Afternoon folks,
What a marvellous day! Why you ask? Lots of reasons.
First of all today is the first day of the Premiership and, moreso than any other season, the players are in the spotlight to show a little humility and class. This is because of the frankly staggering success of the Olympics in London, not least the performance of the Team GB athletes and the way they conducted themselves, footballers have been in the spotlight a bit. They get paid unbelievable sums and, in some cases, have awful disciplinary records and are dreadful role models for children.
England manager Roy Hodgson commented on this following the Community Shield game last weekend, and since then this piece has appeared on the BBC website featuring comments from Hunter Davies, Michael Owen and others. My own view? I wish we could have Olympics every weekend and I was delighted to see that the BBC were showing highlights of the Opening Ceremony today.
But today is also great because it's my grans birthday. I took her a small gift and a card and am now attending an organ recital with my grandad tomorrow. It actually works out well because the wife's out tomorrow evening but when we both get back we're going to go to the pub.
Why go to the pub on a Sunday night? That's the other good thing. I'm off work for a week!! Hurrah. A full week of writing and staying in bed. Epic.
As I write this, prouly wearing my new Liverpool shirt, West Brom have scored. Bad start for the reds.
The reason I have time to be writing, watching football and typing this blog? The wife's out having her hair done. First time in about 20 years that someone new has been let loose on it. Early reports are that it's gone well. So, all in all, a great day. Especially when you factor in that I've sold a couple of books today as well.
Later on? Federer in the Cincinnati Masters semi final and footy highlights. All good.
Showing posts with label Team GB. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Team GB. Show all posts
Saturday, 18 August 2012
Monday, 13 August 2012
Is there a link between my Olympic photos and book sales?
Evening gang,
Is it just me or did today feel like the first day back at work after a holiday? It's like everyone woke up and realised they had a life outside of the magic world of the olympics.
It was interesting to witness the cynicism return to Twitter. We've had two weeks of really positive trends, huge support for Danny Boyle, Team GB and the individual athletes and then last night it began with a systematic dismantling of the closing ceremony online. Pity, I for one was hoping to stay Olympic for as long as possible. Thankfully the worldwide reception seems to have been positive and not everyone seems keen to return to their usual bitterness quite yet. Long may it continue.
In that spirit I've decided to add a couple of photographs a family member took inside the stadium on the night Usain Bolt won the 200m. Apparently words are not sufficient to describe how impressive an event it was. The first just highlights where they were sitting and how big it was, the second is the man himself.
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Is it just me or did today feel like the first day back at work after a holiday? It's like everyone woke up and realised they had a life outside of the magic world of the olympics.
It was interesting to witness the cynicism return to Twitter. We've had two weeks of really positive trends, huge support for Danny Boyle, Team GB and the individual athletes and then last night it began with a systematic dismantling of the closing ceremony online. Pity, I for one was hoping to stay Olympic for as long as possible. Thankfully the worldwide reception seems to have been positive and not everyone seems keen to return to their usual bitterness quite yet. Long may it continue.
In that spirit I've decided to add a couple of photographs a family member took inside the stadium on the night Usain Bolt won the 200m. Apparently words are not sufficient to describe how impressive an event it was. The first just highlights where they were sitting and how big it was, the second is the man himself.
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In case you were wondering the answer to the title question is no, there isn't a link between these photos and book sales, unless reading this post leads you to buying a copy. But since I've cleverly managed to get onto the topic of books I received a nice comment on Facebook today.
A chap was looking for pictures of Art Deco buildings on the internet. His son, I think, sent him a picture of the Midland Hotel in Morecambe. He liked it and looked for more, stumbling across what he described as a spooky looking picture of the hotel which was, it turned out, the cover of my book The 24 Hour Jazz Cafe. This led him to this very blog and from there to my Facebook promo page. After that, he downloaded a copy of the book. Now that is the best example I've ever had of all my marketing, promo and links coming together and I was delighted.
Anyway, the second book in the series is progressing. It's about 45000 words in so far. Next week is going to be a review week which will hopefully lead into the final push to the end. It's going to be tight to get it done and published by the end of the year but it's good to have a goal.
Right, that's all for now. To recap. Olympics awesome. I hope we can all retain the spirit as long as possible. Keep buying my books, it makes me feel warm and safe.
Sunday, 12 August 2012
My books are on Ebay!
Morning folks,
Lovely day for an Olympic marathon.
I actually typed this post last night and then managed to catch the "delete the whole post without saving" button and was too tired/drunk to retype it. Mind you it was 2:30AM and I was watching a film.
Anyway, as the title suggests, my paperbacks are now available on Ebay. It's nothing to do with me. I was on Ebay looking at original Millenium Falcons and decided to search for myself, no idea why. I was genuinely surprised when two of my books appeared. They're very expensive because whoever is selling them has added a couple of quid for themselves. They won't sell any but it's worth having a look next time your on Ebay. As ever, I've included subtle links throughout this paragraph.
In another twist, after a couple of months of low sales in America, this month I have sold twice as many books in the US as I have in the UK. Hurrah. Also, in case you missed it, The 24 Hour Jazz Cafe is still available for free via Smashwords. Just use coupon code SW52C at the checkout.
By the way, the film I watched was called Panic Button and it was quite good although it didn't seem to feature, or make any reference to, a panic button.
Right, I'm going to do a bit of work on th new novel and then perhaps an afternoon of barbeque in the garden. It's been an awesome couple of weeks, everyone loves Mo Farah and Team GB are good at sport in a way nobody expected. God knows what we're going to do for fun now because the Premiership is going to be rubbish after this.
Lovely day for an Olympic marathon.
I actually typed this post last night and then managed to catch the "delete the whole post without saving" button and was too tired/drunk to retype it. Mind you it was 2:30AM and I was watching a film.
Anyway, as the title suggests, my paperbacks are now available on Ebay. It's nothing to do with me. I was on Ebay looking at original Millenium Falcons and decided to search for myself, no idea why. I was genuinely surprised when two of my books appeared. They're very expensive because whoever is selling them has added a couple of quid for themselves. They won't sell any but it's worth having a look next time your on Ebay. As ever, I've included subtle links throughout this paragraph.
In another twist, after a couple of months of low sales in America, this month I have sold twice as many books in the US as I have in the UK. Hurrah. Also, in case you missed it, The 24 Hour Jazz Cafe is still available for free via Smashwords. Just use coupon code SW52C at the checkout.
By the way, the film I watched was called Panic Button and it was quite good although it didn't seem to feature, or make any reference to, a panic button.
Right, I'm going to do a bit of work on th new novel and then perhaps an afternoon of barbeque in the garden. It's been an awesome couple of weeks, everyone loves Mo Farah and Team GB are good at sport in a way nobody expected. God knows what we're going to do for fun now because the Premiership is going to be rubbish after this.
Thursday, 9 August 2012
Is it important to have my books available in the public library?
Evening folks,
Another monumental effort by Team GB at the Olympics today. We've won another gold medal in the last hour in the Taekwondo courtesy of Jade Jones. We also won gold in the Women's boxing and more awesome medals in the horses! Top work all round.
Tonight saw a world record in the 800 metres too as well as Usain Bolt making history by being the first man to do the double double in retaining his sprint titles. This was significant to me particularly because I had family in the stadium tonight who apparently had an amazing time.
I and others have noticed the ongoing feelgood factor up and down the country which I think has continued on from the spectacular Jubilee earlier in the year. At the moment Britain feels like a fantastic place to live.
And now onto the books. Regular readers may recall this post where I mentioned that someone I know had requested one of my books from the local library and met with some resistance. Since then, another person who works with my wife has been into their local library to request another of my books. Again they met with a little resistance although in both cases the book, I believe, has been ordered. But nobody, least of all me, is going to get rich from royalties from lending. But it's important to me as a writer to have my books as widely available as possible. I honestly feel that libraries should be actively supporting writers, especially ones local to them.
Still, it's done now and when I hear that the books are on the shelf I plan to wander in and have a look just for my own satisfaction, my own feelgood moment.
In other news, the follow up to The 24 Hour Jazz Cafe is progressing well. I have written over 42,000 words so far although I am struggling to hold onto the plot in places and some careful editing will be required when it's completed. The plan remains the same. Finish the book then put it away and publish a book from the back catalogue. Then I'm either going to publish the new book or.....
I'm not going to tell you what the other option is just yet. But it's something I've had on the back burner for about three years and the idea has never gone away. If I pursue it, I'll announce it here first.
Right, beer and pizza time until the small hours before one more day of work until the weekend.
Another monumental effort by Team GB at the Olympics today. We've won another gold medal in the last hour in the Taekwondo courtesy of Jade Jones. We also won gold in the Women's boxing and more awesome medals in the horses! Top work all round.
Tonight saw a world record in the 800 metres too as well as Usain Bolt making history by being the first man to do the double double in retaining his sprint titles. This was significant to me particularly because I had family in the stadium tonight who apparently had an amazing time.
I and others have noticed the ongoing feelgood factor up and down the country which I think has continued on from the spectacular Jubilee earlier in the year. At the moment Britain feels like a fantastic place to live.
And now onto the books. Regular readers may recall this post where I mentioned that someone I know had requested one of my books from the local library and met with some resistance. Since then, another person who works with my wife has been into their local library to request another of my books. Again they met with a little resistance although in both cases the book, I believe, has been ordered. But nobody, least of all me, is going to get rich from royalties from lending. But it's important to me as a writer to have my books as widely available as possible. I honestly feel that libraries should be actively supporting writers, especially ones local to them.
Still, it's done now and when I hear that the books are on the shelf I plan to wander in and have a look just for my own satisfaction, my own feelgood moment.
In other news, the follow up to The 24 Hour Jazz Cafe is progressing well. I have written over 42,000 words so far although I am struggling to hold onto the plot in places and some careful editing will be required when it's completed. The plan remains the same. Finish the book then put it away and publish a book from the back catalogue. Then I'm either going to publish the new book or.....
I'm not going to tell you what the other option is just yet. But it's something I've had on the back burner for about three years and the idea has never gone away. If I pursue it, I'll announce it here first.
Right, beer and pizza time until the small hours before one more day of work until the weekend.
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