Fully engaged

Another week goes by and I can look back and see a modicum of progress in my WIP and marginal gains in my advertising campaign (Sound like a politician, don’t I?), but I’m nowhere near where I want to be with either of them. I also watched part of the SPF podcast and another author I’ve never heard of: Lexi Blake. I enjoyed her interview. She’s a top writer and has published over sixty books on different platforms; a very jolly person and good to listen to. She had some good tips about approaching different elements of the writing process. I take all these things on board and still find myself nodding when I know I’ve followed the same path but somehow manage to get lost somewhere along the way.

One of the pieces of advice that keep cropping up is reader engagement and cultivating some kind of connection and garnering reviews. In the eighteen months since I published Where the Wicked Dwell, I have given away probably more than 250 copies, and sold maybe less than 200. Last month I gave away about eighteen copies through Voracious Readers with a one-day promotion. I have had a total of four reviews for the book (UK & USA) in the eighteen months of its publication. I have got used to having no connection with my readers, despite blogging and selling, so imagine my surprise when one of the Voracious Readers contacted me and said how much he liked the book. This is the review he put up on Amazon and Goodreads for me:

Good thriller plot line that keeps you guessing with the main protagonist a likeable character who, like a dog with a bone doesn’t give up until the end no matter what’s thrown at him. Loved the idea of a secret voodoo cult with high profile associates. Great page turner.

So that’s another day with a smile on my face.

I wasn’t smiling too much last Monday. I got a phone call from the dentist to say he had a cancellation so could I make it and get the extraction over and done with. Now I have a huge gap in my gum (well, it feels like a huge gap), but thankfully the discomfort hasn’t been drastic. I can still eat, so that’s a blessing.

I finished reading John Grisham’s novel, Camino Island. I expected a pacy thriller, but this was more like a parochial story of writers and a book shop. I kept wondering when he was going to get to the point but had to admit that he’s an excellent writer; clever too. I did speed read from time to time, but on the whole it was a good read. I would recommend it to Grisham fans.

I have started a Karen Slaughter thriller. I can’t get used to the way the narrative dives off in different directions. I’ll persevere and see where it leads. I suppose I should have a look at a Lexi Blake novel too, but she writes Romantic Suspense, and I’m not sure I could deal with that. I’ll check the “Look inside” facility on Amazon and make up my mind. I need to build up a small library for our upcoming trip to Australia; for those evening when we have nothing to do. Or for the long flights. We’re stopping off at Dubai on the way for a few days. I read today of a British woman who got arrested and thrown in jail for having alcohol in her bloodstream. She had a glass of wine with her meal on the Emirates flight.

The next event for Chindi is the Arundel Festival. We will be supporting it as we always do, thanks to the enormous effort put in by our own, Carol Thomas. She always sells well. Have a look at her current title, The Purrfect Pet Sitter. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Purrfect-Pet-Sitter-Carol-Thomas-ebook/dp/B079T5XXFV Hope I do as well as carol normally does. Wish me luck!

Mama Mia

My week began with a picnic in the park. Our Chindi group like to meet up about once every three months for a chat and talk about books etc. We used to meet monthly in a pub, but it got too noisy, so we reverted to meeting on-line with a programme called ‘ZOOM’. It worked after a fashion, but in the end we settled for a regular, three-monthly face to face. The beauty of these meetings is that you get to see people who have joined the group through Facebook, but who you have never met. It was a pleasant evening, the sun was shining, a little breeze to cool us off, and words of wisdom were bandied about like confetti. Well, not really, but there was a lot of good stuff there. Not all the members came of course: there were about eleven of us; a third of the Chindi group.

I also began the week with new ads on Amazon and BookBub. So far there is little to show for my efforts. I’ve sold one book on D2D, which is usually the result of my ads with BookBub, and two books with AMS. I’ve also seen a lift in the page reads for my book, Shadow of the Wolf. I didn’t even realise I had that in KU. I have my box set there, which attracted some page reads about five weeks ago. I’m using Brian Meek’s book on AMS ads, and have to keep going back to it to figure out if I’m looking at the stats correctly. My ROI would be a nightmare for someone of Meek’s ability, but for me it’s all about learning something, trying to understand the mechanics of AMS, and hoping some good will come of it. I have been tempted to go back to Facebook, but I can see something positive with BB, and I’m hoping I’ll crack AMS. The downside to Amazon is that there’s no point in raising your bid price to sell more books; it doesn’t work like that, otherwise we’d all be pouring money into advertising on-line. I’ve spent $11 so far, earned $4.99 and had 1800 impressions with two of the four ads. The other two are virtually lifeless.

I got stuck into some writing, thankfully. I was getting to the stage where I thought I had subconsciously given up. But the dying flame flickered into life and I am putting pen to paper again. The problem is though; I now have three books on the go. Apparently, this isn’t unusual with many writers according to one of my FB forums.

I watched the SPF podcast yesterday. The star of the podcast was Lynda le Plante, writer of the TV series Widows and Prime Suspect. She came over as someone who has no illusions about herself, and gave some good insights on how it all began for her, particularly when having to talk to some unsavoury people in the sex worker business. Some of the hookers she spoke to wouldn’t say a word until they’d been paid. Others just told her to bugger off with stronger words than that. But it all paid off for her in the end.

And during the week, me and Pat went to see Mama Mia! Here we go again. Loved the film; it put a big smile on my face. I could have watched Lily James all night I think, but what man wouldn’t? Such a talented actress. And being a fan of Cher, I enjoyed her performance of Fernando. So perhaps I should take a leaf out of Bjorn and Benny’s book and use that as my by-line when it comes to deciding which book to get back to. Mama Mia, here I go again! Wish me luck!

Too many forks in the road

There are so many ways in which we are encouraged, as writers, to engage with the public, the readers, and to chum up with other authors, that it seems impossible at times to know which is the best way to go. Most of my FB groups are fellow authors, and I don’t expect them to keep buying my books because, like me, they are only interested in selling their own. When I read of success stories, and not always by the top, top authors, it’s always about finding readers. So where are they? I have over 1200 subscribers on my email list. My last email resulted in 24 openings. That’s an open rate of 2%! Last week I held a giveaway with a company called ‘Voracious Readers’ and gave away 20 copies of my book, Where the Wicked Dwell. The upside to that is that I have now added their email addresses to my subscribers list. There can only be one answer: what I’m offering isn’t attractive enough. So now we come to the $64000 question (why is it 64K?): what is it that I’m doing wrong? I believe, firmly, that my stories live up to the claims I make, backed up by some solid reviews, but I know, hand on heart, that what’s in between the book covers generally comes last when it involves grabbing potential readers’ attention. So, it must be the blub, right? Or maybe not; maybe it’s the price. I dropped The Eagle’s Covenant and sold four books within 24 hours, but none since. I’ve sold two books on Amazon in the last two days, but not the book I’m advertising with AMS. So it must be the blurb. Oh, could be the cover! But we are told never to judge a book by the cover. And which famous book has been published with something like eighty different covers over the years? I know there is one; I recall reading about it somewhere. It has had more makeovers than the bible. So, it can’t be the cover. What is it then? Perhaps I have to stand on top of the Eiffel Tower, or Big Ben, or even Trump Towers and wave a banner. Probably get arrested though. Perhaps that’s the answer: grab a piece of notoriety; that should do it. But in a kind of perverse way, I’m enjoying myself. Masochist or what? I feel I’m on a promotion and marketing learning curve which will help to sort the wheat from the chaff and make some kind of success with my efforts. I just hope it doesn’t take forever.

I watched the SPF podcast yesterday. The interviews were with J.D.Barker (no, I haven’t either), Peter James and Karen Slaughter. There were some real gems of advice in those interviews, not so much about what to do, but how these writers see the future of publishing etc. J.D.Barker believed that audio books were going to make a bigger impact for several reasons. Peter James said that Character, Research and Plot is how he develops his stories; and plot is definitely the last. Karen Slaughter said that writers, including indie writers have to accept that writing has to be viewed as a business. The concept of someone sitting alone, writing a book and getting it published with nothing else to do after that is complete fallacy; you have to work at the promotion and marketing otherwise your book will fade without trace. Naturally the three of them were big on professional help: covers, proof reading, editing etc., etc., but that isn’t always affordable to, probably, the majority of self-published authors. All in all they all had something interesting to say.

I have started on a project which may not see the light of day for a few months. It has nothing to do with my WIP, but I can say that it is another book. That will be three that I’ve started this year. This one though is a special project, one I sincerely hope I’ll be able to finish before the year end. We’ll see. Wish me luck!