Selling Michael Parker and why it isn't easy.

February 21, 2015

I’m taking more faltering steps into self-publishing as
the real truth behind it all begins to unravel. Until now I have not needed to
get too involved because others have done the work for me. But like the
proverbial swan gliding around on the surface of the water; the marketing feet
are going nineteen to the dozen beneath it all while above the surface all is
calm and under control. Writing books and having them published by
professionals is fine. Going into self-publishing and having someone else do
the work for you is fine too, but when you realise that as a writer you’ll
remain invisible unless you promote yourself, then sales will be as rare as
hen’s teeth. The faltering steps I mentioned at the beginning of this blog are
mine. I am beginning to learn that my books will never sell well — never mind
my quality as a writer — unless I start looking in the right places and find
those corners where the secrets lie.

I’ve been following Nick Stephenson’s tutorial (I met
him in London a couple of weeks ago) and learning some really useful stuff, as
well as seeing how little I know. I have also been brought up short by the fact
that none of my paperbacks will ever be sold through UK retailers because they
are published by CreateSpace, a subsidiary publishing outlet of Amazon. This
means I now have to find a British publisher, or a POD imprint company who will
have established links to the UK retail outlets. ISBNs are another minefield. I
realise now that I need to purchase a block from Nielsen. This also means
having to re-publish the three titles I have currently listed with me as
publisher. My other four titles are still with Acclaimed Books, but because I
am taking them under my name again, I will need to ensure they are available
through all outlets world-wide. This doesn’t mean that my books will suddenly
appear in the high street book shops; but if ever I get the chance to sell them
that way, I have to be prepared.

Keywords and web crawlers are expressions that are now
familiar to me. Apart from a vague understanding why keywords were necessary, I
could never fully understand what all the fuss was about. After all; wasn’t my
ability as a writer supposed to do that for me? And web crawlers? Did I want
them wandering all over my stuff? I do now. Why? Because I am grasping the
nettle and understanding the game more and more. But after all that, success
isn’t guaranteed; I still need to work at it.

I did manage to add another couple of thousand words to
my current MS. I’m not whooping for joy because I have finally put pen to
paper. I know it’s going to be a difficult road ahead — it always has been —
but now it’s going to be even harder. Of course, other things get in the way of
my routines etc. Hospital appointments for one thing. Shopping (ugh!). And life
in general. I will miss the next meeting of the Chindi (www.chindi-authors.co.uk)
writers because I have an eye appointment a couple of hours before the meeting,
and I will not be able to drive because of having drops in my eyes. And missing
the meeting hurts because I believe I will benefit enormously from being a
member of the group. I know: I will also benefit by seeing the eye specialist!

But looking ahead I see plenty of positives. Perhaps at
the moment I am trying to run before I have learned to walk; and if I show a
little patience, and the effort I put in starts having an effect on my sales,
then the positives will more than make up for the difficulties (from a book
point of view) I’m experiencing now. Wish me luck!

Learning the Lesson

February 15, 2015

I seem to be increasing my work load simply by looking
into ways of promoting and marketing my books. Despite the ease with which the
methods are claimed to be, and that no technical knowledge is required, I find
myself scratching my head and wondering what I must do next; or how do I
prepare a campaign and list of subsrcibers for Mail Chimp. Do I really need
e-pub, mobi and pdf files ready to distribute to those on my subscriber list
should they ask? And here’s the chicken and egg argument: how do I get
subscribers if my standing as a writer comes close to invisible? The answer, of
course, is patience, hard work and ‘stickability’ (and the tutorials).

I’ve worked my way through the three, free videos on how
to increase my visibility, and have watched two of them twice. They are packed
with information and I expect I will be watching them again. Then there’s
MailChimp. It’s so easy a monkey could do it. I must be descended from a
different kind of monkey because my head is still spinning. Perhaps an increase
in my banana consumption might help? Oh, and I forgot Calibre: probably the
easiest way to convert documents to epub etc. Of course, there’s PhotoShop ,
which is really handy when uploading jackets to CreateSpace, particularly if
you know what you are doing. But never mind; there are always the tutorials to
hand. But what’s missing out of all this? What vital ingredient has to go into
the mix in order to make sales? That’s right: books. And writing books is what
I do best. I don’t need tutorials. I’ve been there, done that and got the Tee
shirt. But there’s not enough time of day left to settle down with pen in hand
(e-pen) and write. I use Scrivener by the way. Forgot that one. Had to use the
tutorial of course, but I managed it in the end. But I won’t give up. Once I’ve
organised myself into some semblance of order, have grasped the finer details
of marketing and promotion, and can see light at the end of the tunnel, I will
write. All I need to do now is communicate with readers. Not authors, but
readers: people who will agree to sign up to my e-mail campaign once I get it
rolling. They will receive the occasional e-mail from me letting them know what
offer or news I have. The first offer will be a free ebook in return for signing
up. They can even unsubscribe once they’ve received the freebie. But first of
all, I will be putting one of my titles out as a ‘permafree’ in the hope that
will attract readers to my list. It will be a little while yet before I’m ready
for the big ‘launch’. Meanwhile, anyone reading this blog who might be
interested once I begin, might like to let me know through the contact page.
Just think: it could be the beginning of a great partnership. I hope so. Wish
me luck!

Rubbing shoulders with the big guns

February 7, 2015

It’s been quite a week,
one way or another. The highlight though was attending the meeting in London of
the International Thriller Writers (ITW). This was for the European members,
and hopefully it will be the forerunner of many more. The ITW is really an
American organisation, and all the emphasis with regard to meetings and
“Thriller Fests” has always been American orientated. Now the European arm
finally has a real voice.

For a writer like myself:
virtually unknown and with very low sales, it meant a great deal to rub
shoulders with the big hitters on this side of the Atlantic. I used to be a
contributing editor for ITW: something I volunteered to do in the hope it might
raise my profile. It didn’t work, although I contributed about seven interviews
including C.J.Carver, one of ITW’s higher profile members. She was there on
Wednesday, and I was able to have a few minutes chat with her.

The meeting was organised
by J.T.Penn (Joanna), and Simon Toyne. Both best-selling authors. Joanna will
be one of the guests at the New York Thriller Fest this year. The other
speakers were Nick Stephenson, an Amazon top ten author, and Erin Kelly. Erin
won the Richard & Judy top book award (big here in UK), and is now working
with BBC to novelise the hit TV series ‘Broadchurch’. She currently has four,
best-selling novels to her credit. There were other writers there who have
achieved much in the book world, and I was able to speak to a couple of them.

The meeting was not about
glad handing and paying homage to the big guns: it was more of a celebration;
being able to meet as a European contingent. And there was a great deal of
information and help from the presenters on how to look at the way in which books
are marketed and promoted, and some eye-opening stuff about advertising and
promoting. I’m sure people like me came away from the meeting filled with ideas
of how to change direction with regard to ‘selling’ ourselves and hence our
books.

Nick Stephenson has a
free, on-line tutorial about raising your profile and readership levels. I had
signed up for this free course of tutorials a week ago. Imagine my surprise
when I saw Nick sitting in front of me at the meeting. Naturally I grabbed the
opportunity to talk to him. And because he was one of the presenters, I knew I
was on safe ground with his tutorial.

All in all the meeting
was a resounding success for more than just my own reasons. And as a bonus to my
good week; I had an interview published in the local newspaper about my latest
book, Past Imperfect. One of the
pieces of advice I have taken on board is to try and build a reader platform by
starting an e-mail subscription list. I will begin by offering one of my
e-books free (permafree), and build from there. Perhaps readers of this blog
will keep an eye out for my first offer and sign up. I hope so. Whether this
will work as effectively as other writers who have found success this way, I
have no idea, but I am going to give it a go. Wish me luck.

Books and Bookshops

February 1, 2015

Over the last ten days or so I have been circulating
round bookshops in the area as a precursor to my next meeting with the Chindi
writers group. I have been tasked with getting our books into retail outlets,
which is why I have been talking to the owners and managers of said shops. But
what a struggle! Two of the shops were advertising closing down sales:
“everything must go!” One was no longer in existence; another was without a
manager for several days, and the main high street chain offered some hope but
nothing definite. With one it was a case of “I’ll make enquiries with head
office and ring you back.” The other main chain offered to look at our ISBN
numbers and make a decision. So it wasn’t all a big NO, but I don’t hold out
much hope. I have still to talk to a private shop whose owner only works at the
shop three days each week. Although she was interested, her shop is so small
that she would probably only be able to fit a few titles in. I’ll be seeing her
on Tuesday with fingers crossed.

This week I am off to London for the International
Thriller Writers ‘meet up’. I’m looking forward to that enormously and expect
to rub shoulders with some of the leading thriller writers in Europe. I don’t
expect to see any American authors because this meeting is for the European
members only. I’ll write a full report on the meeting in my next blog.
Hopefully I’ll have something to write about.

And another celebration for me was the publishing of my
latest novel, Past Imperfect. The
official release date was last Friday, but already my copies and those I’m ‘gifting’
to family and friends have already reached their destinations. One of my sons,
who has only read my books and no other author, couldn’t put the book down once
he’d started. I still wonder why he doesn’t read other authors because there
are so many talented ones out there.

Back on to one of my earlier topics about publishing on
CreateSpace: I am still frustrated by my own inability to produce an acceptable
book jacket to fit the CreateSpace trim sizes. I do get there eventually, but
last week I received a proof copy of Hell’s
Gate, and decided to I needed to make a small change the interior file. I
submitted the file only to have the jacket rejected because it didn’t fit their
trim size. It was annoying because I had made no changes to the cover; only the
interior. Needless to say I have gone over the process again even though I
still am not completely at home with Photoshop. That will be three titles of
mine with me as publisher on Amazon; only four more to go. I’ll probably have
it all sussed by the time I get to the end. Wish me luck!

Finding reviews, sales and publicity

January 17, 2015

I’m in the process of re-publishing seven of my titles
which up until now have been published under the name of Acclaimed Books Ltd.
The reason is simple: I want to manage my own titles now that me and my wife
have settled back in UK. One of the problems with changing the name of the
publisher — in this case from AB.c to Michael Parker — is that any reviews
accumulated can be lost unless you keep the same ISBN number and don’t change
the edition number. I learned the hard way with my first title and lost the
reviews. But another oddity has cropped up: I have a different number of
reviews for my titles depending on which Amazon site I log onto. In US for
instance, my latest upload, Roselli’s
Gold, has thirteen reviews, with an average showing of around four stars.
But in UK there is only one review. It makes me wonder if my reviews are
determined by the website from where the titles are purchased. I’ll have to ask
Amazon. I suspect that my ‘readership’ in UK is very low, and I’m hoping that
now I am living back in England, I can build my following.

I was once advised by someone in publishing that unless
you’re on to a major thing with a publisher; the only way to build is to begin
locally. It has to be the way now for a lot of self-published writers, and to
begin my building project I am hoping that membership of the Chichester
Independent Writers group will help me do that. I’ve only attended one meeting
so far, but I am impressed with the current members who have achieved something
quite significant in the twelve months they have been in existence; so much so
that I am really looking forward to being a part of their programme for 2015.

I do feel as though I have a foot in two camps though,
because I am traditionally published as well as being an independent. My latest
novel, Past Imperfect, will be
released on January 30^th. while my latest title to be uploaded as an
indie is Roselli’s Gold. Although I
have seven titles on Amazon for which I own the rights, until now all seven
have been published by Acclaimed Books Ltd. Now three of them have me as the publisher,
and within a couple of months I expect to have all seven under my name. I am
also using Smashwords because I want my titles available on as many platforms
as possible, and Smashwords are bigger than Amazon when it comes to e-books,
according to their statistics. Can you believe statistics?

I have reached something of a milestone with my current
manuscript: I have run out of ideas! I finished transferring the 50,000 words I
had completed thus far to Scrivener and now have no idea where or how to take
the story forward. My wife says that I am like this with all my books, and this
one is no different. She could be right, but I am concerned about this one
because I started it about three years ago, interrupting it to write Past Imperfect. Oh the things we writers
put ourselves through.

Looking ahead, I have to pick up on my promotion and
social media stuff. Tomorrow I am at hospital for my ongoing cancer treatment,
although this is simply medication and not chemo, thank God. And I have a
couple of thoughts running around in my head with regard to local publicity
etc. Maybe I'll contact some friendly radio stations. Must prepare a sales
pitch though and offer my book for review. Wish me luck!

Starting Well

January 10, 2015

I’m a little early with my blog post this week, but sometimes
I’m a little late. The first couple of weeks of 2015 look promising for what my
progress in the literary world could be like. I have seen a short lift in my
book sales, although nothing to get too excited about. I also attended the
Chindi writers group in Chichester, and will be going up to London for the
International Thriller Writers’ Organization’s European meeting.

Meeting with the Chindi group was something of an
eye-opener, considering the progress the group has made since it began one year
ago. Looking at their website (www.chindi-authors.co.uk) will give it
all in greater detail, but suffice it to say that they have engaged with the
reading public locally through seminars, workshops, TV and radio, and on You
Tube. They have a good programme lined up for 2015 and I am looking forward to
being an active member of the group.

The International Thriller Writers (ITW) meeting came
right out of the blue. I joined this group about five years ago and became a
contributing editor for them. I gave that up after a couple of years because I
could see little benefit for me in what was a predominantly, American group
whose meetings were always held in USA, and celebrated with a big bash in New
York once a year. Many of the big hitters in the thriller game were members
including such big names as Lee Child, Steve Berry, Jeffrey Deavour etc. So for
a small fish like me swimming in a big pool, it was largely a waste of time.
But out of the blue I received an e-mail from J. Penn of the ITW to say they
would be holding their second meeting for European members in February. Having
put myself out of the loop, so to speak, I had been unaware there had been a
first meeting. Apparently it had been held at the home of Peter James: one of
UK’s biggest crime writers. This second meeting will be in London, and I’m
looking forward tremendously to rubbing shoulders with the big guns. It won’t
be a complete waste of time for me because I will be meeting my grandson, Adam,
and taking him out to lunch.

On the home front I have been busy uploading my second
title, Hell’s Gate, to Amazon and CreateSpace. The proof copy of the Eagle’s
Covenant is already on its way (took me ages to get that right), and I have
ordered a proof copy of Hell’s Gate. At the same time I am still battling with
PhotoShop; trying to learn the rudiments of that programme for when I prepare
my other titles for Amazon and Smashwords.

Domestically it has been a time of buying furniture,
arranging hospital appointments, birthday celebrations and looking forward to
celebrating our 55^th wedding anniversary. Oh, and giving serious
thought to booking a cruise to Alaska. Busy times ahead, eh? Wish me luck!

New Book, New Year, New Hope.

January 4, 2015

A new year and most of us are filled with hopes and
dreams for the future. I’m no different and among my hopes and dreams is the
advent of another of my books. My latest, Past
Imperfect, is due for release on January 30^th. Even after all
these years of writing and experiencing the ups and downs of a literary life; I
still can’t help but get excited at the prospect. I feel like an anachronism in
today’s digital market place though, and the literary storm engulfing the
world. Whereas a new release for writers like me was offered at a more
sedentary pace, but one that promised a process that built on the excitement;
it’s more like “so what you getting all worked up about?” Nowadays writers
disgorge novels at an enormous pace to fill an ever growing digital shelf of
mostly, unreadable books; and they lose the unforgettable expectation as publishing
day approaches.

A lot of readers have confessed to having an enormous
collection of eBooks in their digital libraries, and have admitted they will
probably never read them. In the early days of Kindle tablets, I downloaded about
sixty, free eBooks (not all at once) before I realised I was downloading novels
that would never have seen the light of day in the traditional market. But as a
traditionally published writer, does this make me any different from the Amazon
writers today? Maybe because writing is my hobby I can claim to be different.
After all, there are a great deal of writers out there who rely on their work
as a career, and those who hope to make a livable income from it. I can only
hope to achieve success based on the strength of my writing and an established
readership. But there’s the rub: how can I establish a readership when I am
fighting against the 3,000,000 books that Amazon currently has on its database?
I need to muscle my way into this nightmare by promotion and marketing, but in
the right direction and in the right places. Where do I go for advice? There’s
plenty of it on the net. I could spend thousands on “guaranteed promotions” and
sell a couple of books. And whose fault would that be? It would be nobody’s
fault. So now I need to find a new angle: a new, different approach to my own,
old fashioned methods. I read yesterday of how successful one author had been
by promoting in places like Sweden (no Amazon there yet), Germany, Japan, India
among other places. I contacted a national newspaper in Nairobi in an effort to
promote my novel, Hell’s Gate. I
advertised in a Juneau newspaper about my Alaska novel, North Slope. I got nothing from either approach. But despite my
results, I still feel an anticipation building in me as I get closer to my next
novel’s release date. If I was a racehorse, I wouldn’t put any money on me to come
first. But what the hell: it isn’t unusual for an outsider to win. Wish me
luck!