Sale in Germany

Morning folks,

As the title suggests I have sold my first book in Germany and very satisfying it is too. I've had books downloaded there before but only as part of free promo events. However, today some enlightened and wonderful individual purchased a copy of Playground Cool. Whoever you are, thanks very much and welcome aboard!

In other news I've tweaked the front cover of the paperback version of Playground Cool, along with a few other minor things, and resubmitted it for proofing. Assuming Amazon are happy with it then it should be available to buy in the next day or so.

Further to this I've also finished the formatting etc for the paperback version of The 24 Hour Jazz Cafe. I'll have to wait for the proof to come so I can review it but all being well that will also be available in paperback in June. The digital version should be available within a week or so. As a teaser I have included a picture of the cover from the paperback.

Morning all,

Bit of a late night which isn't clever after a long week at work. I've been up for twenty hours but I've had a productive day (once the day job was out of the way).

I've got a bit of a side project on at the moment - I'm decorating/refurbing my home cinema so I've been removing skirting boards, plastering, hammering, sanding and generally making a mess of what was the best room in the house.

Aside from that the writing is progressing well. I've completed 12,000 words of the new book and finished formatting the Jazz Cafe for paperback. Yes, that's right. The 24 Hour Jazz Cafe will be coming out in paperback shortly. I've also formatted about 50% of it for Kindle so that should also be out very soon. I'll post links on here when available.

The other big news is that today I received my proof copy of Playground Cool and very nice it is too. I've spent this evening tweaking the front cover and altering the page number layout and have resubmitted it for checking. I should have a revised proof within 48 hours and if I like it, then Playground Cool will be my first novel in print. Exciting times. I can tell you that it will be priced at $9. It's a bit steep but the price is determined by the size of the book. However, it's only about £5.50 to us Brits which isn't bad I don't think.

The book is sitting quietly on my bedside cabinet as I type. It's quite a strange feeling to know that something I wrote over ten years ago is now a real book. The fact that it's sold as many as it has on Kindle continues to amaze me.

Anyway, that's it for today. I'm aiming to start designing the cover for the Jazz Cafe this weekend as well as write a bit more of the new book. In between tidying up my mess in the home cinema of course. But all of that can wait until I've enjoyed a significant lie in!

Thanks to everyone who continues to follow my blog, retweet me, Facebook me and buy my books. It means more than even my stellar vocabulary can articulate.

FREE BOOK!!

Afternoon folks,

All the Fun of the Fair will be free for 24 hours as of tomorrow the 23rd April.

It's had 5 star reviews and is apparently rather good. The fact that it's free removes any excuse you previously had for not reading it. Unless you can't read, in which case get someone else to download a copy and make them read it to you.

If you do download it and read it, please review it. I'll be suitably appreciative.

Thanks

Music in Books

Afternoon folk,

Quick one this. As you'll know if you've read anything I've written I use a lot of music in my books whether it be references to bands, lyrical references, characters liking certain bands etc. This isn't a new thing and tons of writers do it but I like it as it allows me to add certain moods to scenes and it gives more depth to a character if we know what kind of tunes they like.

So, the point of today's post is to say that I've added a scene to the new book where Rupert, who is in reflective mood following the unearthing of a photo album containing pictures of his best friend Mitch and deceased lover Emily together, is sitting with his eyes closed, drinking a beer and listening to Music from Big Pink by The Band.

I did this partly because I'm a fan (I also share a first name with the guitarist) but also because of the news that Levon Helm is nearing the end in his battle with cancer. As such, if you are familiar with the music of The Band, you'll totally understand what I'm saying. If you're not, stop reading this and to Amazon and buy their stuff, you'll love it.

Book Sales and Blog Views

Morning,

Lovely day for it! By it, I mean not working. The sun is shining, I've already written 500 words of the latest book and I've yet to have breakfast. Mind you, I did eat enough Calzone yesterday to sink a Venetian Water taxi.

Anyway, I was getting a tiny bit concerned that I hadn't sold a book in 24 hours. I know, I know, ridiculous. But I generally sell at least one a day. Anyway, all is well. I woke up and checked my sales and have shifted four copies over night so we're back on track.

I also took a look at traffic to this blog. I've had about 1200 visitors since I began posting and this week there has been more American visitors than UK or anywhere else. You are all most welcome of course.

In other news I'm hoping to launch a new book this week so expect updates on that shortly. Until then, if you haven't already, drag yourselves over to Amazon and buy a copy of something I've written. Or, tell someone else too instead.

Bye for now...

Agent rejection

Afternoon gang,

Just a quick update. Some time ago I sent out a few extracts to agents for The 24 Hour Jazz Cafe. I forget when but it's a good couple of months.

Anyway, today the post lady brought me the rejection from my chums at Aitken Alexander Associates. It was a standard letter aside from one handwritten line at the bottom:

"Is an interesting story, so don't give up".

Apparently not interesting enough to add to their lists though. Still, no harm done. As ever we move on to the next thing, which is to make more of my back catalogue available via Kindle. More news on that as it happens.

5 * Review!!

Morning folks,

I've just had a five star review of All the Fun of the Fair. Needless to say, I'm well chuffed.

There's a link to the review here, but since it's so good I've also pasted it in below.

"This is my first Jamie Sinclair book and I was mightily impressed. It begins by introducing us to a selection of dysfunctional characters, living lives on the edge of society - social misfits. Gradually as their stories unfold to us, their lives touch each other tangentially, coalesce in some cases, and I found myself fascinated. It is a difficult book to stop reading!

I enjoyed the style, the dipping in and out of lives, the eventual realisation that many were interlinked. I also loved Jamie Sinclair's use of vocabulary. We have so many nuances in our language - we are lucky and should use them. Each apparent synonym conveys a different shade of meaning and I love to see the language used more extensively. The denoument of the book is wonderful. Some of the characters 'came good' and reached within themselves for the sake of others. Some managed, through finding each other, to excise the poison of their past relationships. (Slime balls still remain slimeballs though, but we relish their downfall!) This is altogether a satisfying and enjoyable read and I thoroughly recommend it."

Progress on the sequel

Evening all,

Bloody freezing isn't it? Scotland was superb. I got very drunk. Stella and Glenmorangie. It's how I roll.

Anyway, I am now basing scenes from my new book in Ayr, following my successful research trip at the weekend. Mitch and a character currently named Annabel are holed up in a cottage near Ayr for reasons which will become apparent later. Suffice to say, it's because Mitch needs to keep out of Rupert's way.

This is the first time I've written a series and it's really interesting getting to interact with the characters again and use the back story to develop a new plot.

In other news, still no redundancy news so my full-time writing plans are still on the back burner. But fresh from last months strong sales I have already sold half a dozen copies this month so, just for now, I'm going to leave All the Fun of the Fair at its current price. I believe it's worth it, simple as that.

My Twitter followers are creeping up and traffic to this blog is going up too so it's all positive. I just need to keep reminding myself this is a building process. I have plenty of material and aim to have another two books at least available for sale within the next six months.

In short, all good. Thanks for reading, you're making me smile!