Afternoon folks,
Morecambe. Crime thriller. Romantic saga.
You might have noticed, if you're a regular reader, that the name of the blog has changed. And the description too. Why?
Well, as part of my ongoing efforts to drive traffic to this blog and, ultimately, to drive sales of my books, I am trying to embrace the idea of Search Engine Optimisation. Like most folk, I'm aware it exists but I don't have a great understanding of it. But I've been doing some reading and have decided to give it a go.
The idea seems to be to mention certain keywords regularly throughout blog posts which are then picked up by search engines. These need to be words that are likely to be searched for so there's no point picking something random like Handbag Clasp. So, for this post I'm trying Morecambe because it's where two of my books are set and Crime Thriller, because it's the biggest selling genre of fiction.
Apparently the trick is also to reference old blog posts too, with a view that you drive traffic to yourself. I haven't grasped that yet but I'll persevere. The plan is to keep an eye on my traffic stats for a month and see if there's been an impact and review after that.
So, to recap. My book The 24 Hour Jazz Cafe is a CRIME THRILLER set in MORECAMBE and has received fantastic reviews. My book All the fun of the Fair is a ROMANTIC SAGA and is also set in MORECAMBE. Too subtle? We shall see.
Saturday, 21 July 2012
Friday, 20 July 2012
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...)
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...)
Monday, 16 July 2012
Royalty payments and Federer
Morning folks,
I'll be really quick tonight because I'm writing and it's going well. Tonight's goal is to clear 21,000 words of the new book and leave it in a place to hit the ground running tomorrow. That's key because it's a Monday and I'm at my most tired and grumpy on a Monday. Why? Because I always stay up late on Sunday writing, drinking beer and blogging.
Anyway, as regular readers will know my existing books are now available in all formats via Smashwords. I've sold a couple already and here's what I noticed. The royalty percentage is 77.5%. Why is this interesting? Because Amazon's best offer is 70%. Don't get me wrong, I'm really, really happy with everything Amazon do for Indie authors. But they do make a big deal of their percentage and, if you want the most flexibilty, their 35% offer is the best and the one I use. On a 99p Indie book that's not going to make you rich.
Anyway, I don't know why or how Smashwords offer more but I'm glad they do. Obviously when they sell via retailers the royalty is far less because the retailer takes a cut, then Smashwords take a cut from that. But direct sales via Smashwords are impressive from a royalty point of view and I'm surprised they don't make more of it in their advertising.
Of course, I only benefit from this if you go and buy my books so crack on.
Oh by the way, the Federer reference in the title? I was reading about him on the BBC website. I never get bored of him. Obviously I mean his tennis, I don't know the man. But good grief, even though he's past his dominant prime, when he manages to conjure up the magic like he did at the recent Wimbledon final it's mesmerising. It's nearer to art than sport, but then all great sport is in my opinion. Ali at his best? Woods when he used to win just by turning up? Federer on grass.
Anyway I'm rambling. In short. Buy my books. Watch tennis. Night.
I'll be really quick tonight because I'm writing and it's going well. Tonight's goal is to clear 21,000 words of the new book and leave it in a place to hit the ground running tomorrow. That's key because it's a Monday and I'm at my most tired and grumpy on a Monday. Why? Because I always stay up late on Sunday writing, drinking beer and blogging.
Anyway, as regular readers will know my existing books are now available in all formats via Smashwords. I've sold a couple already and here's what I noticed. The royalty percentage is 77.5%. Why is this interesting? Because Amazon's best offer is 70%. Don't get me wrong, I'm really, really happy with everything Amazon do for Indie authors. But they do make a big deal of their percentage and, if you want the most flexibilty, their 35% offer is the best and the one I use. On a 99p Indie book that's not going to make you rich.
Anyway, I don't know why or how Smashwords offer more but I'm glad they do. Obviously when they sell via retailers the royalty is far less because the retailer takes a cut, then Smashwords take a cut from that. But direct sales via Smashwords are impressive from a royalty point of view and I'm surprised they don't make more of it in their advertising.
Of course, I only benefit from this if you go and buy my books so crack on.
Oh by the way, the Federer reference in the title? I was reading about him on the BBC website. I never get bored of him. Obviously I mean his tennis, I don't know the man. But good grief, even though he's past his dominant prime, when he manages to conjure up the magic like he did at the recent Wimbledon final it's mesmerising. It's nearer to art than sport, but then all great sport is in my opinion. Ali at his best? Woods when he used to win just by turning up? Federer on grass.
Anyway I'm rambling. In short. Buy my books. Watch tennis. Night.
Sunday, 15 July 2012
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.
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.
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...
Tuesday, 10 July 2012
Making the most of Morecambe
Evening folks,
Just a quickie tonight. The wife's out so I'm going to indulge in some big screen film/xbox tom-foolery. But I will be recording Turn Back Time on BBC 1 as it's set in Morecambe and features several places featured in my books.
Speaking of which, I have recently acquired the Winter Gardens in Morecambe as a follower on Twitter. If you've got a spare million or ten, send them a donation. If they crack on and get it refurbished they could have The Rolling Stones do their 50th anniversary gigs there next year. Now wouldn't that be something to aim for!
Dreaming aside, here's a bit of Morecambe based book promo. You'll like this, it's clever.
Just a quickie tonight. The wife's out so I'm going to indulge in some big screen film/xbox tom-foolery. But I will be recording Turn Back Time on BBC 1 as it's set in Morecambe and features several places featured in my books.
Speaking of which, I have recently acquired the Winter Gardens in Morecambe as a follower on Twitter. If you've got a spare million or ten, send them a donation. If they crack on and get it refurbished they could have The Rolling Stones do their 50th anniversary gigs there next year. Now wouldn't that be something to aim for!
Dreaming aside, here's a bit of Morecambe based book promo. You'll like this, it's clever.
The photo above is the entrance to Happy Mount Park in Morecambe. Alfie, the central character in my book, All the fun of the Fair, is park keeper here. Also, the vile Lee Etchman runs the cafe and has an ice cream van in there too. He is obsessed with his young assistant Tania Streatham.
The park also features in my book The 24 Hour Jazz Cafe. The body of a schoolgirl is found at the back of the park by a dog walker.
So you see, while the work is fiction, the places featured in the books are quite real. You could even come to visit, perhaps use my books as a kind of guide to places of interest.
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.
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