Schisms and criticisms

July 27^th.2019

Well, the week got off to a good start; we made it to church, which meant Pat was feeling strong enough to get out and mix with friends. We couldn’t hang around too long at the end of the service but it was good to be there. We both gain a lot from the Praise and worship, and the general feelgood factor of just being among fellow believers, and that helps Pat enormously. On the flip side, Pat’s weaning dose of steroids finally came to an end, and I could see the resultant effect of that. We ended up in A&E yesterday because of problem Pat had that couldn’t be sorted by a visit to the GP. We were there for about four hours and after the usual tests, Pat was given a medication which helped. We’ll be seeing the haematologist on Monday because Pat will have her second dose of chemo that day. No doubt we’ll discuss the visit to A&E.

On the book front, I’m working with Stuart Bache on my book jacket. I’ve been reading his self-help book on jacket design and have also watched one of his instructional videos. Although I will be paying Stuart for the Boy from Berlin jacket, my latest book will have one of my own creation. And thereby hangs a tale (or a dilemma). I put my design up for my WIP title No Time to Die on the Chindi FB page and also the SPF FB page (Mark Dawson’s group). My, my, what a contrast! I received some very encouraging comments from the Chindi authors, but the complete opposite from the SPF group. I had about 40 responses from them, and only about four were complimentary; the rest were a mixture of…. Well, I don’t know how to phrase it. I did get the feeling that there was a kind of snobbishness in their collective responses. It was as though they were saying ‘oh, you can’t possibly do that; get a proper designer!’ Photoshop? Really? You can tell you don’t know how to use it. At least beg, borrow or steal the money for a decent jacket. Wrong fonts, wrong colours. I could go on. I did say, at the beginning of my post that I was working with Stuart Bache on a jacket, but couldn’t afford to pay for two professionally designed jackets. Two people offered to do the jacket for me: one very cheap ($175), one for free. So, a big lesson learned there. I will be working on my own jacket until I’m happy with it, but I’ll sneak it out under their noses. Have a look, see what you think, but I will be working on it, rest assured.

A curious email popped into my inbox; it came by way of the contact page on my website. It was from a video company called wiki.ezvid. The email was from Caroline Eliasson, to tell me that my thriller, Roselli’s Gold, had made it on to their Wiki list of grown up action thrillers. No money was asked for and the book is there, right enough. The link they provided was this: https://wiki.ezvid.com/m/11-grown-up-thrillers-full-of-action-and-adventure-gUpRMIJjb5ZXt  Why not check it out. There’s quite a lot to see there, plus details of the company and staff. Incidentally, when you click the video, you’ll see my book being trailered in video. Great stuff! They offer to make videos of your product of course, and that is what the business is all about.

My book sales are flat-lining again. The promotion for The Boy from Berlin, run over five weeks, resulted in a sale of 110 ebooks, plus about 20 of my other titles, which was good for me. I decided to try a short FB campaign for my African adventure, Hell’s Gate. So far I’ve sold one copy. The odd thing here is that I’ve had 30 people ‘like’ the link for the advert, so why haven’t they bought it? Unless Amazon has a fault in it’s system. I’d like to think so, but it’s unlikely. The campaign will finish in a few days, so I’ll let it run. The next one will be for The Boy from Berlin, once Stuart Bache has completed the artwork.

Next thing for me and Pat is her chemo session on Monday. All we can hope is that the treatment works and it won’t be long before we can see some positive improvement. Oh, and we’re off to the wig shop on Thursday. I think I could do with one. Wish us luck!