginally less than my sales are earning. The sales of Hell’s Gate are incrementing gradually, but not with too much speed. So, continuing with Brian Meeks’ advice, I started another seven ads; this time for Roselli’s Gold. Nothing has happened yet because the ads have only just been approved by Amazon, and the advice I’m given is that it’s possible that nothing will happen for several days. So it’s patience and nail-biting time. The biggest problem is writing ad copy. I had to write five different lines of copy for five of the ads (same book, same ad). The cost per click is the same for two ads, then another CpC for two more, and a single, higher rate for the fifth ad. It’s bewildering, but hopefully if I stick to the ‘Guru’s’ plan, I might see some gains.

We had a friend staying with us for a week. She brought her little Chihuahua called Daisy: a dog with attitude; it wanted to fight every dog it saw. I told her she should change its name to Genghis, might be more appropriate. What is it with little dogs? Fortunately our Tuppence had us to look out for her.

Another move I’ve made is to download two eBooks: one written by Adam Croft about getting into the mind of an indie writer and changing your perspective. The other is a book by Tammi Labrecque on email marketing. It isn’t about learning with Mailchimp, Aweber, Mailerlite and all that, but the approach that’s needed to cultivate readers. The point about Tammi’s approach is that you do not try and sell your books. Daft? Sounds like it. But the book was strongly recommended by David Gaughran. I have told him that if I don’t sell a million books by the end of next year, I’ll beat him over the head with the book. He accepted that so long as it’s the eBook I use.

Looking at all that from another point of view, I have to say that because nothing seems to work for long, you have to start considering what it is you’re doing wrong, what you want to achieve and accept that a change of direction could be the answer.  So, I am about to give up trying to persuade people with my smooth-tongued rhetoric and stick to cultivating them by way of a completely different approach. The sermon at church today was about Jesus telling Peter that he’ll never catch fish the way he’s casting his nets and will do far better by casting his nets on the other side of the boat. The nets almost broke with the catch. So, lesson learned here? Am I using the wrong approach? Time, then, for me to cast my nets the other side and maybe, just maybe, I’ll catch a ton of readers and convert them to my books. Wish me luck!

Fully engaged

August 11^th. 2018

Another week goes by and I can look back and see a modicum of progress in my WIP and seeing marginal gains in my advertising campaign (Sound like a politician, don’t I?), but I’m nowhere near where I want to be with either of them. I also watched part of the SPF podcast and another author I’ve never heard of: Lexi Blake. I enjoyed her interview. She’s a top writer and has published over sixty books on different platforms; a very jolly person and good to listen to. She had some good tips about approaching different elements of the writing process. I take all these things on board and still find myself nodding when I know I’ve followed the same path but somehow manage to get lost somewhere along the way.

One of the pieces of advice that keep cropping up is reader engagement and cultivating some kind of connection and garnering reviews. In the eighteen months since I published Where the Wicked Dwell, I have given away probably more than 250 copies, and sold maybe less than 200. Last month I gave away about eighteen copies through Voracious Readers with a one-day promotion. I have had a total of four reviews for the book (UK & USA) in the eighteen months of its publication. I have got used to having no connection with my readers, despite blogging and selling, so imagine my surprise when one of the Voracious Readers contacted me and said how much he liked the book. This is the review he put up on Amazon and Goodreads for me:

Good thriller plot line that keeps you guessing with the main protagonist a likeable character who, like a dog with a bone doesn’t give up until the end no matter what’s thrown at him. Loved the idea of a secret voodoo cult with high profile associates. Great page turner. 

So that’s another day with a smile on my face.

I wasn’t smiling too much last Monday. I got a phone call from the dentist to say he had a cancellation so could I make it and get the extraction over and done with. Now I have a huge gap in my gum (well, it feels like a huge gap), but thankfully the discomfort hasn’t been drastic. I can still eat, so that’s a blessing.

I finished reading John Grisham’s novel, Camino Island. I expected a pacy thriller, but this was more like a parochial story of writers and a book shop. I kept wondering when he was going to get to the point but had to admit that he’s an excellent writer; clever too. I did speed read from time to time, but on the whole it was a good read. I would recommend it to Grisham fans.

I have started a Karen Slaughter thriller. I can’t get used to the way the narrative dives off in different directions. I’ll persevere and see where it leads. I suppose I should have a look at a Lexi Blake novel too, but she writes Romantic Suspense, and I’m not sure I could deal with that. I’ll check the “Look inside” facility on Amazon and make up my mind. I need to build up a small library for our upcoming trip to Australia; for those evening when we have nothing to do. Or for the long flights. We’re stopping off at Dubai on the way for a few days. I read today of a British woman who got arrested and thrown in jail for having alcohol in her bloodstream. She had a glass of wine with her meal on the Emirates flight.

The next event for Chindi is the Arundel Festival. We will be supporting it as we always do, thanks to the enormous effort put in by our own, Carol Thomas. She always sells well. Have a look at her current title, The Purrfect Pet Sitter. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Purrfect-Pet-Sitter-Carol-Thomas-ebook/dp/B079T5XXFV Hope I do as well as carol normally does. Wish me luck!

Mama Mia

August 4^th. 2018

My week began with a picnic in the park. Our Chindi group like to meet up about once every three months for a chat and talk about books etc. We used to meet monthly in a pub, but it got too noisy, so we reverted to meeting on-line with a programme called ‘ZOOM’. It worked after a fashion, but in the end we settled for a regular, three-monthly face to face. The beauty of these meetings is that you get to see people who have joined the group through Facebook, but who you have never met. It was a pleasant evening, the sun was shining, a little breeze to cool us off, and words of wisdom were bandied about like confetti. Well, not really, but there was a lot of good stuff there. Not all the members came of course: there were about eleven of us; a third of the Chindi group.

I also began the week with new ads on Amazon and BookBub. So far there is little to show for my efforts. I’ve sold one book on D2D, which is usually the result of my ads with BookBub, and two books with AMS. I’ve also seen a lift in the page reads for my book, Shadow of the Wolf. I didn’t even realise I had that in KU. I have my box set there, which attracted some page reads about five weeks ago. I’m using Brian Meek’s book on AMS ads, and have to keep going back to it to figure out if I’m looking at the stats correctly. My ROI would be a nightmare for someone of Meek’s ability, but for me it’s all about learning something, trying to understand the mechanics of AMS, and hoping some good will come of it. I have been tempted to go back to Facebook, but I can see something positive with BB, and I’m hoping I’ll crack AMS. The downside to Amazon is that there’s no point in raising your bid price to sell more books; it doesn’t work like that, otherwise we’d all be pouring money into advertising on-line. I’ve spent $11 so far, earned $4.99 and had 1800 impressions with two of the four ads. The other two are virtually lifeless.

I got stuck into some writing, thankfully. I was getting to the stage where I thought I had subconsciously given up. But the dying flame flickered into life and I am putting pen to paper again. The problem is though; I now have three books on the go. Apparently, this isn’t unusual with many writers according to one of my FB forums.

I watched the SPF podcast yesterday. The star of the podcast was Lynda le Plante, writer of the TV series Widows and Prime Suspect. She came over as someone who has no illusions about herself, and gave some good insights on how it all began for her, particularly when having to talk to some unsavoury people in the sex worker business. Some of the hookers she spoke to wouldn’t say a word until they’d been paid. Others just told her to bugger off with stronger words than that. But it all paid off for her in the end.

And during the week, me and Pat went to see Mama Mia! Here we go again. Loved the film; it put a big smile on my face. I could have watched Lily James all night I think, but what man wouldn’t? Such a talented actress. And being a fan of Cher, I enjoyed her performance of Fernando. So perhaps I should take a leaf out of Bjorn and Benny’s book and use that as my by-line when it comes to deciding which book to get back to. Mama Mia, here I go again! Wish me luck!

Too many forks in the road

July 28^th.2018

There are so many ways in which we are encouraged, as writers, to engage with the public, the readers, and to chum up with other authors, that it seems impossible at times to know which is the best way to go. Most of my FB groups are fellow authors, and I don’t expect them to keep buying my books because, like me, they are only interested in selling their own. When I read of success stories, and not always by the top, top authors, it’s always about finding readers. So where are they? I have over 1200 subscribers on my email list. My last email resulted in 24 openings. That’s an open rate of 2%! Last week I held a giveaway with a company called ‘Voracious Readers’ and gave away 20 copies of my book, Where the Wicked Dwell. The upside to that is that I have now added their email addresses to my subscribers list. There can only be one answer: what I’m offering isn’t attractive enough. So now we come to the $64000 question (why is it 64K?): what is it that I’m doing wrong? I believe, firmly, that my stories live up to the claims I make, backed up by some solid reviews, but I know, hand on heart, that what’s in between the book covers generally comes last when it involves grabbing potential readers’ attention. So, it must be the blub, right? Or maybe not; maybe it’s the price. I dropped The Eagle’s Covenant and sold four books within 24 hours, but none since. I’ve sold two books on Amazon in the last two days, but not the book I’m advertising with AMS. So it must be the blurb. Oh, could be the cover! But we are told never to judge a book by the cover. And which famous book has been published with something like eighty different covers over the years? I know there is one; I recall reading about it somewhere. It has had more makeovers than the bible. So, it can’t be the cover. What is it then? Perhaps I have to stand on top of the Eiffel Tower, or Big Ben, or even Trump Towers and wave a banner. Probably get arrested though. Perhaps that’s the answer: grab a piece of notoriety; that should do it. But in a kind of perverse way, I’m enjoying myself. Masochist or what? I feel I’m on a promotion and marketing learning curve which will help to sort the wheat from the chaff and make some kind of success with my efforts. I just hope it doesn’t take forever.

I watched the SPF podcast yesterday. The interviews were with J.D.Barker (no, I haven’t either), Peter James and Karen Slaughter. There were some real gems of advice in those interviews, not so much about what to do, but how these writers see the future of publishing etc. J.D.Barker believed that audio books were going to make a bigger impact for several reasons. Peter James said that Character, Research and Plot is how he develops his stories; and plot is definitely the last. Karen Slaughter said that writers, including indie writers have to accept that writing has to be viewed as a business. The concept of someone sitting alone, writing a book and getting it published with nothing else to do after that is complete fallacy; you have to work at the promotion and marketing otherwise your book will fade without trace. Naturally the three of them were big on professional help: covers, proof reading, editing etc., etc., but that isn’t always affordable to, probably, the majority of self-published authors. All in all they all had something interesting to say.

I have started on a project which may not see the light of day for a few months. It has nothing to do with my WIP, but I can say that it is another book. That will be three that I’ve started this year. This one though is a special project, one I sincerely hope I’ll be able to finish before the year end. We’ll see. Wish me luck!

Meeting people, facing facts.

July 21^st. 2018

The book talk at Littlehampton went well. The photo here shows me with two of our Chindi authors, Helen Christmas and Christine Hammacot. About twenty people turned up (there are others out of

shot sitting in the comfortable armchairs at the back of the room) and were quite an attentive audience. You always unearth someone who has written a full length novel at these events, but are too shy or afraid to admit it. One of our audience had written eight novels, and none of them were published; he said he just liked the idea of writing. Bit like stamp collecting I suppose. I managed to sell one book, and that was to a chap who had never written a book, but just wanted to listen to us talk about ourselves. The event was part of the Littlehampton Festival during which our group held four events, including a ‘Ghost Tour’. Spooky, eh?

I still haven’t seen an improvement in my AMS sales, so have contacted BookAds and submitted another book. If there’s no significant change, it will mean another month wasted, but nothing ventured, nothing gained. I’ll pull out and persevere with BookBub ads. I am selling a few, but cling to something I read on one of my FB groups that summer is a bad time for selling books. I don’t think it makes any difference, but it could be true. My author colleague, Helen Christmas, who has written a crime series set in London covering a period of about thirty years or so, was chatting to me about the difficulty in grabbing the readers’ attention and getting sales. We agreed it’s a difficult game out there, and you just have to keep on trying. Helen’s series is called ‘Same Face, Different Place’. You can find her 5 book series on Amazon. She has terrific reviews too, so why not have a look, starting with Book 1 in the series? https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0078L8858

On the domestic front, we had lunch with our granddaughter Gemma and her son, Orin (our No.3 great grandson), at Worthing. It’s always good to see the little ones growing up, although it does remind you how time is passing by, so being able to spend some time with them is always a bonus. Last night, Saturday, was Bingo with Fish & Chips down at the village hall. Life can get so exciting at times, can’t it? I’m not a bingo fan but I go along to this three monthly event with Pat just to be sociable. And for the fish and chips of course! I managed to see the whole of the British Speedway Grand Prix from Cardiff too, which was also a bonus. Watched most of it before going out, and caught up with the last hour when we got home. Terrific evening of Speedway.

I pulled out of BookAds today; couldn’t see any point in waiting for my sales to “take off”. I can’t blame BookAds, even though I would like to, because my ad was getting plenty of impressions, so I guess it lacked something — not punchy enough? Not interesting enough? Yet this is a book that reached No.1 in Canada (yes, I’ll cling to anything to make it sound good), and had decent reviews, which means its back to the drawing board again. Wish me luck!

Oh, by the way, I dropped the price of my BBad for The Eagle’s Covenant to $0.99 yesterday and sold four books in 24 hours. Is someone telling me something?

Summer days and summer sales

July 15^th. 2018

So, football isn’t coming home after all, but the boys have given all of us football fans a fair share of highs and lows. Sounds a bit like book sales, and mine happen to reflect more of the lows than the highs. But I’m not too despondent because it can be fixed. I’ve just got to work out how, although I was told by way of a Facebook group that summer is not a good time for selling books. My week actually ended on a kind of ‘high’ though; I sold six books at our local, fun day dog show here on the small estate where we live. I was allowed to set my table up in the small marquis that was being used as a kind of shaded area, while all the stalls were scattered in the shade beneath the trees. I did nothing for the first hour, and then people began noticing me. It always nice to sell books of course, and sometimes you get some lovely conversations with people, but the nicest moment was when a young boy about thirteen or fourteen years of age came up and started browsing through my books.  And he did, with his mum. She told me he had developed a passion for reading, which I said was great to hear. I did ask if she was happy with the idea of me selling her son a book, bearing in mind that they might have been too adult for him. However, I did manage to persuade him to choose The Devil’s Trinity rather than The Boy from Berlin, the latter being more of a political novel. He was happy with that and paid for his book, leaving me with a big smile on my face.

He asked if he could read the first page of one particular book and then said he would come back.

As I mentioned last week, I’m at Littlehampton tomorrow (Monday) for an event as part of the Littlehampton Festival. I have decided to talk about my latest crime thriller, Where the Wicked Dwell, https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B06WD8988W. I have two, 5 star reviews for this — one on Amazon UK, the other in USA — although it has sold reasonably well with the help of some promotion, I still believe it is worth reading as a crime thriller, but I suppose all authors believe their books are worth reading, eh? Nevertheless, I will be promoting it on Amazon with BookAds too, having come to the conclusion that my current ad is not selling well despite having 20,000 impressions since June 23^rd. It might be because the book, or the advert, isn’t appealing enough. This is when I wish I was a competent copy-writer; it might make a lot of difference.

My week began with a trip to the dentist. It ended in something of a disaster because she was unable to pull the bad tooth out. She gave up half-way through and decided to refer me to a specialist clinic. Thankfully she gave me antibiotics which have calmed the tooth down. I’m now waiting for an appointment to come through. I’ve just put up a temporary fence at the side of our house because we have a pigeon building a nest in our Wisteria bush. It happens to be fairly close to the bird feeder, and a place where our Cockappo, Tuppence, likes to go ferreting around in case the birds have dropped anything. The temporary fence will keep her away so she can’t annoy the pigeons (she likes barking at them too).

So, a fruitful end to the week with my print book sales at the fete, but less so with regard to my sales with BookAds. Maybe I’ll do better with the other book. Wish me luck!