Half an eye on things that matter

24th Sept 2016 I sold another copy of my mini, autobiography, The Sum of my Life (The early years). Somebody must like me, or is curious about me. Two sales in a month mean that on a pro rata rate since I published the book it shouldn’t be too long before I hit the best seller status. Ah well, back to reality. I did very little writing during the week because of a cataract operation on Wednesday. Obviously it does kind of cramp your style a little. I managed about a thousand words, so I’m pleased with that. The fish tank turned up Thursday, so that was another distraction. Perhaps I should write a novella about the chap who bought a fish tank and tried to put it together with one eye. He ends up on the funny farm because it was rather like easy assembly IKEA stuff. It’s all about planning — wait a reasonable time before launching into the next venture . I’ve been in contact with a lady who does the hospital talk radio. She will be interviewing me in the near future with a kind of “Desert Island Discs” feel to the programme. Trying to tunnel into my past and come up with favourites proved difficult. Some of the stuff I enjoyed in my middle years were bands and musicians like Supertramp, Dire Straits, Jacques Loussier, Isao Tomita (who?), and many others. Oh, and the song “You are my Sunshine” by any artist: but that’s another story. The idea of the hospital talk is simply another venture by CHINDI authors into expanding the name into the local community by way of supporting charities and meeting the reading — and non-reading — public. We will be shadowing the #lovetoread campaign by the BBC and hope to encourage other book groups to do the same. We believe that the more, local authors get involved, so the public will begin to recognise that there are people like us who offer a credible alternative to the major publishing houses. We are also planning a Ghost Tour around Chichester. The idea is to take people round the historic places in the city, or any pubs that hold a macabre secret, and tell them why these places are haunted. It’s complete fiction of course, but that’s our raison d’etre. Some of the local Bognor Writers Group may also be involved. I have stopped my Facebook ad. for now. My results were not encouraging, so I’ll change the slant of the ad. and activate it again in the next couple of days. Something else I did which I believed might encourage my subscribers was to contact them for a chat and the link to my blog. The result was that twenty two unsubscribed. I read of other authors on the Web who hesitate to get in touch with their subscribers because this is how it usually ends. When you’re building your list by about one a day, losing that many represents most of your past month. But it was their choice, and I still have over 1100. I am still trying to upload my latest title, A Dangerous Game to Ingram Spark to take advantage of their latest, free offer. I had no problems with my earlier books, but somehow they have shifted the goalposts and it’s giving me a headache. Not to worry; I’ll get there in the end. Wish me luck!

Choosing the right direction

17th September 2016 I would like to say that I put in a good shift this week and added a few more thousand words to my WIP, but that isn’t the case and I have no excuses. Well, perhaps I do, but I’m probably kidding myself. The character I mentioned in last week’s blog who insists on dragging me away in a different direction is at it again. Perhaps I should listen to her and follow, but then I would lose the main thread of the story, which would cause me problems when it comes to re-writing the first draft and the subsequent edit. I expect a lot of writers would encourage me to change direction, while others would insist I stick to my guns and ignore her. We’ll see. My Facebook advert seems to be attracting people. I’m not sure that I’m selling more books because of it, but from time to time my Amazon Rankings shoot up from the doldrums where they usually nestle before sinking back down again. My FB page likes and views are showing healthy increases, so I must be doing something right. I’ll let the advert run for another few days before making changes. Often it’s a simple change of audience or interests that trigger higher sales. I received an e-mail from Ingram Spark offering a free deal for any new or existing title. I thought it would be nice to have my latest, self-published title, A Dangerous Game, published as a hardback to go with my other books. The whole process is vexing, even though I have published three titles with them. The interior file was rejected because it wasn’t PDF and the fonts were not embedded. I sorted that out and uploaded. The cover file was rejected because the image hadn’t been saved in Adobe Presets with flattened layers. I sorted that out too. Each time the message was that there were errors but they could be dealt with by IS. So where’s the next step? There isn’t one: there was no way on the page to continue the process, simply the instruction “back to files”. I had to resort to an e-mail to them. Still waiting for a reply. Met up with a lad called Jamie Dyer of http://www.SouthWavesRadio.co.uk for a coffee and a chat about linking the CHINDI author group with the station for a series of book reads/talks. Jamie will be coming to our next meeting to discuss the project and see if it’s viable or not. Hopefully we will be able to increase our reach through the station, which is broadcast 24/7 on the internet. On the domestic front I had my four monthly check-up with my cancer specialist and got the all-clear again. Next appointment in four months. Picked up our new car last Monday (KIA Venga auto). Smaller than my KIA Sportage, but comfortable, quiet and fun to drive. We went over to Dorset yesterday to visit our son and his wife. Took the dog and enjoyed a good day over there. Then we had to battle back along the M27, crawling for about an hour. After that we had a diversion through Chichester because of an accident on the by-pass. Too many cars on the road, that’s the trouble. Today, Saturday, we have my brother-in-law and his wife coming over for lunch. Should be good. No writing today then. Maybe tomorrow? And will that character keep dragging me away? Hope not. Wish me luck!

Ups, Downs and Little Moments

10th. Sept. 2016 Life is full of surprises, little ones I must admit, but they help to put a spring in your step and manage to counter those little disappointments that happen from time to time. I began advertising my three book trilogy on Facebook, but found the click rate quite high. I am forcing myself to wait about a week before addressing the problem, but I have managed to sell about twenty copies so far. Not ground-breaking, I know, but it’s a start. But that isn’t what put a smile on my face — someone has bought a copy of my book, The Sum of my Life (The early years). I only published the book as something of an experiment, never expecting anyone to want to read it, except my family, but they all received a copy from me anyway. I just hope that the person who bought the book will enjoy it. And maybe it will put a smile on their face too. I have started the book I was asked to review by an American writer. It isn’t my cup of tea, but I did promise the guy I would finish the book and post a review. Perhaps I’ll put a smile on his face. It’s a Western. I haven’t read many of those over the last fifty years. I can remember the last one I read; it was written by an author friend of mine, Nik Morton who writes thrillers as well. Before that it was Zane Grey many, many years ago. My WIP is nudging the 54000 word mark — well over half-way. But one of my characters keeps dragging me off in a direction I hadn’t planned on going, but in the process I came up with a little gem that will help me resolve part of the jigsaw at the end of the book. It shouldn’t be too difficult to fit in. I don’t think the reader will have seen it coming, and is one of those unexpected moments that leave the reader nodding in approval. I hope so anyway. The meeting of our book group last Monday was busy, busy: lots of ideas flowing around about promotion etc. I will be meeting a rep. from a fledgling radio show in the area that wants to promote reading among its listeners. Trouble is, there is no radio studio! Goodness knows how they operate, but until I’ve met the rep. on Wednesday, I won’t know. I will try to look at it as a young, new group trying to make headway into an already overcrowded market place, rather like independent, self-published writers. Perhaps we can promote each other and grow together. Only time will tell. Another addition coming to our house is a fish tank! We ordered one earlier this week. We get in about ten days. The Aquarium shop owner has warned me that if I do it right, it could be several weeks before I have a decent set-up. I figure that I should have it as pretty as a picture by Christmas. Perhaps I’ll have my first draft finished by then too. Wish me luck!

Turning Pages and Looking Ahead

September 3rd. 2016. I made a start on my September advertising campaign on Facebook, and hope to see some return on my investment as we make our way through the month. I intend setting up another advert, and will switch from one to the other, just to see which one is delivering the best. I have already sold at least one of my three book box sets since the initial launch. It puts a smile on my face so long as I don’t compare myself to some of my web colleagues on the Nick Stephenson and Mark Dawson Facebook groups. Whereas most of us are certainly struggling to make sense of FB advertising and targeting audiences etc., some writers report successes that absolutely blow you away. My current project is nearing the 50,000 word mark, and I believe I am beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. If I can keep my current average up, I should complete the first draft just before Christmas. It’s a long way behind my first, optimistic target of a launch during the autumn, but it is what it is. The results of the book stall at the Arundel Festival proved very good. We raised over £300 for Cancer Research and sold well over 100 books. It was a joint effort by the majority of the CHINDI group, but a word of thanks and praise must go to Carol Thomas (http://www.carol-thomas.co.uk) who did most of the work and sold plenty of her novel, Crazy Over You. You can check it out at her website. The results we achieved mean that we will probably want to do it again at next year’s festival. I received a request from an American author who I don’t know. He has asked me to review his eBook. It’s his first novel and not one that I would consider reading. But because it’s his first, it makes me think back to when I first published as an indie author and wanted to build up my reviews. I also thought back to when I had my first book published in 1980 and how chuffed I was at actually seeing my work in print. I have agreed to review this author’s book but have told him to be prepared for a harsh review, just in case I don’t like the book. I will not trash it though, because I made that mistake some months ago with a budding writer, and regretted it ever since. Hopefully it will be a good story and be well written. I have also been featured in a short interview on Alexandra Amor’s website. Alexandra is an established, Canadian writer. You can read the interview at http://alexandraamor.com/qa-with-thriller-author-michael-parker/. Last but not least, we popped into the KIA garage this morning to have another look at the car we’ve ordered. We were not expecting it until the end of October. The salesman had a big smile on his face when he told us the car would be here within a week. He hadn’t intended to tell us until Monday, but seeing as we walked into the show room, he thought it would be better to tell us, just to see the smile on our faces. What else? Well, I could win the lottery, I suppose. Wish me luck!

Supporting Cancer research and KIA car sales

August 27th 2016 I had an interesting week, what with a trip to the dentist to begin with and finishing by ordering a new car. In between I was at Arundel in West Sussex doing my shift on the CHINDI book stall supporting Cancer research in the UK as part of the Arundel festival. I also managed to publish my three book box set on Amazon, but have so far failed to get it right for Draft2Digital, but more of that later. Oh, and I did manage to write a bit. For the benefit of Carol, who I know reads this blog, I added another 500 words yesterday, just to make sure I’m ahead of you! I was able to resolve the formatting problem I had with the middle novel of my three book box set. To do that, I had to save the Word doc. in html as a web filtered document. This took me back to the early days of Kindle when it was necessary to go that route before converting to Kindle. Even then you had more work to do to get it right. Now, thankfully, Amazon convert the document automatically (unless you have an ancient document that their conversion software doesn’t like). With D2D it’s a whole new ball game. I already have my titles with them and have had no conversion problems that I know of, but for some reason the box set came out all wrong. I have been in touch with D2D who have pointed me in the right direction. Hopefully I’ll have it right within a couple of days. The book stall at Arundel has proved eventful and reasonably successful for the CHINDI group. We are raising money in support of Cancer Research UK and attracting some rewarding interest. About four of our authors are doing well. I have sold two paperbacks to date (three days to go), but I don’t look at it as a competition between us, simply a joint effort to promote our group and raise money for charity. The weather has been good; too hot much of the time for the poor book sellers, but it does lift your spirits. My spirits were lifted by a small result after e-mailing my subscribers with the news of my box set. I sold eleven that day (Kindle). That may not sound like a lot, but the three books are my lowest sellers, and I’m trying to persuade people that my stand alone, cross genre novels are really worth reading, hence the reason I lumped them together and launched them at a rock bottom price. I’ll be spending some money next month on a Facebook advert, and hopefully visitors to my website will be intrigued and persuaded by the offer. The car? Well, I had to finally admit to myself that my KIA Sportage was really too big for me and Pat, and it’s a devil of a car to park straight! My boy racer days are over and I have to be sensible, so we went to KIA this morning and ordered a sensible, Kia Venga automatic. Had a test drive and liked it immensely. Pat can actually see out of the front windscreen without having to stretch her neck, and the seat height for the two of us is just about right. We have to wait a while though because there are no Infra Red Venga automatics available, so it’s likely to be November before it turns up. Must look after my Sportage now until the deal is done. Wish me luck!

Boxing Clever? Maybe not.

August 20th. 2016 No, Tuppence didn’t win best puppy, but it didn’t appear to bother her. Why can’t people be more like dogs? While I was struggling through my manuscript, I thought it might be a good idea to put it on hold and knock out a box set for three of my least performing novels. After all, it would only take an afternoon to set the thing up and get it on KDP, so I thought. For a box set of books, they need to be one document, each book following on from the other. So I began to process of creating a file and loaded the first book in. It needed a little attention, but I made good progress and then loaded in my second book. Then the problem of inserting a “Table of Contents” reared its ugly head. Each time I searched for Chapter One, say, I ended up at the beginning of the document: right chapter, wrong book. Undaunted I loaded in the third story and, after a few adjustments, realised that one of them had the wrong indents. It would have been a bit time consuming to work through each page, so I binned it all and started again. So the next day I was at it again until I had it all working perfectly. Then came making up a box set image in PhotoShop. I can make a 3D image of a book, no problem, but to make a 3D box set image gets a little tricky. Sure, you can Google it, but there is always a problem, usually one of not being able to understand the wiz kid who is explaining how to do it at ninety miles an hour and using a programme that doesn’t quite match up to the latest version of PhotoShop. I gave up in the end, having decided to make an image of three books, all in 3D but stacked as though they were part of a box set. Three days later and it’s still a plan. I will get there eventually. I had coffee during the week with a fellow author, Rick Haynes. I’ve only known Rick briefly, but we have a lot in common, not the least that we come from the same area in London and went to the same speedway stadium in Somerton road, home of the Wimbledon Dons (defunct now). Same Pie & Mash shop? Yes, still there I hope, although it may be a kebab outlet or a halal butchers. Whatever it is, it won’t be serving bagels. It’s nice to spend some time reminiscing and talking about common ground. We chatted about books and writing of course, and Rick is well on his way to producing his second, full length fantasy novel to go with his short stories and “Drabbles” (no, I haven’t either!). I said earlier that I was struggling with my WIP. What author doesn’t? I have made it past the halfway mark and have a clearer idea of where I’m going with it. I just need to up my discipline levels and knuckle down. Next week I will be at the Arundel Festival for a couple of stints on our CHINDI book stall. We are donating a sum to charity as part of the fee, and giving something like a 20% cut of our sales to the cancer charity. At the moment it’s raining, there is a very strong wind blowing and the forecast doesn’t look too promising for now. The festival began today and will run for a week. At the time of writing, one of our authors has sold seven books (Dan Jones). Dan usually does sell well because his books are self-help based on his twenty years of working with children who have problems like Asperger’s Syndrome and Autism. He has released a particularly helpful book of bedtime stories for youngsters, which is receiving good reviews on Amazon (ASIN: B015HVQZV4). You can find out more about Dan and other members of the CHINDI group, plus buy their books at www.chindi-authors.co.uk. So for me next week it’s a trip to the dentist, two stints at Arundel, a family meet at Petworth (lovely place) and more work on my novel and the box set. Wish me luck!

Friends, fiction and puppy dogs

August 13th. 2016 I didn’t write last week’s blog because we had company over the weekend. Two friends of ours from Spain are on an extended holiday in UK and spent four days with us. Sometimes it’s right to stand back from your routines and see life from a different angle, and the four days with our friends was like a mini break for us. On the other hand, I didn’t get any writing done and missed writing this blog. Looking back over the past fortnight, I can say my Facebook advert has proved relatively successful, bringing me an extra 450 subscribers to my e-mail list. I now have over 1200 subscribers, which gives me an opportunity to develop something from that relationship. But where do I begin? I expect to be framing another FB advert later this month using ‘Lookalike’ audiences. Facebook consider a minimum of 1000 subscribers is necessary to make this kind of campaign work, so it will pay me to go down that route and see what transpires. My writing has picked up again and I have now passed the 40,000 word mark, which I consider to be over halfway. I’m way behind my schedule, which should have seen me finishing the first draft last month. I usually take a year to complete a book, and I’m beginning to wonder if I’ll have this one finished before 2017 arrives. I am at a kind of crossroads now, because I have to begin picking up the elements of the story and gathering in the sub-plots to bring it to a final and dramatic conclusion. I have compiled a list of bullet points as a kind of aide memoire so that I don’t leave out any pieces of the jigsaw. Although I write with MS Word, I copy everything into Scrivener, which I find extremely useful. It gives me the ability to search through my manuscript at a glance using the corkboard facility and the fact that every scene is recorded separately. I keep the bullet points in Scrivener so that I can refer to them from time to time. One danger of writing sub-plots into a story is that you can see how some of them would make a story on their own. I’m having that problem with Vereen, my main female character in the book. She is a single mother, on benefits, mixed race and likes marijuana. She buys her smokes (spliffs, zoots) on the estate where she lives. Her supplier gets murdered, which means her source has dried up. I can see how this could develop into a story on its own, but she is connected to the main male character, Marcus Blake, a private investigator who is trying to uncover the truth behind a cabinet minister’s apparent suicide. There is no direct link between Vereen and the cabinet minister except the country of their birth in the West Indies, but there is an element, a tenuous link at the moment, that draws the two of them to the arch criminal behind Vereen’s situation and that of the minister’s suicide. That’s why I need my bullet points: to keep track of all the little clues I keep putting in. What else is in the pipeline? A book stall at the Arundel Festival this month and a chance to sell a couple of paperbacks. The CHINDI group (www.chindi-authors.co.uk) have something planned for September and November, and ideas keep tumbling out at our regular monthly meetings. Tomorrow is the local dog show. We will be entering our puppy, Tuppence, into the “Best Puppy” class. We expect to win of course like all puppy owners do. But will Tuppence behave or make her mum look a fool as she tries to walk her round the show ring? Who knows, but it’s all in fun and in aid of cancer research — something close to my heart. Wish me luck!