Doubting my plot...

Hi everyone, How’s things?

Everything’s awesome at my end aside from the continued uncertainty over my job. It’s tedious now to be honest. I have a job waiting for me that I don’t really want but it requires no effort and, although the money is crap, it’s enough. However, because I’m apparently handy to have around the senior bods are trying to slot me in somewhere. The problem being there’s a lack of gaps and time is running out. From my point of view I don’t much care either way but not knowing is making it very hard to plan anything beyond the end of the year.

Finally signed the contract for my house investment. That’s taken forever but it’ll be worth it long term. We’re aiming to buy the next house around Easter next year but that depends on my income – see above about planning.

Regular readers will have noticed that my new book is still not out. I’m out of excuses to be honest. Bottom line is I’m not 100% convinced by it. It’s been a hard one to write, my first sequel and it’s been a busy year. New job for me and the wife, we bought the dog. All this has combined to leave me with a book that is finished but I have doubts about it. As such, I keep procrastinating. The plan, starting tonight, is to read it as a book on the wife’s tablet and see how it holds up plot wise. Then go from there. The cover is pretty much done so as soon as I’m happy with it it’ll be out. But not before. I might even not release it. Who knows?

But I am itching to start writing my next book, plenty of plot ideas and locations so fingers crossed. I suspect once my job future is resolved everything will start to flow again.

Now, other news. Sales are pretty good again. Indeed I’ve sold more in the US that the UK so far this month. Hurrah. I’m also considering approaching Independent publishers about my work. It’ something I’ve pondered for a while. I’m still not 100% what the benefit will be and I’m not mad keen on signing away my rights but we shall see.

Finally, for those that are interested Liverpool are still top of the table in the football which is amazing, and unexpected. But the real news is that the mighty Roger Federer is playing this week in Shanghai. I admit he’s past his best now, age is a real swine in sport, but on his day he’s still worth the price of a ticket. Be nice to see the old sod win something this year.

Right, to finish I’m going to paste in a couple of comments I received about The Trust over the weekend. The first was texted to my wife from a member of her staff: “…really enjoyed it. Sequel please – really want to know what happened to the euthanasia gang” And a tweet from up and coming fantasy author Frion Farrell who has just finished the Trust “Just had the pleasure of finishing Jamie Sinclair’s The Trust. Superior crime writing Jamie – am big fan."

The benefits of positive thinking

Morning Gang, If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook you'll know in recent days - indeed most of last week - I've been moaning about slow sales this month while not actually doing anything about it. Typical me. But there's good news. Overnight I've shifted quite a few copies of my awesome fact based crime thriller The Trust. So much so that as of this morning I'm hovering on the edges of the top 10,000 on the Amazon ficton charts. While this doesn't make me the next Stephen King, it does mean that there are nearly a million people selling less than me who would gladly change places. All positive. I've also had nearly 9000 views of this blog. It's pretty impressive given that I started it nearly 2 years ago as an experiment. I still enjoy writing on it, folk clearly keep checking back to see what rubbish I'm saying, so long may it continue. I've also picked up pace with the editing again and will hopefully have a draft by the weekend. I know, I know, I've said this many times this year. But eventually it will be true. Promise. In other news, my house investment sideline is progressing well and the house should be mine in the next week of so. I've also lined up an interested tenant so there's no downside at all. Now if I could just find myself a permanent job...

Why is the Kobo website and software so rotten?

Evening all,

I'm battling the rage! Today I had a number of things I wanted to do. Namely edit more of the final draft of the new book, quick blog, post some stuff on Goodreads and add my books to Kobo.

What have I achieved as I sit here at 7PM? None of the above. Why? KOBO SOFTWARE!!!

Months ago I went to the trouble of uploading a version of The 24 Hour Jazz Cafe to the Kobo bookstore and then forgot all about it, presumably because it's miles easier to do it via Smashwords which does all the hard work for you. I recieved an email the other day from Kobo saying I'd sold a couple of copies of Jazz Cafe. So I thought, sod it, I'll upload the others. How hard can it be?

I kid you not, I have very nearly hurled my laptop through the front window. On two occasions I've had to leave the room to do something else to avoid smashing my fist through the screen, it's that bad.

The pages on the author bit of the Kobo site take an age to load but the actual adding of book info is pretty straightforward. Until you want to upload your book file. Because Kobo uses Epub I decided to upload the Word Doc file which the site then converts. Of course you want to check it's okay first. So you download a preview version. But nothing opens epub files! I tried Mobireader which I use for all my publishing and that wouldn't do it. I downloaded Adobe Digital Editions and the book looked awful, totally unreadable so I have no idea how it will look on a real Kobo.

I know I thought, let's use the Kobo desktop software! AAAAAARRRGGGHHH!! It won't open it's own epub file, downloaded from it's own website!! And it's the slowest thing I've ever used in my life. So I've given up. Life's too short. If you do have a Kobo, and I'm sure the actual ereader device is lovely (it has to be better than the website and desktop software) then you can buy any or all of my books thanks to Smashwords. Just search on the Kobo bookstore and there they are.

Incidentally, I noticed that one of the two people who has bought the Kobo version of the Jazz Cafe gave it a 2 out of 5 rating. Which is fine, though totally at odds with all the 5* Amazon reviews and 5* Goodreads reviews. I can't help wonder if it's because when they opened the book it looked horrid, poorly formatted and was hard to read. If this was the case, I apologise, but the book looks great on Kindle and in paperback. I know because I've seen it. Sadly, owing to the vile Kobo software, I cannot check how my own books look.

Ahh, I feel a bit better now. Right I'm going to have some tea and then spend the evening editing my book. It's a Word document so I'll view it using Microsoft Word. It just works! Bloody rotten Kobo.

Just to finish on a positive, the new book should be out (even on Kobo) by the end of the week.

Is it okay to win at all costs?

Evening gang,

So what does everybody think about Lance Armstrong's confession on Oprah? I've only skimmed through the highlights, if that's the right word, and he didn't seem particularly repentant. Call me a cynic but while he's admitted to the doping etc he didn't seem very sorry and I can't imagine he's suddenly decided to admit to all this cheating without a very good reason.

But the thing that stands out about Lance is this idea of winning at all costs. This week in snowy old Britain we've had a number of high street retailers go into administration, arguably the biggest being HMV. Why is this interesting to me? Well aside from the obvious job losses, empty shop units, economic issues, there's a link to books.

To anyone with any interest in the news it's been no secret that a number of retailers have been in trouble for a while. HMV caught my attention a while ago and I remember talking to colleagues about it months ago saying that they'd be lucky to see out the year. Until recently HMV owned Waterstones but sold it because they needed the funds. But it's no secret that Waterstone's isn't in great shape either.

Now I'm a vocal advocate of paper books, traditional books that you can bend and fold, crease, use to prop things up and chuck at the dog when he's naughty. Although I publish to Kindle I've never owned one and pretty much refused to entertain the notion that they are better than books. Until recently...

I have a library in my house, it's got hundreds of books in it and an antique wooden ladder. I like the smell, how it looks and I like that it never stops growing. I have copies of my own paperbacks on the shelves too. But I bought a 7 inch tablet for the wife this Christmas. She loves it. One of the many apps she's got is the Kindle app. I sent her the draft of my new book to proof read on the tablet instead of printing it like I normally do. She shot through it and I made revisions.

"I'll try it myself I said. I'll read it on the tablet and then I can make live changes on the laptop as I go."

It's brilliant! I almost hate to admit it but it's light, fits in my hand like a paperback, the page turning is natural and fluid and it makes reading as it should be. About the story.

So if they've managed to convert me, where does that leave real books and further more, places like Waterstones? I have no clever answer but it will come as no surprise when we see it on the news that the administrators have been called in.

And that, in a very roundabout, tour de france kind of way, is the point of the topic. Perhaps the high street needed to be a bit sharper off the mark, play a bit dirtier against the online competition and get the government on board to help them, like Lance had his network of helpers to make sure he won at all costs. It's not too late, perhaps Lance could act as an advisor to Waterstones? He's never gonna be allowed on a bike again so he might as well do some good.

In other news, pub tonight for tea. Then a full weekend editing the final draft of the new book which should be out within a week. You'll hear it here first. I also have over 1600 Twitter followers, so thanks to all of them, and sales are going pretty well in spite of my lack of recent promo.

Hope you have a good one, be careful in the snow.

Hi India, Welcome aboard!

Another quick post folks because I'm about to have a leisurely amble into town with the wife. It's blustery out and the view across the bay from the window is pretty awesome so we're going to walk down the promenade. I suspect we'll end up in Costa sharing a cake.

Anyway, the point of this post is to say a big hello to all my new chums in India. This morning I received my Kindle email informing me that Amazon.com is available in India. I logged onto my publishing aacount and sure enough, India is now listed.

I am far too excited at the prospect of selling my first book in India. I already get some blog traffic from that part of the world so hopefully it won't be too long coming.I was all overcome when I sold my first book in the US, and I was giddy for days when I sold a book in Germany. I realise that writers who sell in vast numbers might not share my excitement but since I sell in dozens rather than millions (for now) then every sale has an impact.

I shall report back as soon as I'm aware of my first sale!

Do you fancy a Kindle alternative?

Evening folks,

US readers are already able to enjoy their ebooks on a wide variety of devices. One which seems popular is the Nook by Barnes and Noble. In the UK Kindle is king, while everyone else has an Ipad, although a few folk have got the Sony Ereader.

Now, however, we're about to get the Nook in the UK as well. Apparently it's due for release in October. Why is this interesting to me? Because all my books are already available on Nook so if you do get one for Christmas, you can go straight to the B&N website and grab yourself a copy.

Hurrah.

Right, that's all for now. I'm still quite hungover from last night and I'm struggling with the plot of the new book today as well.

London 2012 and pink grapefruit

Afternoon everyone,

So then, how good was the opening ceremony then? Apparently 26.5 million folk stayed up to watch here in the UK. The wife and I sat pretty much mesmerised by the whole thing. I can only imagine Danny Boyle and his team will receive some sort of mention in the Queen's next honours list.

It seems that our American chums struggled to see the opening of the largest sporting event on the planet owing to NBC not showing it live. I don't know details only what I've seen on Twitter etc, but a lot of people seemed pretty unhappy that it wasnt being shown live. If it wasn't, it begs the question, what's more important than showing the opening ceremony of the Olympics?

I'm established on the couch today for a full day of olympic viewing - I am going out tonight though. Outdoor showing of Woman in Black in a local park. Hope it stays dry.

The BBC have pulled out all the stops with the coverage. They've got a fancy menu TV guide thingy where you can just click on the sport you want to watch and away you go. Epic.

The other bonus was that I discovered a tin of grapefruit in the cupboard so that became a late breakfast.

Since this is a writing blog I'd best mention the books. I've written 30,500 words of the new book so I'm still on course to have it published this year along with another from the back catalogue. My existing books are also still available on Kindle, Createspace, Smashwords, Kobo, Apple Ibook, Sony Ereader, Bibliocracy and doubtless a few more. They're all priced to sell too, except the paperbacks which are vastly over priced but look superb on a shelf.

Oh, one last thing. An associate of mine went to the local library yesterday and asked if they could order in a copy of one of my books. He was, I believe, armed with the necessary ISBN info. From what I can gather they seemed to suspect that he was, in fact, me trying to abuse the library and use them as some sort of self-promotion tool. I have to admit to being a bit miffed. After all, I thought libraries would order in pretty much any book if a customer asked for it. Add to that the fact that I'm local and it's win win all round. If I end up selling millions all of a sudden they'd have "local author" posters all over the bloody place to drag people in. Poor form!!

Now stop reading this and watch some Olympics!

My books. All formats. Right now.

That's right kids, we're taking things up a notch. As of tonight all four of my books are available in every available format. As such you are bang out of excuses not to buy a copy. If you can't be bothered to read anymore and just want to dive in then click HERE, select the book you like buy it in the format of your choice. You can even have a 20% sample for free to see see if you like the book.

Got a Kobo or a Nook? Buy my book.
Ipad? Got it covered.
Sony Reader? Dive in

I know, it's all a bit overwhelming so let's take a breath and just see where we're up to. Since November last year I've been publishing my books via Amazon and it's been far more successful than I'd dared hope. But of course I was always aware that there were other games in town, especially in America. As of tonight I have published my books via Smashwords so if you dash over to their website and search for me, or my books, you can buy them in any format you like, including PDF, Text file, as well as all the fancy ebook options. The price is the same regardless of format so nobody is gaining or losing anything by having one reader or another.

But it gets better. Smashwords also distribute to all the major retailers. What does this mean I hear you all cry? It means that within the next few weeks my books will appear on websites like Barnes and Noble (very big player in the US), the Diesel Bookstore, Baker & Taylor, as well as Apple's Ibook store. So all of a sudden I'll be everywhere. Exciting times.

Of course it means I'll have to get a bit more creative with my promo which currently is pretty pathetic. I'll need to promote myself on sites specific to each format, find forums which deal with formats other than Kindle. It'll be a challenge but there's no downside to being seen more.

So that's it. I'd best get back to writing the next book. As ever there links throughout the text but since this is a new venture I'll include some specific links at the bottom to get you started.

If you click HERE you'll see my books on Smashwords. Click on the one you like, read a bit of blurb. Scroll down and there's a list of every available format. Just click your choice and away you go. The really cool bit? You can download a 20% sample for FREE to see if you like the book.

All the fun of the Fair - New Edition

Just a quickie today folks,

First off, the rains stopped! Thank God because for the first since I've lived here my house sprung a leak. Thankfully it was nothing major and nothing a bit of sunshine can't fix.

Anyway, always one to listen to feedback (and generally ignore it) I have revised my book All the fun of the Fair. I've toned down the vocaulary because I was basically showing off. Hopefully now folk will be able to understand what I'm saying without the need for a dictionary.

I've also restructured a couple of chapters near the end which I think makes it flow better. It's not a big deal because I was reformatting it anyway because it's going to be out in paperack in the next week or two.

As such, since it's a new version, it also features a new, more grown up, cover, handily pictured here:

If you needed more reason to buy yourself a copy then I've also reduced the price to £1.31 in the UK and $1.99 in the US. As ever, I hope you like it and a review is much appreciated.

Right, quick hour in the garden tidying up before the football. Let's hope Uncle Roy has got the beating of the Italians.



Jazz Cafe price reduction

Evening gang,

So, after the excitement of meeting lots of new folk all over the world thanks to Facebook and Twitter, what next?

I've decided a little bit of a promotion might be in order. So, just for a little while, my latest 5* crime thriller is available at a reduced price on Kindle only in the UK, Europe and US. It's now just £1.33 or $1.99 depending on where you are. Please spread the word.

To get everyone in the spirit, here's a few lines to tempt you in...

"  A host of memories passed through his mind, particularly one of himself as a child playing on the beach, paddling in the sea. He smiled, but it was tinged with regret. This town, Morecambe, had never taken responsibility. Its inhabitants were always keen to blame someone else, something else, constantly hoping – expecting – to be bailed out by a third party. Well, now perhaps it was time to pay, time to face up and answer for what had gone before.
    He smelled lighter fluid and glanced down. His right hand still held the lighter only now a blue flame rose from it, ending in a point. For something new to begin, something else had to end. He dropped the lighter."
You know where to find the book by now but for the sake of completeness, here are the links:
Jazz Cafe UK
Jazz Cafe US

Playground Cool Paperback in Europe!

That's right folks. As of ten minutes ago I have added Amazon Europe to my distribution channels for Playground Cool. Eh?

It means that if you don't have a Kindle but you want to read my book, or like me you just prefer the feel of a real book, you can now buy my debut novel in print from Amazon.co.uk and the rest of their Euro websites. Exciting times.

Sadly it's a bit pricey (£7.49) but it is pretty good. Amazon need a few days to update the sites so you can find it so I'll post a link when it's ready. Needless to say the rest of my books will be made available in paperback in the next few months.

By the way, to the person who bought the first paperback Playground Cool from Amazon.com, many thanks, you are a visionary and a pioneer. I'll happily sign it anytime just in case I end up famous then we both win.

Carry on...

5 * Review of the Jazz Cafe!

That's right folks. The new book has only been out for a couple of days and somebody loves it. Needless to say, I'd be daft not to mention it. So here's a link:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Hour-Jazz-Cafe-ebook/dp/B00819F5V6/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1336601701&sr=8-11

and here's a bit of it just in case you can't be bothered to click:

"This book turned out to be a thoroughly stonking read! It started off pretty gently and then the story, action and indeed characters gradually built up to a pretty great crescendo which, along with the grand finale, left me almost breathless."

The 24 Hour Jazz Cafe has arrived!

Evening folks.

So, in November last year I started this blog with a view to creating a chronicle of my writing. The title of the blog made reference to the Jazz Cafe. Now, finally, that book is available to buy on Kindle.

It's my first foray into crime/detective fiction and is also the first in what is going to be a series of books featuring Mitch and Rupert, the lifelong friends who find themselves caught up in murder, corruption and a tale full of twists and turns. It's also set at the seaside! Winner.

Here are the links to Amazon:

The 24 Hour Jazz Cafe Amazon US

The 24 Hour Jazz Cafe Amazon UK

I hope you enjoy it!

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

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."

5* Amazon Review

Evening folks,

That's right gang, I have received my first five star review for Playground Cool! Ironically, or not, it's from the same lady who posted such a favourable review of All the Fun of the Fair. She is now my number one fan!

Needless to say I've tweeted about the review, put it on Goodreads and on Kindleboards, it's satisfying stuff.

Anyway, here's an extract:

Mr Sinclair has certainly mastered the art of writing credible fiction from both a woman's and a man's point of view. The story held my attention right the way through and had me laughing, crying, getting angry, rooting for the underdogs and screaming at the lying, cheating sc*mbags!
I think it is a little grittier than the mainstream Chick-lit I have previously read and I personally think that actually makes it better.

First sale of All the Fun of the Fair

Afternoon kids,

Much satisfaction today as I sold my first copy of All the Fun of the Fair in the UK. As regular readers will know this is my third Indie publication and the first which I have listed at a higher price. I can't help but think the recent positive review I received has helped.

Fingers crossed it's only the beginning.

Facebook, Twitter, Book Promotion!

Me again folks,

Today marks my first full day on Facebook. So far I have 14 friends and 10 'Likes' of my Book Promo Page. Obviously this is pretty good but I'll need it to be a lot better if it's going to translate into significant sales.

As such, get yourself there and 'Like' my page. The more the merrier. Then, tell your friends and finally, buy my books, it's the only way. Look upon it as a kindness. I want to be full-time writer. I can't do that unless you buy stuff I write. Then I can write more stuff and the process will feed itself!

So to recap, Like, Share, Buy.

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