Memories.

Today, me and Pat are celebrating our 59th Wedding anniversary. Fifty nine years where we’ve shared all the decision making. Pat made the easy ones, I made the hard ones. Funny thing is, I don’t remember having to make any hard decisions, but everything got done! (Hmm?). We are at that stage in our lives when anniversaries aren’t celebrated in the same was as they used to be; we’re not fit and agile enough. However, today we’re going out for lunch and then to the pictures to see Mary Queen of Scots. Looking forward to it.

I’m making reasonable progress with my pulp fiction thriller. Yesterday I’d completed almost 27000 words, which means I’m nearly two thousand words ahead of my target. But today being different of course, I doubt if I’ll get any further ahead, although I might grab some time later this evening: there’s nothing on the box for me after the football’s finished, so perhaps I’ll write (perhaps!).

I am seeing constant sales on Amazon as a result of my AMS ads, but nowhere near as much as I would like. I am just keeping ahead of one sale a day, but that includes D2D, which is on the low side. But when I see a sale on my KDP graph, and it’s for Roselli’s Gold, I know my ads are at least hitting some targets. My ROI is terrible, but for me that isn’t the objective at the moment. My ads have cost me about $160 so far, and my sales have grossed about $70. And of course, my royalties will be 70% of that figure. For me it’s about getting my work out there among the reading public.

Another thing I’m looking into is advertising on Amazon.co.uk. I contacted Amazon about the fact that my AMS ads only reach USA, but I want to advertise here in UK. They sent me a link through which I can set up an account. There are several options, one of which is the Pro account. £25 up front and then £25 per month. I’m still debating over that because there is no guarantee that my sales in UK will be any better than they are in USA. That would make my ROI terrible.

I watched part of a Mark Dawson podcast yesterday on the value of maintaining links with subscribers. I gave up watching in the end because I just can’t see my way to developing a weekly ‘to and fro’ between me and my subscribers. Each time I send an email, (once a month), I get about ten unsubs and an open rate of about 3%. I will persevere, but I don’t hold out much hope.

I received the new book jacket for my thriller, The Boy from Berlin, and uploaded it to KDP. The paperback arrived yesterday but the reproduced colours means it needs more work. This is not the jacket that Christine Hammacott is producing; that’s still to come and is a completely different work of art. I contacted the designer and he will address the problem. The book itself is fine: feels nice, looks nice, but just a pity it needs a little more work.

Pat is still waiting for news from the hospital about her treatment. It’s now ten weeks since the X-ray revealed the shadow in her lung. We are expecting a call from the hospital on Tuesday with the prognosis and an appointment for treatment to start. We’re not happy!

On the subject of anniversaries; my elder brother Jim was eighty years old three days ago. I remember sending him a birthday card on his 65th birthday when he was lying in hospital after having suffered a heart attack. When I spoke to him, we had a laugh about it. He said if it wasn’t for the skills of the doctors, the stents and the pills, he wouldn’t have got this far. We all need some kind of prop to keep us going. I’m a couple of years behind my brother, but with luck I’ll still be writing (and selling) when I reach my eightieth. Wish me luck!

Winging it!

I’m up to my neck in muck and bullets as I write my pulp fiction thriller for Mark Dawson. It’s a bit of fun really; this is not the kind of thriller I would normally write, but I’m winging it and have reached 16000+ words on day 16, so I’m still on target. Looking at my daily word count over those last sixteen days, I see that I underachieved on eight of those days. Thank goodness I was able to make up for it by going over my target on the other eight. By focusing my mind on the daily target, I find myself taking advantage of those moments when I usually twiddle my thumbs in front of the TV and actually write. It’s just not me!

Another project that’s currently taking up some of my time is changing the book jacket for my political thriller, The Boy from Berlin. I’ve had a new jacket designed for it by Paul Casselle. It was the result of a small promotion I did for Paul, a subsequent free comp and the offer of a heavily discounted jacket design job. I asked him to re-design the jacket and I’m in the process of changing that on KDP.

And yet another project. This time it is a book jacket for my Romance, Past Imperfect. I’m using Christine Hammacott, a professional designer, and one of our Chindi members. We spent half an hour on the phone yesterday going over the changes I asked for. Christine had already provided eight jackets, six of which I sent to my boys and a couple of the Chindi writers. As a result of trying to explain by email what I wanted, we thought it best to chat in real time and have finalised a jacket. It will probably need minor adjustments. We’ll see. Most of those who plumped for ‘The White One’ may be surprised with the jacket I’ve chosen.

Now some of you who read my blog might wonder how I can find time for all this when I’m looking after Pat. Well, I have to squeeze it in, and it’s not as if I have to go out of the house to do this; I can always drop what I’m doing if Pat needs me. We’ve had two trips to the hospital this week for consultations with specialists, which has proved a bit tiring for Pat. She is managing to do a little more at home because the swelling in her leg is slowly going down, so psychologically she is in a better place. We are hoping Pat will start her chemo next week sometime once some final results have arrived from Southampton hospital.

I am seeing marginal improvements in my book sales on Amazon through my AMS ads. I still have a long way to go, but once I find some more time, I’ll set about tweaking my ads and maybe adding something. My BookBub ads are not doing well at all, but at least they have started moving.

The Chindi group are winding themselves up for a busy year, with lots in the pipeline. We are spreading further afield and have today welcomed an indie author from Australia. I won’t be able to give much time to the group because of my commitment to Pat, but I’ll be able to promote the Chindi events here and through Facebook.

It’s Pat’s birthday on Monday and we will be seeing our No. 2 son, Terry, our grand-daughter, Gemma and our No.3 Great-grandson, Orin. Should be bedlam! At least I don’t have to cook for them (Vegans and vegetarians!); we’re going out to lunch. Should be fun. Wish me luck!

On a Roll

First of all let me wish all my readers a very happy New Year. I hope 2019 holds some really good stuff for you all. My year has got off to a good start with my current WIP, but more of that in a short while. Pat has had her lung biopsy and we now wait for the results which we expect will be in about three or four days’ time. I’m also having two (yes — two!) book jackets designed for me. Christine Hammacott has taken on my Romance, Past Imperfect, and a writer by the name of Paul Casselle is doing The Boy from Berlin. Christine has been in the graphic design business for a good number of years, and has already produced six jackets for me to consider. Meanwhile, Paul has also produced the same number. I decided to try Paul because he offered a major discount as a result of a competition of his I entered. I’ll show the jackets later in the month when I have them finalised.

My current WIP is now the 60,000 word novel I’m writing for Mark Dawson, although truth be told I’m writing it for myself. Mark has already warned me that the plot is not suitable for his main character, John Milton, but still wants to see the end result. So with that in mind, I decided to write 1000 words a day which will take me up to the end of February. If Mark doesn’t want it, I’ll publish the book myself. I am currently on 9565 words on day 9, so I’m still on target. The plot was something I wrote fifty years ago. My sister Joyce typed it for me, but it never saw the light of day until a couple of years ago when Joyce moved into sheltered accommodation. It was rubbish (the story, not Joyce’s accommodation!). However, it was 60,000 words long, so I shook the dust off it and am re-writing furiously. It looks in better shape now than it did a couple of years ago.

My other WIP, the one I’ve been struggling with, has taken a temporary back seat, but I intend finishing it and plan to release it this year, but not as a full length, 90,000 word thriller. I’ll probably settle for the shorter length. It may look like a cop-out, but it’s the only way I can see me getting through it.

I find writing to a target and with a plot already planned out certainly reinforces the mind and makes you focus on the job in hand. I’m already getting annoyed when I think I might miss the hour or so I need to knock out 1000 words, but I know I will see days when I can’t get on with it. I’m thinking of the times I’ll be caring for Pat and shoving everything else to the back of my mind. I might even find my emotions getting the better of me and giving in. I hope not, because Pat has encouraged me to go for the Mark Dawson project. If he likes it, he pays.

I am seeing a steady (very steady) growth in sales on Amazon. Most are for Roselli’s Gold (https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00S9SPMXA), but I’m also picking up a few for my other books. I even sold a Roselli’s Gold paperback yesterday, and that’s unheard of with my account. Now I need to keep an eye on my AMS ads and try to keep the balls in the air. On the other side of the coin, my BookBub ads are not performing at all, so I need to address that problem. Oh, I think the reason my sales through AMS are working is because I used 500 keywords on the campaign. It should have been 1000, but in my technical ignorance, I made a balls-up of the ad. Still, I will go back soon and copy the ad and use 1000 keywords. For those of you who are wondering how I managed to come up with all those keywords, the answer is, I didn’t; it was Brian Berni of Authorstech. He had a very low Christmas offer: 1000 keywords for $27. I don’t often go for these kind of ‘cold-call invitations’ from entrepreneurs, but I’ve been associated with Brian for a while, so I took up his offer.

So now I need to calm down, focus on my priorities, and Pat will be No.1: everything else must come second. Hope you all have your sights set on some intriguing goals this year, as I have. Wish me luck.