Unremarkably remarkable

Little change of plan last week: not unsurprising in a writer’s life I suppose. I gave up on the idea of resurrecting the old manuscript I’d written over forty years ago. It didn’t take long before the truth sunk in and I had to concede defeat. But I have revisited the Conor Lenihan revival — working title is The Prokura — and have added a few more ideas to the story. I’ve also had a slight change of tactic in that I am writing an essential episode in the story that needs to be inserted some way ahead from where I am at the moment. Once I have completed that as a single Word doc., I will probably file it with Scrivener until my story line catches up with it. One stumbling block I had to overcome was to get my main character, Conor Lenihan, into Joanna’s house without anyone knowing. Anyone who has read The Eagle’s Covenant will know that the house is well protected by security alarms and monitors: it would be impossible for Conor to gain entry unobserved. I could have fallen back on a weak practice that I find appalling when used in some thrillers I’ve read, namely making the hero so clever that locked and alarmed doors are no obstacle: “Gaining entry into the house was no problem for a man of Conor’s ability, and he was soon inside.” I came up with the answer when I was out walking the dog with Pat. I challenged her (Pat, not the dog!), to come up with a solution, but she failed miserably. And then the answer dropped into my head. No, I’m not going to say how Conor does it, but it’s legit!

I have had a book promotion running all week with L.H.Thomson. So far I have given away 67 free copies of Where the Wicked Dwell. The promotion ends today, so I’ll probably move past 70 copies. If half of those who downloaded the book enjoy my work enough, I can look forward to a small bump in sales.

On the subject of sales, I believe this time of the year is a period of doldrums. If no-one else is experiencing this, then I must be a lone sailor on a flat calm, windless ocean. It has probably got something to do with people spending more time out of doors on activities that do not include reading. The lighter nights may mean that people spend a little more time out socialising and the like, which leaves little time for books, particularly mine. But I’m not giving up. I’ve submitted a book to BookBub which will almost certainly be rejected; it has 5 reviews (5 stars!) which doesn’t bode well really, but this is where positive thinking comes into play: if I’m prepared to fork out a large sum on a one day advert, then perhaps the minor websites might not look so expensive. I’ve already started looking as a consequence of reading Joanna Penn’s marketing strategies. I don’t have her kind of money, nor the big staff she has working for her, but I can try.

Another stab in the dark was to submit my novel Hell’s Gate to the book reviewer, Andrea Lundgren. I haven’t heard anything yet, and don’t expect to because of the number of submissions she receives. Curiously she only wanted the title of the book, its genre and my email address, so it doesn’t look as though she’ll be too serious about this.

I submitted another title, North Slope to a writer named Mark Stop. This is to be included in a boxset he is compiling. The idea is to promote the set for six months and share the royalties. If it works!

On the domestic front, I had the good news that my six-monthly cancer check-up has resulted in the all clear. The specialist said, after examining my bits and bobs and diagnosing the blood tests results, that he found me “unremarkable, which is a compliment”. Good news then, and hopefully I’ll be staying clear of all the gremlins, both in body and soul. Wish me luck!

Fun and Games

Promotions can be a pain in the ‘A’, but we have to do it. I’ve had to give a lot of thought about this subject, particularly when it comes to the amount of work involved giving away free books. There has been a discussion recently on the merits of giving away our precious books for nothing, which I have to concede is a fair comment. I hate doing it but feel there is no other way, short of expensive advertising, to get my work out there in the eye of the readers. And I’ve been doing that for about six years now. There’s no way of working out just how valuable the ‘free’ way is, but I do know that paying out good money has not always resulted in exceptional sales — BookBub notwithstanding. So I’ve started paying out again as well as going along the freebie route. Currently you can download a host of free books, including one of mine at http://deathbytyping.com/thrillers-killers-and-chillers-24-free-books-from-instafreebie/.

I began knocking my ancient manuscript into shape a couple of weeks ago. It was painful reading through the novel I penned about fifty years ago and trying to bring it up to date. It was much easier when we didn’t have mobile phones, computers, Wi-Fi and a whole panoply of gizmos that the thriller writer could use to whisk the hero through one death defying encounter and another. I could always write historical novels, I suppose, but that would be a cop-out. So where am I with my book? It’s called The Perforated Edge, and will probably keep that title all the way through. I did think of Sentient, but to tell you why would be giving the game away. If I can make sensible progress, I could have it finished by the end of the year. I did think of maybe using it as a short novel, a novella, but I’ve never really been keen on them.

Our Chindi group’s involvement with the Chichester Festival finished last Saturday with a wine and words quiz. I joined in, but my knowledge of wine is about a micron above zero, so I was of very little help to my team. The Shakespeare quiz revealed the fact that the Bard never really figured in my life, apart from a few beers at the Black Swan opposite the Shakespeare theatre in Stratford upon Avon. And oh what a poor showing for the ‘Authors’ quiz. But it all came good in the end; my team, three of us, came second. It was a good evening’s entertainment; we raised almost £90 for the Dyslexia in Action charity, and I managed to have one of my books picked out for a prize (any three books showing on the display stand).

What lies ahead? Well. Some training with the Nick Stephenson’s videos; reading up on the secrets of marketing by Joanna Penn, and a toe in the water Facebook ad, see what I can come up with. Wish me luck!

Useful lessons

The week began with a buzz around the Chindi group (www.chindi-authors.co.uk) because of the Chichester Arts Festival, Our first event was a ‘Crime panel seminar’ in which Christine Hammacott and Helen Christmas joined yours truly for an hour or so talking about the ins and outs of putting together a crime novel. It was a question and answer session, with invited questions from the audience. It went well and we even managed to sell a few books.

The following evening, Chindi put on a ghost tour around Chichester, masterfully organised by Julia Macfarlane of the Bognor Writers Group. Julia is also one of our members. There was a lot of good feedback from that and, mercifully, the weather was warm enough to make it a pleasant evening.

On Thursday we had a “Self-publishing made easy” class. Almost like an oxymoron that; self-publishing can be hard, but at least there was some excellent advice for those who turned out for the event.

Today we have been holding a Creative Writing Workshop, and this evening we are rounding our week off with a quiz: a good way to round off a fairly successful week.

At the beginning of the week I was featured on Karen Ingalls website as a guest blogger. You can read the article at www.kareningalls.blogspot.com. I talk about my latest book, Where the Wicked Dwell, and a little of myself. I have also been featured on Malcolm Richards’ website being asked ten questions. You can see that at https://www.malcolmrichardsauthor.com/blog/2017/6/21/ten-questions-with-michael-parker.

I have also been busy redesigning a book jacket for Past Imperfect. I want to make it look more like a romance rather than a kind of dark thriller. My PhotoShop skills are limited, but I’m having great fun learning and making mistakes. I have already changed the jacket on A Covert War, once again using my PS skills. No doubt there will always be room for improvement, but I’ll still hold on to the truism that it’s the interior of the book that’s important.

This week my wife and I have been taking advantage of the good weather like so many of us. Gardening has figured prominently in that as well as walking the dog along Pagham beach, but yesterday we had lunch with my wife’s brother and his wife at a pub called The Fox Goes Free. Unusual name for a pub, but the meal was good, as was the weather. It’s situated about ten miles from us in the countryside just north of Goodwood.

I’m also looking ahead to some promotion. I have signed up for a one month promotion with the Kindle Book Review, and also something at the end of this month with Choosy Bookworm. A little different from BookBub I must admit, but I can’t always fork out substantial sums of money for one day promos. Time will tell whether my low-priced options are beneficial. I have noticed a lot of promotion sites are slapping big discounts on their product. It must mean that business is tough, and indie authors are getting a little sparing about where they spend their money. But I’m not concerned about other authors; it’s the readers I want to engage with. Hopefully I’ll get there in time. Wish me luck!