Adventures in advertising

Afternoon folks,

I've been making actual effort this afternoon.

Since I began my little adventure into Indie Publishing I've continually said the goal was to make enough money to enable me to write full time. So far that hasn't happened and, as I earn more at work, it becomes less likely.

But every now and again I have a word with myself, just a quiet reminder of the long term goal, my reason for being if you will.

With that in mind I've finally done something about it. I've danced around using paid advertising for months and today I finally took the plunge. It's nothing major but it's a start. I've bought $100 of pay per click adverts on Goodreads. The idea being I can create as many ads as I like for my campaign, target them to specific groups within Goodreads membership and see what happens.

The risk is that people will see my adverts and click on them only to not purchase the book. Either way I pay for the click. The goal for this first campaign is merely to break even, or as close as I can get. If I make a profit, bonus.

I'm at home for the duration of the campaign so I can monitor it. I am also able to tweak the ads in real time so if one seems to be working better than another I can adjust. Worst case scenario I've wasted $100 which is less than £65 in real money. Not the end of the world.

However at least I can I've tried. The campaign is only for The 24 Hour Jazz Cafe but if sales increase I'll try the same thing for every book. I also have another site lined up which works on a subscription basis. It's more expensive but again, the potential is there. We shall see.

In other news I have also submitted The Trust to our chums at Smashwords. What does this mean? Well, in a few days The Trust will be available in all formats i.e. Sony EReader, Kobo, Apple, Barnes and Noble, as well as Kindle and paperback. So there will be no excuse.

I'll keep you posted on the adverts.

Now I might have a quick snooze before tea.

Tired of the Olympics? Try a free book!

Afternoon all.
Obviously you're not tired of the Olympics, they're awesome. Plus Team GB started winning golds today thanks to the women rowers and Bradley 'Wiggo' Wiggins.

But if you fancy losing yourself in a 5* rated crime thriller for a few hours you can download my book The 24 Hour Jazz Cafe for free from Smashwords. That's right, any format you like for nothing.

You'll need to register with the site and then use code SW52C at the checkout.

Here's the blurb: The book begins with Mitch Johnson returning to his home town where he tells his lifelong friend, Rupert Watts, that a young woman is going to be murdered. Mitch thinks that the killing will mirror that of a schoolgirl fifteen years earlier, a crime Mitch himself was suspected of committing.
With no idea when the murder will take place, or who the victim is, the friends endeavour to find the girl before she comes to harm. But they must also contend with Don Hague, a senior councillor and central figure in the dark underbelly of the town who holds Mitch responsible for the ruin of his career and his reputation in the town. The police are watching Mitch, and they are also watching Don Hague.
Who is the girl Mitch is convinced will die? How is her death linked to the schoolgirl murder? Is Don Hague, or his associates, involved? Can Mitch and Rupert convince the police to take them seriously before it’s too late to save a girl’s life?              

So to recap. Go to Smashwords, search for Jamie Sinclair, click on The 24 Hour Jazz Cafe, and use code SW52C at the checkout and it's yours on your Kindle, Sony ereader, Ipad, anything you like.

Enjoy.

London 2012 and pink grapefruit

Afternoon everyone,

So then, how good was the opening ceremony then? Apparently 26.5 million folk stayed up to watch here in the UK. The wife and I sat pretty much mesmerised by the whole thing. I can only imagine Danny Boyle and his team will receive some sort of mention in the Queen's next honours list.

It seems that our American chums struggled to see the opening of the largest sporting event on the planet owing to NBC not showing it live. I don't know details only what I've seen on Twitter etc, but a lot of people seemed pretty unhappy that it wasnt being shown live. If it wasn't, it begs the question, what's more important than showing the opening ceremony of the Olympics?

I'm established on the couch today for a full day of olympic viewing - I am going out tonight though. Outdoor showing of Woman in Black in a local park. Hope it stays dry.

The BBC have pulled out all the stops with the coverage. They've got a fancy menu TV guide thingy where you can just click on the sport you want to watch and away you go. Epic.

The other bonus was that I discovered a tin of grapefruit in the cupboard so that became a late breakfast.

Since this is a writing blog I'd best mention the books. I've written 30,500 words of the new book so I'm still on course to have it published this year along with another from the back catalogue. My existing books are also still available on Kindle, Createspace, Smashwords, Kobo, Apple Ibook, Sony Ereader, Bibliocracy and doubtless a few more. They're all priced to sell too, except the paperbacks which are vastly over priced but look superb on a shelf.

Oh, one last thing. An associate of mine went to the local library yesterday and asked if they could order in a copy of one of my books. He was, I believe, armed with the necessary ISBN info. From what I can gather they seemed to suspect that he was, in fact, me trying to abuse the library and use them as some sort of self-promotion tool. I have to admit to being a bit miffed. After all, I thought libraries would order in pretty much any book if a customer asked for it. Add to that the fact that I'm local and it's win win all round. If I end up selling millions all of a sudden they'd have "local author" posters all over the bloody place to drag people in. Poor form!!

Now stop reading this and watch some Olympics!

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...)

My books. All formats. Right now.

That's right kids, we're taking things up a notch. As of tonight all four of my books are available in every available format. As such you are bang out of excuses not to buy a copy. If you can't be bothered to read anymore and just want to dive in then click HERE, select the book you like buy it in the format of your choice. You can even have a 20% sample for free to see see if you like the book.

Got a Kobo or a Nook? Buy my book.
Ipad? Got it covered.
Sony Reader? Dive in

I know, it's all a bit overwhelming so let's take a breath and just see where we're up to. Since November last year I've been publishing my books via Amazon and it's been far more successful than I'd dared hope. But of course I was always aware that there were other games in town, especially in America. As of tonight I have published my books via Smashwords so if you dash over to their website and search for me, or my books, you can buy them in any format you like, including PDF, Text file, as well as all the fancy ebook options. The price is the same regardless of format so nobody is gaining or losing anything by having one reader or another.

But it gets better. Smashwords also distribute to all the major retailers. What does this mean I hear you all cry? It means that within the next few weeks my books will appear on websites like Barnes and Noble (very big player in the US), the Diesel Bookstore, Baker & Taylor, as well as Apple's Ibook store. So all of a sudden I'll be everywhere. Exciting times.

Of course it means I'll have to get a bit more creative with my promo which currently is pretty pathetic. I'll need to promote myself on sites specific to each format, find forums which deal with formats other than Kindle. It'll be a challenge but there's no downside to being seen more.

So that's it. I'd best get back to writing the next book. As ever there links throughout the text but since this is a new venture I'll include some specific links at the bottom to get you started.

If you click HERE you'll see my books on Smashwords. Click on the one you like, read a bit of blurb. Scroll down and there's a list of every available format. Just click your choice and away you go. The really cool bit? You can download a 20% sample for FREE to see if you like the book.

Free Short Story!!

Evening folks,

As of now my short story, The Storyteller, is available as a free download until the 4th of February. To get it trot to Smashwords and enter this code at the checkout:

GZ24V

If you like it please leave a review and spread the word.

Thanks

Christmas Short Story Out Now!

Evening everyone,

It's been a quick, but very busy week and I'm shattered. But, hot on the heels of my debut novel, which has already sold more than I feared it might, my festive short story is now available. The Storyteller - A Ghostly Tale for Christmas, is out now on Kindle.

It is also available via Smashwords and should be available on Sony E-Reader, WH Smiths Kobo, Barnes & Noble and pretty much every other format within the next week.

It's priced less than a quid and would make the perfect gift what with it being set on Christmas Eve. Plus it's suitably magical too and will hopefully leave you with a warm glow similar to drinking a single malt in front of a roaring log fire while stroking the head of your beloved hound. Or not.

Either way, I hope you like it.