Is it just about numbers?

Morning gang,

Progress on the new book continues. I had a thinking day yesterday because I suddenly realised I was writing myself into a bit of a cul de sac. That seems to be sorted now and I've written about a 1000 words today to take the total to over 26,500. Hurrah.

I have to admit I've been sidetracked somewhat by The Open on the BBC. As ever, if you've read my profile you'll know this, I was routing for Tiger while knowing that, realistically, he would fall short. It was frustrating viewing because he was basically trying to win a Major tournament without using a driver. Such is his talent he still came third. If he ever manages to recapture his previous magic God help everyone else. The numbers are interesting. Adam Scott was winning but bogeyed the last 4 holes to leave himself level needing to par the last for a playoff with Ernie Els. He didn't. Also a big thumbs up to Team Sky and Bradley Wiggins for winning his first Tour De France. Never been done by a Brit!

Last night also saw Liverpool's first pre-season game take place against Toronto FC. Interesting largely because it was Brendan's first game in charge. What did I take from the game? That Liverpool has a lot of players on it's books, many of whom will never, ever play in the Premier League. The game was a 1-1 draw. It's a miracle I've written anything.

Right, I'd best dash, I've got to be at work in 5 and a half hours and I've got a bottle of beer to finish first.

Night

Golf, EL James and Bibliocracy.

Evening gang,

So the golf at Lytham is at the halfway stage. Tiger produced a stunning last shot on the 18th to leave himself in contention for the weekend. I shall be planted in front of the tele all weekend.

In other news I was just looking at my last post from Monday where I said the goal for the night was to clear 21000 words. Well as of today I've written 25,500 so it's going well. The weekend plan is to review and tighten up some scenes and then attack it again next week. But if you liked The 24 Hour Jazz cafe, you'll love the new one.

Last thing, as part of my ongoing efforts to increase my online presence I have uploaded my books to Bibliocracy. Essentially a platform to publish and sell work, they take a small cut for the service but no more than Smashwords and a lot less than Amazon. They reckon it'll be about five days before the books appear on their site so I'll post links when I have them.

Until then my books are still available on Amazon everywhere, on Smashwords in every conceivable format and in paperback via Amazon or Createspace. I know how many I've sold so I know lots of you have yet to treat yourself to a copy. You'll regret it when I'm suddenly the next EL James (Fifty Shades of...)

Followers, Friends and Book Sales

Evening folks,

So it's been an interesting few days. My push to increase my social networking presence is going well. I now have about 800 Twitter followers and just shy of 300 friends on Facebook.

Most of these folk seem to be like minded i.e. authors with books to promote and opinions on all aspects of writing. After a few days of actively seeking new people the growth seems to be starting to feed itself as my networks are growing without my input. The plan is to monitor and review to keep things on an upward trajectory.

Which leads me nicely to my next issue. How to translate this presence into book sales. It's all well and good being able to reach more people, but if they are largely like-minded, then I don't think it will lead to vastly increased sales. After all, while I have checked out a few of the recommendations I've received from my new friends, I am not about to buy all of the books available on my friends lists. So that begs the question, why would they buy mine?

I have no answer, but if and when I figure it out hopefully I can then build my sales.

In other news, Tiger Woods looked like he was in line to win his first major in four years only to have a shocking day yesterday. Sadly, his start today will have him longing for the golf he played yesterday. Meanwhile, Federer lost the final of the tennis to a bloke even older than him who hasn't won anything in three years. On the plus side, England have a good shout of progressing in the football.

I also went to the see the National Theatre Live screening of Frankenstein tonight. Brilliant. I ran into the ex-wife of a friend of mine at the bar. He left her the week after attending a BBQ at my house last summer. On the plus side she's looking pretty well but it was a bit awkward all round.

Anyway, I'd best crack on. Tonight's plan, some editing/revision of All the fun of the Fair which I plan to launch as a paperback in the next few weeks. I shall be relying on my vast new social network to spread the word far and wide.

As you were...