New Year, New Book, New Hope

January 4, 2015

A new year and most of us are filled with hopes and dreams for the future. I’m no different and among my hopes and dreams is the advent of another of my books. My latest, Past Imperfect, is due for release on January 30th. Even after all these years of writing and experiencing the ups and downs of a literary life; I still can’t help but get excited at the prospect. I feel like an anachronism in today’s digital market place though, and the literary storm engulfing the world. Whereas a new release for writers like me was offered at a more sedentary pace, but one that promised a process that built on the excitement; it’s more like “so what you getting all worked up about?” Nowadays writers disgorge novels at an enormous pace to fill an ever growing digital shelf of mostly, unreadable books; and they lose the unforgettable expectation as publishing day approaches.

A lot of readers have confessed to having an enormous collection of eBooks in their digital libraries, and have admitted they will probably never read them. In the early days of Kindle tablets, I downloaded about sixty, free eBooks (not all at once) before I realised I was downloading novels that would never have seen the light of day in the traditional market. But as a traditionally published writer, does this make me any different from the Amazon writers today? Maybe because writing is my hobby I can claim to be different. After all, there are a great deal of writers out there who rely on their work as a career, and those who hope to make a livable income from it. I can only hope to achieve success based on the strength of my writing and an established readership. But there’s the rub: how can I establish a readership when I am fighting against the 3,000,000 books that Amazon currently has on its database? I need to muscle my way into this nightmare by promotion and marketing, but in the right direction and in the right places. Where do I go for advice? There’s plenty of it on the net. I could spend thousands on “guaranteed promotions” and sell a couple of books. And whose fault would that be? It would be nobody’s fault. So now I need to find a new angle: a new, different approach to my own, old fashioned methods. I read yesterday of how successful one author had been by promoting in places like Sweden (no Amazon there yet), Germany, Japan, India among other places. I contacted a national newspaper in Nairobi in an effort to promote my novel, Hell’s Gate. I advertised in a Juneau newspaper about my Alaska novel, North Slope. I got nothing from either approach. But despite my results, I still feel an anticipation building in me as I get closer to my next novel’s release date. If I was a racehorse, I wouldn’t put any money on me to come first. But what the hell: it isn’t unusual for an outsider to win. Wish me luck!

Looking Ahead

As the old year succumbs to Father Time, so we all look forward to what the following year might hold for us all. I’m no different and tend to feel a sense of optimism as the New Year approaches. This time last year I was in the middle of chemo therapy, living in Spain and wondering what the future held for me. Now we are living in England and I have no worries about my condition. We are settled into our new life and I have great hopes for my continuing progress in the book world. I have a 30 day promotion with IBD (Independent Book Authors) for my title, The Eagle’s Covenant, beginning on January 3rd. This is a low key, low budget promotion, but it’s a promotion at least. Second week in January I will be meeting up with the Chindi Authors (www.chindi-authors.co.uk) who I hope will teach me a lot about promoting and marketing my books. I also have plans to continue publishing my titles on Amazon under my name as publisher. At the moment they are published by www.acclaimedbooks.com. This is a ‘collective’: a small group of writers from all over the world publishing under one heading. We are all “directors” of this group but in reality the bulk of the work is done by Peter Lihou, the CEO of the outfit. (He pays our royalties!). Although I will be removing my books from Acclaimed Books, I will still remain a member of the group. But although I will be fully independent, I still have a publisher at www.halebooks.com (Robert Hale Ltd) and Harlequin Books in Canada www.harlequin.com. So I have a lot going for me and titles out there over which I have no control.

My current work in progress (WIP) is back on the shelf again, but simply because of the Christmas period and all that it entails. I have been learning Scrivener and have been putting my WIP there. I’m a long way from being competent at it, but once I get back into some sort of groove in the New Year, I’m sure things will take off. I am also learning Photoshop with a view to buying the software. This is something I need to do if I am to republish my own titles as an Indie on Amazon. It’s more for CreateSpace than the e-books. I’m using the 30 day trial at the moment. I also want to trim my social networking and rationalise it somewhat. By that I mean the use of Twitter, Goodreads and other associated network forums and sites. It can be complicated, time consuming and pointless sometimes, but I do need to understand the why and wherefore of web marketing etc. Pinterest is another which I am told is the No.1 site for promotion (Free). If I could afford it, I would use BookBub: it does what it says on the tin and is a great source for writers.

Well, I knew what I was doing this time last year and I wonder what I’ll be doing this time next year. With luck I will have established myself as a favourite among readers of my genre, and have a better grasp of how to manage myself. But we are all in God’s hands and only He knows what’s in store for us. I do hope that all the readers of my blog, and my books, whatever your beliefs, have a wonderful, happy 2015. See you all next year!

Waiting for something to happen

No internet today because we are waiting for a carpet fitter. This meant emptying the lounge and dining room, hence no router plugged in. It’s amazing how, in today’s world, being without Wi-Fi tends to render one helpless for a while. So, waiting for the carpet fitter to arrive meant I could finish my current reading: Lamentations by C.J.Sansom. This is an historical novel, a best seller, but one that a Goodreads search could not find. I tried twice because I wanted to leave a review for a quite outstanding novel. Perhaps Goodreads were ‘wireless’ too!

I’ve begun distributing my bookmarkers to the family who all seem quite happy to pass them around their social circles and leave them in bars and restaurants. I’ve distributed a few, but not as many as I would want. I think it’s because it isn’t something I am used to doing, or maybe I don’t get out much! But I’ll persevere.

And on the subject of perseverance: I am still struggling to get my book jacket uploaded to CreateSpace. Not being a dab hand at this kind of thing, I have to use the subjective approach. I’m getting closer and hoped to have had it uploaded today if it wasn’t for the carpet fitter. Maybe this evening. Needless to say I did not work on my current novel last week. I do have excuses, mainly down to other, unavoidable commitments. I suspect it will be after Christmas before I can crack on with it.

I had a nice surprise last week: my title, The Devil’s Trinity, shot up the rankings after a small promotion. It reached 469 in the thriller category and managed to sell about 40 copies in one day. For me that is a major step up, particularly as it was wallowing at the bottom of the swamp. The sales have tailed off now, but the promotion with Choosy Books cost me $9.99 was a worthwhile investment. It was a one-off deal the company offered. I’ll go with them again. Lot cheaper than BookBub, but not with the same results.

I read last week that Amazon are now third in the top 100 book sellers. Smashwords are second. I forget who came top though. I also read of the problem Amazon’s new Kindle scheme is creating for the top writers. If I lend a book from Amazon’s library, the writer gets a set royalty, and it is the same value for an unknown writer. Whereas a purchased copy of the top writer’s novel would yield a higher royalty compared to the cheaper, unknown writer. It doesn’t affect me because none of my titles are in the Amazon library programme. Not that it made any difference to me when my books were enrolled: I never made more than a couple of dollars in a year anyway.

So I press on and look forward to calmer times when I can get down to serious writing and promotion. The carpet fitter is due in a hour, and the store just phoned to say that the furniture will be delivered on Saturday. We’ll have a totally new front room and dining area then.

Once again, wishing all my readers a merry Christmas and a Happy New year. See you all in 2015.