Do my books Sparkle?

Morning gang,

Really quick one tonight because I'm exhausted. First day back at work today, late to bed last night. Hard day.

Anyway, I've still managed a quick 500 words on the latest blockbuster but the big news is that I've submitted the first chapter of The 24 Hour Jazz Cafe to my new chums at Sparkling Books. I freely admit I'd never heard of them but they followed me on Twitter. I had a look at their website and thought it wouldn't hurt.

They seem keen on self promo by the author which as an Indie I do anyway but any help they can offer will be appreciated, assuming they don't want 95% rights to my books in return for a £300 advance.

Anyway, it can't hurt so I'll let you know the outcome.

Right, quick look at the tennis scores and then bed to plough on with Perfect People by Peter James.

Is my blog a success?

Afternoon folks,

Shocking weather we're having. It's my fault. I said I was aiming to mow the lawn today because we're thinking of having a little family Barbeque tomorrow afternoon. Brother in law and his wife and kid, football on the big screen, some awesome chicken kebabs marinated in Nando's Peri Peri sauce. Except there's weeding to be done and grass to be mowed and it's wet outside.

On the plus side I have already written 1200 words today and think I will probably get 2000 done before bed. Not much by many standards but plenty by my own. That will mean I've done in the region of 54000 words of the follow up to The 24 Hour Jazz Cafe. Hurrah.

It's been a steady month of sales so far. Started off quick and then nothing for several days and then a couple overnight. It's a long way from being enough to live off but my plan remains unchanged. Keep writing, increase the catalogue and then, when redundancy comes my way, treat that as my chance to write full time.

The title of today's post relates to the fact that I have had about 3000 views of the blog since I started it which got me wondering, how do I judge if it's been successful or not. I quite enjoy writing it and my stats tell me people all over the world are reading it. But I don't think it's leading to sales of my books and, to be honest, I'm not sure anything other than luck and word of mouth ever will. I do most of the things all the books and blogs recommend in terms of web presence and promotion but my sales tend to remain pretty similar no matter what I do.

Luckily I didn't start this adventure to become the next Peter James or even EL James. I just like telling stories and I really like that people all over the world have read them. It's all the motivation I need to keep doing it. That said, it would be great to have enough money to do it full time without the distraction of a full time day job.

Just as an aside, Blake Friedman have just launched a new agency Twitter account on top of their indivdual agent accounts. I mention this purely because, as part of my ongoing but infrequent attempts to get an agent, I have an extract of the Jazz Cafe with Carole Blake. It's been there for a while now but, judging by all the stuff she gets up to, it's a wonder she finds time to read any submissions. Carole, if you stumble across this blog, I'm a dynamic and charming young man ideal for radio and tele promotion and appearances in book shops. Plus my books are really good (he adds subjectively).

We all know that being at the forefront of a new wave helps, like EL James and her mummy porn. The shops are rapidly fillng up with similar books, with similar covers. So if seaside crime fiction in the north of England ever takes off, I expect to be leading the charge! Peter James can be in charge of the southern end.

Anyway, I'd best get back to it because I might struggle to write much tomorrow since Liverpool are playing at 4PM, there's the BBQ to prepare for and we're aiming for a couple of hours in the local pub before closing as it's a Bank Holiday.

Thanks to my blog followers and regular readers for supporting this blog, much appreciated. Until next time...

Jessica Ennis, Mo Farah, the long jump & crumpets

Evening all,

So then, Team GB won a few epic gold medals today. Jessica Ennis will get all the headlines and rightly so, she's the best at what she does and looks stunning. But hands up how many folk had heard of Greg Rutherford before tonight? And now he's the Long Jump Olympic champion. As for Mo Farah, he's been good enough for ages, he just needed the Olympics to come round so he could prove it.

The thing is, it was all so exciting before this. I spent all day glued to the 100m qualifying, Serena winning the tennis, the rowing, the cycling. Utterly immense. Then I realised it was almost tea time and all I'd eaten all day was two toasted crumpets and a cup of tea. That's what the Olympics does, it draws you in and takes over your life.

In an attempt to link this excitement to books in some round about way, I suppose Jess Ennis is the bestseller, the Peter James, the Stephen King, Dan Brown, the EL James. Meanwhile Greg Rutherford is...me, and all the other Indie Authors who quietly go about their business, waiting for their moment to shine and hit the big time.

Of course it's all about talent, but even more important is the support to get there. In which case go and buy my books so I can be Jessica Ennis. Failing that stick yourself in front of the tele and enjoy the greatest show on earth courtesy of Great Britain.

Email from Bang Publishing

Afternoon loyal reader,

I received an email from Bang today. Sadly it was just an update to say they were still reading my manuscript but that they would be in touch. Stil, at least they bothered to let me know and it's better than a rejection.

In other news I'm still awaiting a response of any kind from Aitken Alexander with regard to the 29 pages of finely crafted prose I sent to them in early January.

Meawhile sales remain steady at just over 1 copy per day despite the fact that I haven't done any promo since January 21st. The reason for the lack of promo is that I'm still hard at work editing a novel from the back catalogue which I hope to launch in the next week or so. I've actually made the effort to draft a bit of a marketing plan for this one so hopefully it will mean bigger initial sales of all three books.

Finally, just for the sake of sharing, I bought a huge hardback copy of the collected works of Jane Austen which I'm going to display in my library as a pretentious talking point. I may even leave it open at a random page when visitors come, just for the sake of it. What a ponce they all cried!

Anyway, that's it for now. Just finished reading Peter James latest effort and very good it was too. Now I'm off to paint a wall Lilac.

Thanks for stopping by.

Crime Writers Association Dagger Awards

Afternoon readers.

For those who missed it, the Specsavers Crime Thriller Awards took place in London on Friday 7th October. It was shown on ITV3 and as I write this, the repeat is still available on the ITV Player.

In my opinion these award shows don't really lend themselves to being on tele. I think that's more because they tend to be a little low budget compared to the big film awards which is a pity given that without books, half the films we watch wouldn't exist. That said, if I'm ever in line to be nominated for any type of literary award, then I'd want it to be on tele if for no other reason than I could record it and make sure it was on everytime somebody popped round to visit.

Lots of names there on the night. It rather highlights my ignorance that I hadn't heard of some of the nominees but it was good to see Mark Billingham and Peter James taking home awards as the wife and I are fans of both. The wife is a particular fan of Mark's as he has taken the time to reply to a couple of her tweets which has been the cause of much excitement in our house.