Have you missed me?

Boom! And just like that he's back. Bigger, better, stronger, even more determined than before to unleash wave after wave of literary awesomeness upon the world.

God knows who that is. Me? Nah. I'm just chillin.

Currently I'm listening to the new album by the Charlatans. On gold coloured vinyl. I have a signed copy. The album isn't released until tomorrow. Benefits of having a thoughtful wife. Buy a copy, it's very good.

And what, you might wonder, have I been doing in the three months since my last blog post? Well, mooching mainly. Much as I enjoy the blog, it doesn't actually generate anything in terms of significant book sales. Case in point, in November and December I had my highest sales of the year. My last blog post was 8th October. So, what little promo I have done has been via FB and Twitter. It keeps things ticking along with essentially zero effort.

I do have a new book finished. Yay! I've edited half of it as of today and hope to release it mid February. It's a huge departure from my usual stuff. For a start it's not a detective, crime type thriller. It doesn't feature any of my previous characters and it's entirely in the first person, Catcher in the Rye style. That's been quite the challenge.

It's a confession in essence. The story is the killer telling the reader about what happened, how it happened and the aftermath of that. We learn how that single event impacted on his life, his relationships, everything. He's not asking for sympathy, or even understanding, he just needs to tell someone because he can't live with the weight of his guilt anymore. It's powerful stuff but you'll hear more about it when it's launch time.

By the way, if you fancy reviewing it pre-release, drop me an email (or even better tweet me or get in touch via FB) and I'll add you to the list. I'll send everyone a free copy and in return you leave a bloody awesome review. I've no interest in handing out freebies only for you to say you weren't keen so if you don't like it, say nowt!

In other news, well too much has happened to fill you in on three months. Dog nearly died over Christmas but he's okay now. Cost a fortune! Swine. Me old man's been a bit under the weather too, if you can call a heart defect under the weather. Needless to say I've got that to look forward to when I'm old. Still, I plan on being wealthy so that'll help. Work's just work though the wife has joined the firm which I like.

By the way, we've got a house to rent out if anyone's near Lancaster and wants somewhere to live. Needless to say, you can see it in that rather obviously link.

Other than that, everything's the same. Liverpool seemed to have turned the corner in the league which is nice. Some unprecedented upsets in the FA Cup yesterday but that's what makes it exciting. Oh, and we're thinking of getting a fake lawn. Neither of us has any interest in grass. It's a pain to mow, get's muddy in the winter and is not remotely dog proof. We have samples on the way to look at and then it's just a case of getting it installed. We're all quite excited about that.

And that's it. Blog post complete. Nice to be back. For those of you interested in such things one of my books is going to be free tomorrow until the middle of the week. It's my crime thriller sequel, Ballroom, Bars and Seawater Baths. Links below, spread the word.

UK Kindle Version
US Kindle Version

Are you brave enough to jump off the treadmill?

Morning gang,

Bit grumpy this morning since the dog woke me up barking like he'd been stabbed at half 9. I get up early all week for bloody work so I value Saturday's to simply slump in bed, stewing until lunch when I get up and slump on the couch watching football until bed time. I know, I know, I'm 37 and I should get a grip. Bottom line is, I don't want to get a grip, I want to stay in bed.

An online friend of mine, Stuart Ayris, has recently made the decision to back himself as a writer, reducing his hours etc. He has also registered himself as self employed as a writer and is hoping to make a real go of it i.e. make money from books.

It's something I think about each and every day and I'm in a better position than most to do it. Wife has a great job, my family has a few quid should I fail, we've no kids etc. Yet I've got to 37 and still work full time, quietly moaning away that I'd rather be writing. Not sure what's stopping me. Fear of failure most likely. Fear that I won't get a decent job, or any job, if I have to go back to work later. Fear that my books aren't actually good enough when I remove the excuse of working full time as a reason for why I can't spend more time polishing them.

So, for now, nothing changes. What will make the decision easier is to consistently make money. I reckon if I could make a minimum of £1000/month from book sales I could work part time. I'd have to adapt the lifestyle a little but I could manage on about £2000/month as long as the wife was working. Last month I made £350 from book sales. Not bad? But clearly not enough. In real terms that £350 covered my half of the mortgagee for the house we live in. Which still left bills, taxes, car payments, groceries, mortgagee on second property etc etc etc. So I'm as far away as Arsenal are from winning the league! Ha.

So instead of moping I'm going to try a bit harder. Right now, RIGHT THIS MINUTE by new book Ballroom, Bars and Seawater Baths is free on Kindle. So stop reading this and get to Amazon and grab a copy. Read it, review it, buy more of my books. It's time to build momentum.

Also, MORE PROMO OFFERS, the first book in the series The 24 Hour Jazz Café, is just $0.99/77p this weekend and will be listed via Book Gorilla today. So if you subscribe to them, grab your copy of my book today!!!

In other news, the dog's ear is fine. Cone is off, stitches still to dissolve but essentially he's okay. New cars are lovely. Wife is thrilled with hers. I'm well pleased with mine, really like the interior and the wealth of features. No handbrake is hard to get used to, as is the adaptive cruise control. I'm used to driving the car myself, not trusting the vehicle to do everything itself. Still, it's got a cracking stereo so I can always sit back and listen to music while it drives me about.

And finally to Liverpool. I've thought about little else all week. Another must win game tomorrow at West Ham and we stay top. 24 years folks. It's big stuff and if it happens I'm man enough to admit there might well be tears shed. Brendan has made us all believe. Now he just has to drag all of us, the team, the city, the global fanbase, over the finish line all by himself. If he does it, I suspect they'll talk about him like they talk about Shankly.

Are you big in Germany?

Evening,

Another quick phone based update. My free giveaway for The Trust is almost over. I'll post a final tally later but it looks like the book will have been downloaded close to 4000 times since Monday. Not bad.

It peaked at number 3 in America. It's been number 1 here in the UK since yesterday and, surprisingly, it is also number 1 in Germany!

Obviously I'm pleased. It has already led to a kick in sales but what I'm after is reviews. If just 1% make the effort that 40 reviews of the book. Fingers crossed and thanks to everyone who grabbed a copy.

Finally, the new paperback version of Ballroom, Bars and Seawater Baths is out now and looks superb. It's about 7 quid to buy in the UK but we'll worth it if you don't do digital.

Night.

Are you number 1 on Amazon?

Just me then. Quick pre bed blog. As of just now my book The Trust is the number 1 most downloaded crime novel on amazon. Here's picture proof before I stagger off to bed.

I'm like a kid at Christmas

Evening gang,

Blogging from the pub tonight. Talking to the manager about Liverpool battering Man Utd. He's being very philosophical about it.

Anyway, quick update. The paperback of Ballroom, Bars and Seawater Baths arrived today and looks superb. I'll be launching it properly this week.

Also, my book The Trust is currently free on kindle. But only until tomorrow. In the first 24 hours it's been downloaded 2000 times all over the world. Mainly the UK and USA but also France, Spain, Germany, India, Australia, Brazil and Canada. Not bad by any measure. It's still stuck at number 2 in the Amazon chart though!!

Finally, my other book (I have several) is still free on Story Cartel. If you review it, there's a prize draw to win an amazon gift card.

So, to recap. Plenty of books available, paperback or digital, anywhere you live. If you can read, dive in.

Right, best get another ale and have some tea.

Do you want one of my books for free?

Good, well now you can.

While my Jazz Café promo is ongoing, I have also decided to do a separate free promo for one of my other books. The Trust is a crime thriller set in the UK around the National Health Service. The good bit is that it's based on real events. The serial killer was a particularly nasty American fellow. The asylum scenes are taken from news reports, as are the bits about government testing and the bodies they found later. All I did was create characters to tell that story.

Worth a look for free? I think so. If you do get a copy a review would be great as they're hard to come by. Just dash over to Amazon before Wednesday 17th. So far today over 500 people already have a copy. People from all over the globe including Germany, France, Canada and Australia, as well as the UK and US. Silly to miss out, go grab a copy.

So far The Trust is hovering nicely near the top of the most downloaded books charts on amazon.com and amazon.co.uk as you can see from these screenshots. Be nice if they hovered a little higher.

Did you know it's World Book Day?

Evening gang,

Chances are, if you've got kids you know all about it because they went to school dressed as characters from books today.

There's no downside to it, anything that gets kids into books and reading has got to be good. One really good aspect is that the kids get a book token to redeem against one of the World Book Day books.

In a shameless effort to piggy back on this idea, I'm offering free copies of one of my books. The 24 Hour Jazz Café is currently available for free over at Story Cartel. If you leave a review you might also win a $10 Amazon gift card which you could redeem on books!! You see what I did there?

So, free book. That's the deal.

In other news Frion Farrell and I have had our first planning meeting for our upcoming book signing event. It will take place between 10 and 12 on Saturday 29th March at the Headway Hotel on Morecambe promenade. We're going to be reading from our books, talking about them and how we used Morecambe and the surrounding area as the setting. We will also answer any questions you might have.

It's a free event and we're even throwing in coffee and cake in the hope people will feel obligated to buy a book or two. Spread the word. We're having a banner, posters, the lot. When the design is ready to go to the printers I'll upload it here as well. Woo!

Do you want a Free copy of my book?

Hopefully the answer is yes. As part of a promotion I'm running at Story Cartel, you can have a free copy of my very tidy crime thriller The 24 Hour Jazz Cafe. The deal? You review it. The incentive? American readers are entered into a prize draw to win one of three $10 amazon gift cards. Woo!! Here's the link...

http://storycartel.com/books/914/the-24-hour-jazz-cafe/

The aim of this is to increase reviews of the book which will enable me to promote the bookin other ways, all with a view to increasing sales. So crack on. It's free!!

http://storycartel.com/books/914/the-24-hour-jazz-cafe/

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

It's go time!

All the fun of the Fair is now available for Kindle!

As part of the promotion my first two books, Playground Cool and The Storyteller are available free for the next two days!

The plan, if I pull my finger out and support the promotion, is that the two freebies will feed sales of All the fun of the Fair as I have added a sample of it to the free downloads.

Stop reading this and go download all of them.

Thanks

Chasing the dream

Hi folks,

So, things are progressing, sort of. I'm still not making any money but lots and lots of people have downloaded my books.

After the success of my short story promo with The Storyteller (still at number five on Amazon UK as of this minute) I decided to do a free promo with Playground Cool, the full length debut. It went a bit berserk and shifted about a 1000 copies in 36 hours. Needless to say, all good. I've ended the promo now to see if it translates into any real sales as with the short story.

I've been posting quite a bit on Goodreads and the folk there have been pretty supportive with a few folk saying they've got a copy and the moderators even posting links to my book on Amazon. Top work!

I've not heard back from BANG yet about the completed manuscript I sent but fingers are still crossed. Yesterday I emailed three agents and today posted (old school) extracts and letters etc of the latest effort just because I crave rejection letters. If they do reject me I'll fire off some more just to show how keen I am.

Finally, I'm building up to joining Facebook. Pain in the arse really because I hardly have time to write this blog, post on writing forums and go to work without having to find time for Facebook. But as the wife keeps reminding me, if I become successful I won't have to work in a warehouse anymore. Thank Christ for that.

Anyway, so far I've shifted somewhere around 1400 books, mostly from free downloads. But it's 1400 folk who had never heard of me before November, so it's hard to be negative.

Until next time...

Results of the Amazon KDP Free Giveaway

So there we have it. My 48 hour (nearly) free giveaway of my short story - The Storyteller - has ended and I have to say the results surprised me a bit. Based on what I'd read on various forums I expected to shift a few dozen, maybe a hundred. As of an hour ago I had "sold" 556 copies! The majority of these are in America (about 380) with the rest being from the UK apart from 3 in Germany (a real surprise).

It was very satisfying to see the bestseller charts during this period as I was number 1 in my category in the UK and number 2 in the US. Sadly, within an hour of the promo ending I fell back down to 70.

But it's largely positive. I've learned that clearly a lot of folk subscribe to the free Kindle books feed and that most of these people aren't going to risk 86p of their money on a book by an author they don't know. Also, I haven't had any reviews and the promo had zero impact on sales of my full length novel.

I have no clue how to address this for the future, other than to keep doing what I've been doing and hope it picks up. But 556 people now know who I am and own a copy of my work. Two days ago, that wasn't the case so, for that reason if no other, it's been well worth it.

KDP free promo

Evening readers,

Forgive any errors, I'm typing this on the wife's Blackberry.

Yesterday I posted a Smashwords coupon for a free download of my short story. That has so far not translated into any sales. However, I did the same via Amazon KDP last night and this has already led to almost 300 downloads - in less than 24 hours.

So thanks to those that have now got a copy of my book. It is proving useful in terms of guaging where sales are likely to come from.

Free Short Story!!

Evening folks,

As of now my short story, The Storyteller, is available as a free download until the 4th of February. To get it trot to Smashwords and enter this code at the checkout:

GZ24V

If you like it please leave a review and spread the word.

Thanks