Stop — Go

November 24^th. 2018

I missed the blog post last week because of Pat being in hospital. Hopefully the thousands of readers who read my blog will excuse me for that. (What’s the Latin for “Tongue in cheek”?) But I’m back now, despite being chief cook and bottle-washer in the house. It looks like it might go on for some time too!

I was able to get some work done on my WIP, and that at least gives me some satisfaction. I’ve also been keeping up with the ‘trends’ on Promotion & Marketing. I gave up on Instagram. I had signed up for a course with Bex Gorsuch, but it didn’t take me long to realise that my heart wasn’t in it. And with Pat to look after, there was no way I could get to grips with it. Bex was pretty good about it when I contacted her and pulled out.

There has been a lot of talk on the various forums about the sudden drop in sales on Amazon. Being a Mark Dawson student, I understand that this could be a deliberate shift in Amazon’s tactics to draw closer to the giants of Google and Facebook, and consequently we indie authors are faced with the prospect of having to beef up our advertising and start paying out considerably more money. Mark has upgraded his AMS ads course to help us all develop our advertising skills, and one thing he has promised is how to crack the Amazon Advantage entry rules. I tried to sign up to Advantage so I could advertise in the UK, but it seems to be screwed in favour of vendors. I’m not a vendor, but I was asked for a vendor code and my VAT registration number. However, Mark has promised us that he will uncover the mystery of completing the Advantage application process which he admits is quite complicated.

One of the decisions I made while on holiday in Australia was to let my AMS and BB ads run without any tinkering. It just happened that this was the moment when Amazon cut people’s sales figures by as much as 40% due to their change in the way in which they position product and sponsored ads. It meant virtually no sales for me at all. This week I decided to change the ‘copy’ on my BB ad for Roselli’s Gold. It had languished on 2 sales in almost three weeks. Within 24 hours of rewording the ad, I sold four copies. Not a lot by most authors’ standards, but it did show that advertising copy is a mystery that needs to be revealed to authors like me. I now need to have a go at my AMS ad, but I think it might be better for me if I go through Mark’s updated course before doing anything.

I haven’t done anything to Past Imperfect. As I mentioned in my last blog, I now have the eBook rights back. The change in circumstances in the Parker household has simply shoved the project on to the back-burner, and it’s unlikely to see any change before Christmas. I think I’m probably telling myself that it won’t happen for some considerable time; certainly not until I am happy with Pat’s progress.

I’ve just finished reading the crime novel, I See You by Claire Mackintosh. It’s extremely well written, but unusually it’s written in the 3^rd. and 1^st person. It took me a while to get used to the switch in narration but I managed it in the end. It isn’t something I would try; I think I’m even scared of trying to write a novel in the 1^st person at all — much too difficult. I’ll stick to my tried and trusted method. You never know, I might even get my book finished! Wish me luck.

Just when I thought...

November 11^th. 2018

Just when I thought I was getting ahead; the whole plan went to pop. Today I should be going to a Remembrance Service with Pat, but she’s in hospital. Last week I thought I had my writing plan on track when it became clear that the treatment Pat was getting for the spider bite was not working. We spent all day Monday in A&E, followed by daily trips there. By yesterday it was clear that she wasn’t improving, so she was admitted. At the moment she is OK, but being monitored and receiving treatment. So, here I am trying to get my head together, scrabbling round and getting some jobs out of the way, and spending some time with Tuppence (our Cockapoo), who will think she’s being neglected and will want to leave home. Hopefully Pat will be home tomorrow.

When I said my plan was on track, it also involved the intent to give some serious thought to my AMS and BB promotions, but even that’s gone flat, and I can’t be bothered to look at it for now. I did manage to get about one hour on my WIP, but my heart wasn’t in it. The reason I’m able to get this blog written is because I’m pinching time by not going to the service today. I usually look forward to the Remembrance Service. Being an Air Force family, it makes sense. Between me and our four sons, we have notched up a total of 120 years’ service, and our youngest, Stephen, is still in the Royal Australian Air Force. So yes; an Air Force family.

On the subject of promotions going flat, there has been a great deal of talk, particularly on the SPF forum, about the lack of sales, and disappearance of critical data, from Amazon. The blame is laid at the absence of “Also boughts”, although some writers are destroying that argument by buoyant sales. But despite the pros and cons of the argument, my sales are pathetic, and they mirror the virtual flat-lining of book sales on Amazon (according to the complainants). But I had to smile when one of the SPF group complained. He was spending $6000 a month on advertising, his sales were down significantly but he was still making a profit! Which brings me on to another trend (I think). Comparing that author to me, he spends about 6000 times the amount I spend. Although I follow the expert advice and give Amazon the opportunity to take my money, it doesn’t. So who is the more valuable customer? And why doesn’t Amazon take my money? Someone has mooted the possibility that AMS and BB are moving the goalposts and favouring the big spenders and traditional authors. To highlight that, I watched a Brian Cohen podcast on SPF in which he talked about book jacket design. He showed some of the covers he had designed for authors like John le Carre and Mark Dawson — and also Denis Wheatley! Denis Wheatley must have died before Brian Cohen was born, but yesterday I saw the same book advertised on the daily email I receive from BookBub for their featured deals. And it isn’t unusual for those BB ads to include several best-selling authors every day. I think this makes it tricky for writers like me who write across different genres, but I will live in hopes and keep pushing the ads.

So what now? Well, I finally have the official letter from the publisher handing me back the eBook rights to Past Imperfect. It has been removed from the on-line book sellers, leaving it clear for me to publish. But I still can’t make up my mind about publishing the book under my own name, or use a feminine pen-name because it’s a romance. And I need to think about the book jacket. Pat has promised to pay for a book jacket design as a Christmas present for me. The trouble is, I don’t know which book to change, either Past Imperfect or Where the Wicked Dwell. Do I need these problems? Ah well, we’ll see. Wish me luck!

Bonfire of insanity

November 3^rd. 2018

This weekend in UK there will be fireworks and bonfires when we will all be celebrating Bonfire Night — the burning of effigies representing Guy Fawkes who tried to blow up Parliament in 1605. It became known as the ‘Gunpowder Plot’. It has been said that Guy Fawkes was the only man to enter Parliament with honest intentions! My Chindi colleague, Carol Thomas, has penned a lovely blog celebrating dear Mr. Fawkes, and has included some memories from our members about their experiences on bonfire night. You can read Carol’s blog here: http://bit.ly/2P8cg42.

I sometimes feel my efforts at completing a book and immersing myself in promotion and advertising are simply stoking an imaginary bonfire, and they are all going up in smoke. But last Sunday I was at the UK Southern Book Show and managed to sell six books. That’s quite an achievement for me at such an event; after all, I was one of probably fifty authors. The competition was pretty good, so I came away with a smile on my face. I met some interesting people: some were published writers, others were wannabe authors. I sometimes feel as if I’m being tested when an established writer asks me pertinent questions about my role as a writer. Two guys turned at my table, Alex Shaw and a colleague of his who had been nominated for the Thriller of the Year by the International Thriller Writers in USA. That’s gold standard in my world. It turned out these two had nothing to learn from me, even though I’ve been in the game longer than them.

I have now ventured into the world of Instagram. Having watched Bex Gorsuch on an SPF podcast, I decided to have a look into it. That’s when I discovered I already have an Instagram account — in Spanish! I think I’m my own worst enemy at times when it comes to social media and how to use it. Anyway, I’m making a stab at it, learning from Bex’s videos and private Facebook group. Should be there by Christmas with a bit of luck. I have to change the language on my home page to English, but for some reason it will not default to that language. Yes, I went on to the support page: it told me exactly what to do except that particular operation isn’t available on my account. Must be because it originated in Spain and hasn’t been used for a few years. Perhaps I need to download the latest version. On second thoughts, why bother?

I’m making progress with my WIP and cracking the whip over myself as a result of posting part one of Natasha’s Story to my subscribers last week. I lost eighteen subs as a result of that: something that usually happens when I post to them. My open rate was about 25%, which isn’t too bad. It means about four hundred subs opened the email. I asked them to make comments about Natasha’s story if they wanted to, but nothing yet. I live in hopes.

So, what’s next? I expect to get an official response from my publisher about the eBook rights to my romance, Past Imperfect. I have had the email from them, but now need to see they have unpublished the eBook before I can republish. Wish me luck.

Re-engaging and living in hope

October 27^th. 2018

Pat and I have just returned from a five week trip abroad which included two weeks with our son Stephen in Australia. Stephen took two years to build a house: two years of hard work, legal stuff, dilemmas and dramas, deadlines, and the need to work at his normal job as an Air Traffic Controller in the Royal Australian Air Force. Why am I telling you this? Because his dedication and doggedness meant that he achieved his dream, and it kind of inspires me to keep on working at what I perceive my dream to be. I won’t say ‘no matter how long it takes’ because I’m of an age where that phrase may not be appropriate. But no matter; my WIP will receive my constant attention, and to achieve that, I’m about to hang myself out to dry by posting extracts on my Newsletter. Some of you might say I’m daft, but I need someone to crack the whip, and maybe the thought of my subscribers waiting for another instalment will help.

I mentioned last week that I now have the rights back to my Romance, Past Imperfect. I asked one of my Chindi authors for some advice about where I might find an on-line publisher. She told me that she believed on-line publishers want to establish a relationship with their authors, and in view of the genre in which I write, they may not see any future in publishing me. I can understand that so will keep that in mind when I keep getting rejections. The other small dilemma I have is whether to use a pen name. I’m not really keen on the idea, but it’s something else I need to consider. I talked it over with Pat; she said I might have to become a romance writer if Past Imperfect started out-selling my other titles.

Tomorrow (Sunday 28^th) I’m off to the UK Southern Book Show at Worthing (on the south coast). Events like these offer an opportunity to meet potential readers, let them get to know you and, hopefully, sell some books. This will be the second such show this year in Worthing. I sold a couple of books then, if I remember. It would be nice if someone came up to buy more of my books because of meeting me at that earlier event.

More irons in the fire? Yes; I’m going to resurrect my Instagram platform. It’s another avenue to pursue, but I need to exercise a measure of control over how much time I spend on Social Media rather than writing. I often feel that platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Snapchat etc., go through popularity troughs, depending on the success, or lack of it, that they offer. So for me I’m going to try an Instagram kick, but just to be on the safe side, I’ll still use AMS  and BookBub ads.

What’s next on the horizon? Well, Christmas will be upon us before we know it. I also have another book event to do, and also some legal business to deal with for our Chindi group. Something tells me that I’ll be arriving at 2019 with that New Year’s resolution all prepared. But it could simply be a repeat of what I promised myself at the beginning of this year. Oh, and back to that newsletter business: this is the link I’ll be sending to my subscribers. http://bit.ly/2AsgiLp. Wish me luck!

The Eagle has landed

October 20^th. 2018

Safely back home after a five week sojourn in Australia, the Middle East and Singapore. Like my writing; this was a marathon, not a sprint. As much as me and Pat enjoyed our time, we are glad to be back home. But now the work begins: bills to be paid, business to catch up with and a time to contemplate the promises I made to myself with respect to my writing and adding more effort to my application. No more procrastination I hear you say? Hopefully not. The photo (for those who can see it) sums up the plight of many writers: unknown, constantly writing in hope, and papering the walls with rejection slips. We came across this in Chinatown, Singapore. I admit I had some moments of inspiration and began writing an addition to my current WiP. I’ve introduced a character who was never meant to be part of my story, but the change has given me inspiration and the hope that I can now move forward and get to the end of my own particular marathon.

Another small progress I‘ve made is to finally get the eBook rights from my publisher for my novel, Past Imperfect. Because this book, which is available in paperback, can only be classed as a Romance, I need to consider a different approach to promoting it. It’s quite a departure from my usual bag of mixed genres, that I can only see a new readership being interested. But how do I get to them? And although the eBook has been available for a few years, my publisher has achieved virtually no sales with it. That means I can look at it as a new book. If I can make real progress with my WiP, it could mean two books launched within a couple of months of each other.

I see there have been a lot of complaints made against Amazon for the apparent lack of sales over the last month or two. I’ve seen this on the SPF Facebook group mainly (Mark Dawson’s crowd). People are suggesting that Amazon (and in some respects, Facebook) are not reporting the figures correctly or are unable to. But I smile when I hear complaints that sales have dropped from a thousand a month to about five hundred. Or even $1000 down to $500. Those smaller figures are almost stratospheric to me. I’m lucky to be selling one book a day, even when I doing well. So that’s why there’s a smile on my face. And yes, my sales this month have been abysmal, but I put that down to me being away on holiday for five weeks and not tweaking my ads on AMS and BookBub. However, I can’t help but think that Amazon has a tiger by the tail and it’s difficult to control.

One joy of returning home after five weeks away was to see our little Cockapoo, Tuppence, come hurtling through the gate when she was brought home by the dog-sitting company. She was yelping, twirling and doing all kinds of somersaults. It was so good to see her. It’s funny how you can get emotional about a furry little animal, but they steal your heart, don’t they? Next on the agenda is to settle down, get practical and get on with the routines, the writing and all that comes with it. Wish me luck!

Memories

September 15^th. 2018

I often start with how the week began. Today I have to say the week began sadly with the news that my younger brother, Arthur, had died. It wasn’t unexpected; he had been ill for some time, but nevertheless, it was a shock. And now I have memories, not of a 75 year-old man, but me and my little brother when we were kids and the antics we got up to. I’ve known him for 75 years — longer than I’ve known my wife — and I could probably write a book about our life as young kids and how we changed when we grew up and became part of a world that was never something we thought of; too busy being children I suppose. And as a writer of action thrillers where I can dispense savage justice and kill my characters with impunity, death is simply ink on the paper. But we all know that the reality is different, and I will mourn my brother’s passing like most siblings would.

This being the week before we fly out to Australia meant there was a lot to do, eyes to dot and tees to cross, and with very little thought to writing. My WIP remains untouched, and will remain so until we get back, but I did embark on something unexpected. One of the Chindi group pointed out that there was nowhere to leave a comment on my blog page: something I’d never even thought of. So I decided I would have a go. I followed the WIX help section and managed to get a comment box at the bottom of my blog page. So far so good, but when I checked the live site, my comments box was in Spanish! It took me ages to figure out why. It turned out that I had used the Facebook comment box, and it was that which defaulted to Spanish. I checked the settings on my FB account: all were set to English, but because I opened my account when we lived in Spain, some gremlin in there decided it couldn’t relinquish a little bit of the Español.

I am still plugging away at ads with BookBub and AMS. There’s still no distinctive edge to either of them, although AMS do seem to be giving me a slightly better return than BB. My ROI is negative, and I suppose it will always be that way until I master the art of promotion. Whenever I see podcasts and read posts about the way forward, I know there is nothing new for me; I’ve been there, done that and got the Tee shirt, but never the prize of sumptuous sales figures. I still watch and read in case some little nugget is dropped that I can pick up and run with.

The Parker household is low at the moment, because the dog company Barking Mad has picked up our Tuppence. They’ve taken her away to her new home for four weeks. Now we can get on with our packing and missing her.

There probably won’t be a blog post from me while we’re away, although I might try to put some photos up on Facebook. But before I sign off, I just want to dedicate this post to my little brother, Arthur. R.I.P.

Getting some results

September 9^th. 2018

Lots of things happened this week because we are getting closer to our holiday. A trip to the travel agent, the clothes shop, the boutique and the dentist — not all for me of course. But that’s preparation and making sure you have the priorities right. I did get some new Tee shirts, I must admit, but I was pressurised into buying them. (Must be a soft touch). There seems to be so much to do and so much to think about that it leaves little room for writing. I received an email from Paula at BookHub giving me the names of those lucky winners who had chosen my book The Devil’s Trinity as their choice of book, which left me with little option but to type out a congratulatory message along with the download link. I’ve asked all those who won (about 25 people) to put a review up on Amazon for me. What will be more interesting, I think, is how many of those who won will send me a thank you email or even put up a review.

I am still hanging in there with the AMS ads. Last month my average sales combined with D2D were just over one a day. This month started in a similar fashion, but a slight improvement has lifted my average to two a day. I hope it will continue to improve at that rate and give me a good return on my investment. At the moment I’m losing money, but because it’s my hobby, I’m prepared to accept it. While we’re away I will keep a close eye on my AMS ads in case they get out of hand. To date, over three weeks, I have spent about $29, so I’m not exactly breaking the bank.

I also got back to my WIP with a vengeance almost. I introduced a character which I believe has changed the whole shape of the plot, and given me something of a lift. In fact the character was already part of the story, but not involved in any of it and there was no plan to change that. Then suddenly it all kicked in, and now I can see a definite outline bringing the plot to a conclusion which had been open-ended and bugging me. Once we’re back from OZ, I might be able to get on with some serious writing.

I also contacted one of our Chindi group about designing a cover for one of my current titles. It was a kind of ‘toe in the water’ approach really. I have done my own covers using Photoshop, but am now thinking of seeing how much of an improvement a professionally designed cover will do when it comes to promotion and marketing. It will need a lot of sales to cover the cost of the work, I know, but it will be a subjective experiment. If I like the result (of the sales, not the artwork) I would be tempted to go the whole hog for my current WIP when it’s finally ready.

Yesterday we spent some time with our No.3 son and his wife in Dorset. Walked with the dogs through the woods and parkland, had home-made pizzas for lunch (our boy is an excellent cook) and generally chilled out before tackling the mad, crazy A27 drive home. Fortunately the drive was uneventful, which make a change.

Getting closer now. One week today and we’ll be airborne. Then no more WIP for a while, enjoy some sightseeing round Dubai, OZ and Singapore. Spend my royalties. Dig into my savings and come home to the news that some film impresario wants to make a film of my book (anyone!). Wish me luck!