Cut to the Chase

They say there are two things certain in life: death and taxes. There’s something else too: when you’re an indie writer, whatever you’ve tried with regard to promotion and marketing, it’s been done before by most of the others, and all with the same results — it inevitably ends up back at the drawing board.

I read a post from an author during the week about her attempts at whatever is ‘flavour of the month’. I found myself reading, nodding my head and smiling. Yes, I’ve been there, done that, same result, move on to the next best thing and finally back to the drawing board.

So what’s the secret? Write more books? Nope; an author acquaintance of mine has her sole, fiction book up in the top 5000 on Amazon, and in the top ten in other categories. So what’s her secret? P&M: promotion and marketing — at least, having the skill and knowing where and how to pitch. That means more books is not the answer. So what is? This is where I say that if I knew that, I would be a best-selling author.

Undaunted though, I press on, ignoring all the sales talk from other authors who will sell you the ideal package to boost your sales. It’s tempting, but there is only so much money in the pot to spend on P&M. I am making some progress and like to think I will build my sales to a healthy level while adding more titles to my bookshelf. This month I will be sending out emails to my subscribers and other platforms with details of the cross promotion I’m running. With luck those authors will encourage their subs to have a look at my books, and maybe I’ll see an increase in my sales.

But that isn’t the whole story; selling books is fine, but the reality really, is to establish yourself firmly as a trustworthy writer who turns out books that are worth buying and reading. That’s what I want: to be known as the kind of writer people will recommend to others because of the quality of my work.

Which brings me on to book jackets. Who said, ‘Never judge a book by its cover’? Isn’t that a mantra that underpins a lot of what characterises the choices we make? But we are being told my so many experts that the book jacket is what really sells the book. I think that’s tosh. I’ve seen covers I wouldn’t have as one of mine, and I’ve no doubt there are people out there who might say the same about my covers. But if I can establish myself within the world of our readers, then the book jacket is secondary; it’s what’s between the covers that count.

I’ve reached the 5000 word count in my latest WIP. I actually like what I have written, with one or two minor reservations. But the next step, the point at which the story begins to take off, is eluding me at the moment. Ideas pop into my head and fall out just as quickly. Hopefully one will lodge firmly in my brain and give me something to get my teeth into.

I actually read up a couple of pieces of advice about creating the novel recently. After a while I realised I’d been doing this since the year dot, ten books published and some very good reviews. If I didn’t know how to write a story, then what was I doing seeking advice? I shall fall back on the old, failsafe advice from some of the old writers like Hemingway and Fleming: go with your instincts and write the story.

F.Scott Fitzgerald (The Great Gatsby) had this said about his best-selling novel, This Side of Paradise: “one of the most illiterate books of any merit ever published…full of English words misused with the most reckless abandon.” (literary critic Edmund Wilson).

So I’ll go with my instincts and write. Wish me luck!

Mind boggling

A pretty full week for me one way or another: most of it consumed by tackling PC problems, uploading files and generally scratching my head when I lose my way. My book sales have progressed at a reasonable pace, but nowhere near where I would like them to be (naturally); however, I believe I can see the results of becoming more involved with other authors and giving a few books away.

I have been exchanging emails with Ingram Spark as I struggled to understand exactly what was wrong with the files I uploaded for the paperback edition of my latest thriller, Where the Wicked Dwell. The rep was very patient and helped me through the process. Bearing in mind I have published four books with Ingram Spark, including a hardback, I began to wonder if I’d lost it completely. However, the last email I received was to say that it looked as though the files had been accepted and I would soon receive notification to that effect. I live in hopes.

I have been doing some promotion work for myself and others, including Paula Wynne (http://www.bookhub.online) with whom I agreed to work in exchange for Gold membership with Bookhub. It looks to be bearing fruit already with a few names being added to my subs list.

I also picked up the pen and added a few more words to my latest book. I’m still not sure where I’ll be going with it, but writing is better than not writing. The problem is that this is a sequel to The Eagle’s Covenant. It isn’t something I planned to do, but have had my ear chewed, particularly by my son John, about resurrecting Conor Lenihan, the main character in that novel. For those of you who have read the book, you will understand what my dilemma is. But hey, I’m a writer of fiction, so it shouldn’t be a problem. Should it?

On the subject of PC problems, it wasn’t my PC that was playing up, but the TP link between my Router and the PC. Before finding out what the fault was, I tried everything until my wife suggested I swop the plug-in links. I did this and it worked. Ha! Woman’s logic. Perhaps I should ask her to deal with my file upload problems.

My writers group, CHINDI, have been updating their website, choosing a new logo and generally trying to make the group more inclusive and expansive. We have a virtual meeting on Monday evening in place of our usual monthly gathering at a pub in Chichester. We also have a lot to offer other writers at http://www.chindi-authors.co.uk.

Sometime next week, I will be preparing something for the cross promotion I’m running for three other writers. I have an idea what I’ll prepare for myself, but I haven’t a clue what to expect from the others. They might even put me to shame with the quality of their promotion piece, but then I might be able to learn something from them. Wish me luck!

Buzzing around the buzz words.

February 25th. 2017

I launched my latest book, Where the Wicked Dwell, during the week. I used Mailchimp and social media to promote it at a launch price of £0.99. I’ve no way of comparing results with other launches, and I do understand that I could have paid out a lot of money to advertise the launch and see my rankings rise. The highest I did get was 37 in the top 100 paid in the Private Investigators category. I can say I sat proudly above Stephen King and James Patterson who were occupying 38th and 39th place respectively. Do you think they are concerned about this upstart who displaced them from their position? I sincerely doubt it. But at least I was able to rub shoulders with exalted company. You can find the book on the home page of my website: http://www.michaelparkerbooks.com

In my efforts to promote my books, I have tried most things that have been suggested over the years. In the early days of Amazon self-publishing, you had to be on social media, i.e. Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn etc. and it was necessary to ensure your kindle book was formatted properly, which meant the steady growth of people willing to do the formatting for you (at a price). You were encouraged to understand what web crawlers were all about and to ensure that keywords associated with your book were always included in everything you wrote on line so that the search engines would find you. And as more and more indie authors jumped on the bandwagon, so did the ‘entrepreneurs’ who were willing to help you become the best seller that you “deserved to be”.

The explosion continues and shows no sign of wilting. Now it is cross promotions that are the buzz word, and we’re all piling in, keen to find a way of getting our books up there among the top rankers. I am no different to other indie authors; I want my books to succeed, so I will keep hanging on to whoever’s coat tails will get me up there. But I’m slowly coming to the conclusion that we are in an underclass of writers. That’s not to say we do not have the talent and the skill, but that we are being watched by the big guns in the game who see us thrashing about, trying desperately to find the answer, while they sell the books that are always sitting at the top of the pile. The pyramid is unshakeable and unbreakable, with the minority at the top and the bottom feeders swirling around at the bottom. But am I disheartened? Not really; I am pragmatic enough to know the name of the game. I know that I should spend hours at my keyboard promoting and marketing, and investing money with no guarantee of success; but I choose not to devote all those hours to what could be a dead-end, so the onus is on me when it comes to where my book sales and rankings are.

This week I have picked up the gauntlet and invited thriller writers in one of my groups to share in a cross promotion with me. I will be driving this one, and know that I can’t promise or guarantee any success. No doubt those who join with me will hope their sales will show a healthy increase. And all the while I’m concentrating my thoughts on pushing my books, I’m giving little or no time to my own writing. I have the bare bones of an idea for my next book, but precious little time (so it seems) to make any progress, and I know that I will have to devote a certain amount of time to ensuring that my cross promotion is built on solid ground. I’m sure that those writers joining with me will expect that. Sometimes we believe that those other writers are better than us at promoting because of how they present themselves and the statistics they publish, but they are searching in much the same way. So while the cross-promotion bonanza gathers pace, I’ll ride the tiger until I see something else that will almost certainly “guarantee” good results. Wish me luck!