Do you want another free book? Can Liverpool win the title?

Evening gang,

Been a busy time. First off this blog has been viewed over 12,000 times. Big deal indeed.
As we reach the point where Amazon reset the sales counters for April, I can report my books have been downloaded over 4500 times this month. Of these approx. 300 are real paid for sales which had left me with royalties of well over £250 for the month. Not life changing but a big deal to me.

Of these profits and the sales, the vast, overwhelming majority of books sold is The Trust. Why? No idea. Am I pleased? What do you think?

The book signing went really well. Sold 13 books, all signed, did a reading, people clapped and stayed for the full 2 hours. On the back of it I've booked 3 more events in late May over three consecutive nights. Woo! Details to follow.

The weekend was fun. The wife and I bought two new cars. VW Golf. Quick way to spend 40 grand. Still, she's happy. Then on Sunday I went to Anfield to watch my beloved Liverpool go top of the league by demolishing Spurs. Bottom line is this. Six games to go. Win them, win the league for the first time in a quarter of a century. It's consuming me and I might well cry like a girl if it happens.

Finally, since the last promo delivered such tangible results I'm doing another. From this Friday (4th April) my new book Ballroom, Bars and Seawater Baths will be FREE for the weekend. Tell your friends, get a copy and review it.

Bed time.

Can you predict the future?

Evening gang,

Yes, you can. To an extent. In that if it rains you know you're gonna get wet. If you fall down the stairs you know it will hurt and if you win the lottery you know you'll abandon your friends, move away, get a big house and so on.

But otherwise no, we cannot predict a damn thing. Only last week on this very blog I was suggesting that Chelsea might have a hand on the premier league title. A week on and they've lost at Villa. As a Liverpool fan this is wildly exciting as all of a sudden winning the title for the first time in a generation is back in Liverpool's hands. Yes, you still have to favour Man City and Chelsea, but in terms of fixtures, goal difference and just pure heart, Liverpool have a shot. And it's so exciting I struggle to put it into words, but if you're a football fan, a Liverpool fan, you get it.

Bottom line is this. If we keep winning, beat Chelsea and City at Anfield and the title is ours. I've danced around this for months but, if we beat United tomorrow at Old Trafford then I'm officially going to start to believe we might do it. If we beat Chelsea at Anfield then we might even be labelled favourites. Didn't think I'd be considering that this season.

Anyway, the paperback has been reformatted and is ready for launch. Hopefully I'll have copies of Ballroom, Bars and Seawater baths in my possession ready for the book launch on the 29th of this month. If not, then it's just me hanging about by an empty table in a hotel.

Also, big step, The 24 Hour Jazz Café is now listed by Waterstones. Woo. That's step two of my three step plan complete. Next step is to somehow get an account with Gardner's books. They are the sole supplier to Waterstones high street shops. If I can get an account there, I can approach Waterstones to stock my books. Then I can ask to do a signing in my local branch etc. We shall see. The aim is to have all my paperbacks listed with them this year and, hopefully, get them into the stores as well.

Quick tennis update. Federer's 2014 resurgence continues which is ace if you're a fan like I am. He has the most points on tour this year and is in another final tomorrow. If he wins, he's back in the top 4. At 33. Best player ever. Simple as.

Finally, and I know I've mentioned this already. There are just 5 days left of my Story Cartel promo. So, if you want a FREE copy of The 24 Hour Jazz Café you simply have to go there and download it. If you commit to a review you might win a $10 amazon gift card. There's a prize draw for that bit. The reviews are a big deal to an Indie author as it add credibility and further promo. SO since the book is free, I'd appreciate the effort.

That's it for now, apart from a reminder that bits of my next book are available to read over at Wattpad should you be curious.

Carry on....

Passing the torch

Evening all,

Quick Monday update. Traffic has now passed the 10,100 mark which is nice.

Went to watch Liverpool thrash West Ham on Saturday. More than one person has pointed out that the team are doing very, very well since I started trekking to Anfield on a semi regular basis. Coincidence? Perhaps. But it's a great journey to part of.

Had a meeting with my new manager today to set out the work plan for the next three months if my contract. In short, fix in twelve weeks things they haven't been able to fix in years. As ever, plenty of pressure to perform. As ever, I will.

But more importantly I'm doing a bit of last minute shaping of the latest novel. The soon to be bestselling Ballroom, Bars and Seawater Baths. It turns out, as ever, that truth is indeed stranger and more grim than fiction. Recent news stories have basically recounted elements of my plot, but the reality is darker than my fiction, so we're tweaking a bit. Won't impact on the launch though.

And finally. Dennis, the family retriever, was put to sleep earlier today. He was 16 which is epic for any dog, let alone a retriever. I'm not going to ramble on. Suffice to say, he was awesome, especially when he was younger. A total bugger, did as he pleased, just like the rest of my clan. I've had a word with my own dog to let him know he has huge paws to fill now that he's the new family hound. He seems to get it, he immediately ran off with the wife's shoe and hid on the top floor in the dark. As I type this he's just trotted past, a pair of the wife's jeans hanging from his mouth. Dennis would be suitably proud.

Wanted: Job for an award winner

Morning gang,

It's been a couple of weeks since my last post but there's lots going on. It's also late and I'm weary but we'll press on.

First off, I've had great feedback from the opening extract of my novel Fear which I posted to Wattpad. There will be another chunk this weekend. A colleague read the extract and said I should submit to publishers, she liked it that much. All positive. And she's a published author herself!

Second, I've had a couple of excellent reviews on Amazon which I've added links for. But, as ever, if you can't be bothered to click, I've pasted them in below.

"Wasn't quite sure what to expect and was pleasantly surprised. Characters well drawn, not stereotypes, with faults and a past that we all have to live with and tackles some really worrying issues with a degree of balance and sensitivity. Guessed fairly early on who the culprit might be, whose activities were revealed when least expected, but strangely it didn't detract from the narrative, Would definitely look out for more of Jamie Sinclair's work in future."

"Quick compelling read. Didn't put it down and read in a day. James Sinclair is amazing. Well done !!!!!! Thank you"

You see? I'm making lives better through awesome fiction. Get on board, spread the word, buy my books etc etc.

I have now edited 80 pages of the Jazz Café sequel and it's now very, very good. Finally. I've had to work at this one. To all those who have been asking me when it's going to be published, thanks for asking, thanks for caring. It won't be long. Probably.

I'll have plenty of time to write in the new year because chances are I'll be back in my old job. I can't convey in words how this makes me feel, but suffice to say it's not good. The only remote positive is that I could not have done any more to have made the new job work. I have delivered on every project and every senior manager is a fan. I also won an award last week. Fancy dinner at Blackpool Tower, met the Chief Exec, in the paper etc. Director of Community Services came to congratulate me in person and I got a nice letter from the Head of Locality. But no job. I tried my best. Sadly my employer is so skint you might well be hearing about it on the news.

The dog's huge. The new house is still empty but I'll be sorting that in the next week or so. And I'm off to Anfield tomorrow to watch my beloved Liverpool play Fulham. So lots of good things going on and I always have the option to just quit work which is nice. Finally, I'll be entering the Richard and Judy new author comp as well, why not?

Anyway, that's it. Two books underway, out soon. Keep an eye out, I might be huge one day!

The pope, Liverpool and writing. It's all religion.

Evening gang.

A generally positive start to the week has been kicked off course by Liverpool's dismal home defeat to West Brom which has just finished.

Indeed it's been a day of surprises. Earlier in the day the Pope resigned. Sky News has had folk stationed at the Vatican all day and that's been quite nice since I've been there. Still, it's a hell of a job and not one I can imagine many would relish.

Which brings me to that other form of religion. Football. Specifically Liverpool, in the opinion of many the most famous club on the planet. Every bloody time we dare to believe the corner has been turned we go and get turned over by a lesser team at Anfield. I'll be off to bed in a bad mood now. Very frustrating and yet you can't help but be drawn back to watch the next game.

So, to end on a positive. Sales of the new book are going well. In fact sales in the last week have been good, though I have been motivated to do some promotion for a change since I'm not writing at the moment. As ever, thanks to everyone who has parted with their cash and I hope you enjoy the stories.

By the way, just as an aside, if you haven't seen House of Cards on Netflix I recommend you dive in. It stars Kevin Spacey and it's utterly brilliant. I was up until 3AM last night/this morning watching it. Top drawer.

Right, time for another ale and then bed.

Book submissions, Andy Murray and Hillsborough

Evening gang,

Been a lot happening this week.

First off, the Tour of Britain cycling has been in my neck of the woods this week, in fact a few minutes away from where I work. They don't half shift as well those Olympic riders. Crowds have been good too on the back of the awesome summer of sport we've enjoyed.

Which leads me nicely into a belated "well done" to Andy Murray. Regular readers will know I'm a huge Federer fan and not a massive Murray fan. But in the US Open final he went the distance with Djokovic and came out on top. A Brit winning a Grand Slam? After so many pretenders who really thought we'd ever see that? As such, full marks Andy. He might even make a liar out of me and win Wimbledon. Assuming Federer, Nadal and Djokovic let him.

Recent readers will also know I sent an extract to Sparkling Books which was swiftly rejected. Undeterred I sent them something else which has also been rejected. Still, at least they don't leave you hanging. I've been waiting months for something from Blake Friedmann.

Lastly, I've written over 66,000 words on the new book and still hope to have a draft by the end of this month.

And now onto the genuine big news of the week. The Hillsborough Independent Panel published it's report into what happened that dreadful day in South Yorkshire. There is no need for me to tell anyone about it, it's part of our history and everyone should know what took place. It all comes down to two numbers.96 and 23. Two numbers which have come to represent loss and a fight for truth and justice.

I, like so many millions, am a fan of Liverpool Football Club. That in no way qualifies me to comment on what happened that day or the aftermath. But I will say this. In a summer which has seen the country brought together in unprecedented fashion by sport, it is the dedication, committment and refusal of a community which has brought about the publication of this report which so many senior officials hoped would never see the light of day. Ignored, abused, belittled and igored some more, this group have held firm, swelled their ranks and demanded justice.

They perhaps feel they still have a way to go before they can rest but, as an outsider looking on, they should be, if not applauded, then at least commended for their tireless efforts to make this happen despite the barriers set before them. I am merely a fan of the mighty Liverpool Football Club. I love the history, the records, the players past and present and on the occasions I get to Anfield my heart races and I always pause at the top of the steps to take it all in before I sit down.

The publication of this report and the vindication of the families in their pursuit of justice makes me proud to be associated with the club even in the very small way I am. I perhaps could have summed all of this up in a much more concise way.

You'll never walk alone.

US Open Tennis, late nights and a new job

Morning all,

Been raining again here in the north of England. I say 'again', it hasn't really stopped all year or so it seems. Officially the wettest summer in 100 years I think I read somewhere today. Perfect weather for writing books you would think.

Being back at work this week has had an impact though I've managed to write 500 words each day. The thing is I've just got a new job which will start in the next month or so and I'll have to pull my finger out a bit because it's a fairly huge promotion. This is awkward as my routine tends to be, get up and go to work, come home and sleep on couch, then stay up until middle of the night drinking ale, writing, watching (currently) the US Open tennis (though it could equally be the golf, a film or the Xbox) and then stumble into work again.

Anyway, we'll see how that pans out. On the plus side I've written 57000 words of the new book and All the fun of the Fair has been ordered by the local libraries which is very cool. Even more cool, and surprising, is that someone has bought a paperback copy of The 24 Hour Jazz Cafe from Createspace. Whoever you are, I'm very grateful and I hope you enjoy it.

The plan tomorrow is a significant lie in, then hit the supermarket and spend the rest of the day writing because on Sunday, hopefully, I'm off to Anfield to watch Liverpool play Arsenal. Clint Dempsey won't be lining up for the reds as we didn't sign him which was a surprise to all concerned. Still, I'm sure the manager has it all in hand.

Right, I'm off for a sandwich and an ale before bed. As ever, it's been a pleasure.