Making good use of my shovel

I can at last say I now have my romance, Past Imperfect, published as an eBook with me credited as the publisher. It took some time to get the holder of the eBook rights to return them to me, and after three years they sold precisely none. I already had the paperback available on Amazon, and sold a few, not many though; but now I have a chance to make the eBook more noticeable with some advertising. This is something I intend doing through BookBub ads, hoping to reach readers on Kobo, Apple, B&N etc. My current ads on AMS are producing sales of Roselli’s Gold, but still with a very poor ROI. I will let them run for another week, and if I see the sales have dropped off significantly, I’ll bin them and maybe push the Romance. I have high hopes for Past Imperfect, but it will only happen if I can target the right readers. I don’t think my current fans will appreciate the change of direction though. By the way, the link is https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07N8FCYPQ

I am almost at the end of my pulp fiction thriller. My target was 60,000 words, but it looks like I’ll have reached about 52,000 by the end, probably tomorrow. Once I’ve gone through it, I expect to push that up to my target. Next step will be to send it off to Mark Dawson. I don’t expect he’ll want to use it because I’ve drifted away from the plot lines he requires. However, there’s a piece of me that will be happy when/if he says no; after all, it’s a lot of work to simply hand it over (well, sell it), when I could add it to my growing list of titles. Some of you might wonder why I will still be offering it to him. Well, it was an agreement that we did it this way, and I intend honouring that.

There was a discussion on Mark Dawson’s group about one of his admin team leaving and starting her own FB ads. course. The questions raised were about who’s course is better, and what can one offer opposed to the other. This applies to all the numerous ‘courses’ out there. Mark said that the only people making money during a gold rush are those people selling the shovels. And he’s right of course; the on-line courses offering to turn us all into best-sellers are the one growth industry making money in today’s current publishing world. I see myself as a prospector having bought my shovel off Mark Dawson.

Looking ahead to the direction I’m going once I have finished the pulp fiction thriller, I expect, in a way, to return to my WIP, but I have to be prepared to set that aside as me and Pat get closer to when her treatment starts. She had a bone marrow biopsy last Monday, and the results are not expected for up to a fortnight. Hopefully they’ll be available next week and a decision can be made about her treatment. Having been through chemo myself, I know my free time could be seriously curtailed, and the thought of writing will not be the closest thing on my mind.

Next book event on the agenda for me is a talk at a local ‘Friendship Club’ in March. It’s all women. I have bought myself a personal microphone with a clip-on amplifier, just to make sure I’m heard. I might make their hearing aids screech, but hopefully they’ll just love my smooth talking and buy all my books. Wish me luck!

A Bonza time

Today I’m starting off with our CHINDI Author of the Week, Rosemary Noble. Rosemary has written three excellent historical novels that begin with the transportation from England to Australia of a sixteen year old lass called Nora. Her follow up novel is about Jane, a tough pioneering woman of the nineteenth century in Australia. Her third is about Sadie who returns from Australia during the depression and subsequently through the Second World War. Rosemary has earned great reviews for her trilogy of historical novels that sell really well in Australia. The books can be read as stand-alone, but all three are stories to savour and enjoy. You can find Rosemary at https://www.chindi-authors.co.uk/rosemary-noble/

My week began with the realisation that there were three people in our marriage. I had to retune our DAB radio to Virgin because the DJ, Chris Evans began his new, broadcasting life there last Monday. It was my wife’s wish that we followed. And there was me thinking I was the only man in her life!

I am making pretty good progress with my pulp fiction thriller. I am 7000 words ahead of my daily target of 1000 words. Pat has asked if she could read it, so I’ve printed off the opening chapter to see if she really wants to continue. She understands that it usually takes me a year to write a book, so there will be obvious defects with this one. But I have to say I am having a lot of fun writing the story. Pulp fiction is exactly what it is, and one of the key things in a thriller is an element of extremism. I try not to justify certain scenes and actions, because in trying to do that, I would need a lot more research and counter arguments to events that might need some explanation. Then I would get myself bogged down with prose. So here I am, flying by the seat of my pants and having a great time.

My sales on Amazon are moving at a steady pace, most of which are of Roselli’s Gold; the book I am advertising (https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00S9SPMXA). I am picking up other sales too, which is a bonus. My ROI is rubbish, but I have to hold my nerve and push on.

On the domestic front. Pat goes for a bone marrow biopsy tomorrow which will be sent to London for analysis. Hopefully they will soon be able to start her treatment. Wish us luck!

Memories.

Today, me and Pat are celebrating our 59th Wedding anniversary. Fifty nine years where we’ve shared all the decision making. Pat made the easy ones, I made the hard ones. Funny thing is, I don’t remember having to make any hard decisions, but everything got done! (Hmm?). We are at that stage in our lives when anniversaries aren’t celebrated in the same was as they used to be; we’re not fit and agile enough. However, today we’re going out for lunch and then to the pictures to see Mary Queen of Scots. Looking forward to it.

I’m making reasonable progress with my pulp fiction thriller. Yesterday I’d completed almost 27000 words, which means I’m nearly two thousand words ahead of my target. But today being different of course, I doubt if I’ll get any further ahead, although I might grab some time later this evening: there’s nothing on the box for me after the football’s finished, so perhaps I’ll write (perhaps!).

I am seeing constant sales on Amazon as a result of my AMS ads, but nowhere near as much as I would like. I am just keeping ahead of one sale a day, but that includes D2D, which is on the low side. But when I see a sale on my KDP graph, and it’s for Roselli’s Gold, I know my ads are at least hitting some targets. My ROI is terrible, but for me that isn’t the objective at the moment. My ads have cost me about $160 so far, and my sales have grossed about $70. And of course, my royalties will be 70% of that figure. For me it’s about getting my work out there among the reading public.

Another thing I’m looking into is advertising on Amazon.co.uk. I contacted Amazon about the fact that my AMS ads only reach USA, but I want to advertise here in UK. They sent me a link through which I can set up an account. There are several options, one of which is the Pro account. £25 up front and then £25 per month. I’m still debating over that because there is no guarantee that my sales in UK will be any better than they are in USA. That would make my ROI terrible.

I watched part of a Mark Dawson podcast yesterday on the value of maintaining links with subscribers. I gave up watching in the end because I just can’t see my way to developing a weekly ‘to and fro’ between me and my subscribers. Each time I send an email, (once a month), I get about ten unsubs and an open rate of about 3%. I will persevere, but I don’t hold out much hope.

I received the new book jacket for my thriller, The Boy from Berlin, and uploaded it to KDP. The paperback arrived yesterday but the reproduced colours means it needs more work. This is not the jacket that Christine Hammacott is producing; that’s still to come and is a completely different work of art. I contacted the designer and he will address the problem. The book itself is fine: feels nice, looks nice, but just a pity it needs a little more work.

Pat is still waiting for news from the hospital about her treatment. It’s now ten weeks since the X-ray revealed the shadow in her lung. We are expecting a call from the hospital on Tuesday with the prognosis and an appointment for treatment to start. We’re not happy!

On the subject of anniversaries; my elder brother Jim was eighty years old three days ago. I remember sending him a birthday card on his 65th birthday when he was lying in hospital after having suffered a heart attack. When I spoke to him, we had a laugh about it. He said if it wasn’t for the skills of the doctors, the stents and the pills, he wouldn’t have got this far. We all need some kind of prop to keep us going. I’m a couple of years behind my brother, but with luck I’ll still be writing (and selling) when I reach my eightieth. Wish me luck!