Hopes and Aspirations

January 7th. 2017 So as the New Year rolls in and our resolutions disappear, what are we looking forward to for 2017? I know the kind of things I would like to happen, and excluding the usual hopes for peace in the world and the disappearance of poverty and hunger, I look to material hopes. By this I mean something measureable, something tangible; and although I can’t physically touch my book sales figures, I would certainly hope to see a huge jump over my last year’s figures. I’m starting off with a Bookbub promotion for my title, The Devil’s Trinity. This will be on January 25th. I’ve scheduled a promotion on eReader News Today on the 28th. hopefully to take advantage of a lift in my rankings, which I can reasonably expect to happen. I will also look to Facebook ads. and hopefully link the benefits of the Bookbub promotion and encourage readers to dive in. Another hope is that the launch of my latest book will be successful. The title is Where the Wicked Dwell. I’m planning to submit that to Kindle Scout. It means a delay of 30 days before I know if it has been accepted. The chances are slim because so much of the acceptance is down to the number of votes I can pick up from my followers and anyone else who wants to vote for me. If Amazon rejects it, I’ll prepare some kind of promotion myself and see what develops. I have contacted two digital publishing houses — tongue in cheek really — and wonder if I’ll hear from them. Having been through the mill so many times before Amazon came along, I know exactly what it’s like chasing agents and publishers: I don’t expect anything to come of it. I have also made a date with another writer (Debbie Mack) for a live interview on Skype. This will take place in March. I will also be doing a cross promotion with best-selling author, Paula Wynn that month too. So, a few irons in the fire, all in the hope that I will see my books rise in the rankings and bring me more sales: something ‘tangible’. As a new director of the CHINDI book group company (CIC), I will be meeting with my fellow directors next week for a brainstorming session. Sounds posh, I know, but this is simply four of us, who have to meet annually to comply with Company House rules etc. We’ll be looking at ways to improve the input our group have into the area around Chichester and hopefully beyond. We also need to come up with ideas that will benefit the whole group. There are some very good writers in CHINDI, including our award winning writer, Jane Cable. You can learn more about us and our books at www.chindi-authors.co.uk On the domestic front, we are planning a short trip to Spain at Easter (seats booked already) to say farewell to our previous Pastor, Roy Davies, at Torrevieja Christian Fellowship. The church is having a bash for Roy and his wife, Wendy. They are a lovely couple and have done such a tremendous job for the fellowship. It will nice to see them again, however briefly, and wish them all the best for their retirement. And, of course, we have to think of what we will be doing with our Cockapoo, Tuppence, while we’re away. So now begins the search for a suitable dog-sitting service. We’ve contacted one already and hopefully we won’t have to look much further. Now you know what I have lined up for the early part of the year. I hope readers of this blog will have a lot to look forward to, and will enjoy whatever comes up. I wish you all the best of luck!

Wrapping it up

December 17th. 2016 Nearly there: just eight days to go. This will be my last post in 2016 for obvious reasons. So much to do, so much already done. Those of you who have been following my posts will know that I am getting close to finishing my novel. My wife is doing the final edit, which should be complete by the end of the day. I will read it through again and, hopefully, not find any more errors. Pat has found plenty of those already. I’m still deliberating over the book jacket, but expect to resolve this soon. My next problem is how I’m going to launch the book. I expect to send it out to some beta readers while I’m thinking about it, but I’m also toying with the idea of submitting it to Kindle Scout. If I do that I can expect to wait about seven weeks before I can publish, which will get me close to early March. Seems a long way away, but I need to push the boat out for this. Next year the CHINDI group will be looking ahead to improving our book sales and getting involved in charity events. Because we have a Company in the Community (CIC) established, it’s necessary to have directors. The company is non-profit making (by law), but it helps to move any money we make for the charities into and out of a bank account so that we can account for all monies received and distributed. I’m a director of the company along with three other members, and we’ll be having a meeting early January to brain storm our ideas for 2017. We have some events lined up, which we hope will pay dividends. I have a live interview in the programme with an American writer, Debbie Mack, and hope to be teaming up with other writers in my genre to do some cross promotions. There are so many ways to keep your name live in the public eye, but it usually comes down to how much of an investment you’re prepared to make and for how long. Looking back through the year I can at least say I have improved my public presence having built my subscriber list up to 1100. I also managed to sell about 5000 books, largely due to a successful BookBub promotion. Now I need to find some way of sustaining that. Meanwhile, let me wish you all a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year. See you all in 2017.

Bits and Pieces

December 11th 2016 Do you ever read novels for a second time intentionally? About a third of the way into the Sam Bourne novel I started last week, I realised I read it a few years ago. It couldn’t have left that much of an impression on me. I sometimes read my own books again, often a few years after they have been published. I remember Barbara Cartland once saying she often read her own novels when she was feeling unwell and not in the mood for writing. Mind you, she had about three hundred titles to choose from! I’ve been toying with my jacket cover, trying this and that with Photoshop. I still can’t make up my mind just how I want to present the cover. I have two so far, and will begin a third jacket in a day or so. I could ask my boys for their opinions, but if I do that I can only expect saucy remarks from them. It all comes down to opinions in the end, so I’ll probably go with my own. The editing has reached a lull at the moment because of the usual Christmas work load: putting decorations up, shopping for presents, writing cards out and queueing at the Post Office. Hopefully it will be finished by the end of the month and I can ask a few beta readers to run their eyes over it. I’m a bit reluctant to ask my subscribers because I may get inundated with offers to read it, and I’m hoping to rely on them buying it on launch day. I don’t know if it’s my age or what, but I find myself doubting the quality of my current work. I remember my publisher, John Hale, telling me that as authors age, so their ability diminishes. So far I have always received good comments about my books and my reviews maintain a reasonable average, but the doubts are there. Silly really, but maybe it’s because I have struggled with this one. And maybe because it isn’t the kind of novel I write. Time will tell though. Looking back over the year with CHINDI, we have managed to raise money for charities — over £1000 I believe — most of it raised through bookstalls etc. Next year we have a few events planned, most which will run current with the Chichester Festival — always a good time to attract readers and wannabe authors. We lost a few members over the year, thankfully for personal reasons rather than ill health, but we are already planning for next year’s events. Two weeks from today and it will be Christmas Day and we’ll all be nice to one another for a while. Hopefully we can look ahead to a peaceful New Year all over the world, but that really is wishful thinking. From a personal perspective I hope I can manage another novel, but I have kind of promised myself to finish my autobiography. I published a short version last year called The Sum of my Life (The early years). Now I hope I can extend it to completion as well as write another book. Two in one year? Wish me luck!

Infections, corrections and displacements.

December 3rd. 2016. Regular readers of my weekly blog may have noticed that I missed a week. That was because I got laid low by an infection that seriously impeded my work-flow. But I’m back in harness now and making good progress on my manuscript. I tried to get a little more reading in while I was poorly. I’m afraid I didn’t make it through to the end of Jack Reacher; it became tedious. I’ve started on a Sam Bourne novel now. Hope this one is more engaging. I had a book promotion last week — sold nine books. The return on the cost of the promotion is difficult to quantify or even justify, but fortunately I didn’t pay much for it. I’ve been avoiding all the adverts for Black Friday and whatever they call Monday. I can’t see the point because if you respond to these enticements, it kind of propels you into unplanned promotion that could be useless. No, I’m gritting my teeth and will hold on to my money until early next year when my next book will be ready. At the moment my wife is going through the manuscript with her red pen, and I am playing around with Photoshop and learning about ‘displacements’. Brilliant stuff, but may be a bit too technical for me. I enjoy playing around with it though. I came up with a title for my book eventually. I’m not going to say what it is yet, but it came out of the blue. Once it had settled in my brain, it became permanent. This is one of the reasons I’m learning about displacements on Photoshop: to match the cover design with the title. Last week I joined up with the Dream Team Network. This is a group of writers who are part of Nick Stephenson’s 10,000 reader group. It’s a closed group. The idea is to cross promote other writers who work in your genre. It’s going to be difficult to match up with a writer who covers several genres like myself. But more importantly, there’s a need to ensure cooperation with a writer who can offer a similar fan base of subscribers. I have 1100 subscribers, so it would be wrong to team up with a new writer who has one book, no reviews and no fan base. I was asked by one of our group if we could come up with something, but I realised it wouldn’t work. Another problem with cross promotion is how much you trust the other writer. I have to ask myself if I would promote someone whose work I haven’t read. And it’s reciprocal as well: that other writer has to trust me. I’ll have to go with my gut instinct, see how it pans out. On the domestic front, my wife has just de-knotted our Cockapoo, Tuppence, and given me a haircut. Now me and the dog look tidy enough to go out. Life doesn’t get any better, does it? Wish me luck.

A Hard Day's Week

November 20th. 2016 It’s been a very full week for me and my wife, which has impacted on the amount of editing I’ve been able to do. The first three days we were up in Lincolnshire visiting two close friends, one of whom is unwell. As I mentioned in last week’s blog, our grandson Adam came over and looked after Tuppence. I think they both enjoyed it. I know Tuppence kept looking for Adam after he had gone home. I managed to do some editing, snatching moments when I could. One conclusion I came to was that I was hurrying the process, and that leads to mistakes. It will need a third read through before I hand it over to my wife. That’s when the fun begins; she’ll wield her red pen with relish. Last Thursday it was me and the dog; Pat was out on a shopping trip. I did manage to feed myself, walk the dog and get a little editing done as well. One thing that has been on my mind for a while is a title. I can’t get the word Apollyon out of my head, but feel I need something else. The story is about a group of satanic worshippers, although this is not about demons and devils; it’s about a sinister group of powerful people who want control within the corridors of corporate and government power. It isn’t about the overthrow of a government or the downfall of huge companies, but more of uncovering the unexplained death of a cabinet minister and how the hunt leads to the guilty ones. It’s a mixture of crime and mystery. It isn’t about police work either. Moving on. Friday was the annual, CHINDI party at Chichester. This was in aid of the charity, Dyslexia in Action. I must confess I’d never heard of the charity, but I’m always pleased to be involved in this kind of fund raising. The event included a band, a host of raffle prizes donated by local companies, and readings from four of our author members. I sold a couple of books, which is par for the course really, but it’s good to be able to chat to people about your work and hopefully encourage them to part with their money. I know I must brush up on my sales technique though. One chap came up to my table (the authors shared tables, so no-one had a table to themselves) and opened his mobile phone, went on-line to Amazon, scrolled through and checked out my titles, then shut the phone. He told me the books were all there and he might download some. Then he walked away. As much as I would like to hope that he will be true to his word, I wish he hadn’t been so blatant: perhaps a little more discreet. Saturday morning and another table top sale, but this time in our local church raising money for the children’s ward at St.Richard’s hospital in Chichester. Another good cause. I began reading Lee Child’s book, Make Me. He’s an amazing author: writes the same story each time but in a different part of the USA. He gets away with it. I must admit that he is very good at what he does, and I usually enjoy his Jack Reacher books (does he do anything else?). Often we are told as writers that to learn our craft we should read other authors who write in our genre. But what could I learn from Lee Child? Answers on a postcard please…… So by the end of the week, both me and Pat felt we had put in a hard shift at work. It’s what comes of being retired. Now I will get on with the editing and should have it finished by the end of the week. Then another read through. All I need is a title! Wish me luck.

Pump up the Volume

November 12th. 2016 Mixing with a bunch of writers always helps to raise your spirits when talking about upcoming promotions etc. Our CHINDI party (www.chindi-authors.co.uk) takes place on Friday in Chichester. Last year’s was a success, and we hope for a repeat of the same. Table top sales aren’t always going to achieve high sales, but this event will include raffle prizes — all donated by local companies — nibbles, a band, and four of our authors launching new books. The publisher, Harper Collins, has donated a hamper of books, and the well-known celebrity Charlie Borman has tweeted about the party too. The reason we have been getting this kind of response is because we are supporting the charity, Dyslexia in Action. Hopefully we’ll be able to swell their coffers. The CHINDI group do try to promote themselves through fund raising activities, and it helps to have members who have connections. I know that I couldn’t achieve a quarter of that kind of outreach without their help. It’s all good. I’m making some progress on my re-write. Editing is a tricky business, particularly when you make a small change that has a knock-on effect throughout the story. That’s where I find Scrivener so helpful. Having all my scenes listed under their relevant chapters, and the ‘corkboard’ facility, makes it so much easier to jump to the place in the story where you need to make a change. I also keep track of the storyline through a timetable which I update after each scene edit. I find it crucial because it is so easy to have a character somewhere one morning and somewhere else in another scene at a different time. I read a quote last week from Jeffrey Archer: he said he does fourteen drafts before he is satisfied! Sooner him than me; but then, he’s a best-selling author. I’ve succumbed to the promotion pressure and paid for a single day, November 28th, for a bargain book deal. I chose Roselli’s Gold because it’s probably my best-selling book. I was tempted to promote A Dangerous Game, but I’ve pushed that most of the year and it hasn’t outsold Roselli’s Gold. It’s a dilemma trying to pick one of my titles to promote, although it shouldn’t matter if the promotion achieves better sales than usual. My wife and I are off for a few days on Monday visiting two friends in Lincolnshire. Our grandson, Adam, is coming over to look after the dog while we’re away. Adam has an amazing talent for drawing, and has a bunch of work to do for clients. Hopefully our Tuppence won’t distract him while he works. Wish him luck!

Changing Things

November 5th. 2016 Tonight is bonfire night! Well, in UK anyway. Guy Fawkes tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament in 1605. 400 plus years later and our government is still under threat, but this time by those opposed to Brexit. There have been numerous re-writes since Guy Fawkes: different bodies of opinion trying to bring down the rulers (good or bad). It wouldn’t make a good novel though because there never seems to be an end to it all. I reached a milestone this week: I finished the first draft of my novel. My word target was 80,000. I managed 79,940: almost a bullseye. But it won’t last because I will be doing a re-write and expect to add more words to it. One of my CHINDI author friends has suggested I leave it for ten days before starting again. I can’t do that; I can’t get the re-write out of my mind. One or two changes are definitely in the pipeline, and no doubt I’ll find more. One problem I had for a while was how to finish the book. I couldn’t come up with a satisfying finish, no matter how much I tried. In the end I did something most writers are advised to do when struggling — plough on! This I did and wrote the book into an ending which I hope will not need changing; I really like it. One of the problems I encounter when dreaming up scenarios when I’m not writing (out shopping for example), is that I believe I’ve come up with a great idea, but eventually have to drop it or modify it, which I do with great reluctance. I nursed a beauty of an idea for a couple of weeks, and was looking forward to writing it in. Once it was there, I was happy, until I realised that it didn’t work, so it had to go. I modified it actually, but it meant changing the run in to the end, which is how I managed to come up with an ending that fitted perfectly. Although I don’t expect to see the completed manuscript for several weeks, I am still struggling for a title. I have one in my head that will not go away — APOLLYON. No, it doesn’t mean ‘Devil’, but ‘Destroyer’. I can imagine the word on the cover and something — I don’t know what — behind it. I will work on the design myself, once the manuscript is with my wife for further editing. That will give me plenty of time to tear my hair out while battling with PhotoShop. Ah, the life of a struggling writer! I’m looking forward to November 18th. That’s the night our CHINDI group have their annual party. Last year was a success, although planning wasn’t too spectacular. This year we are a little wiser, so hopefully it will be successful and gain us more readers. My book sales and rankings are doing their usual trick, high and low. I’m not promoting anything at the moment, which is deliberate, although I’m getting inundated with offers to take advantage of the holiday season and an invitation to take up their splendid offers. It’s a bit like choosing a queue in the Post Office or the supermarket: you always pick the wrong one. I will probably do something before December, but not too sure which way to go: straight promotion for a ‘cheapie’ book on one of the more recognisable websites, or fall for the advertising charms of a lower level website. Whatever I do with a promotion, I may have some highs, but I will also have lows; it’s the way things are at this level. Wish me luck!