Evening gang,
So let's open with something related to writing shall we? Sales are steady despite my utter lack of promo. My ad campaign has finished. Traffic figures were well in excess of 500,000!!! Sadly the click rate, and therefore the purchases made, were far lower. But that simply tells me I have to make my adverts better because the traffic is there.
The editing of the Jazz Café sequel is progressing. I know I keep saying that but I have a lot going on at the moment. I am managing to get some done each day though which I'm happy with. I've also been ploughing through the latest Stephen King - Joyland. I agree with reviews. It's not his best but then he does set the bar pretty high. It's a good story though, instantly recognisable as his style. The man weaves a story better than anybody I've ever read.
Ideas for the third instalment of the Jazz Café series are building nicely in my head. I just need to keep them there until I finish this book and then find time to start writing them down.
Despite being so busy I managed to find time to go to Anfield for the opening game of the season yesterday which, I'm sure you know, Liverpool won. Despite us setting off without tickets, having to meet a chap in a pub to get a utility bill off him for a third party we never met and then using that bill to get more tickets in the name of the unseen third party, it was a successful trip. We also managed to fall out with a local resident who took issue with us parking outside his house, despite us wielding a permit.
Anyway, it was a fun day out. We also went out for tea Friday and Saturday. Friends in Kendal Saturday. They've had an extension put on their house and very swank it is too.
Anyway, all that meant I didn't do as much writing as I might have otherwise but I've cracked on today at the expense of going to see my gran on her 87th birthday. Shocking! I'll go see her tomorrow assuming my boss hasn't damaged me. I've received an email requesting I ring her urgently in about 8 hours from now. Presumably that's not to discuss a promotion. Great way to start the week! I may as well be hungover for that.
Side projects? Well I have a job interview lined up for September. Not sure I want it but I'll happily trot along to see what happens. The house purchase is plodding along and could go either way. I'm after a last minute price reduction so I emailed my solicitor on Friday to have a word on my behalf. We shall see.
I've also got it into my head that I want to consider moving from HB Towers. The wife was aghast at the very idea. It won't happen. I'm going to view a house at the end of the week. I suspect that will get it out of my system. Unless I decide I really do want a 200 foot garden with mooring rights for a boat. Expensive. But the dog would love it! The downside? The wife might well leave me as it's one crazy thing too many (home cinema, pool table, new tele, buying a house, all things I've done without asking her first and all of those except the pool table happened this year!).
And so we come to the bit about the nice lady. I came out for lunch last week to find someone had driven into my wing mirror and damaged it. Boo! The plus side? A sticky note on the window with a name and number. I get a quote, ring the woman, she says she'll pay in full. I get it fixed, go to her house, she writes a cheque and was very sorry. All very civilised and all very surprising. But it made me feel better about the world, at least briefly.
Right, just time for a quick half hour on the novel before I let the dog out and then go to bed, then I'm fresh to chat to my boss about my failings. Wooo!
Monday, 19 August 2013
Sunday, 11 August 2013
Refuse to lose!
Evening gang,
Apologies for the title, sounds a bit 'positive thinking seminar'. But lately that's how I've been rolling.
I'm shattered but still making things happen. Most important I'm managing to keep progressing with the novel and it's getting good. Woo!
Work is also going well. As is the house purchase, as is life with the dog.
Speaking of which we had a dog behaviourist round today. 90 minutes of 1:1 focussed teaching. Miles better than some daft group class. Ralph loved it, we learned a bit, money well spent.
You recall I paid for advertising? Well, it's drawing to a close. My click percentage is about 0.04% which sounds low but still resulted in hundreds of views. Will I buy more? Not just yet. I need time to figure out how to transform more clicks into sales.
Finally a comment on athletes. Pre season football transfers are a shambles and it's the same each season. This year Rooney, Bale and Suarez dominate the news. They come across as mercenary, overpaid idiots without any loyalty to club, fan, shirt etc.
So thank God for Mo Farah. The British double Olympic champion from London today added world 10,000 metre gold to his CV. He's a proper sportsman, well paid yes, but he wins and we should all be proud of his efforts. Footballers could learn a lot from Mr Farah.
Right, bedtime. Buy my books. Night
Apologies for the title, sounds a bit 'positive thinking seminar'. But lately that's how I've been rolling.
I'm shattered but still making things happen. Most important I'm managing to keep progressing with the novel and it's getting good. Woo!
Work is also going well. As is the house purchase, as is life with the dog.
Speaking of which we had a dog behaviourist round today. 90 minutes of 1:1 focussed teaching. Miles better than some daft group class. Ralph loved it, we learned a bit, money well spent.
You recall I paid for advertising? Well, it's drawing to a close. My click percentage is about 0.04% which sounds low but still resulted in hundreds of views. Will I buy more? Not just yet. I need time to figure out how to transform more clicks into sales.
Finally a comment on athletes. Pre season football transfers are a shambles and it's the same each season. This year Rooney, Bale and Suarez dominate the news. They come across as mercenary, overpaid idiots without any loyalty to club, fan, shirt etc.
So thank God for Mo Farah. The British double Olympic champion from London today added world 10,000 metre gold to his CV. He's a proper sportsman, well paid yes, but he wins and we should all be proud of his efforts. Footballers could learn a lot from Mr Farah.
Right, bedtime. Buy my books. Night
Wednesday, 31 July 2013
How much is enough?
Kaboom! Don't worry gang I'm back. Wooooo!
Quick update. Ralph is awesome. But the wife and I have never been so tired. Working full time and looking after him is a genuine test. Most days we do okay. Some days not so much.
In other news I've upgraded the home cinema. We are now a 7.1 surround establishment and bloody good it sounds too.
We are also spending a few quid on the house, new door, replacing all the spindles top to bottom, which is nice.
I'm viewing another house tomorrow as part of the ongoing property empire project and I spent my first day in what may become my new office if the NHS decides it can afford my vast salary.
So with all that where are we with the writing career?
Well, I've yet to hear back from Jenny Brown associates about my recent submission but fingers remain crossed. I am also entering a competition being run by The Telegraph with Harvill Decker. That will be mid august I reckon and the closing date is the end of the month.
My ad campaign continues. The traffic is huge. Since the 21st June the ad has been viewed over 286,000 times!! This has resulted in a pretty meagre 98 clicks but as I've said before, it's a learning curve.
I've done zero promo this month owing to the stuff mentioned above but sales are good in the UK, crap elsewhere. I received a royalty from Smashwords today for US sales. Always nice to get paid from a non Amazon source as a reminder that there is a world beyond Kindle.
The new book? It's getting there. Editing is being crammed in around everything else but I'm pretty happy with the current draft.
Finally, a colleague who writes fantasy has just signed with a small US Indie publisher. She's rightly thrilled and when she has a launch date I'll be posting details here.
Right, half hours editing before bed. Tomorrow? Do it all again.
In answer to the question I posed in the title. For me, right now, nothing is enough. We're running at full speed, there's lots happening and I want to make the most of it while it lasts.
Sunday, 14 July 2013
Does a dog take over your life?
Evening gang,
The short answer is yes. Based on the first month of having Ralph the Pointer in my gang it's pretty much non stop.
Don't get me wrong. He's utterly fantastic. I'd gladly spend all day with him, writing books, going for walks etc. But working full time is making life very, very difficult. Which all adds weight to my recent posts about making a change. The wife and I have discussed many options, a luxury we have since we're not short of cash.
The ideal solution seems to be that one or both of us reduces our hours/reduces the numbers of days we work which would mean only a slight reduction in income but allow more time with the dog and allow us to keep on top of mundane things like house work, shopping etc, all of which are proving to be a challenge with the dog and working five days.
Either way we think it will be sorted by Christmas. I'm going to be in a different job by the end of the year, we just need to sort out the money side of things and then I'll know which job it's going to be. It's also looking promising on the property front too as I had an offer accepted last week. So if it all goes well I should exchange contracts in 4-6 weeks and then we can start developing it as a long term investment. All of which takes pressure off me to earn the amount I do now.
So what's the end goal? Obviously more time at home, more time with the hound. But of course that will equate to more time spent writing and that, as regular readers know, is the dream. We can't all be Robert Galbraith.
Quick update on the adverts I bought. Over 90,000!!!! views in less than 4 weeks. But sadly only about 35 clicks have resulted from all that traffic and only a couple of those have led to sales. But it's my first go so I'll stick at it. Clearly it's worth pursuing it so many people are seeing the advert.
Right that's it for tonight. The plan now is to watch either the second Alien film on Blu Ray or something random on Sky. Did I mention I've just bought two more speakers for the home cinema? They should be here this week and then I'll be offering 7.1 surround. I suspect it will be impressive.
Night folks.
The short answer is yes. Based on the first month of having Ralph the Pointer in my gang it's pretty much non stop.
Don't get me wrong. He's utterly fantastic. I'd gladly spend all day with him, writing books, going for walks etc. But working full time is making life very, very difficult. Which all adds weight to my recent posts about making a change. The wife and I have discussed many options, a luxury we have since we're not short of cash.
The ideal solution seems to be that one or both of us reduces our hours/reduces the numbers of days we work which would mean only a slight reduction in income but allow more time with the dog and allow us to keep on top of mundane things like house work, shopping etc, all of which are proving to be a challenge with the dog and working five days.
Either way we think it will be sorted by Christmas. I'm going to be in a different job by the end of the year, we just need to sort out the money side of things and then I'll know which job it's going to be. It's also looking promising on the property front too as I had an offer accepted last week. So if it all goes well I should exchange contracts in 4-6 weeks and then we can start developing it as a long term investment. All of which takes pressure off me to earn the amount I do now.
So what's the end goal? Obviously more time at home, more time with the hound. But of course that will equate to more time spent writing and that, as regular readers know, is the dream. We can't all be Robert Galbraith.
Quick update on the adverts I bought. Over 90,000!!!! views in less than 4 weeks. But sadly only about 35 clicks have resulted from all that traffic and only a couple of those have led to sales. But it's my first go so I'll stick at it. Clearly it's worth pursuing it so many people are seeing the advert.
Right that's it for tonight. The plan now is to watch either the second Alien film on Blu Ray or something random on Sky. Did I mention I've just bought two more speakers for the home cinema? They should be here this week and then I'll be offering 7.1 surround. I suspect it will be impressive.
Night folks.
Monday, 8 July 2013
Pay per click advertising - the story so far
Evening gang,
Cracking weather we're having isn't it? We had a full weekend in the garden, folk round, lunch outside, pub for tea, the whole nine yards. The British Lions battered the Australians, Andy Murray only went and won bloody Wimbledon and the Ashes starts in a few days. Life is good.
And then there's my ongoing pay per click advertising experiment on Goodreads. Regular readers will know I tweaked the wording a little and I am now getting clicks. But it's not translating into sales. Not the end of the world by any stretch because the advert traffic is vast but essentially I am paying for being seen rather than for sales.
It's a learning curve certainly and not a very expensive one. But it is something I want to crack because I think the sales potential is there.
In other news Ralph is growing rapidly and learning fast. He's a tiny bit off his game today because he tangled with an 8 month old boxer yesterday which knocked him around a bit in a playful way. But he wasn't scared which bodes well for when he's bigger.
The day job continues to twist and turn. It very much looks like I'm going to be slotted into the gang at HQ in sunny Blackpool if I want it. But the money isn't ideal compared to what I earn now so unless that gets sorted I might well find myself back in my old job and that is not a good thing. Made me shiver a bit just typing it. Anyway, time will tell.
The estate agent continues to be a pain about the house I'm trying to buy. Just accept my offer and let us get on with it!!! The bank are on board and, interestingly, the bank said this happens a lot. They are happy to lend but the agents make it hard yet the banks take all the stick. Again, we shall see but if it's not sorted this week I reckon I'll be looking elsewhere.
Right, that's it. Editing on the new novel continues, but slower than I'd like. It'll be worth waiting for though. About a hundred pages away from a draft and then I'll point the wife at it, assuming I can tear her away from the hound.
Carry on.
Cracking weather we're having isn't it? We had a full weekend in the garden, folk round, lunch outside, pub for tea, the whole nine yards. The British Lions battered the Australians, Andy Murray only went and won bloody Wimbledon and the Ashes starts in a few days. Life is good.
And then there's my ongoing pay per click advertising experiment on Goodreads. Regular readers will know I tweaked the wording a little and I am now getting clicks. But it's not translating into sales. Not the end of the world by any stretch because the advert traffic is vast but essentially I am paying for being seen rather than for sales.
It's a learning curve certainly and not a very expensive one. But it is something I want to crack because I think the sales potential is there.
In other news Ralph is growing rapidly and learning fast. He's a tiny bit off his game today because he tangled with an 8 month old boxer yesterday which knocked him around a bit in a playful way. But he wasn't scared which bodes well for when he's bigger.
The day job continues to twist and turn. It very much looks like I'm going to be slotted into the gang at HQ in sunny Blackpool if I want it. But the money isn't ideal compared to what I earn now so unless that gets sorted I might well find myself back in my old job and that is not a good thing. Made me shiver a bit just typing it. Anyway, time will tell.
The estate agent continues to be a pain about the house I'm trying to buy. Just accept my offer and let us get on with it!!! The bank are on board and, interestingly, the bank said this happens a lot. They are happy to lend but the agents make it hard yet the banks take all the stick. Again, we shall see but if it's not sorted this week I reckon I'll be looking elsewhere.
Right, that's it. Editing on the new novel continues, but slower than I'd like. It'll be worth waiting for though. About a hundred pages away from a draft and then I'll point the wife at it, assuming I can tear her away from the hound.
Carry on.
Tuesday, 2 July 2013
How effective is your advertising?
Evening gang,
In my case the answer to this question is "not very". But I'm still learning.
Regular readers will know that last week I bought some pay per click advertising on Goodreads. Since the 21st June the ads have been viewed 13,000 times. That's right, 13,000! Easy maths tells us that's about 1300 views each and every day on average. Now imagine if just 1% of those views turned into sales. That would be 130 copies of the Jazz cafe sold in just 10 days.
Doesn't sound hard does it. Except so far the views are not translating into sales. This, it seems, is the trick. So I've just tweaked the advert and will leave it until the weekend to see if anything changes. As it's pay per click it's costing me nothing to have it sat there being seen and I can edit it as much as I like, when I like. Probability suggests that if I stick at it I'll stumble across the magic formula eventually and the sales will come. Once that happens I'll buy adverts for my other books too.
As I've mentioned to friends recently and to my long suffering wife, it's time to make a change. I'm becoming one of those people who simply complains about his lot in life. God knows my lot is much better than most. I've got a very cushy job at the moment, we have plenty of money, big house, ace puppy called Ralph, it's all good. Except I want to do something else. So I'm finally doing something about it.
Buying the ads is the first small step to push the book sales. The new book will be ready soon and I am considering paying for a launch campaign to kick start it. In other news I also viewed a property last week to buy as an investment. If that works out, I might buy another.
The end goal? Regular readers know the answer. Less time at work. More time writing. It's all about making enough to pay the bills.
Anyway, I've got editing to do, quick half hour and then an episode of Breaking Bad before bed.
Carry on.
In my case the answer to this question is "not very". But I'm still learning.
Regular readers will know that last week I bought some pay per click advertising on Goodreads. Since the 21st June the ads have been viewed 13,000 times. That's right, 13,000! Easy maths tells us that's about 1300 views each and every day on average. Now imagine if just 1% of those views turned into sales. That would be 130 copies of the Jazz cafe sold in just 10 days.
Doesn't sound hard does it. Except so far the views are not translating into sales. This, it seems, is the trick. So I've just tweaked the advert and will leave it until the weekend to see if anything changes. As it's pay per click it's costing me nothing to have it sat there being seen and I can edit it as much as I like, when I like. Probability suggests that if I stick at it I'll stumble across the magic formula eventually and the sales will come. Once that happens I'll buy adverts for my other books too.
As I've mentioned to friends recently and to my long suffering wife, it's time to make a change. I'm becoming one of those people who simply complains about his lot in life. God knows my lot is much better than most. I've got a very cushy job at the moment, we have plenty of money, big house, ace puppy called Ralph, it's all good. Except I want to do something else. So I'm finally doing something about it.
Buying the ads is the first small step to push the book sales. The new book will be ready soon and I am considering paying for a launch campaign to kick start it. In other news I also viewed a property last week to buy as an investment. If that works out, I might buy another.
The end goal? Regular readers know the answer. Less time at work. More time writing. It's all about making enough to pay the bills.
Anyway, I've got editing to do, quick half hour and then an episode of Breaking Bad before bed.
Carry on.
Saturday, 22 June 2013
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.
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.
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