Always looking for that light-bulb moment.

Pat is out of hospital now; she came home on Wednesday. It was confirmed that she’d had a mini stroke; some kind of conflict with her tablets. Thankfully Pat has full use of her limbs and most of her faculties. Her responses are mostly mono-syllabic, but she can always grasp what is meant when questions are put to her. She has difficulty recalling much, but there are signs of improvement even though they are minimal. I am told, by people who have experienced this kind of thing, that recovery is usually 100%. I certainly hope so, but the poor girl has chemo to put up with as well. She begins her fourth round next Tuesday, provided the haematologist approves it. I remember one of my chemo sessions being postponed after a period of isolation.

This weekend was to have been a big one for us: our No.2 grandson is getting married in America next week. We would have gone but for what’s happened to Pat. Meanwhile two of our sons are going with their families, so for us the videos will be something to look forward to.

I finally managed to complete the first two hour video training session of Bryan Cohen’s excellent Amazon Ads School. I now have to do the homework which is to post three ads on Amazon and try to make sense of everything Bryan has told us. These ads, although meant to draw in some money, are more about learning and gaining some kind of traction among the Amazon readers and to eradicate all the unnecessary keywords that might prove to be useless. There are other pitfalls as well that need avoiding, but getting some ads out there is the only way to learn and find that light-bulb moment. And on the subject of getting ads out there: my sales this week have been practically zero — two copies, which means no-one is seeing me on the Amazon product pages because I’m not advertising. I’m hoping to start my campaign tomorrow.

I received the six author copies of my latest book, No Time to Die on Thursday, and posted five of them out to our four sons and one to a friend of ours in Lincoln. The cost of sending the book to Australia was just over £7 — more than the book’s worth I think. But I had to sign it for our Aussie boy. He probably won’t read it, but I live in hopes. Incidentally, the books were printed in Poland.

I did something yesterday I didn’t expect to do, and that was to start loosely plotting the sequel to my pulp fiction thriller, Hunted. It’s been beavering away in my head for a while now, and I’ve tried to ignore it because of looking after Pat and getting all the jobs done, not to mention spending hours up at the hospital. But the first concept, the opening preamble if you like, is down on paper. I’m well pleased with it too. Trouble is, I don’t know where to go from there yet. I guess I will.

I managed to get out and do a big shop today. Two friends of ours from church came in and sat with Pat. I was out for two and a half hours, spent a fortune and got everything on my list. I couldn’t believe I was actually looking forward to going to the shops and being allowed the time to get what I wanted as well as what was on the list. Perhaps in today’s diverse world, I should identify as a woman one day a week and enjoy shopping more often. No? No, I didn’t think so either. Whatever comes, I’ll soldier on.

Those of you who are in Mark Dawson’s SPF group will know that he has organised an SPF Live convention in London next March. Trouble is, there’s only room for 300 people, and he knows it will be well over-subscribed. The tickets go on sale at 2pm Monday. I can imagine people glued to their computers if they’re at work, hoping the boss doesn’t see them as they try to add their names to the list. I’ll be at the hospital with Pat for a mid-day appointment. If she doesn’t need any X-rays or scans that day, I could make it back in time for the 2pm deadline. Here’s hoping. Wish me luck.

Coming, going and coping

My week began slowly with regard to Pat’s situation. This was the beginning of what we call the ‘second week’ in the chemo process where the patient is most vulnerable. I had to pick up seven syringes from the hospital to begin the ‘protective’ phase for her, but by Wednesday she was showing signs of deterioration and Thursday morning was taken back into hospital. She is now on antibiotics and has had three scans. Outwardly, Pat is OK, and is showing signs of good recovery, but it’s unlikely she will be home for a couple of days yet. I’m getting used to living off ready meals by the way.

On the book front, I have joined a promotion for my latest book, No Time to Die. It began yesterday and this morning I’d sold five copies. The promotion will run for five days. The link for the books on offer, all free or $0.99 (Crime thrillers — 17 of them) is at https://storyoriginapp.com/to/5Jey3uT. At the moment mine is showing on the first page, but I think the organisers rotate the pages. Why not have a look?

All in all this month, my book sales have been sketchy, but I’ve managed to sell about 44 copies so far. That is good for me because it isn’t all promotion; a lot of that is organic. I’m hoping to remedy that by creating a campaign on Amazon Ads. Trouble is, I still haven’t got through the first Bryan Cohen video properly. I set the video going on my PC, sit back to absorb the information and wake up with out a clue of what’s been said. So I rewind and then give up. Back the next day, same thing. I will crack it though, after all, it cost a fair bit, but the idea is to have a forensic understanding of the way in which the ads work, and how to manage them. Time will tell just how successful I’ll be with them. Unfortunately my current situation doesn’t lend itself to serious study. I’m off to the hospital in ten minutes, couple of hours and home again. Snatch a meal, walk the dog and go back to the hospital. I’m spending more on car parking each day than I would on advertising. Frustrating, but that’s the way it is. When we lived in Spain, car parking at the hospitals was free (probably still the same).

I'm back from the hospital now, and have a couple of hours to eat, walk the dog, iron some PJs for Pat and finish this blog.

I have changed my reading habits from typical A&A thrillers, most of which annoy me, to perhaps a more cerebral crime novel. I downloaded The Sound of Rain by Gregg Olsen. (No, me neither). Anyway, the guy’s a ‘best-selling author, so I thought I’d give it a go. So far it’s a little weird for me, but interesting. I think the story will become more edgy as it goes on. I’ll let you know if I get round to finishing it; something I seem to have trouble with these days — finishing what I started.

I can’t see much further ahead for my own book ambitions, simply because I have little time to myself now. If Pat recovers fully, I should be able to get back to some semblance of order. I can only squeeze this blog in because of separating my morning and afternoon visits, plus I think by keeping this ‘space’ open, it helps me to maintain links to my readers and zillions of fans. Meanwhile, I hope I sell a ton of books. Wish me luck!

Great minds think alike.

The week began with a visit to the haematologist for Pat’s blood test results and a resumé of where she is with the chemo. It turned out that one of the chemicals, etoposide, was too toxic for her; no doubt it would have killed her had they persisted with it. That was the reason she ended up in hospital for a week. That has been resolved now, thankfully, and Pat is on her third chemo session. We had to go to the hospital three days running, which cuts into our free time, but it is what it is and we have to put up with it. Pat is a little wearier now, but so long as I keep an eye on her, we should be OK. CT scan next.

On the book front I’ve had an interesting week. Haven’t sold any books, but I have dived into a couple of courses on email marketing and Amazon ads. The former is with Adam Croft, the latter with Bryan Cohen. If I can master their advice, I should be able to look forward to a better understanding of how to use the kind of tools that an indie writer needs these days to make sense of the whole business. I have already decided to change my tactics with regard to marketing and will be adopting a new approach to my 1200 or so subscribers. I still have a way to go, but I will try to stay with it. The Amazon ads course is a little different in that there is a lot of study, about nine hours in total, and that’s without running a campaign. I will be testing the water later with my latest book, No Time to Die with an Ads campaign. You can find the book here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07WFQMQV4. That will be followed up with The Boy from Berlin.

When I circulated the jacket for No Time to Die, one observation from somebody was to ask what kind if title that was. Someone said it didn’t mean anything with regard to the genre etc. But I liked the title and decided to stay with it. Then a week after I’d published the book, I find that the latest James Bond film is to be called: No Time to Die. What a coincidence! See, great minds think alike. I might be able to make some capital out of the common link, but I have to wait until next April when the film will be released.

I had a couple of problems getting my jacket changed with KDP. I couldn’t publish the book because there was an error with the meta data, highlighted in red. I couldn’t see it. I checked all the KDP data pages for the book, but there was no red highlight. I contacted Amazon and was told that the pricing for Japan was incorrect. This is set automatically when you choose a price for USA; all the other areas have their price boxes filled in. Seems that I was charging 1215 Japanese yen for the paperback instead of 1218. Three yen? Anyway, we got it sorted. The updated book arrived today. Looks fine now.

Something to look forward to next year for members of Mark Dawson’s SPF group: a meet-up at Amazon’s HQ in London early March. I know the SPF group has a huge following, and I’m sure the meet-up will be buzzing. And from what I’ve learned about Mark and his partner in the business, James Blatch, it will be a pretty good turn-out. Hopefully I’ll be able to go and, hopefully, I’ll be able to tell people how successful I’ve been with email marketing and Amazon ads. Am I dreaming? Wish me luck!