Ringing in the changes. 

October was going to be the beginning of a Facebook marketing campaign for my WW2 trilogy, of which Book 3 would be published before the month was out. I’d already been in contact with Lesley Sainty, with whom I agreed to hand over the campaign. I had already provided the details she’d asked for, and we had a Zoom meeting on September 30th. The first campaign would be in the UK and run for 14 days. Then a planned Zoom call after that. I handed over the fee and ad costs and sat back with the pleasant thought that I didn’t have to worry about the campaign for now; time to relax.

I knew that an increasing awareness of my name and books on the internet could mean sales of my other titles. Not in great quantities, but enough to encourage me to start editing those titles I thought might sell. I started with The Eagle’s Covenant (TEC). This book has sold 22,000 copies in ten years. Not many by best-selling standards, but enough for me to begin a read-through and an edit. I used Gemini AI to help me with editing. I must emphasise here that I did not use AI to replace any of my text with a ‘polished version’; I only used it to correct the grammar and spelling mistakes, along with typos, etc.

While I was going through that, I had to upload suggestions to my book cover designer, Nat, at booktypesetters.com so he could come up with a suitable jacket design for Book 3 of my WW2 Trilogy, Shadow Over Paris. He struggled to find the right stock images that could solve the problem I was giving him, so I asked ChatGPT to come up with a suitable book cover. I told it exactly what I wanted, and it produced the perfect result in less than a minute. I sent the image to Nat and gave him the option to use it, which he did. I absolutely love it. I had to declare to Amazon that I had used AI for the image when uploading the cover. The eBook was released on October 11th, but the print copy won’t be available until November 1st. The eBook is already selling well.

Another event was a new website, built for me by my son, Terry. I didn’t know he was doing this, but it is now front-line, so to speak. It is still michaelparkerbooks.com. It’s very good. I know people don’t buy books because an author’s website is ‘brilliant’, but he has done a remarkable job. And on top of that, he created a separate domain for my Emma Carney Romance books. It’s emmacarneybooks.com. Both sites are connected so that you can switch from one to the other. And there is a ‘Contact’ button on both sites so people can get in touch with me.

Some of you may know that I had a Yamaha Clavinova digital piano, which I bought a few years ago. Well, I sold it because I wanted to get back to my first love, the keyboard. I advertised the Clavinova on the Facebook local marketing page, had three enquiries, and sold it to a young couple who were buying it for their ten-year-old daughter. I used the money to buy a Yamaha keyboard and am struggling to understand all the buttons! I have used it to prop up my phone while I make a TikTok video promoting my books. I open the video with a short riff across the keys and go from there. I think I average about 200 views, which I understand is the usual. I’ve had a couple of responses, but it’s unlikely I’ll keep it up.

I had to buy a new laptop. My old HP had been playing me up for some time, so I took it into the local computer shop. It was a bit like the Dead Parrot sketch from Monty Python. The guy looked at it, tried something, and said it was dead. It still responded to some finger poking, but it was beyond hope. So I bought a new laptop. It’s an MSI Notebook.

Halfway through the month, and it was time for another Zoom call with Lesley Sainty. The book sales looked promising, but we decided to switch the campaign to the USA. This will finish at the end of the month when we have another Zoom call and decide where we go from here. So far this month, it’s the 28th today; the total royalties have covered all my costs, and there are a few days left before the campaign ends.

Last day of the month today, and from tomorrow, Lesley Sainty will be running my FB campaigns in the US and the UK. Yesterday was my best day ever with total sales and page reads. Royalties were the highest ever. It’s looking promising, and I’m looking forward to November already. But I need to slow down and reflect; it could all go wrong and leave me out of pocket, although I’m sure Lesley knows what she’s doing.

So, where do I go from here? I’m not writing anything and have no real inclination to do so, but I’m a writer and still have stories buzzing around in my head. I need to step away from chasing the dream and think about more practical things like keeping body and soul together, maintaining contact with family and friends, and staying on top of my domestic duties. However, I did manage to make two trips to Brighton during the week: one to visit my granddaughter, Gemma, and the second to spend time with my eldest son, Vincent, and his wife, Jackie, who were down for a couple of days of R&R.

That’s about it. I’ll post this and then think about all sorts of things I could have told you about, but that would have run into a book-length blog, wouldn’t it? Take care then, and God bless.

 

 It’s all about books. 

When September dawned, I knew it would be a bleak month for my WW2 series, and I was right, but it was what I expected, and I was happy to see sales and page reads bump up the bottom line. I wasn’t advertising, so I could not expect anything else. Instead, I used the month to edit Books 1 and 2, in readiness for the new campaign starting at the beginning of October. I used Gemini AI on Google to check the files for any errors, and what it came up with was an eye-opener. Not only did it correct the usual errors like typos, punctuation, and hyphenated words, it also corrected the French and German spellings and pointed out historical timelines that needed addressing. Although it also offered a ‘polished version’ of the uploaded files, I didn’t use it because I felt it would create a subtle change in my ‘author voice’. I simply went through each correction by hand. It was slow work, but necessary in my view because of the need to offer readers a virtually error-free book, although I doubt whether that would be possible, and there would still be some readers who just want to find fault and give a low review. 

The reason for doing this was because I had a Zoom meeting with a book marketer, Lesley Sainty, on September 30th. I contacted Lesley through the online Company, Reedsy, which I have used before. However, the whole point of this was to hand over the marketing of my series to a professional and let me get on with what I do best, and that is to write. 

Lesley had already done a book audit before the Zoom meeting and highlighted several things I could do on my Amazon product pages and in my KDP pages. She also came up with several ad options for me. We discussed these, and after the meeting, Lesley produced the images she would be using for the ad campaign. It all kicked off on the 2nd of October, and although it’s early days, there is a slight increase in my sales and page reads. Oh, and the daily royalties so far have covered my costs. I know it could all crash and burn, but that’s the chance we take in the world of books. The campaign will end on October 14th, when Lesley and I will have another video call to discuss the next steps. Should be fun. 

I have also started reading through The Eagle’s Covenant, using Gemini to check the errors, etc. The reason I’m doing that is that I discovered, quite unexpectedly while checking my overall book sales, that in ten years I sold 22,000 copies of The Eagle's Covenant. It is my best-selling book so far. Now, I started a sequel a few years ago but gave up on the idea because I couldn’t think of a way to develop it. Once I’d seen the sales figures, I had a long think about it and decided to give it a try. But what I did, rather than trying to come up with some ideas, was to upload the entire book and the sequel I’d started (14000 words) to Gemini and ask it to give me some plot ideas. The speed of response was mind-blowing; it took about three minutes. It produced some incredible plot ideas, choosing individual characters to be placed as good guys or bad guys, and all the usual twist-and-turn stuff that makes a thriller enjoyable. I printed the result out and have six pages of ideas. But despite all that, I’m not completely convinced that I will complete the project. I have a few things going on in my life not related to books that might prevent it. Who knows? 

Added to this is, of course, the upcoming publication of Book 3 in the WW2 series. This will complete the trilogy, and if I am still spending money on Facebook campaigns, and they prove profitable, I may be asked to write another war story. You may wonder who it is that does the asking; it’s usually people who have no idea what it means to sit down and write an 80,000-word novel. But it’s also the little demon who sits on my shoulder and nags away at me to keep on writing. 

My life outside of books is uncomplicated, and much like a lot of people who are in a similar situation to me. I’m battling with my garden and losing, no matter what I do. My domestic duties are the usual round of chores that my lovely wife took care of. I spend my money unwisely, mostly on spur-of-the-moment ideas that often end up in my Room 101, and I keep telling myself that I have to play my piano more. But on the whole I have little to moan about at my age. 

Those of you who have got this far will be reading this on my new website. My son, Terry, built it for me, and also made the trailer for my Shadow Over Paris novel. He’s a clever boy, but what can you expect from someone who was a Harrier pilot in the RAF? He’s still flying, but at a more sedate pace. 

So, that’s it, my blog for September. Hopefully I will have more uplifting and inspiring news in my next blog. Wish me luck!

                                                                                                                               Michael