Monthly Archives September 2011

A week of promotion

September 30, 2011 Uncategorized

As well as writing on the various ideas I've got at the moment, this week has mainly been focusing on Promotion.I was introduced to Project Wonderful last Wednesday. It is an interesting site, allowing users to bid on advertising space on a variety of sites of all subjects and sizes. My publisher promptly opened an account as a test and put a small amount of cash into it. Perhaps because it is targeted, the banners for The Docks appear to have a better return than Google Ads, both in terms of views and clicks. At the same time, I'm trying to arrange a few guest blogs here (look out for Nov 2nd!) and just sent off a magazine article for the new Indie Firsts Magazine due out in December.That's all just for The Docks. Fire Season has been sent out for more reviews, and has been submitted to

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Fire Season on Smashwords

September 21, 2011 Uncategorized

After much discussion with the publisher, Fire Season is now available on Smashwords. This means it is available for the Nook, and in epub format for the Sony and other eReaders. There's also a DRM-free .mobi version available here for Kindle users. Fire Season will be coming to other stores, like Barnes & Noble etc. in the next few weeks.It's still controlled by the publisher, managed by their account, and just linked to my Smashwords account. It seems rather odd to have something I can view but not directly edit. Given the number of epub downloads of Arrival, it seems sensible to have the main novel available in that format.The only other piece of news is that adverts for The Docks should start showing up this month. I've been pointed in the direction of Project Winderful, who

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SampleSunday? Harry and Dating problems…

September 18, 2011 SampleSunday

Rather than a sample from a book, here's a short piece inspired by a reader's question. I was asked why Harry wasn't having more success with the ladies. All I can say is, can you imagine his typical date at the moment?

"That's a nice neighbourhood." She glanced at the menu, and I hoped she wouldn't order anything too pricy.

"I'm sharing a house with my brother." I added, without mentioning I was sleeping on his couch at the moment. "So what do you do?"

"I'm a personal assistant. I work for a Vice President at Goldman Sachs." Classy lady. Why did I keep getting set up with them? What had my brother put on my profile? "What do you do?"

"I work in security. Security assessments." I could see her opinion of me dropping and suddenly remembered what my brother had drilled

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Current projects for the week

September 12, 2011 Uncategorized

Type up notes. In other words, typing, typing, and more typing. I've got 2,000 words done today on various first drafts. Other projects include a wikispaces wiki for The Docks series, waiting nervously for several more reviews of The Docks and Fire Season, revamping the look of this blog (again) since I've got Conflict of Interest out......and the more exciting news that Conflict of Interest is going onto Amazon in the next twenty-four hours.It's going to be a busy week.

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SampleSunday – Conflict of Interest Ch1

September 11, 2011 SampleSunday, Smashwords

I wasn't going to do Sample Sunday today, but since Conflict of Interest just got approved for distribution, and will be hitting Barnes & Noble, Amazon and more shortly, I thought I'd put up a link to a sample to celebrate. If you want the whole book now, it is available in all formats from Smashwords.Today's SampleSunday is the complete Chapter One of Conflict of Interest, available from the website for CoI.Read here: Chapter One: Conflict of InterestThere are a couple of Tweets going round, so please Retweet them if you like the sample: Mugging an armed robber isn't bright. Conflict of Interest: bit.ly/qzhbkX #samplesunday #ebookorHis robbery went as planned - until Harry was mugged. Conflict of Interest Ch.1: bit.ly/qzhbkX #Sample Sunday #action #ebook Pls RT

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Print costs and decisions

September 9, 2011 Uncategorized

Putting the Docks into print will cost £200. That covers the cover artwork rights, ISBN, layout, formatting, proof copies, revisions and then a base twenty copies to get the distribution chain moving. This would be POD, producing a 96 page mass-market paperback. It also gives it a shelf price of £4.99, even after distribution, P&P, author royalty and production, which createspace and lulu can't match.The problem is that right now, I don't have that spare. I can either publish two new ebooks, or put The Docks into print. The print audience is larger, and reaches people that don't own e-readers. It gives me access to bookshops, and to a wider set of reviewers. On the other hand, the best way to promote a book online is to release another book. It's not just the sales of the new books

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Current projects

September 8, 2011 Uncategorized

I've just been formatting some non-fiction for another penname, so I haven't updated the blog in a while.Regarding my fiction writing, I've got a possible Docks novellas in the works, along with a Christmas short story and some notes for other possible pieces. Yes, I have written what happens when he finally ends up in court over the incidents in the Docks, after the end of Conflict of Interest. No, I am not spoiling it.More to the point a short story set in Brooke's Vale turned into an idea for a reasonable sequel to Fire Season. I'm still at the note-taking stage, so it might not go anywhere, but so far it seems to be coming together nicely.

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Conflict of Interest – Sample Sunday

September 4, 2011 SampleSunday

Work can be murder...
A new job, a fresh start, and things are looking up for Harry. Maybe going straight isn't so hard.
He didn't expect to stumble over a job aimed at his new employer, for the kind of money a crook could retire on. It should be simple enough: tell the police, let them arrest the criminals, claim a reward. Sorted.
Except Harry's not a snitch - and it's being organised by his mate...
Conflict of Interest is a crime novella (30,000 words) and the sequel to The Docks. Currently it is available at $0.99.
Here's a short exerpt from the first chapter for Sample Sunday:

Climbing out of the small window was harder than climbing in had been, but then I had the cash box under my fleece. Watching carefully through the small gap, I checked the alley was empty as best

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Conflict of Interest & Amazon

September 1, 2011 Uncategorized

Amazon say they will take at least 3 days to fix The Docks listing. In the meantime I am losing traffic from various features, which is frustrating (and costly) but can't be helped.
On a bright note, so far I have two issues reported with Conflict Of Interest, both in the HTML version only, and both purely stylistic. If the .mobi and .epub versions are correct, which they seem to be, I may leave this to get to distribution faster.
You can see them for yourself at Smashwords
The only other complaint was that on the page for The Docks at the end I hadn't added any nice reviews...
UPDATE: 20:30 and it looks like the Docks listing for Amazon.com is back up:
The Docks on Amazon.com The only problem is that as a UK resident I can't see the price on Amazon.com. Fingers crossed there are no

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