Time now to fill the gaps

At last the Book Lab 5 video has been released by SPF. The subject matter is my book, The Boy from Berlin. It’s two hours long and I appear on the last twenty minutes. The three professionals do a pretty good job of analysing my blurb, the jacket and my intro, and leave me with the task of implementing their suggestions and getting more sales. You can find it on You Tube, and if you don’t want to see what the professionals have to say, you can see my reaction to it all at about 1:40 into the two hour tape. The link is https://youtu.be/KskP9KyQaoA. This really is a major event in my indie career because I was chosen for the Book Lab by Mark Dawson, one of Amazon’s top writers, and someone who is well known in the industry and connects with influential people in the indie book world. It’s up to me now to make something of the recommendations and promote the book. In the next few days I will re-write the prologue and use the blurb provided by Bryan Cohen before uploading the revised version. I can’t change the book jacket until July time because Stuart Bache can’t fit me in before then. It will be after that when I might see some positive results from these changes.

I did manage to get some work done on my WIP, despite a couple of major interruptions during the week. I am getting close to seeing the final run in and, hopefully, will be ready to do a complete edit by the end of the month. But even though I’ve been digging away at the WIP, I have also been ruminating on my next pulp fiction thriller. I have been laying the ground for a plot line which sees my main character deep inside Russia, a thousand miles from Moscow and entirely on his own — no support from UK. Pat asked me what I meant by “Pulp fiction”. I had to say it was a phrase coined years ago which alluded to books that were turned out largely by ghost writers writing for a major publishing house. Whether that’s true or not, I don’t know, but for me, pulp fiction means ignoring the facts and piling up the thrills, just to excite the reader. When I published HUNTED (https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07P9MQYCK), I had no illusions about the quality of the book, but I had two brilliant comments about it and one five star review (from a stranger): something I didn’t expect.

Another improvement in my book world is a steadily increasing list of subscribers. This is almost certainly down to the fact that readers are downloading my magnet book The Devil’s Trinity. I’m not a fan of free books, but needs must when the devil drives (no, that’s not a pun). This means I will have to ‘engage’ with these new people and try to interest them in something once a month in a newsletter; something I do not normally do. It’s tricky to know what to put in it when there’s nothing to offer, other than the contents of my regular blog. But subscribers usually want more books I presume, rather than a chatty diatribe from the author.

The interruptions that came during the week were both medical. Pat was called in for a PET scan — twenty four hours’ notice, which was good. So on Wednesday we were tied up at the hospital for some time. The following day, Thursday, I had three teeth out. This was a referral by my dentist to specialist. I have to say that there is no finesse in extracting teeth; no cosy, state of the art pulling: it’s brute force and a lot of work getting them out. And the teeth never come out in one piece either. Thank goodness for anaesthetics, but I still felt like I been smacked in the jaw with a shovel. I will need dentures, but have to wait three months for those. So, not only have I been subjected to forensic analysis as a Lab Rat, I have also been subjected to another expert and forced to eat my food like a rabbit! Some good will come of all this, I’m sure. Wish me luck!

Head scratching time

I was hoping to let you have the Book Lab link today, but unfortunately James Blatch hasn’t sent it. He scheduled it for yesterday but he’s been on a cycling holiday in Mallorca, so I guess that’s the reason for the delay. Never mind; I should have it next week.

I met up with fellow CHINDI author, Paul Asling during the week. He is about to launch his second crime novel and wanted a couple of pointers. I have to admit that Paul could have given me some because his first London crime thriller, Love you till I die, has sold really well. Why not check it out? https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07757CZZ5. With 25 x five star reviews, it must be good. I read it last year as a beta reader for Paul, so I can vouch for its quality. And staying on the topic of quality writers, I want to bring another of our CHINDI group to you: Carol Thomas. Carol is our Chindi Author of the Week. She is a very talented writer and produces quality work. You can read about Carol and her latest book at https://angelapetchsblogsite.wordpress.com/2019/04/26/chatting-with-carol-thomas-again/

I am making progress with my WIP. I keep adding scenes that are moving the story closer to the denouement. I know I will have a problem rearranging the scenes and changing the plot line a little, but that’s the life of a writer. If I make significant headway, I could see it finished in four weeks. I’ll probably ask for some beta readers for this because I’m not sure my wife will be able to do her usual, and read through the MS for me. I’m sure she’ll try though.

I am currently reading The Dry by Jane Harper. It’s a debut crime thriller and has received excellent reviews. I am about a third of the way through and enjoying the book, but I don’t find myself rushing back to it, as good as it is. This is more than I can say about He said, She said by Erin Kelly. This is the book that Jennie Nash used to compare my prologue on Book Lab. My book, The Boy from Berlin, had 23 reviews, while Erin Kelly’s had 1600. Both books were released on Amazon at the same time. I really struggled with it and finally gave up less than half-way through. I tried, believe me, but it was like wading through treacle. I decided it must be me; 1600 people can’t be wrong.

On the domestic front, Pat’s problem is still defeating the specialists. Her consultant phoned during the week to say the X-ray and blood tests she had before Easter had failed to produce an answer. The next step is a PET scan. This should help them because they’ll be able to compare it to the PET scan Pat had in January. This time the radiologists will be looking at it and hoping to come up with an answer. Meanwhile we are trying to build Pat’s strength up by letting her do a little more around the house and garden. Already this week she has prepared three hanging baskets after a lengthy visit to our local garden centre. We stopped for lunch of course. Today we took the dog down to the beach and braved the high winds. It took a lot out of her, and she was quite knackered by the time we got back to the car, but at least she’s getting stronger.

Next on the agenda for me is a trip to the dentist next week: I have to have three teeth taken out. Not looking forward to it. Wish me luck!

Getting tense now.

My Book Lab interview finally came on Tuesday night when I met up with James Blatch via Zoom. We talked about the video critiques he’d sent me from Bryan Cohen, Jenny Nash and Stuart Bache, and what I planned to do with them. I told him it would be reckless of me not to follow the advice of those professionals and that is something I intend to get on with. I’ve booked Stuart Bache for July to do the jacket, which was the earliest he could fit me in, and I have re-written the prologue to my book, The Boy from Berlin. Actually, I have re-written it a few times and no doubt will do so before I republish. The completed video podcast, Book Lab 5, should be released on Friday 26th. I have to wait for a week before I make any changes. I will be using Bryan Cohen’s blurb and using a new prologue, but the jacket will have to wait until July unfortunately.

So what affect will this have on the sales of the book? Hard to tell really, but I have seen claims that a Bryan Cohen blurb has produced spectacular results; and this from other writers. The rewritten prologue should answer the questions Jenny Nash put to me, but the acid test comes in the way in which I promote and advertise the book. I will probably go with AMS and BookBub, split testing with Robert Harris and Jeffrey Archer at first. I’ll need to be on the ball too, but there is so much information out there about AMS and BB, I hope I can make some headway.

Fired up by the interview and the opportunities it presents, I got stuck into my WIP and have started building a plot line to bring the book to a conclusion. However, something else has popped up and, quite frankly; it has given me something of problem. After seeing my subscribers’ list fall by at least ten subs each time I sent an email, I suddenly had a surge of an additional 35 subscribers. And although I have to put it down to a short, one day promotion I did, those results are remarkable — for me anyway. And in addition to that, I am selling copies of my pulp fiction thriller, HUNTED. Not many, I must admit. So the problem I had was: do I knock out another 60,000 word pulp fiction thriller and hope to see more sales? Other thriller writers do it regularly, so why shouldn’t I? I said to my wife that this would be like I’m prostituting myself on the altar of sensational thriller writing that has no real merit other than providing quick thrills for the reader. Nothing wrong in that though, is there? But pulp fiction is simply that: basic thriller writing without too much in the way of research (in my case). We’ll see. And I have already scribbled the bare bones of a plot!

On the domestic front, my Pat is still struggling with the fact that the hospital has not come up with a satisfactory diagnosis for her cancer. In fact, the specialist is edging away from that idea now and thinking about something like polymyalgia. And the devil of it is, we are waiting for a biopsy result from Southampton hospital, but the medical teams meet here in Chichester for discussion on Fridays and Mondays, and this being the Easter weekend it means the teams will not meet until a week later, hence no news for Pat. And when I’m trying to talk to her about my books’ progress, Pat can hardly get excited about it. I don’t blame her. Hopefully we’ll know more in a week’s time. Wish us luck!