Evening gang,
Lovely evening out, sun shining etc. Here at Hest Bank Towers the sunset is always spectacular, probably why the houses cost so much. Still, keeps the riff raff out. Except for the wife and I of course!
Anyway, this is another instalment in my occasional series regarding my brushes with literary success. Last time you might recall I had just signed a contract with the Sheil Land Agency. This was in 2001.
My agent Vivien, sent Playground Cool to Kate Elton at Random House because I'd met her previously through university. On the 29th May 2001 I received the following letter.
"Oh dear, our first rejection. I didn't have a problem with Kate continuing to go back to Dave but obviously Kate did."
This is a reference to a relationship in the book which is dragged out because neither party can let it go. The letter goes on.
"...We will now get two copies out there. I'm getting one off to Diana Beaumont at Transworld and the other to Marion Donaldson at Headline.
Don't let it get you down. We all know this is a very crowded marketplace at the moment. Let's just keep at it, me with this one and you with your second book whilst I'm at it."
And there it is. My first rejection from a publisher. I don't recall how I felt, it's too long ago but I imagine I laughed it off because I really was not short on self belief. It took lots more rejections before I really felt miserable about it. In the end it got to the point where just the sight of the envelope on the mat made me feel like giving up, without even reading it. It knocks your confidence like nothing else I've experienced.
Interestingly, I was to have lots of interest from Transworld further down the line with another book but I'll tell you all about that another time.
Anyway, I've clearly stuck at it and although my sales aren't life changing the reviews are always good and it's a great feeling to know I've sold books all over the world. Just yesterday I sold a copy in Germany!
Right, that's it for now. In other news new inquests into the death of the 96 fans lost at Hillsborough will take place early next year. This in the same week that Luis Suarez receives a 10 game ban for sinking his fairly impressive teeth into the arm of a Chelsea player. Meanwhile Man Utd won their 20th league title on Monday night. Sometimes the glory days seem a long way away. But when they return nobody will be able to accuse me of being a fair weather supporter.
Showing posts with label literary agent. Show all posts
Showing posts with label literary agent. Show all posts
Thursday, 25 April 2013
Sunday, 31 March 2013
I've got an agent!
Or at least I did in 2001.
Evening gang.
So, to carry on my recent theme of thrilling you all with my literary adventures, let's pop back to 2001 again.
We had established that I received interest in Playground Cool from two agencies. I can only assume that Sheil Land responded quicker or with more enthusiasm. I received a letter from them on April 20th thanking me for the manuscript and asking more about me.
By April 24th I received a two page letter. Here are some highlights:
"I'm glad you're a fella because I think there are just too many women writers out there writing this sort of book."
"Because it is an overcrowded marketplace I can honestly only think of about five or six realistic places."
Then there are a couple of editorial advice type paragraphs suggesting tweaks and then the agent, Vivien Green, asked how I knew Kate Elton. The answer was I didn't but I had met her once via Sophie Hannah at university. She was, from memory, an editor at Arrow books so Vivien suggested approaching her as an option. Made sense to play on the link I suppose.
I must have made the necessary changes because by May 9th to say she liked the changes and that the book works well. More highlights:
"...there are a mass of contemporary living books out there and whilst I do think yours is very good for a first novel it isn't SO very different from all the others,"
"I'm selling books from £1500 to six figures. To be brutally honest I don't think yours will be at the latter end of that scale. It isn't that there is something wrong with yours it's just that there is a mass out there."
She then describes her strategy which includes saying "I genuinely enjoyed it and that you are a good writer and that this is hopefully the first of many and that both Sophie Hannah and Michael Schmidt think you are talented and promotable."
She enclosed the contract for signature and that was it. I had an agent for my first book, at the first attempt and I thought I was amazing. Next time we'll cover the rejections...
Evening gang.
So, to carry on my recent theme of thrilling you all with my literary adventures, let's pop back to 2001 again.
We had established that I received interest in Playground Cool from two agencies. I can only assume that Sheil Land responded quicker or with more enthusiasm. I received a letter from them on April 20th thanking me for the manuscript and asking more about me.
By April 24th I received a two page letter. Here are some highlights:
"I'm glad you're a fella because I think there are just too many women writers out there writing this sort of book."
"Because it is an overcrowded marketplace I can honestly only think of about five or six realistic places."
Then there are a couple of editorial advice type paragraphs suggesting tweaks and then the agent, Vivien Green, asked how I knew Kate Elton. The answer was I didn't but I had met her once via Sophie Hannah at university. She was, from memory, an editor at Arrow books so Vivien suggested approaching her as an option. Made sense to play on the link I suppose.
I must have made the necessary changes because by May 9th to say she liked the changes and that the book works well. More highlights:
"...there are a mass of contemporary living books out there and whilst I do think yours is very good for a first novel it isn't SO very different from all the others,"
"I'm selling books from £1500 to six figures. To be brutally honest I don't think yours will be at the latter end of that scale. It isn't that there is something wrong with yours it's just that there is a mass out there."
She then describes her strategy which includes saying "I genuinely enjoyed it and that you are a good writer and that this is hopefully the first of many and that both Sophie Hannah and Michael Schmidt think you are talented and promotable."
She enclosed the contract for signature and that was it. I had an agent for my first book, at the first attempt and I thought I was amazing. Next time we'll cover the rejections...
Thursday, 28 March 2013
How close have you come to achieving your dream?
Evening gang,
This is going to a slightly different blog post. It might even end up being a bit of a series. Here at Sinclair Towers we've been decorating and moving things round. I found a pile of old rejection letters amongst the crap. But I also found several letters proclaiming interest in my books and my letters from the Sheil Land Agency where they agreed to represent me.
Reading these made me realise how close I came to a totally different path. Had just one of these letters led to a publishing deal then the following ten or eleven years might have been very different.
So let's jump back to the beginning, almost. In April 2001 I was about to graduate with an MA in Creative Writing from Manchester. I had written my first novel, Playground Cool, and I was utterly convinced a book deal was mine to have. I was 24.
I remember asking Sophie Hannah, now a very well respected crime writer, how to approach agents. I sent off a few letters and some extracts of the book. Straight off the bat I received a letter from Viven Green at Sheil Land.
"Thank you very much for the chance of reading your sample material. I'd be very happy to read the rest of it if you'd like to send it in with return postage - just in case"
That was April 11th. I was over the moon. Then on April 17th I got another letter from Sarah Molloy at the AM Heath agency.
"Thank you for letting me read the opening chapters of Playground Cool. I'd be happy to read the rest of the typescript and look forward to reading the rest of the material in due course"
Short, to the point, interested in my book. It only fuelled my youthful arrogance. Two agents interested in a week and everyone at the university in Manchester was telling me my book was great. After all I'd just got an MA for writing it.
I'll tell you what happened next in another post.
But it was all good, at least at first!
This is going to a slightly different blog post. It might even end up being a bit of a series. Here at Sinclair Towers we've been decorating and moving things round. I found a pile of old rejection letters amongst the crap. But I also found several letters proclaiming interest in my books and my letters from the Sheil Land Agency where they agreed to represent me.
Reading these made me realise how close I came to a totally different path. Had just one of these letters led to a publishing deal then the following ten or eleven years might have been very different.
So let's jump back to the beginning, almost. In April 2001 I was about to graduate with an MA in Creative Writing from Manchester. I had written my first novel, Playground Cool, and I was utterly convinced a book deal was mine to have. I was 24.
I remember asking Sophie Hannah, now a very well respected crime writer, how to approach agents. I sent off a few letters and some extracts of the book. Straight off the bat I received a letter from Viven Green at Sheil Land.
"Thank you very much for the chance of reading your sample material. I'd be very happy to read the rest of it if you'd like to send it in with return postage - just in case"
That was April 11th. I was over the moon. Then on April 17th I got another letter from Sarah Molloy at the AM Heath agency.
"Thank you for letting me read the opening chapters of Playground Cool. I'd be happy to read the rest of the typescript and look forward to reading the rest of the material in due course"
Short, to the point, interested in my book. It only fuelled my youthful arrogance. Two agents interested in a week and everyone at the university in Manchester was telling me my book was great. After all I'd just got an MA for writing it.
I'll tell you what happened next in another post.
But it was all good, at least at first!
Thursday, 12 July 2012
It was always going to end in rejection
Evening gang,
I'm going to open with a positive. I've written just over 20,000 words of the new Mitch and Rupert novel! This week I've managed to tap out a few words at work because I've been in a different, very quiet, office. It took a bit of effort to get back into the story but it's all good now. I've added a prologue to kick start the action. As ever I'm writing in a pretty visual way for when the series is picked up to be a film or on tele (let me dream!!!) and the opening scene is pretty shocking, not so much because it's a bit violent, but because of the way the violence happens. You'll learn more when it's finished!
And now the negative. Regular readers will recall I sent a submission to Simon Trewin in the middle of June. I was pretty cross with myself for doing it as I know that rejection is the most likely outcome. So it was no surprise when I received an email from Mr Trewin's office politely declining my efforts. I won't bore you with the details, a no is a no however you dress it up. I was miffed at first but then realised I had lost nothing and I've been there before.
And now more positives to finish. I've got 1200 Twitter followers, thanks to all of them (a few more retweets of my promo stuff would be nice) and over 300 FB friends so my network is growing nicely. I've also sold a few copies of my Christmas short story which I find amazing given that it's July (much appreciated though). Finally, it's the 50th anniversary of the worlds greatest rock and band. If you need me to point out who, then really, what have you been doing all this time? There's talk of a tour next year and I might, just might, have a sniff of a box seat to see them at Madison Sqaure Garden in the Big Apple.
Night...
I'm going to open with a positive. I've written just over 20,000 words of the new Mitch and Rupert novel! This week I've managed to tap out a few words at work because I've been in a different, very quiet, office. It took a bit of effort to get back into the story but it's all good now. I've added a prologue to kick start the action. As ever I'm writing in a pretty visual way for when the series is picked up to be a film or on tele (let me dream!!!) and the opening scene is pretty shocking, not so much because it's a bit violent, but because of the way the violence happens. You'll learn more when it's finished!
And now the negative. Regular readers will recall I sent a submission to Simon Trewin in the middle of June. I was pretty cross with myself for doing it as I know that rejection is the most likely outcome. So it was no surprise when I received an email from Mr Trewin's office politely declining my efforts. I won't bore you with the details, a no is a no however you dress it up. I was miffed at first but then realised I had lost nothing and I've been there before.
And now more positives to finish. I've got 1200 Twitter followers, thanks to all of them (a few more retweets of my promo stuff would be nice) and over 300 FB friends so my network is growing nicely. I've also sold a few copies of my Christmas short story which I find amazing given that it's July (much appreciated though). Finally, it's the 50th anniversary of the worlds greatest rock and band. If you need me to point out who, then really, what have you been doing all this time? There's talk of a tour next year and I might, just might, have a sniff of a box seat to see them at Madison Sqaure Garden in the Big Apple.
Night...
Sunday, 8 July 2012
Another agent submission
Morning gang,
I've only gone and done it again. Fresh from submitting a chunk of the Jazz Cafe to Simon Trewin in mid June, last night I sent the same package to Carole Blake at Blake Friedmann.
Twitter is once again responsible. I found Carole via Simon's follower list and, of course, recognised her name from past rejections and because her agency is a big one. So I followed her on Twitter and she's pretty prolific. I then found myself repsonding to a tweet and, shocker, she replied. Nothing major, just a comment on something someone else had said. I replied to that and she replied again.
That started me thinking I might as well send something in and, after pondering it all day yesterday I finally sent off the submission last night via email. Then I went to bed...
I awoke this morning to a read receipt from Carole at about 8:30. I know I know, it is likely either an automatic response or one of the staff, either way it's keen to get a response on a Sunday. Of course, much like the submission I sent to Simon Trewin, I will now think about little else for the next fortnight. Hopefully this will be the last time I submit because I always feel miserable afterwards.
Right, I'm writing for a couple of hours before the Wimbledon final. I suspect this one might have the highest viewing figures since the early 80's when Borg was about. Murray vs Federer. History made either way. Readers of this blog know who I want to win but I hope it's a classic.
I've only gone and done it again. Fresh from submitting a chunk of the Jazz Cafe to Simon Trewin in mid June, last night I sent the same package to Carole Blake at Blake Friedmann.
Twitter is once again responsible. I found Carole via Simon's follower list and, of course, recognised her name from past rejections and because her agency is a big one. So I followed her on Twitter and she's pretty prolific. I then found myself repsonding to a tweet and, shocker, she replied. Nothing major, just a comment on something someone else had said. I replied to that and she replied again.
That started me thinking I might as well send something in and, after pondering it all day yesterday I finally sent off the submission last night via email. Then I went to bed...
I awoke this morning to a read receipt from Carole at about 8:30. I know I know, it is likely either an automatic response or one of the staff, either way it's keen to get a response on a Sunday. Of course, much like the submission I sent to Simon Trewin, I will now think about little else for the next fortnight. Hopefully this will be the last time I submit because I always feel miserable afterwards.
Right, I'm writing for a couple of hours before the Wimbledon final. I suspect this one might have the highest viewing figures since the early 80's when Borg was about. Murray vs Federer. History made either way. Readers of this blog know who I want to win but I hope it's a classic.
Sunday, 27 May 2012
Agent rejection
Morning folks,
As the title suggests I'm still banging my head against the rejection wall. I received an email from Jo Hayes at the Bell Lomax Moreton Agency which said:
"Thanks for sending us a sample of your book to review. After extensive consideration, we do not feel that we are the right agency to represent your proposed material."
Experience tells me that the consideration was most likely anything but extensive and that the "we" referred to is in fact the minimum wage Reader they employ to sift the slush pile. Still, been there before.
I have to admit when the email landed yesterday I was surprised as I have no memory of submitting anything to this agency. Mind you, my email to them is dated 18th March so it's no wonder I don't recall.
Anyway, no harm done. In other news me and the wife are a bit pink from the sun and the decorating has past the halfway stage.
Night...
As the title suggests I'm still banging my head against the rejection wall. I received an email from Jo Hayes at the Bell Lomax Moreton Agency which said:
"Thanks for sending us a sample of your book to review. After extensive consideration, we do not feel that we are the right agency to represent your proposed material."
Experience tells me that the consideration was most likely anything but extensive and that the "we" referred to is in fact the minimum wage Reader they employ to sift the slush pile. Still, been there before.
I have to admit when the email landed yesterday I was surprised as I have no memory of submitting anything to this agency. Mind you, my email to them is dated 18th March so it's no wonder I don't recall.
Anyway, no harm done. In other news me and the wife are a bit pink from the sun and the decorating has past the halfway stage.
Night...
Wednesday, 11 April 2012
Agent rejection
Afternoon gang,
Just a quick update. Some time ago I sent out a few extracts to agents for The 24 Hour Jazz Cafe. I forget when but it's a good couple of months.
Anyway, today the post lady brought me the rejection from my chums at Aitken Alexander Associates. It was a standard letter aside from one handwritten line at the bottom:
"Is an interesting story, so don't give up".
Apparently not interesting enough to add to their lists though. Still, no harm done. As ever we move on to the next thing, which is to make more of my back catalogue available via Kindle. More news on that as it happens.
Just a quick update. Some time ago I sent out a few extracts to agents for The 24 Hour Jazz Cafe. I forget when but it's a good couple of months.
Anyway, today the post lady brought me the rejection from my chums at Aitken Alexander Associates. It was a standard letter aside from one handwritten line at the bottom:
"Is an interesting story, so don't give up".
Apparently not interesting enough to add to their lists though. Still, no harm done. As ever we move on to the next thing, which is to make more of my back catalogue available via Kindle. More news on that as it happens.
Tuesday, 20 March 2012
Network blogs and Amazon tags
Evening dear reader,
Today's big news is that I've changed my Twitter profile pic to be the cover of my latest book All the fun of the Fair. Will it help sales? Unlikely. But it looks good.
Also, I've joined Networked Blogs and as such now have five followers for this blog! Hello followers!! Welcome aboard. Spread the word.
I'm also making a bit more effort on Kindleboards which has resulted in a sharp increase in the number of 'likes' and clicks on my book tags on Amazon which can be no bad thing, although it has yet to led to an increase in sales.
With that in mind I've sold just shy of sixty copies so far this month which is great by my own standards. I have also written 2500 words of the second in my crime thriller series.
Crikey, I nearly forgot. In a fit of drunken ambition last night I submitted an extract of The 24 Hour Jazz Cafe to a couple of agents. I won't name them in case they read this and feel obliged to represent me (HA!) but based on past experience I'm not holding my breath.
Until next time...
Today's big news is that I've changed my Twitter profile pic to be the cover of my latest book All the fun of the Fair. Will it help sales? Unlikely. But it looks good.
Also, I've joined Networked Blogs and as such now have five followers for this blog! Hello followers!! Welcome aboard. Spread the word.
I'm also making a bit more effort on Kindleboards which has resulted in a sharp increase in the number of 'likes' and clicks on my book tags on Amazon which can be no bad thing, although it has yet to led to an increase in sales.
With that in mind I've sold just shy of sixty copies so far this month which is great by my own standards. I have also written 2500 words of the second in my crime thriller series.
Crikey, I nearly forgot. In a fit of drunken ambition last night I submitted an extract of The 24 Hour Jazz Cafe to a couple of agents. I won't name them in case they read this and feel obliged to represent me (HA!) but based on past experience I'm not holding my breath.
Until next time...
Saturday, 11 February 2012
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.
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.
Friday, 3 February 2012
More rejection and a bit of promo
Evening troops,
Thanks to an overkeen spam filter I have only just spotted an email from Lisa Graves (from the 23rd of January!!) saying that my novel Playground Cool is featured on her blog. It would have been a great time to actively promote the link (and it still is worth doing) but I'm annoyed I didn't get the email.
Anyway, the link to Lisa's awesome blog is here. If you scroll down you'll find my book with a link to Amazon to help you buy a copy. Hurrah.
One small negative, today I recieved an email from the Darley Anderson Agency very politely telling me they did not want to represent The 24 Hour Jazz Cafe. Ho hum! It's a long way from being the first and it certainly won't be the last.
In other news I have noticed a small increase in sales today. I generally average about one a day if I don't do any promo, which I haven't since the 21st of January as I've been editing another of my books. Today however I sold six which more than makes up for the agency rejection.
I'm hoping to launch All the Fun of the Fair on Kindle this month so I'll be on the promo trail big time. Keep your eyes peeled because there will an extract posted on this blog, as well as on You Write On where members can comment and review it.
Right, I've had a long week and it's late. So I'm going to drink some beer, play some Xbox and then perhaps a bedtime gin.
Thanks to an overkeen spam filter I have only just spotted an email from Lisa Graves (from the 23rd of January!!) saying that my novel Playground Cool is featured on her blog. It would have been a great time to actively promote the link (and it still is worth doing) but I'm annoyed I didn't get the email.
Anyway, the link to Lisa's awesome blog is here. If you scroll down you'll find my book with a link to Amazon to help you buy a copy. Hurrah.
One small negative, today I recieved an email from the Darley Anderson Agency very politely telling me they did not want to represent The 24 Hour Jazz Cafe. Ho hum! It's a long way from being the first and it certainly won't be the last.
In other news I have noticed a small increase in sales today. I generally average about one a day if I don't do any promo, which I haven't since the 21st of January as I've been editing another of my books. Today however I sold six which more than makes up for the agency rejection.
I'm hoping to launch All the Fun of the Fair on Kindle this month so I'll be on the promo trail big time. Keep your eyes peeled because there will an extract posted on this blog, as well as on You Write On where members can comment and review it.
Right, I've had a long week and it's late. So I'm going to drink some beer, play some Xbox and then perhaps a bedtime gin.
Monday, 30 January 2012
Further Agent Rejection
Morning folks,
Quick coffee break update as I'm at work.
Literally just had an email from The Ampersand Agency who very politely rejected the chance to represent me and my book The 24 Hour Jazz Cafe.
Still, that's only two so far, and I've only sent out four so we remain positive. Worst case scenario, I publish it myself on Kindle. Hurrah.
Dare to believe!
Quick coffee break update as I'm at work.
Literally just had an email from The Ampersand Agency who very politely rejected the chance to represent me and my book The 24 Hour Jazz Cafe.
Still, that's only two so far, and I've only sent out four so we remain positive. Worst case scenario, I publish it myself on Kindle. Hurrah.
Dare to believe!
Sunday, 29 January 2012
Rejection from Agent
Morning folks,
Just a quick update because I'm keeping one eye on the final of the Australian Open tennis. Sadly, as you will know if you've read my bio, I'm a Federer fan but, as ever, he was beaten by Nadal.
Anyway, further to previous posts I sent out a little excerpt of The Jazz Cafe to four agents, as much to test the quality of my letter and synopsis as anything else. So far I've had a read receipt from Camilla Wray at Darley Anderson and a rejection from Diane Banks, which was all depressingly familiar.
Still, Camilla has yet to reject me and I'm still waiting to hear from Bang about my submission to them. I plan on chasing them up within the next couple of weeks to see if there's any news.
In other news, editing of the next novel from the back catalogue is going well and I now hope to launch it as an e-book sometime in Mid February.
Until later...
Just a quick update because I'm keeping one eye on the final of the Australian Open tennis. Sadly, as you will know if you've read my bio, I'm a Federer fan but, as ever, he was beaten by Nadal.
Anyway, further to previous posts I sent out a little excerpt of The Jazz Cafe to four agents, as much to test the quality of my letter and synopsis as anything else. So far I've had a read receipt from Camilla Wray at Darley Anderson and a rejection from Diane Banks, which was all depressingly familiar.
Still, Camilla has yet to reject me and I'm still waiting to hear from Bang about my submission to them. I plan on chasing them up within the next couple of weeks to see if there's any news.
In other news, editing of the next novel from the back catalogue is going well and I now hope to launch it as an e-book sometime in Mid February.
Until later...
Thursday, 12 January 2012
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...
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...
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