Do you think book signings help sales?

Evening folks,

Quick one tonight, football on Tele.

Given that Alexander McCall Smith did a low key book signing in Lancaster last week that went unpromoted and largely unattended, then I suppose the answer is I don't know.

But I'm doing one anyway!!

Me and awesome fellow local author Frion Farrell will be standing shoulder to shoulder to shift copies of our books. It will be on 29th March in Morecambe, likely at the Headway Hotel. More details to follow as I make them up.

Bottom line, I want to shift some books. I'll see you there.

Note - bloody Liverpool are losing to the bottom team in the league!! Shocking. Nope, hang on, just equalised. Game on. If Liverpool fancy the title this year then they have to find a way to win this one. Nail biting stuff.

Also, despite life threatening weather warnings the wife, me and the dog walked to the shop for half an hour earlier to buy wine. It was savage. But my neighbour was out sorting his recycling in just a t-shirt. Hardcore.

And I've submitted one of my books to Nielson with a view that Waterstones will stock them going forward. Potentially huge!

Do positive comments help?

Evening gang,

I suppose the easy answer is... depends on the context.

In terms of my last post about depression, the black dog etc, positive comments don't help apparently. Telling someone to "man up" and that "it's a lovely day outside" can apparently make things worse so best avoid that shit then.

Apparently being more helpful and knowing when to get out of the way are high on the list of clever things to do. It's all about reading the signs.

Which leads me nicely into some shameless book promotion. I've had a number of positive comments about the new book which I am about to paste in below. These are from folk who have bought the book, read it or are reading it. The theme is essentially positive.

"Got it. I loved Jazz Café so I'm looking forward to this one!"
    
"Same here! One-clicked!
Good luck with the new release Jamie"

"Finished it... not too shabby at all :)"

"I'm loving the memories the book is kindling. I visit Ayr every year and I think I remember the hotel in Morcombe as well, it was covered in scaffolding about 6-7 yrs. ago when we had a break in a wee cottage at Over Kellet.
The story has really grabbed me, 20% in and looking forward to bedtime;@)"

"51% in and the plot thickens ;@). Another early night methinks"

So you see, folk are right into the new book, which I have linked to throughout this blog. There is also an opportunity to read the opening scene for free at the top of the page. In other news my copy of the paperback arrived today. The cover is superb if I do say so myself. Createspace never quite get the internal print to look exactly like a mass produced book but it's okay. Bit small but that was necessary to keep size and cost down. It's 400 pages of a job band over 95,000 words. Value for money!

Anyway, that's enough for today. Few ales and some Xbox before bed and then Liverpool v Arsenal tomorrow lunchtime to start the weekend. Proper top of the table clash. Every game a must win now.

Night
    

Are you living with a black dog?

Morning gang,

I've been reading a book called Living with a Black Dog lately. I won't bore you with details as to why though it perhaps doesn't take a genius of my calibre to work it out.

Anyway, it talks about symptoms of depression, techniques to deal, support for those with etc. Turns out when you start to learn a bit about it, half the people you work with and socialise with might well be depressed. It's a fine line it seems. Here I was thinking that because I drink a lot, am moody, don't sleep much and don't like my job I was just "arty". Perhaps that's not the case at all.

I'm no expert but apparently it was Churchill who coined the phrase 'black dog' in relation to mood disorder and there are now groups, books, societies all devoted to the study of living with the beast.

I make no bold claim to be suffering from anything other than a mild - severe malcontent with how my life has panned out to date. Some days I see that I've achieved lots, other days no amount of achievement will ever be enough. Most of the time I'm able to reason it away, sulk a bit and move on. A few ales usually helps. Writing books really helps. It's not rocket science. Fiction is just a long winded way to diary my thoughts. I can have the discussion I would not have in real life, win the battle I lost, right the wrong etc. And then I get to sell it to the public as a crime thriller.

I can't imagine, and I do try - hard, what it must be like to not be able to reason it away, to not simply jump on top of the black dog, thrash it with a stick and master it. But I'm going to try and learn. Folk are relying on me to do it. Important folk.

I usually have a plan, I tend to live my life with a series of ideas and plans. I have no plan for this, none that's worked so far anyway. The overall plan remains the same. Earn enough to do anything we want to do but have enough time to actually enjoy it. So far we've got about 50% of that sorted.

Anyway, I'm rambling. Bottom line is this. Some stuff you can't ignore, you can't fix with ale or by trying harder. Some stuff you just have to fix. The brave bit is acknowledging the issue and hoping your team roll into action to help you fix it. Well, issue acknowledged. We're rolling into action armed with good intentions and the kind of grim determination and refusal to roll over that Churchill tapped into when we still gave a damn about defending our shores.

How much promo is too much promo?

Evening gang,

I suppose the answer is I don't know. My goal for this new book is clear. I want it to hi the number 1 spot on Amazon, even if only for an hour. Plus I have the week off work. So, promo is the name of the game.

Keen observers will have noticed the addition of a new tab at the top of the home page. Cleverly titled Ballroom, Bars and Seawater Baths, the page links you to the opening scene of the new book which you can read for free. Lucky you.

The new book is in the top 35,000 for sales on Amazon after day one which is fine, but not what I'm after. Today's big news, though, is that the paperback is available for those of you who prefer as real book and have more cash than sense. Needless to say I've ordered a copy so it can sit on the shelf next to the other books I've written. Amazon have been a bit tight and didn't offer me free delivery so that's hardly going to help sales.

In other news, Chelsea beat Man City. Didn't see that coming. Could have scored a few more too. Title race not over yet by any means.

Also, the wife and I spent last night in the pub. On a Monday! Basically we forgot to take anything out of the freezer so pub tea it was. That turned into a few ales and a surprise visit up to the managers flat to look at his new kitten. All very exciting. The steak pie was bigger than usual too so the wife brought a few chunks home for the dog in a tub. We're good people.

So that's the scene. Sales of new book doing okay but tonight is going to be a bit of Tele, bit of Xbox and a few ales before we do it all again tomorrow. In that vein, sales links for new book below. You know what to do.

Ballroom, Bars and Seawater Baths US

Ballroom, Bars and Seawater Baths UK

Want to read the opening of my new book for free?

Of course you do. Here's a link.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1namYOMTpJiOVK1AFjKKOajLa86aolDlnDgHV5U5NoFo/edit?usp=sharing

If you like it, get yourself to Amazon and buy it. Meanwhile there's a launch event going on over at Facebook.

Do you want to read a new crime thriller set in Morecambe?

Evening gang.

Finally the new book is here. Ballroom, Bars and Seawater Baths officially launches on Monday 3rd February. It will be on Kindle first but the files are already being reviewed by Createspace so the paperback should be out this week too. Here's the blurb:

"It is eighteen months since the Midland Hotel burned to the ground. Now the 24 Hour Jazz Cafe stands in its place.
Owner Mitch Johnson is missing, leaving his oldest friend and business partner Rupert Watts to run their new venture.
A woman's purse is found by children playing on the beach. Then a man is brutally murdered in his bathroom. Newly promoted DS Jane Harper must connect the pieces to find a killer.
But when Harper learns that the purse belonged to the wife of the murdered man, and that the missing woman has run away with Mitch, Harper begins to wonder if her consulting detective might actually be the prime suspect.
This thrilling sequel to The 24 Hour Jazz Café pushes Mitch and Rupert to their very limits as they are exposed to a case far wider reaching than anything they have faced previously. Even detective Harper, usually in total control, is floundering as the clues lead nowhere and mistakes are made.
In the end, with Rupert in danger and a lack of options, it is Mitch who is willing to risk everything to see justice done."

I'm having a launch event on Monday over on Facebook if you fancy it. Expect enthusiastic, but poorly thought out promo, possibly involving a hastily put together giveaway of some sort as panic sets in.

Here's the exclusive bit. I have continually said that readers of this blog will get the chance to buy the book before anyone else. So here's what everyone else doesn't know.....

The book is already available to buy!! Follow this link and you can be the first to own a copy of Ballroom, Bars and Seawater Baths. If you get one, a review would be lovely as I'm aiming to grab the number 1 spot on Amazon with this book, at least for a little while.

Any other news for those not interested in the book launch? I went to the Merseyside Derby on Tuesday. Liverpool won 4-0 and despite feeling like death I had a great time. The dog is a bit under the weather but he's being brave and I had an awesome full English breakfast today, made by the wife. First time in years. But really, this post is all about the new book. Spread the word. I'm back.

Keeping up with your blog

Afternoon gang,

It's been a while. In fact I was pretty shocked to find out that it's been a month since I posted anything to this blog. Not good enough!

Before Christmas I was making bold predictions that my new book would be launched in time for the festive period. Well that didn't happen. The bottom line is I simply took Christmas off. I had time off work and just did... nothing. I stayed up late, drank ale, ate pizza, Xbox, Tele etc. But everything else went on the back burner.

It was nice too. We had a super Christmas and New Year and since then I've been back at work in a slightly new role which has been time consuming. Although not to the extent we thought it might be.

Anyway, I'm into the swing of 2014 now. The new book will be released very soon, promise, and I will be releasing more chunks of my next novel FEAR via Wattpad. I just won't be pushing myself quite as hard as I did last year.

So what plans are there for the new year? Well, we achieved all our goals for last year, aside from releasing the new book.

I started a new job, was good at it and so remain in the new job. We paid off a chunk of our mortgage with the extra money and also bought a second house as an investment. We bought a dog too. The wife started a Masters degree which we also paid for. So all in all last year was a vast success.

This year I will be releasing two books. That's a bit of a cheat because one of those is the one I was going to release before Christmas but there you go. The second will be FEAR. I will also begin writing the third book in the jazz café series (first two pages already done!).

Work - little bit trickier to predict as it's out of my control. But hopefully I'll get to stay in the job I'm doing. If so we'll be either buying another property or paying off more mortgage on the one we live in. We will also be buying a shiny new car. It will likely be German and go very fast.

Lastly, and this is very job dependent, we are going to aim to top six figures in terms of income. That last one is bold, and perhaps unrealistic but I'm motivated and full of ideas so we shall see.

Right, that's all for now. I've done a couple of hours writing today so I'm going to reward myself with a brew and some Xbox before I watch Liverpool roll over Aston Villa later.

Carry on...