Hard work, talent and a lot of luck

Last week was quite an eventful one for me and Pat, although not from a writing perspective. We purchased a park home at Pagham in West Sussex, and will be returning to England on October 1st. permanently. We have seven weeks to go and I know my writing will take a back seat during that time, even though I will make some inroads into it. The four days we spent in England were hectic, but fruitful. Bit like bringing a manuscript to fruition.

Someone spoke to me today saying she didn’t know I was a writer: a real, live one at that. I told her that we are all writers now. All that’s needed is a manuscript, converted to Kindle and published on Amazon. But I’m about to put my foot into what might be a contentious point of view and say that a lot of so-called writers don’t belong in that category. They are simply filling Amazon’s store with a load of cheap dross. Amazon doesn’t care; after all, they’re making money from those inferior books. Traditional publishers will publish a poorly written book if it’s written by a top author because they know they can clean up the manuscript and sell it. So where does that leave writers like me who write for a hobby and believe they are worth a higher place in the Amazon rankings? Living the dream, I suppose like the rest of them. I can only increase my readership by promotion and marketing, and then hope that those who read my books want to read the others. But a handful of people wanting to read my books doesn’t mean I will soar up the rankings and become a ‘name’ overnight.

Over the last couple of years I have given away books on Goodreads, promoted on Amazon and enjoyed some kind of success that has been a direct result of the promotion. After that it has all died down. To continue that moderate success I would need a permanent promotion and the money necessary to keep the promotion going. But the truth is; my books only sell while I’m pushing them. I have a plan though (we should all have a plan!). When we are settled in England, I will try to build my readership from the inside out. By that I mean I will try to spread my name around Pagham, perhaps by attending writing groups, sourced through the local library; use local newspapers for adverts perhaps at a low cost; sell my books at small, country fairs and gradually expand that way. Or perhaps I could do it the quick way: I’ll murder somebody and become infamous. I could even write the novel. Now there’s a thought. So for any of you budding writers out there reading this blog, understand that there is no easy way to become a best-selling author. It’s all about hard work, talent and a lot of luck. Wish me tons of it!

Understanding what sells.

What is it about a title that intrigues people? Last week I included the phrase, Bodice Rippers in my blog title. Over the last few weeks on Goodreads, my blog has been read by an average of 1 (one) over several weeks. This is worked out by the number of zero reads and the occasional two. Suddenly interest has shot up to eleven readers. Where have you all been? Perhaps I should title this entry as fifty shades of grey, and see what happens. Maybe I’ll go viral!

I saw a post on Facebook that referred to self-published romance authors — first timers as well — who had leapt into the best-selling category on Amazon; sold millions of e-books apparently. It got me thinking: Romance is definitely the best selling genre in the book world. Most people, particularly women, like a good tear jerker. Must have a happy ending though even though the happy couple were beset with impossible problems during the story. So why don’t I jump on the Romance bandwagon and write a bodice ripper? Perhaps me and my wife could act out a couple of trial scenarios, just to capture the realism. Trouble is: she’s seventy two and I’m seventy three, so we may have a problem there; the story wouldn’t get very far. But it’s definitely worth a thought (the story, not me and my wife). I’m in the middle of a thriller at the moment, but a lot of stuff is getting in the way of me cracking on with it. Coincidentally, I stopped writing this particular story last year and penned a romance. It’s called PAST IMPERFECT and will be released in January by my London publisher, Robert Hale. Will it sell? My record with Hale (eight titles to date) isn’t very good. They will keep the e-book rights of course, but maybe I can persuade my publisher to let me have the paperback rights; then I can publish it with Createspace. We’ll see.

Looking at my rankings each day as I do, is like riding a roller coaster: the rank goes up and down like saw teeth. I can always see a positive response to any promotions I run, even if they are low cost and only run for a day. Earlier this week I reached 1400 in the Action & Adventure category, and about 1600 in the Thriller genre. Not bad when I’m usually wallowing in the 100,000 range and lower. Each upward step means sales, and it would be cheaper to buy my own books and bump my rankings up rather than pay for advertising. The trouble with that though is that it isn’t readers who will be doing the buying. But I’ll keep on and hope that I can attract readers to my website, my books and my style of writing.

We’re off to England on Monday, so today, Saturday, I’m getting my blog out early and making sure I’ve all the necessary bits and pieces done by tomorrow evening. We will be going to Pagham in West Sussex to look at some park homes. We visited the site last May but didn’t have the time or opportunity to view the homes that were for sale. This time we will see about half a dozen. Whether we’ll buy one during this visit remains to be seen, but it would be great if we saw what we wanted and could afford it.

Another event that will happen tomorrow is that I will be preaching at our local, Christian Fellowship here in Torrevieja. I will be giving a personal testimony about how God has made such an impact on me while I have been going through my cancer treatment. Although my cancer was diagnosed last year, 2013, the signs of God’s involvement began in 2008. Long way back? You just never know, unless you look and listen, how much God’s presence makes a difference. The testimony will be broadcast on the church website during the week. You can find it at www.tcf-spain.org

My next promotion, hopefully, will be for ROSELLI’S GOLD with BookBlast (Booksends) if they accept my application. Wish me luck!

Body scans and Bodice Rippers

Good news: my scan results showed I am now clear of tumours. Remedial medication has started and so have our plans to return to the UK. After three hours on the drip my next appointment is 23rd. September. I told my specialist here in Spain that we planned to return permanently after that. I will carry on with the treatment once we’re back in England. The change in our lives means we can plan ahead. I have also knuckled down and made headway with my WIP (work in progress). I am about half-way through (45000 words), but I cannot say the end is in sight because I am still struggling with which direction I want to go with it. I think it’s extremely unlikely that I will have made much more progress before we return to UK because all the other diversions (excuses) that will be coming up. Perhaps I should say it will be done by Christmas.

I seem to be getting some positive signs as a result of my promotions this month. I’m not exactly soaring into the best-seller ranks, but my rankings have responded with sharp increases (followed by falls), lifting me up to the top 2000 in the thriller category, and about an average of 30000 or so in the kindle e-book store. Each rise is followed by a fall, but there is an impetus there that is measureable. If I didn’t promote, I wouldn’t see any reaction.

I have almost completed my website: www.michaelparkerbooks.com I do intend to keep dressing it up from time to time. One of my sons tells e its lacking something. But the essential information is there, and hopefully potential readers will be satisfied with that. I will keep my other website live www.michaeljparker.com until I am completely happy with the work I’ve done on mine. One thing I do need though is widgets. At the moment they are linked to the Wix pages, so I must get busy and check out the right links.

I often read of other writers who appear to enjoy a good connection with their readers. They talk about keeping their fans up to date with how the latest WIP is progressing, and giving them advance warning of book releases, signing sessions etc. Oh, and blog tours. I signed up for a blog tour last week but realised I had wandered into something that wasn’t really my cup of tea. I had to accept an ARC (Advance Reader Copy) of a novel and pick a date when I would appear on the blog. I was invited to interview the author in return for a small promotion for me. Nothing wrong with that, you say, and I agree: no problem at all. The trouble was; the novel was a romance with a strong sexual content. The book jacket of a man and woman semi naked on a bed gave the game away really. I’m not into that kind of book; never have been, never will be. I felt that to go ahead with the tour would make me feel like an interloper, and I would be well out of my depth. And let’s face it: what would a hard-boiled thriller writer want with mixing with bodice rippers? By the way; just to show I have nothing against the writer whose blog tour I thought I would be involved in, her name is Sherri Hayes. Her book is called, Crossing The Line and will be available in September on Amazon. I’ve had to eat humble pie and pull out of the blog tour. Perhaps I should stick to my own kind of bodice rippers. Wish me luck!