Getting down to the nitty gritty

Well, it finally happened: James Blatch of SPF sent the three video links to me of my book, The Boy from Berlin, being ‘critiqued’ by three top people in the publishing business. Bryan Cohen rewrote the blurb, Stuart Bache looked at the cover while Jennie Nash (a formidable editor) took the prologue apart in the nicest possible way. The total video time was eighty minutes, so it wasn’t a case of being gentle and being quick. I had actually received Bryan Cohen’s rewritten blurb and his reasons for the changes, which meant I’d had time to take it in. The book jacket section was twenty minutes, while the editorial piece was forty minutes long. James Blatch will be interviewing me on Tuesday when he’ll ask for my observations and comments. Once he has edited the four videos, he’ll publish it on You Tube as SPF Book Lab No.5.

What this means to me now is that I can rewrite the opening prologue. I was guilty of failing to observe the POV (point of view), and also losing the logic of the sequence. I thought my prologue was pretty good, but once it was carved open by an expert, I could see where the changes were necessary and will help the potential reader who checks the ‘Look inside’ facility on the Amazon product page. I can also get the book jacket redesigned by Stuart Bache, one of the top book cover designers in the publishing business (Stephen King, John le Carre), and I can reproduce Bryan Cohen’s excellent blurb. He has also provided examples for Facebook and Amazon ads, which is a bonus too. None of this has cost me any money, but I will be paying Stuart Bache to redesign the jacket (there’s already an SPF bonus discount attached because I’m a Patreon member). The end result in my changes will probably not be seen, if any, until much later this year.

Last Thursday, our CHINDI group met up at the Swan Hotel in Arundel. There were about twenty of us there, including several new faces for me. Although I’ve met them all on our FB group, it’s good to see them face to face. We managed a group photograph, all squashed into a corner with a book in hand. We each gave a short intro about ourselves and any current projects we had on, and also talked about our involvement in the upcoming Chichester Arts Festival and the summer event in Arundel. It was good to spend some time among people who only want to talk about books. We didn’t even mention Brexit!

On the domestic front, my Pat is still waiting for her cancer diagnosis. So far her biopsies have gone to six different hospitals: Kings College, Royal Marsden, West Brompton, St. Georges and Southampton, not forgetting our local, St. Richards. She was removed from the lung doctor’s list and referred to the haematology department, but within forty eight hours was back with the lung doctor. We have an appointment on Monday when we hope to hear more and to be told when her treatment can begin. It’s a real worry for the both of us, particularly Pat.

My weak attempts at AMS and BB ads goes on, and I’m now having to accept that I will probably never crack it. My ads for my Crime thriller, Where the Wicked Dwell, has achieved nothing, so I will have to cancel those and see about advertising another title. Hopefully, the results of my Book Lab 5 adventure will see my sales go up, but it will not be until we’re half-way through the year. Wish me luck.

Addled and Rattled

The first advert to appear on national UK television in 1955 was a tube of Gibbs SR toothpaste immersed in a block of ice. Black and white of course. It made headlines in the national press, which meant that Gibbs had stolen a march on their rivals, albeit temporarily. Their target audience was anyone watching the TV, their audience reach was anyone watching the TV as well, and the knock-on effect was carried over in the newspapers to a huge audience. Job done. But how would they achieve that in today’s modern world of advertising? Indie authors are well aware of the need to advertise their books, but only a minority are able to achieve the desired results. Sure, there is a great deal of information out there, some of it very good, but boy, is it complicated.

On the Mark Dawson SPF Facebook group, the question was posted by one member about the cost of advertising. He had spent $40 and had no sales, and that was on AMS and BookBub. He asked what would be a reasonable amount to spend? The first reply was from a lady writer who said she spent $400 a DAY! No, that’s not a misprint. It was followed by a perfectly understandable query about the cost, but she replied that she didn’t begin that way; she kept it small: $75 a day and gradually built up as she sold more books. Another writer pitched in who was spending $200 a day, and further responses went as high as $1200. This is when I felt myself shrinking back in my chair.

Of course, those who posted those enormous figures did claim that it meant a great deal of testing and changing their adverts on a constant, almost daily basis. There was talk of distorted CTR as a result of a badly configured ad, not targeting the right audiences with the right authors, split testing using the same advert but with a different daily spend, daily budget and careful monitoring. Now I’m on my knees and struggling to get back into my chair. It’s clear to me that my pathetic attempts at promotion and marketing are infantile, and no way are they going to achieve one sale. My only recourse is to rely on organic sales.

Another question was posed on the Indie author mindset — this is Adam Croft’s group — about what price is better? The consensus of opinion came down to a price higher than the bog standard $2.99/$0.99, and pitch the book at $3.99 and go up from there. So I decided to follow that conventional wisdom and advertise my crime novel, Where the Wicked Dwell (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06WD8988W) at $3.99. My results thus far on AMS are 1300 impressions and a spend of $0.55. On BookBub it’s about 1400 impressions and a cost of $5.00. So, after four days I have achieved zilch. What must I do now? Well, according to a lot of answers I’ve seen, I must spend up to at least $100 a day, split test my ads, change the authors I’ve referenced in my ads, select a different target audience, change my daily budget, get the money spent quickly rather than spread the cost over too long a period, and get a gun and shoot myself in the foot so I would have a good reason to be hopping mad! But no, I’m not going to do any of that; I’m going to be really cool and typically British. I will soldier on and prove them all wrong because my books will sell themselves, right? Yeah, I thought so.

Back in the real world, I have made some progress on my WIP and come up with a dramatic arc that will (should) make the reader wonder where the hell I’m going with it. But I’ve given it some thought and believe it will be a big help. I’ve been editing the story with the aid of Scrivener where I keep a scene by scene copy of the book, and rearranging some of the character’s situations too. I’ve only increased the word count marginally, but I believe I can see a way through to reaching a minimum of 60,000 words as I get to the end.

Looking ahead, I hope to get to our CHINDI meeting on Thursday in Arundel. That will be the book group’s tri-monthly gathering, simply to get to know each other, meet face to face and generally talk about books. Should be good.

Those of you who have been following my blog and wonder how my wife Pat is getting on: so far we are no further forward. Pat has been referred to the haematology department for further investigation. Poor girl is fed up with it all. So am I. But we’ll persevere. Wish us luck!

Where's that Holy Grail?

Most of us know what it’s like to fail at some stage in our lives, but I wonder how many of us have profited from that failure? To get up and try again often results in some kind of success, and most writers have succeeded by not giving up. The country’s Brexit failure makes me wonder if our representatives in Parliament will adopt that attitude and not give up. No doubt readers here will have their own opinions, but we all need to see some light at the end of the tunnel. And so it is with indie writers. I’m sure we all struggle and suffer from self-doubt. If you don’t, please email me the secret and I’ll soak it up. I watched a podcast from the LBF of Barry Hutchinson, a children’s author, being interviewed. He is (was) a professional writer working for comic books here and in UK, and penning endless children’s stuff for Harper Collins. He was asked to give a talk at a school on self-publishing. It was then he realised he didn’t know how to self-publish. So he knocked out a quick children’s Sci-Fi, uploaded it on to Kindle and started selling about twelve books a day immediately. No advertising, no back catalogue, no knowledge. Now he’s on a roll and has finished with trad publishing. I uploaded my latest Pulp Fiction thriller about four weeks ago, sold about 40 copies through my subscribers, and then about six over the next few weeks. I’m advertising too on Amazon and BB. I have a back list, plenty to offer, but still struggle to find that magic: the stuff that has readers beating a path to my door, wanting to read anything I’ve written. But I won’t give up; I’ll still pile in there and hope to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Next week I hope to hear from James Blatch of SPF about the Book Lab interview. He told me it should be early April, so I’m expecting a call and then that moment when the experts take me apart. But I’ve promised myself I’ll use their advice and spend some money on a new jacket and a ‘relaunch’.

Talking of James Blatch and SPF, during their podcast from the LBF, Mark Dawson said there was a good chance of an SPF gathering in London next year, and probably at Amazon’s HQ. Should be good. It will be well attended, I know, and it’s something I will certainly try to get to. I did think of going to the LBF next year, but the SPF do, if it comes off, will probably take precedence for me.

I picked up my WIP again, and have set every scene out on Scrivener, without chapter headings, and following what I hope is a logical chronological path. Next week I hope to expand it and bring the whole thing to a conclusion. Trouble is, I was standing at the kitchen sink peeling the spuds this morning when I came up with a twist that would blow the reader away. But to re-write the plot again would be too much for me. Mind you, I do have a habit of managing this kind of development. It usually gives me a headache, but isn’t that what writing does to us?

On the domestic front I have been given to all clear again from the cancer clinic: they don’t want to see me for another year. I had a follow-up referral for dental treatment meaning three extractions and dentures. Bang goes my author’s public image: it will play havoc with the selfies. Pat had a consultation with the surgeon who performed her op in London. We’re still no further forward with that and are waiting for results from one of the London hospitals. Hopefully we’ll know more on Monday. Wish us luck!