Living on your own with just a dog for company does kind of limit what you can do and where you can go because of your moral obligation and desire to care for the dog. There are times when I could murder Tuppence, but I would never neglect her even though she always reminds me when it’s time for our apple (I’m usually asleep in the chair,) or our bag of crisps in the evening; but my faithful mutt has a built-in body clock that never lets her down. So when I look back in my diary through February, the pages often look like they’ve been put together by an AI (Artificial Intelligence) robot, they are so repetitive. Such is the life of a retired pensioner with a dog. At least, that’s what it could look like if it wasn’t for my two hobbies — writing and playing the piano. Oh, and watching football on TV of course.
Those of you who follow my monthly blog will know that I bailed out of writing as Michael Parker and turned into Emma Carney, a Romance author. My plan was to complete five novels this year, provided I live that long (I’m 82 this month!). Well, yesterday, I uploaded my second, Emma Carney Romance to KDP. The title is The Girl With No Name. I’ve ordered a proof copy having edited it twice already. Yes, I’m a DIY writer and edit all my own stuff. (I can hear a lot of tutting going on in the background). For my first Emma Carney book, I used Thebooktypesetters.com for the jacket (I used them for my book A Song in The Night as well). The story is about a homeless girl who has no memory of her earlier life and a wealthy high flyer in the City of London. Two people from different worlds, two extremes at opposite ends of the spectrum. Their worlds collide with life-changing consequences. As I did with my first Romance, I designed the jacket myself so I can get the book online but plan to get Nat at the Typesetters to design something to replace it. I’ve added a view of the jacket for you.
My plan now is to run an AMS campaign for my first EC novel, I’ll be using a method that came via FB. Quite an eye-opener really. The guy who wrote the article usually has well over one hundred campaigns running for himself and even more for his clients. And yes, he’s a successful writer. However, he has distilled the nitty-gritty into less frightening proportions (for free), which means I’ll be running no more than six campaigns with about fifteen keywords, provided I can find the most appropriate. It means I’ll get a better view of what is working and what is not, rather than staring blindly at a dashboard with hundreds of keywords and hoping to find which ones have the most clicks.
Still in the world of books, Smashwords are running a promotion next week through the aggregator, Draft 2 Digital (D2D). I’ve included all of my books that are with D2D. The books are being sold at half price, but the royalties stay at the full price. The promotion is free. I think Smashwords is trying to get back in the game because it has lost its way a bit.
And here’s another surprise: For some reason, the Canadian group, Rakuten Kobo, is managing to sell my thriller The Devil’s Trinity (https://www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/the-devil-s-trinity-1) without any promotion or marketing from me. Each month I sell about six through this company. I don’t know why, but if I did, I would bottle it and sell it.
Because I have finished my second EC Romance, my mind is buzzing around a third novel. I have to say though that I need to step back for a few days, and work on my promotion and marketing, and also my piano playing skills. I’m off to Norfolk this month to celebrate my 82nd birthday with my eldest son and daughter-in-law, Vincent, and Jackie, at their home, together with my No.3 son, John who will be driving us up there in his F-type Jaguar. I did offer to drive us in my Kia Venga, but for some strange reason, he refused and insisted on taking the Jag. Hmmm! On the way back, we are planning to drop in on an ex-RAF mate of mine and his wife. The last time I saw them was around 1975 — something like that. So, no writing, no planning, and no doggie duties. Should be good. Wish me luck!