Well, in case you're stuck for a last minute present for a Kindle-owning friend, The Testing of Archie Rathbone is free to download from Amazon, today and tomorrow (December 14th and 15th).
This will probably be the last chance to get it free for quite a while, as I've decided not to renew my KDP Select enrollment (something you have to do before Amazon will let you give your book away), but this way I'll be free to publish in other formats (another one of Amazon's conditions).
As and when I make my book available in other formats, I'll post the information here and on my facebook page. In the meantime, I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas.
Friday 14 December 2012
Sunday 9 December 2012
An Amazon Adventure (Part 10)
A last Free Promotion
I can't remember whether or not I've explained this before, but Amazon will only allow books to be given away (i.e. downloaded free of charge) if they are first enrolled in their KDP Select scheme, and even then, only for a maximum of five days during the three month enrollment period.I enrolled with KDP Select when The Testing of Archie Rathbone was published in June, and renewed the enrollment in September. That takes me through to December 20th, but I have decided not to renew again (more on that another time). The upshot of this is that once I have taken advantage of the allocated free days this month, The Testing of Archie Rathbone won't then be free to download again for a while (never say never).
So, The Testing of Archie Rathbone will be free to download from Amazon for two days, on December 14th and 15th.
Joo's Author Interrogations
This promotion will coincide with the posting on the web of a short interview. Joo, a friend on both www.goodreads.com and www.kuforum.co.uk runs an excellent blog called Joo's Author Interrogations, and is very kindly going to post my interrogation on December 14th. Her blog provides a great insight into how a wide range of authors work, and think about their writing, and is well worth a regular visit.Downhill Career / Career downhill?
As a small aside, my ongoing efforts to find a job continue to be frustrated. It's been a long time now, and it would be all too easy to give in to the rising background sense of panic. I don't mention this because I'm blurring the boundaries between my two careers - the writer I'd like to be, and the other one I need in order to pay the bills - but because at the moment my worries about the continued absence of the latter are getting in the way of the creative processes of the former. I continue to hope that the rapidly approaching new year will see a change for the better on both fronts.Saturday 17 November 2012
FREE on Amazon
The Testing of Archie Rathbone is FREE on Amazon
November 16th, 17th and 18th
Amazon.co.uk
Amazon.com
Reviews for 'The Testing of Archie Rathbone' on Amazon
Tuesday 13 November 2012
Latest Review for TTOAR
Coming Soon
The Testing of Archie Rathbone - 3 day promotion - November 16th - 18th
5.0 out of 5
stars Very
Entertaining, 5 Oct 2012
(Link to Amazon page to see reviews in their original context)
The Testing of Archie Rathbone (Kindle Edition)
After reading the reviews on this book, I was a little bit wary about
trying it. Using strange or humorous names for some of your characters worked
well for Douglas Adams & Charles Dickens, but nowadays I tend to think it's
often a lazy device used by writers who are trying (usually unsuccessfully) to
inject a bit of comedy into a rather limp offering.Well allow me to eat those words, because I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and once I started reading, I just couldn't stop. It's hard to pin down exactly what genre it would fit into, it's not comedy (though it does have some amusing twists), and somehow it doesn't quite fit the fantasy genre. It does however have an unusual, eccentric plot that keeps you entertained from beginning to end, is well written and full of interesting characters (like the tailors Bolt, Upright & Clench). If I tell you that the main character Archie Rathbone starts the book, trapped on a desert island that is ** SPOILER ALERT **, you'll understand what I mean when I say "eccentric". Sounds daft, but this really is a very readable book, and I'm looking forward to reading more of this author's work in future.
Friday 9 November 2012
An Amazon Adventure (Part 9)
It's been a while since I last wrote an update on my experiences of trying to sell my book.
The Testing of Archie Rathbone hasn't exactly flown off the e-shelves, but then from what my friendly fellow authors have said, that is very much par for the course for first books, and particularly self-published ones. As I've posted previously, downloads have come in dribs and drabs, although during September there was a definite spike in sales, following my last promotion. That spike petered out during the month, with the last residual effects finally vanishing in early October. Now, it just so happened that this coincided with a serious change of focus in my life - I've been out of work for several months, and at that point I realised that looking for work had to become a full-time exercise. Consequently, my author-related networking activity vanished as my job hunting activity increased, and although it was quite incidental, this has provided the circumstances for an interesting (for me at least) experiment:
Assuming that the sales in early October were as a residual effect of September's promotional activity, then it seems that a near-total lack of networking activity during the month resulted in a corresponding total lack of book sales. Looking at this from the current point (more than a week into November), and still without a single additional download, I'm now planning a three day free promotion this month (from November 16th to 18th inclusive), accompanied by all the associated visibility I can manage.
What will this prove? Well, free books tend to attract downloads - that doesn't prove anything. But, if the downloads continue after the price reverts at the end of the promotion then that can only be as a direct result of the promotion (otherwise I'd have seen some paid downloads over the last month). I shall let you know what happens!
Oh, and in case you're wondering - no, I still haven't found a job...
The Testing of Archie Rathbone hasn't exactly flown off the e-shelves, but then from what my friendly fellow authors have said, that is very much par for the course for first books, and particularly self-published ones. As I've posted previously, downloads have come in dribs and drabs, although during September there was a definite spike in sales, following my last promotion. That spike petered out during the month, with the last residual effects finally vanishing in early October. Now, it just so happened that this coincided with a serious change of focus in my life - I've been out of work for several months, and at that point I realised that looking for work had to become a full-time exercise. Consequently, my author-related networking activity vanished as my job hunting activity increased, and although it was quite incidental, this has provided the circumstances for an interesting (for me at least) experiment:
Assuming that the sales in early October were as a residual effect of September's promotional activity, then it seems that a near-total lack of networking activity during the month resulted in a corresponding total lack of book sales. Looking at this from the current point (more than a week into November), and still without a single additional download, I'm now planning a three day free promotion this month (from November 16th to 18th inclusive), accompanied by all the associated visibility I can manage.
What will this prove? Well, free books tend to attract downloads - that doesn't prove anything. But, if the downloads continue after the price reverts at the end of the promotion then that can only be as a direct result of the promotion (otherwise I'd have seen some paid downloads over the last month). I shall let you know what happens!
Oh, and in case you're wondering - no, I still haven't found a job...
Wednesday 10 October 2012
The Watchmaker's Chain - Update
Better late than never, or so they say.
The Watchmaker's Chain spent many months in a state of suspended animation, and as I've reported before, when I came to try to re-animate it, I found that I was suffering from a severe case of writer's block.
It wasn't so much that I couldn't think what to write, but that I had suspended the creative process at a point in the story where some critical information was just about to be shared with the reader, and a necessary prerequisite of breathing life into the story was that I was completely clear as to what that information was, how much of it would immediately be made clear, and how it would be presented. To make matters worse, the rest of the book (and the plot's 'critical path') is heavily dependent upon that information, and upon my getting the balance of detail and revellation right. Sadly, this proved to be a difficult, protracted and painful process.
Well, several weeks later, I'm happy to report that I did eventually overcome this problem and with it the writer's block. The Watchmaker's Chain has now advanced by another eight thousand words (the total now stands at just over 40,000), and counting.
The Watchmaker's Chain spent many months in a state of suspended animation, and as I've reported before, when I came to try to re-animate it, I found that I was suffering from a severe case of writer's block.
It wasn't so much that I couldn't think what to write, but that I had suspended the creative process at a point in the story where some critical information was just about to be shared with the reader, and a necessary prerequisite of breathing life into the story was that I was completely clear as to what that information was, how much of it would immediately be made clear, and how it would be presented. To make matters worse, the rest of the book (and the plot's 'critical path') is heavily dependent upon that information, and upon my getting the balance of detail and revellation right. Sadly, this proved to be a difficult, protracted and painful process.
Well, several weeks later, I'm happy to report that I did eventually overcome this problem and with it the writer's block. The Watchmaker's Chain has now advanced by another eight thousand words (the total now stands at just over 40,000), and counting.
Tuesday 9 October 2012
100 Word Story
I sometimes post on the Kindle Users' Forum, and this morning added a small contribution to a thread for stories of exactly one hundred words length. Apparently, the correct name for a story of this length is a 'drabble' - I've learned something today!
Anyway, here is my first attempt (the inspiration for whic, ironically, came to me in the shower. If I have to explain to you what it's about, then I have obviously failed!
Anyway, here is my first attempt (the inspiration for whic, ironically, came to me in the shower. If I have to explain to you what it's about, then I have obviously failed!
Darkness
Darkness. No room to move.
A sharp rattling sound and we all jump, startled.
A dry, grating, sliding – we are exposed, naked, the pale
glow slowly pouring in.
Pick me! Pick me! Searching fingers grasp in the half-light and find me. Yes!
I am dragged from my prison – no more than a box. It closes
behind me.
Strong fingers grip me and I feel the pressure as my head is
pushed against the wall. I am dragged – it rasps loudly, and then such
exhilaration – a splutter, and with a phosphorous burst I cast aside the
shadows... but I am consumed.
Darkness.Monday 1 October 2012
October 1st - Another Month Gone!
Well, another month gone, and The Watchmaker's Chain is finally showing signs (somewhat grudging ones) of stirring back into life. I don't know whether this is a problem that other writers encounter (when leaving a book part-written, only to find it reluctant to be revived at a later date), or whether it's something to do with the point at which I left it. I suspect the latter.
Anyway, in the meantime September was quite a positive month for The Testing of Archie Rathbone as it achieved more downloads (both paid and free) than in the preceding two and a half months since publication put together. (I'm still talking small numbers though - sadly - so shan't be placing the order for the Aston Martin quite yet).
One thing I do know is that contrary to expectations, being unemployed actually makes it harder to find the time, motivation, and focus to write. This is another reason why getting The Watchmaker's Chain moving again has been such a struggle. There's still no job, and at this rate I'll turn into one of those penniless writers that frequent the pages of French and Americal fiction, living from one red bill to the next and scowling at life whenever prodded.
No change there then!
Anyway, in the meantime September was quite a positive month for The Testing of Archie Rathbone as it achieved more downloads (both paid and free) than in the preceding two and a half months since publication put together. (I'm still talking small numbers though - sadly - so shan't be placing the order for the Aston Martin quite yet).
One thing I do know is that contrary to expectations, being unemployed actually makes it harder to find the time, motivation, and focus to write. This is another reason why getting The Watchmaker's Chain moving again has been such a struggle. There's still no job, and at this rate I'll turn into one of those penniless writers that frequent the pages of French and Americal fiction, living from one red bill to the next and scowling at life whenever prodded.
No change there then!
Monday 24 September 2012
The Watchmaker's Chain - update
In my last post I mentioned that I had been struggling for some time with aspects of the plot - aspects that were complex, but critical to subsequent plot structure - and that this had prevented me from writing any more of the book.
Well, I'm glad to report that after what seems like a very long time in the wilderness, I've managed, finally, to pin down those plot details, and The Watchmaker's Chain is once more a work in progress!
The Watchmaker's Chain is a contemporary mystery thriller, seasoned with a little science fiction. I started writing it in 2011, but decided to put it on ice last autumn while I worked on getting The Testing of Archie Rathbone ready for publication. I have to say that picking up the pieces like this has been much more difficult than I would have expected, and I'll certainly try to avoid having to repeat the process. I hadn't realised quite how complex and involved the various plot strands were that I'd left hanging there, so when it came to picking them up again it wasn't just a case of trying to resolve the unresolved details I referred to earlier, but also of having to remind myself of all those little complexities of interdependency that I'd already designed in - the details I'd sown as seeds earlier in the story that later on would grow into plot twists, or clues to other mysteries.
This is one aspect of writing that I find particularly challenging - not the process of designing a necessarily complex plot, but judging just how complex it really is. If you 'engineer' a complex and interwoven set of plot strands that ultimately lead the reader to what you hope will be a satisfactory conclusion, it's very difficult for you the writer to see it as the reader will - you already know the answer to every riddle you place before the reader.
The Watchmaker's Chain currently stands at around 32,000 words - that's 72 pages of A4 (if that's any more meaningful), or perhaps equivalent to around 110 pages of a 'traditional' book. I don't know how that will compare to its ultimate size, but I'd guess that I'm about a third of the way there.
If you're interested, I'm going to try to post regular updates as to how The Watchmaker's Chain progresses (along with occasional updates on the download figures for The Testing of Archie Rathbone). If you've read Thes Testing of Archie Rathbone then you'll find my second book quite different, but still, I hope, enjoyable.
Well, I'm glad to report that after what seems like a very long time in the wilderness, I've managed, finally, to pin down those plot details, and The Watchmaker's Chain is once more a work in progress!
The Watchmaker's Chain is a contemporary mystery thriller, seasoned with a little science fiction. I started writing it in 2011, but decided to put it on ice last autumn while I worked on getting The Testing of Archie Rathbone ready for publication. I have to say that picking up the pieces like this has been much more difficult than I would have expected, and I'll certainly try to avoid having to repeat the process. I hadn't realised quite how complex and involved the various plot strands were that I'd left hanging there, so when it came to picking them up again it wasn't just a case of trying to resolve the unresolved details I referred to earlier, but also of having to remind myself of all those little complexities of interdependency that I'd already designed in - the details I'd sown as seeds earlier in the story that later on would grow into plot twists, or clues to other mysteries.
This is one aspect of writing that I find particularly challenging - not the process of designing a necessarily complex plot, but judging just how complex it really is. If you 'engineer' a complex and interwoven set of plot strands that ultimately lead the reader to what you hope will be a satisfactory conclusion, it's very difficult for you the writer to see it as the reader will - you already know the answer to every riddle you place before the reader.
The Watchmaker's Chain currently stands at around 32,000 words - that's 72 pages of A4 (if that's any more meaningful), or perhaps equivalent to around 110 pages of a 'traditional' book. I don't know how that will compare to its ultimate size, but I'd guess that I'm about a third of the way there.
If you're interested, I'm going to try to post regular updates as to how The Watchmaker's Chain progresses (along with occasional updates on the download figures for The Testing of Archie Rathbone). If you've read Thes Testing of Archie Rathbone then you'll find my second book quite different, but still, I hope, enjoyable.
Monday 10 September 2012
All Change
There are a few things I'd like to share with you today:
New Look Blog
For starters (and you'll have noticed this if you've visited this blog before), I've change the look of these pages - new colour scheme and background. I know it's only superficial, but it amused me to do it! I'm not sure (now I've actually done it) why I felt the need for a revamp - it's not as though I've made a particularly good job of it, or that the new 'look' makes the content any more eye-catching or appealing - but there you go - it's done now (at least until I tire of it and decide to do another overhaul)!
Amazon Adventure Update
Then there's a brief update on the results of the last free promotion of The Testing of Archie Rathbone: A couple of days after the promotion I reported the download figures, but subsequently there were a further thirty-five downloads, and then another ten paid downloads as well. More interesting though is the effect it had on the book's ranking on Amazon. During the promotion it was shown as about nine thousandth in the free amazon kindle ebook rankings (it's highest placing so far) and only about 4th in the YA fantasy ranks. Subsequently (after returning to the paid lists) when the ten paid downloads were processed it went up to about fifteen thousand'th in the paid lists, before returning to it's pre-promotions levels gradually over the subsequent week.
In total now, The Testing of Archie rathbone has been downloaded over three hundred times. Hopefully, apart from any effect this has on rankings, this will result in more ratings on Amazon, and more reviews. Prior to the promotion there were only six pages of 'Customers who bouth this item also bought' books - now there are seventeen pages. Assuming that this means that my book will also appear on the equivalent lists for at least some of those books, it should be becoming more visible.
The Watchmaker's Chain Plot
Lastly, I'm battling with the plot for The Watchmaker's Chain. Actually, that's not quite accurate - know what is going to happen, it's just that there are some details that need to support the plot that are so complex and involved that they need more time and concentration than I've been able to give them recently. Never mind - it will happen!
New Look Blog
For starters (and you'll have noticed this if you've visited this blog before), I've change the look of these pages - new colour scheme and background. I know it's only superficial, but it amused me to do it! I'm not sure (now I've actually done it) why I felt the need for a revamp - it's not as though I've made a particularly good job of it, or that the new 'look' makes the content any more eye-catching or appealing - but there you go - it's done now (at least until I tire of it and decide to do another overhaul)!
Amazon Adventure Update
Then there's a brief update on the results of the last free promotion of The Testing of Archie Rathbone: A couple of days after the promotion I reported the download figures, but subsequently there were a further thirty-five downloads, and then another ten paid downloads as well. More interesting though is the effect it had on the book's ranking on Amazon. During the promotion it was shown as about nine thousandth in the free amazon kindle ebook rankings (it's highest placing so far) and only about 4th in the YA fantasy ranks. Subsequently (after returning to the paid lists) when the ten paid downloads were processed it went up to about fifteen thousand'th in the paid lists, before returning to it's pre-promotions levels gradually over the subsequent week.
In total now, The Testing of Archie rathbone has been downloaded over three hundred times. Hopefully, apart from any effect this has on rankings, this will result in more ratings on Amazon, and more reviews. Prior to the promotion there were only six pages of 'Customers who bouth this item also bought' books - now there are seventeen pages. Assuming that this means that my book will also appear on the equivalent lists for at least some of those books, it should be becoming more visible.
The Watchmaker's Chain Plot
Lastly, I'm battling with the plot for The Watchmaker's Chain. Actually, that's not quite accurate - know what is going to happen, it's just that there are some details that need to support the plot that are so complex and involved that they need more time and concentration than I've been able to give them recently. Never mind - it will happen!
Tuesday 4 September 2012
September Promotion Results
Two days ago The Testing of Archie Rathbone was available for twenty-four hours as a free Kindle download (a huge discount from the previous price of 77p, a price to which, regretably it has now returned).
In the prior two and a half months since publication it had been downloaded about one hundred and twenty times, the majority of which being during two earlier two-day free promotions. On Saturday 1st September it was downloaded one hundred and forty-one times (i.e. more in one day than during the previous two and a half months)!
Whilst I shan't be placing the order for the executive jet quite yet (and these figures will probably seem paltry to most of you), I count this as a success, and would like to say a heart-felt 'thank you' to anyone who took the plunge and downloaded it. I hope you read it, and enjoy it (and then, of course, tell everyone).
Saturday 1 September 2012
The Testing of Archie Rathbone
On Amazon.co.ukOn Amazon.com
My book is free to download from Amazon today (Saturday 1st September), for one day only.
Please do take advantage of this, and if you read it I'd be very grateful for any feedback and/or reviews (either directly to me or on Amazon or Goodreads).
Thankyou.
Friday 24 August 2012
September Promotion
The Testing of Archie Rathbone
Free on 1st September 2012
Having enrolled on Amazon's KDP Select programme (it's something to do with Amazon lending ebooks, but please, if you're interested you're better off reading about it on Amazon's site rather than my adding unnecessary information here), I am allowed to run up to five days of promotions during which The Testing of Archie Rathbone can be downloaded free of charge. There have been two previous promotions over the last few months and I've decided to use my final 'free' day on 1st September 2012.
If you haven't already, then please do take advantage of this opportunity. If you don't have a Kindle then there are Kindle Reader apps that allow you to read Kindle ebooks on a number of other devices including phones, PCs iPads and so on.
If you do manage to read my book then I'd love to hear what you thought of it, and perhaps you'd like to write a short (or long) review on Goodreads or on Amazon.
I'm intending to renew my KDP Select membership in September so there may well be further promotions over the following three months. Dates to be decided...
Saturday 18 August 2012
Lead a horse to water...
I've recently created an author page on Facebook (Alex Hunter, Author). Now in case I haven't explained this to you before, despite having had to deal with technology for all of my working life, technology and I are uneasy in each other's company, let alone when trying to work together. As a friend pointed out - there's an obvious irony in that, but as there's little I can do to rectify this seemingly innate intipathy, technology and I will doubtless continue our grudging acquaintance.
I've referred to having read books about how to write before. One of the things that seems to be universally accepted these days is that unless you choose to acquire a literary agent and thereby a publisher (and having made that choice, are successful) the chances of you and your book enjoying any significant success are directly proportional to your skills at, and energy for self-publicity.
Aside from the well-established approaches to marketing your book (public readings, book signings, posters, radio, TV and newspaper interviews, etc) the 'modern' writer must also make full and frantic use of the available social networking sites.
You can (as the proverb states) lead a horse to water, but you cannot make it drink. So, I have been lead to Facebook, and although both hooves and muzzle have been emersed, I'm still feeling hydrophobic, and not in the least bit thirsty. That said, perhaps I'll be surprised - perhaps water is just what I need, and similarly Facebook will be the elixir that will make my book thrive.
In the meantime, the author page is there. We shall see!
I've referred to having read books about how to write before. One of the things that seems to be universally accepted these days is that unless you choose to acquire a literary agent and thereby a publisher (and having made that choice, are successful) the chances of you and your book enjoying any significant success are directly proportional to your skills at, and energy for self-publicity.
Aside from the well-established approaches to marketing your book (public readings, book signings, posters, radio, TV and newspaper interviews, etc) the 'modern' writer must also make full and frantic use of the available social networking sites.
You can (as the proverb states) lead a horse to water, but you cannot make it drink. So, I have been lead to Facebook, and although both hooves and muzzle have been emersed, I'm still feeling hydrophobic, and not in the least bit thirsty. That said, perhaps I'll be surprised - perhaps water is just what I need, and similarly Facebook will be the elixir that will make my book thrive.
In the meantime, the author page is there. We shall see!
Monday 30 July 2012
Writer's Block
The last few months have been difficult.
Perhaps I could have said that at almost any point in my recent life... I don't know. Anyway, in this case, having been made redundant last March, and still being out of work now (with a family to support) is not conducive to getting a good night's sleep, and as the time ticks past, it's not getting any easier!
I mention this, not in the hope of garnering sympathy, but so that I can try to explain somthing of my writing habits. I'd thought (or at least hoped) that some of the last few months would have been spent writing my latest novel - I know I've also been working on the house (in case I have to sell it, but the work needs doing anyway), but that doesn't take up all of the day. And yet I have hardly been able to bring myself to write a word in four months. What a waste!
Looking back though, this was entirely predictable. I've been here before. I can write when I'm happy, when I'm sad, when I'm neither. But I don't seem able to write when I'm worried - preoccupied with something that seems bigger than me - when I feel that I've lost control of my life, and it's been taken over by some sort of malevolent force...
It's a shame - The Watchmaker's Chain was coming on well. I'd written eight chapters - my main character had taken shape, he'd introduced several other significant characters, been presented with some shocking news which had developed into a lot of questions that demanded answers, and... well, you get the idea. Anyway, at the end of last year I'd left things rather up in the air, and poised to explode in several interesting directions, and there they've stayed.
I've managed to read it through (in the hope that I would be inspired to write again), and I did expand the last chapter a little (to explain some things that needed explaining) but so far the whole writing thing just doesn't want to happen.
I'd love to think that my next post will start with 'I've written chapter nine...', and perhaps it will. I hope so. As I say, I've been here before, and I know that I sometimes have to have a break from writing, but always come back to it, refreshed and itching to be at it. Failing that, perhaps my next post will start with 'I've got a new job...'.
Perhaps I could have said that at almost any point in my recent life... I don't know. Anyway, in this case, having been made redundant last March, and still being out of work now (with a family to support) is not conducive to getting a good night's sleep, and as the time ticks past, it's not getting any easier!
I mention this, not in the hope of garnering sympathy, but so that I can try to explain somthing of my writing habits. I'd thought (or at least hoped) that some of the last few months would have been spent writing my latest novel - I know I've also been working on the house (in case I have to sell it, but the work needs doing anyway), but that doesn't take up all of the day. And yet I have hardly been able to bring myself to write a word in four months. What a waste!
Looking back though, this was entirely predictable. I've been here before. I can write when I'm happy, when I'm sad, when I'm neither. But I don't seem able to write when I'm worried - preoccupied with something that seems bigger than me - when I feel that I've lost control of my life, and it's been taken over by some sort of malevolent force...
It's a shame - The Watchmaker's Chain was coming on well. I'd written eight chapters - my main character had taken shape, he'd introduced several other significant characters, been presented with some shocking news which had developed into a lot of questions that demanded answers, and... well, you get the idea. Anyway, at the end of last year I'd left things rather up in the air, and poised to explode in several interesting directions, and there they've stayed.
I've managed to read it through (in the hope that I would be inspired to write again), and I did expand the last chapter a little (to explain some things that needed explaining) but so far the whole writing thing just doesn't want to happen.
I'd love to think that my next post will start with 'I've written chapter nine...', and perhaps it will. I hope so. As I say, I've been here before, and I know that I sometimes have to have a break from writing, but always come back to it, refreshed and itching to be at it. Failing that, perhaps my next post will start with 'I've got a new job...'.
Saturday 21 July 2012
An Amazon Adventure (Part 8)
I think I'd better start by explaining up front that I'm probably going to have to reduce the frequency of my posts. Unfortunately, there are only twenty-four hours in each of my days (or so I'm told), and into those hours I also have to fit rather a lot of other things (writing my next book, trying to sell the last one, renovating an old house, being a husband/father, trying to find a job, and countless other things - and not necesarily in that order).
Blogger lets me see how many views my blogs are getting, so I have a pretty good idea how popular/lacking in popularity they are - I have two blogs here (this one plus The Trenchfoote Legacy) and an Author Blog on the excellent Goodreads website. There has been a constant trickle of views over the last month to my two Blogger sites, but it appears that I have a small number of interested individuals (and thank you if you're one of them) who return every so often to read my new posts. I'd love to keep posting every couple of days, but I just can't sustain that level, given the other priorities I have to manage as well. If you are one of the interested ones then I hope you will still continue to find posts here to entertain/inform you, even if they are less frequent than before.
Being new to blogging (and not having followed any myself before) I don't know whether it's normal not to receive any comments on your blog. It has to be said that I haven't particularly encouraged contributions from readers to this blog (although perhaps The Trenchfoote Legacy was specifically intended to encourage reader participation), and if no one has comments to make then that's fine, but without feedback I can't tell whether what I'm posting is of any real interest, or whether there are areas you might like me to cover as well or instead.
So if you do have any thoughts, suggestions, questions or contributions you'd like to make about my books, my approach to writing or other related stuff then I'd be happy to hear them.
In the meantime, a brief update on where The Testing of Archie Rathbone is currently:
A few days ago I received an update on myAlex Hunter (Meet the Authors) thread on Goodreads, thanking me for my book (the writer having taken a chance on it as it was available free during a two day promotion). This person explained that the book wasn't one they'd normally have chosen to read but had really enjoyed it (against expectations). They went on to write a similarly complimentary review on both the Goodreads and Amazon sites.
This wasn't The Testing of Archie Rathbone's first review, and nor was it the highest rating it has received, but it was the first that I could categorically say had been unbiassed and objective. It's not that the other reviews aren't objective - I'm sure they are - but even I can't play down a review from someone who's never met me, seen me, or didn't even know who I was before downloading my book.
The Testing of Archie Rathbone it currently languishing on Amazon.co.uk at around the #50,000 rating mark (last night inexplicably it went from around #160,000 up to #27,000, but this morning back down to #47,000), and consequently it's showing up reasonably well on UK searches. The US (Amazon.com) rating is nowhere near as good, but it has yet to 'sell' a copy there, to date only having been downloaded when free.
So, at least one independent review suggests that it's not complete rubbish (oh, alright then - that it's a good book), it's currently priced at £1.99 on Amazon.co.uk (not dirt cheap, but hopefully affordable), and it should nw be showing up on searches, so...
We shall see.
Blogger lets me see how many views my blogs are getting, so I have a pretty good idea how popular/lacking in popularity they are - I have two blogs here (this one plus The Trenchfoote Legacy) and an Author Blog on the excellent Goodreads website. There has been a constant trickle of views over the last month to my two Blogger sites, but it appears that I have a small number of interested individuals (and thank you if you're one of them) who return every so often to read my new posts. I'd love to keep posting every couple of days, but I just can't sustain that level, given the other priorities I have to manage as well. If you are one of the interested ones then I hope you will still continue to find posts here to entertain/inform you, even if they are less frequent than before.
Being new to blogging (and not having followed any myself before) I don't know whether it's normal not to receive any comments on your blog. It has to be said that I haven't particularly encouraged contributions from readers to this blog (although perhaps The Trenchfoote Legacy was specifically intended to encourage reader participation), and if no one has comments to make then that's fine, but without feedback I can't tell whether what I'm posting is of any real interest, or whether there are areas you might like me to cover as well or instead.
So if you do have any thoughts, suggestions, questions or contributions you'd like to make about my books, my approach to writing or other related stuff then I'd be happy to hear them.
In the meantime, a brief update on where The Testing of Archie Rathbone is currently:
A few days ago I received an update on myAlex Hunter (Meet the Authors) thread on Goodreads, thanking me for my book (the writer having taken a chance on it as it was available free during a two day promotion). This person explained that the book wasn't one they'd normally have chosen to read but had really enjoyed it (against expectations). They went on to write a similarly complimentary review on both the Goodreads and Amazon sites.
This wasn't The Testing of Archie Rathbone's first review, and nor was it the highest rating it has received, but it was the first that I could categorically say had been unbiassed and objective. It's not that the other reviews aren't objective - I'm sure they are - but even I can't play down a review from someone who's never met me, seen me, or didn't even know who I was before downloading my book.
The Testing of Archie Rathbone it currently languishing on Amazon.co.uk at around the #50,000 rating mark (last night inexplicably it went from around #160,000 up to #27,000, but this morning back down to #47,000), and consequently it's showing up reasonably well on UK searches. The US (Amazon.com) rating is nowhere near as good, but it has yet to 'sell' a copy there, to date only having been downloaded when free.
So, at least one independent review suggests that it's not complete rubbish (oh, alright then - that it's a good book), it's currently priced at £1.99 on Amazon.co.uk (not dirt cheap, but hopefully affordable), and it should nw be showing up on searches, so...
We shall see.
Thursday 19 July 2012
Is your book any good?
Seriously though - how do you know? Let's face it, when you're writing a book (or at least when I'm writing a book) you start off with heaps of enthusiasm (without which the book would never get written), and if you're lucky, you manage to fight off the mid-book blues, the writer's block and the 'I've just had another great idea for a book' inspiration that strikes at just the wrong moment, and get to that important final THE END.
But unless you are supremely self-confident (and simply know that your book is brilliant, regardless of what the critics might say), the reality is that without feedback you just don't know. So what do we do? We get our friends and relatives to read our work, and wait to hear their feedback. But it's a brave member of that group that will tell you the unvarnished truth, at least if it's bad!
So there you are - you've written your tome, you've taken into account whatever feedback you can get your hands on, and doubtless you've applied all relevant filters to that (don't believe that...he's only saying that because it's me...she would say that because she doesn't like sci-fi...etc) and you're left at that uncomfortable point in a book's life - do you publish or not? Well you do, of course.
That's the real crunch point - that's when you find out what (if anything) your proto-readers think of your creation. I say if anything, because first of all you've got to persuade someone to take the plunge - to buy or download your book, to open the cover and read, and to keep reading until they too reach THE END. Not only that, but they've also then got to comit that unselfish act of submitting feedback.
I'll leave you to look back through that list (including the bits I've missed out or glossed over) and count the number of points at which the whole process can fall flat, but let's just agree that it's fraught with potential for failure. For many, the thought of writing a book is daunting - thousands upon thousands of words, hundreds of pages - it's not for everyone. It doesn't end there either - you ask just about any writer, or anyone who writes about how to write and they'll almost certainly tell you that you have to redraft. Not just once, or twice, or three times...but lots and lots of times - you have to hone the plot, fine-tune the characters, cut the surplus, sometimes even scrap whole sections and rewrite them. Eventually, if you're sufficiently determined, you get to the point where you press the 'Publish' button. (That's always assuming that like me, you're going to publish an ebook, and to publish it yourself. If you're going to approach literary agents or publishers then there are another couple of chapters to this painful process.)
The point is though that people assume that the writing part is the difficult bit. It's not that writing isn't difficult, or hard work, it's just that it doesn't end there - so we're back to the point where we're trying to get feedback.
Without feedback, many potential readers won't buy a book.
If potential readers won't buy a book then they can't give feedback on it.
I'm sure you can see my point.
So let's assume that your precious creation is sitting there, waiting for someone to read it. But they don't. What does this tell you about your pride and joy? What can you conclude? Can you assume that it's no good - that all those friends and family members who read your work only told you what they thought you wanted to hear? Is it really just that there was no way of knowing that you just don't (yet) have what it takes - until now...?
Well, all of those are possible of course. But until someone with an unbiassed viewpoint takes the plunge, reads your book, and then tells everyone what they thought, only then can you really know.
But unless you are supremely self-confident (and simply know that your book is brilliant, regardless of what the critics might say), the reality is that without feedback you just don't know. So what do we do? We get our friends and relatives to read our work, and wait to hear their feedback. But it's a brave member of that group that will tell you the unvarnished truth, at least if it's bad!
So there you are - you've written your tome, you've taken into account whatever feedback you can get your hands on, and doubtless you've applied all relevant filters to that (don't believe that...he's only saying that because it's me...she would say that because she doesn't like sci-fi...etc) and you're left at that uncomfortable point in a book's life - do you publish or not? Well you do, of course.
That's the real crunch point - that's when you find out what (if anything) your proto-readers think of your creation. I say if anything, because first of all you've got to persuade someone to take the plunge - to buy or download your book, to open the cover and read, and to keep reading until they too reach THE END. Not only that, but they've also then got to comit that unselfish act of submitting feedback.
I'll leave you to look back through that list (including the bits I've missed out or glossed over) and count the number of points at which the whole process can fall flat, but let's just agree that it's fraught with potential for failure. For many, the thought of writing a book is daunting - thousands upon thousands of words, hundreds of pages - it's not for everyone. It doesn't end there either - you ask just about any writer, or anyone who writes about how to write and they'll almost certainly tell you that you have to redraft. Not just once, or twice, or three times...but lots and lots of times - you have to hone the plot, fine-tune the characters, cut the surplus, sometimes even scrap whole sections and rewrite them. Eventually, if you're sufficiently determined, you get to the point where you press the 'Publish' button. (That's always assuming that like me, you're going to publish an ebook, and to publish it yourself. If you're going to approach literary agents or publishers then there are another couple of chapters to this painful process.)
The point is though that people assume that the writing part is the difficult bit. It's not that writing isn't difficult, or hard work, it's just that it doesn't end there - so we're back to the point where we're trying to get feedback.
Without feedback, many potential readers won't buy a book.
If potential readers won't buy a book then they can't give feedback on it.
I'm sure you can see my point.
So let's assume that your precious creation is sitting there, waiting for someone to read it. But they don't. What does this tell you about your pride and joy? What can you conclude? Can you assume that it's no good - that all those friends and family members who read your work only told you what they thought you wanted to hear? Is it really just that there was no way of knowing that you just don't (yet) have what it takes - until now...?
Well, all of those are possible of course. But until someone with an unbiassed viewpoint takes the plunge, reads your book, and then tells everyone what they thought, only then can you really know.
Wednesday 18 July 2012
More about The Testing of Archie Rathbone
Over the last few months I've imposed on the good will and generosity of friends and family by asking them to proof-read The Testing of Archie Rathbone for me. They have done this without complaint, and have also been brave enough (at my insistence) to give me feedback, even when it might not have been what I wanted to hear.
It occurs to me though that without realising it, they have also provided another great service, in that they have asked me questions along the way - some of them ones I would have expected, and others that caught me a little by surprise.
So, for anyone who looks at my book and wants to know more, perhaps these questions and answers will help. If however there are any questions you'd like to ask (that aren't covered here) then feel free to ask me by commenting on this blog, or on my GoodReads Meet the authors thread Alex Hunter thread.
Where did you get the inspiration for The Testing of Archie Rathbone?
I started writing this book in 2007, so it's difficult to remember exactly, but two things stick in my mind - firstly, I have a clear memory of sitting at my desk, gazing out of the window and thinking 'what would happen if you woke up one day to find yourself somewhere completely alien to you, with no memory of how you'd got there? What would you do? How would you go about getting back home?' That starting point begged loads of other questions about who was responsible, what their motives were and so on. The other clear memory I have is of a flash of inspiration for some character names - Bolt, Upright & Clench. I don't think I even had a clear idea as to who these characters would turn out to be, just that they would be important to the plot. The rest of the story all followed from those starting points.
Do you have your plots planned out before you start to write?
No, or at least not in detail. I've read about writers who approach writing in that way, but I find that too much planning gets in the way of the creative flow. That said, although as I say it doesn't come naturally to me, there are times when you have to plan your plot structure very carefully. Although The Testing of Archie Rathbone doesn't have a particularly complex plot, there are a number of twists and turns, and interdependent strands that needed to be introduced at the right times, and linked in the right ways. It's also really important to drip-feed little hints and clues about what's going on beyond the obvious in order to pose questions for the reader to want to answer, to increase tension, to sustain interest and so on. I don't know if anyone could to that effectively without some careful planning, as you need to know where the plot's heading in order to judge which clues to introduce at which points.
When I started writing the book I'm working on at the moment (The Watchmaker's Chain) I wrote the first sixty or so pages straight off, and then felt compelled to write the very end of the story as I realised how important it was to the rest of the plot. Having done that, the remaining plot will be formed by the beginning and the end! I suppose that for me, no two books require the same approach.
Which writers/books have influenced your writing?
I suppose that's not quite the same as which writers do you particularly like?... Well, my sense of humour has been influenced by Monty Python, but I don't think there's much evidence of it in my writing. I was a teenager when the Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy was first broadcast on the radio, and I suspect that there are hints of that influence in The Testing of Archie Rathbone (one of the book's reviewers flatteringly commented that Archie Rathbone was "...very much the Ford Prefect of the twenty-first century...", but I certainly didn't set out to creat something in someone else's style). I also loved the Reggie Perrin novels of David Nobbs, but again I'm not conscious of being influenced by him. Although The Testing of Archie rathbone wasn't the first humorous novel I've written, I've written in other genres too - The Watchmaker's Chain is much more of a science fiction novel. On that side, I suppose I read quite a few sci-fi writers when I was younger - Isaac Azimov, Jules Verne, H. G. Wells, John Wyndham foremost among them.
Your writing is full of characters with amusing names - what's the thinking behind that?
I suppose I'll have to blame Charles Dickens for that. His writing depends on the use of names that in some way tell yuo about the character they belong to. Sometimes he used these to provide humour as well, but even in his non-humour fiction he seldom missed an opportunity to use a character's name to add colour. I don't set out to be quite a calculating as that, but if I'm writing something that I want to make the reader smile then my characters' names are a good place to start.
Did you set out to write this book for a particular age group?
No, but then in most cases I write a story because it gets inside my head and won't leave me alone until I give in. I did once set out to write a chidren's story, but that was the exception. I suspect that whatever age group(s) The Testing of Archie Rathbone appeals to is largely accidental, or at least a product of my own tastes.
Do you plan to write a sequel or a prequel?
I have thought about it. Although I did try t make sure that most of the loose ends were neatly tied up at the end of the book, it wouldn't be difficult to envisage a little judicious unravelling. There are also lots of questions that could be asked about the lives some of the characters lead before the book starts. That said, I have no plans at the moment.
What do you find easiest and hardest about writing books?
Easiest - thinking of ideas for stories, particularly the start of the plot.
Hardest - being objective about what I've written (able to tell how it is likely to appear to others), dealing with writer's block.
It occurs to me though that without realising it, they have also provided another great service, in that they have asked me questions along the way - some of them ones I would have expected, and others that caught me a little by surprise.
So, for anyone who looks at my book and wants to know more, perhaps these questions and answers will help. If however there are any questions you'd like to ask (that aren't covered here) then feel free to ask me by commenting on this blog, or on my GoodReads Meet the authors thread Alex Hunter thread.
Where did you get the inspiration for The Testing of Archie Rathbone?
I started writing this book in 2007, so it's difficult to remember exactly, but two things stick in my mind - firstly, I have a clear memory of sitting at my desk, gazing out of the window and thinking 'what would happen if you woke up one day to find yourself somewhere completely alien to you, with no memory of how you'd got there? What would you do? How would you go about getting back home?' That starting point begged loads of other questions about who was responsible, what their motives were and so on. The other clear memory I have is of a flash of inspiration for some character names - Bolt, Upright & Clench. I don't think I even had a clear idea as to who these characters would turn out to be, just that they would be important to the plot. The rest of the story all followed from those starting points.
Do you have your plots planned out before you start to write?
No, or at least not in detail. I've read about writers who approach writing in that way, but I find that too much planning gets in the way of the creative flow. That said, although as I say it doesn't come naturally to me, there are times when you have to plan your plot structure very carefully. Although The Testing of Archie Rathbone doesn't have a particularly complex plot, there are a number of twists and turns, and interdependent strands that needed to be introduced at the right times, and linked in the right ways. It's also really important to drip-feed little hints and clues about what's going on beyond the obvious in order to pose questions for the reader to want to answer, to increase tension, to sustain interest and so on. I don't know if anyone could to that effectively without some careful planning, as you need to know where the plot's heading in order to judge which clues to introduce at which points.
When I started writing the book I'm working on at the moment (The Watchmaker's Chain) I wrote the first sixty or so pages straight off, and then felt compelled to write the very end of the story as I realised how important it was to the rest of the plot. Having done that, the remaining plot will be formed by the beginning and the end! I suppose that for me, no two books require the same approach.
Which writers/books have influenced your writing?
I suppose that's not quite the same as which writers do you particularly like?... Well, my sense of humour has been influenced by Monty Python, but I don't think there's much evidence of it in my writing. I was a teenager when the Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy was first broadcast on the radio, and I suspect that there are hints of that influence in The Testing of Archie Rathbone (one of the book's reviewers flatteringly commented that Archie Rathbone was "...very much the Ford Prefect of the twenty-first century...", but I certainly didn't set out to creat something in someone else's style). I also loved the Reggie Perrin novels of David Nobbs, but again I'm not conscious of being influenced by him. Although The Testing of Archie rathbone wasn't the first humorous novel I've written, I've written in other genres too - The Watchmaker's Chain is much more of a science fiction novel. On that side, I suppose I read quite a few sci-fi writers when I was younger - Isaac Azimov, Jules Verne, H. G. Wells, John Wyndham foremost among them.
Your writing is full of characters with amusing names - what's the thinking behind that?
I suppose I'll have to blame Charles Dickens for that. His writing depends on the use of names that in some way tell yuo about the character they belong to. Sometimes he used these to provide humour as well, but even in his non-humour fiction he seldom missed an opportunity to use a character's name to add colour. I don't set out to be quite a calculating as that, but if I'm writing something that I want to make the reader smile then my characters' names are a good place to start.
Did you set out to write this book for a particular age group?
No, but then in most cases I write a story because it gets inside my head and won't leave me alone until I give in. I did once set out to write a chidren's story, but that was the exception. I suspect that whatever age group(s) The Testing of Archie Rathbone appeals to is largely accidental, or at least a product of my own tastes.
Do you plan to write a sequel or a prequel?
I have thought about it. Although I did try t make sure that most of the loose ends were neatly tied up at the end of the book, it wouldn't be difficult to envisage a little judicious unravelling. There are also lots of questions that could be asked about the lives some of the characters lead before the book starts. That said, I have no plans at the moment.
What do you find easiest and hardest about writing books?
Easiest - thinking of ideas for stories, particularly the start of the plot.
Hardest - being objective about what I've written (able to tell how it is likely to appear to others), dealing with writer's block.
Sunday 15 July 2012
An Amazon Adventure (Part 7)
July Promotion Update
I thought I'd update you on how The Testing of Archie Rathbone is doing. A two day free promotion on Amazon has just come to an end, and resulted in about fifty downloads. I don't have much information to go on, but from what little I do have that's a pretty poor showing (but maybe all the promotions I don't hear about remain a secret precisely because they don't achieve good results).
Several things have changed recently though:
For a start (and perhaps most importantly) the book now has three reviews on Amazon and as these are positive, perhaps in time they will encourage potential readers to take a chance. (If you haven't already had a look, and there's even a remote possibility that you might be interested in downloading my book, then please read them.)
Secondly, I've tried a few experimental changes in Amazon tag words for the book in the hope that these changes will make it a little easier to find.
Thirdly, there's been a change in the way TTOAR is showing 'customers who bought this item also bought...' - after I ran the previous free promotion (in June) there were only half a dozen books linked with it, and they were almost exclusively free too. This suggested to me that my book had only been picked up because it was priced at £0.00 (or $0.00 if you're the other side of the Pond - apologies to those of you in Russia, Germany and elsewhere). This promotion has resulted in a list of 34 linked books that are predominantly not free, suggesting that whoever downloaded TTOAR found it as a result of searching for something they wanted to read, rather than something that was just free. The other thing I notice from the list of linked books is that at least some of them are of a similar genre, so perhaps my changed tags words are working better.
To those of you who are of a cynical persuasion this may all seem a little like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic - The Testing of Archie Rathbone doesn't show much sign of becoming even a better seller, let alone a best seller! Perhaps you're right.
Either way, if you were one of the generous souls who has downloaded The Testing of Archie Rathbone (there are now over a hundred of you out there somewhere), then I hope you enjoy it, and if you do and would be kind enough to add a review and rating on Amazon then I'd be very grateful.
Friday 13 July 2012
The Watchmaker's Chain
Is it me, or has there been an increasing trend of late for books to be written as part of a series?
I suppose the reasons for doing this are fairly self-evident, and difficult to argue against - if you have a successful book then producing a series of sequels allows each to benefit from the exposure of the one that precedes it - and of course having developed a strong character (or characters) in one book that you can then develop further in subsequent ones obviously has advantages over starting from scratch each time.
I'm certainly not going to suggest that this is in any way a less worthy approach to writing - readers might buy a second book on the strength of a first, but they'll soon say what they think if it's rubbish, so the writer still has to work hard for their readers' loyalty. The thing is though - for me at least - so far, I haven't actually chosen what I'm going to write about - it's always chosen me (as it were).
I've written before about how I love waiting to see how a plot will develop once I've given it a bit of a helping hand. It's a bit like tipping over that first domino and watching the chain reaction that ensues. The way I come up with ideas for books is a bit like that too, but only a bit. Sending the dominoes toppling requires a conscious and premeditated act on your part, but that's not how my ideas for books arise, (even though that's part of how the plot then develops). For me, the process that gives rise to that initial eureka moment is not (or at least until now hasn't been) a conscious one.
Somewhere in the dark and dusty recesses of my mind there's a tiny office with a door marked 'Private', in which the inspiration machine chugs away, sifting information, conjuring original thoughts and looking for the seeds of stories. Those seeds are planted in what in my brain passes for fertile soil - they are tended and watered, and then, when the moment is right some sort of mental minion gives my conscious self a sharp nudge before quietly but forcefully informing me that here is another story that needs to be written.
But should it always be like that?
I've been wondering about this for a few months now - on and off. I've wondered whether The Testing of Archie Rathbone has a sequel in it, and I confess that the jury's still out. To a large extent I know that the book readers of the world occupy the majority of the seats on that jury, because it's fairly safe to say that if the current book doesn't sell then I probably wouldn't venture a second. That said though, although most of the strands of the plot are resolved by the end of the book, there is always the question of what happened next? and equally, what happened before the book started?
In the meantime though long before I'd even finished writing The Testing of Archie Rathbone one of those mental minions came to me with another story that had to be told. Shortly afterwards I started to write The Watchmaker's Chain, and the dominoes started to tumble.
I suppose the reasons for doing this are fairly self-evident, and difficult to argue against - if you have a successful book then producing a series of sequels allows each to benefit from the exposure of the one that precedes it - and of course having developed a strong character (or characters) in one book that you can then develop further in subsequent ones obviously has advantages over starting from scratch each time.
I'm certainly not going to suggest that this is in any way a less worthy approach to writing - readers might buy a second book on the strength of a first, but they'll soon say what they think if it's rubbish, so the writer still has to work hard for their readers' loyalty. The thing is though - for me at least - so far, I haven't actually chosen what I'm going to write about - it's always chosen me (as it were).
I've written before about how I love waiting to see how a plot will develop once I've given it a bit of a helping hand. It's a bit like tipping over that first domino and watching the chain reaction that ensues. The way I come up with ideas for books is a bit like that too, but only a bit. Sending the dominoes toppling requires a conscious and premeditated act on your part, but that's not how my ideas for books arise, (even though that's part of how the plot then develops). For me, the process that gives rise to that initial eureka moment is not (or at least until now hasn't been) a conscious one.
Somewhere in the dark and dusty recesses of my mind there's a tiny office with a door marked 'Private', in which the inspiration machine chugs away, sifting information, conjuring original thoughts and looking for the seeds of stories. Those seeds are planted in what in my brain passes for fertile soil - they are tended and watered, and then, when the moment is right some sort of mental minion gives my conscious self a sharp nudge before quietly but forcefully informing me that here is another story that needs to be written.
But should it always be like that?
I've been wondering about this for a few months now - on and off. I've wondered whether The Testing of Archie Rathbone has a sequel in it, and I confess that the jury's still out. To a large extent I know that the book readers of the world occupy the majority of the seats on that jury, because it's fairly safe to say that if the current book doesn't sell then I probably wouldn't venture a second. That said though, although most of the strands of the plot are resolved by the end of the book, there is always the question of what happened next? and equally, what happened before the book started?
In the meantime though long before I'd even finished writing The Testing of Archie Rathbone one of those mental minions came to me with another story that had to be told. Shortly afterwards I started to write The Watchmaker's Chain, and the dominoes started to tumble.
Monday 9 July 2012
An Amazon Adventure (Part 6)
July is showing no sign of bucking the trend where this country's (the UK's) dreadful summer weather is concerned, and I know that other countries are faring badly too. This miserable showing started me wondering several weeks ago whether perhaps there is a link between a country's climate and the literature its writers produce. If so, then as the climate changes, should we also expect the writing to change too?
Although I've read fairly widely by some people's standards, I'm quite sure I'm not qualified to comment on the writing and writers of other nations. I'll probably expand on this idea in a subsequent post, but if it's to be a meaningful 'discussion' then I may have to rely on your contributions to it!
Meanwhile, I thought it was time to return to the perennial subject of my successes and failures in trying to get The Testing of Archie Rathbone convincingly off the starting blocks.
You may be aware that by my own admission this book has not exactly been a roaring success so far. There has been a mere scattering of downloads, and most of those were when the book was available free of charge. The highest ranking it has achieved on Amazon's ebook store was about 25000, and it currently languishes at around 115000 (after more than a week without a single further download).
Am I disheartened? Well certainly I was, but there's only so much one can do about an ebook that doesn't sell, and although I do still have a few things left I can try, I do feel I'm approaching the very bottom of the barrel, and will hear the sound of scraping at any moment!
There is a small morsel of comfort that I can draw from the situation today though - I notice with considerable gratitude that someone has read my book and been kind enough to post a review on the Amazon Kindle site. Moreover, the review was complimentary and they gave it a positive score as well. Best of all (in my mind) is that this review seems to have come from a teenager - my (and the book's) target audience. Until that review was posted, I had no real objective basis for supposing that the main reason my book hadn't sold wasn't that it just isn't good enough. At least one person likes it, so perhaps there's still hope...
What else have I been doing to promote The Testing of Archie Rathbone? Well, for those of you who have been following my voyage through the turbulent seas of self publishing, you'll know that the greatest battle has been getting the book to show up sufficiently high in people's selections. It doesn't matter how good a book is if no one can find it to read it. My first free promotion did (as I've said) produced a flurry of downloads, but either my book is now sitting in the darkest recesses of assorted Kindles, gathering cyber-dust, or those who downloaded it didn't like it (or at least not enough to write a review).
Anyway, I have decided to carry out a second free promotion this coming weekend, and it will be interesting to see whether the recently added review encourages any readers to take a punt. I shall report back to you on this in due course.
In the meantime, (as reported in my previous post) I'm getting a little twitchy from not having done any writing for too long. I had written the first sixty (and the last five!) pages of my next novel when I decided to divert my attentions to publishing The Testing of Archie Rathbone, so over the weekend I've been reminding myself what I'd written. It's an interesting feeling actually - I suppose it's a bit like giving a hound a sniff of the scent you want it to follow - my mind has had a sniff of the plot so far and now it's straining to be off...
Although I've read fairly widely by some people's standards, I'm quite sure I'm not qualified to comment on the writing and writers of other nations. I'll probably expand on this idea in a subsequent post, but if it's to be a meaningful 'discussion' then I may have to rely on your contributions to it!
Meanwhile, I thought it was time to return to the perennial subject of my successes and failures in trying to get The Testing of Archie Rathbone convincingly off the starting blocks.
You may be aware that by my own admission this book has not exactly been a roaring success so far. There has been a mere scattering of downloads, and most of those were when the book was available free of charge. The highest ranking it has achieved on Amazon's ebook store was about 25000, and it currently languishes at around 115000 (after more than a week without a single further download).
Am I disheartened? Well certainly I was, but there's only so much one can do about an ebook that doesn't sell, and although I do still have a few things left I can try, I do feel I'm approaching the very bottom of the barrel, and will hear the sound of scraping at any moment!
There is a small morsel of comfort that I can draw from the situation today though - I notice with considerable gratitude that someone has read my book and been kind enough to post a review on the Amazon Kindle site. Moreover, the review was complimentary and they gave it a positive score as well. Best of all (in my mind) is that this review seems to have come from a teenager - my (and the book's) target audience. Until that review was posted, I had no real objective basis for supposing that the main reason my book hadn't sold wasn't that it just isn't good enough. At least one person likes it, so perhaps there's still hope...
What else have I been doing to promote The Testing of Archie Rathbone? Well, for those of you who have been following my voyage through the turbulent seas of self publishing, you'll know that the greatest battle has been getting the book to show up sufficiently high in people's selections. It doesn't matter how good a book is if no one can find it to read it. My first free promotion did (as I've said) produced a flurry of downloads, but either my book is now sitting in the darkest recesses of assorted Kindles, gathering cyber-dust, or those who downloaded it didn't like it (or at least not enough to write a review).
Anyway, I have decided to carry out a second free promotion this coming weekend, and it will be interesting to see whether the recently added review encourages any readers to take a punt. I shall report back to you on this in due course.
In the meantime, (as reported in my previous post) I'm getting a little twitchy from not having done any writing for too long. I had written the first sixty (and the last five!) pages of my next novel when I decided to divert my attentions to publishing The Testing of Archie Rathbone, so over the weekend I've been reminding myself what I'd written. It's an interesting feeling actually - I suppose it's a bit like giving a hound a sniff of the scent you want it to follow - my mind has had a sniff of the plot so far and now it's straining to be off...
Thursday 5 July 2012
Mind over Mind
I've been thinking about that last post - do I really believe that I write primarily for myself?
Well, as I said, the evidence certainly seems to support that conclusion as it took me more than twenty-five years even to consider trying to get anything I'd written published. That said, I suppose I did occasionally ask friends or family to read what I'd written...
I think there's another factor involved. Let me try to explain:
Have you ever been emersed in a book and read a passage that has made you experience an intense emotion? Or have you read a passage that evokes the sights, smells and other sensory delights of a place you've never visited, but leaves you feeling you now have? Have you picked up a book feeling sad but put it down feeling happy - or vice versa? In any of these instances, have you ever gone back over the text and tried to see where the words were that had such a profound effect on you?
There are many things in life that can be broken down to their component parts in order to understand them - in order to allow us to analyse the processes necessary to recreate them - to allow others to replicate the same end result, time after time. You can follow instructions to produce the perfect boiled egg, you can buy a manual that will tell you how to construct a car, or follow a textbook to learn how to use a wordprocessor. But can you construct an inspirational piece of prose? Can you provide instructions that will make the difference between a descriptive piece of text, and one that makes the reader experience an emotional response, but (and this is critical) do it in a way that isn't obvious to the reader?
There are loads of teach yourself how to write books out there - I've read some of them, and they were very good. They offer advice about plot structure, characterisation, maintaining suspense and a hundred other important considerations when constructing your novel. But what (in my experience at least, and in my humble opinion) they can't do is to tell you how to create that magic.
Let me go back to that inspirational text... There is (was, sadly) a writer who produced a series of thirteen books, all about the same character, all set in the Victorian era. I have every one of those books, and periodically I start at the first one and work my way through the lot. They are highly readable, commercial, and not (on the face of it) likely candidates for receiving praise for their literary content. There are lots of reasons why I like those books, but one of them is their ability to transport me back to a time, and to places I have never experienced. This is a compliment for any book I suppose, but what (for me) makes these books rise above the norm is that when I go back and look at the text I've read, there doesn't appear to be sufficient description to have resulted in the clear mental image that has resulted. I feel the detail, my senses tell me that I've experienced something colourful dramatic, new, but when I look at the words, there's no sign. It's like looking at an impressionist painting - stand too close and all you see is individual brush-strokes, daubs of paint - but when you stand far enough away to see the whole, you feel you can see every intricate detail, even though you know those details aren't actually there.
Anyone who's read about how to write will probably have read that 'less is more' - don't use too many adjectives, adverbs etc... and of course the human mind is very good at filling in gaps, so there's nothing new there either. For me, the genius is in knowing which words to leave in, and which to leave out, and if there's a set of instructions somewhere that tells you that then someone's succeeded in carrying out alchemy!
So, going back to where I started - I do still maintain that I write for myself, but over the years I've come to appreciate good writing more, and so I have strived to create good writing myself. One aspect of what I consider good writing is that which provokes a response in the reader (emotional perhaps, or some other sensory reaction), but where the effect of the writing is greater than the sum of the component words.
I suppose that most (if not all) writing makes us feel. We experience something. Good writing (in my opinion) does it more, and does it better, and usually with fewer (better chosen) words.
I write for many reasons - first and foremost I love inventing and telling stories, but also I write so that I can get better at it. I'd like to be able to make readers feel. I'd like to know that someone has read something I've written and as a result has felt that they have been somewhere they'd never been before. I'm not talking about what's generally regarded as Literary Fiction - any novel can transport the reader, whether it's to a different place, a different time, or to experience existence as a different person.
I may still write for myself, but unless others read what I write then I'll never know if I'm getting closer to my goal...
Well, as I said, the evidence certainly seems to support that conclusion as it took me more than twenty-five years even to consider trying to get anything I'd written published. That said, I suppose I did occasionally ask friends or family to read what I'd written...
I think there's another factor involved. Let me try to explain:
Have you ever been emersed in a book and read a passage that has made you experience an intense emotion? Or have you read a passage that evokes the sights, smells and other sensory delights of a place you've never visited, but leaves you feeling you now have? Have you picked up a book feeling sad but put it down feeling happy - or vice versa? In any of these instances, have you ever gone back over the text and tried to see where the words were that had such a profound effect on you?
There are many things in life that can be broken down to their component parts in order to understand them - in order to allow us to analyse the processes necessary to recreate them - to allow others to replicate the same end result, time after time. You can follow instructions to produce the perfect boiled egg, you can buy a manual that will tell you how to construct a car, or follow a textbook to learn how to use a wordprocessor. But can you construct an inspirational piece of prose? Can you provide instructions that will make the difference between a descriptive piece of text, and one that makes the reader experience an emotional response, but (and this is critical) do it in a way that isn't obvious to the reader?
There are loads of teach yourself how to write books out there - I've read some of them, and they were very good. They offer advice about plot structure, characterisation, maintaining suspense and a hundred other important considerations when constructing your novel. But what (in my experience at least, and in my humble opinion) they can't do is to tell you how to create that magic.
Let me go back to that inspirational text... There is (was, sadly) a writer who produced a series of thirteen books, all about the same character, all set in the Victorian era. I have every one of those books, and periodically I start at the first one and work my way through the lot. They are highly readable, commercial, and not (on the face of it) likely candidates for receiving praise for their literary content. There are lots of reasons why I like those books, but one of them is their ability to transport me back to a time, and to places I have never experienced. This is a compliment for any book I suppose, but what (for me) makes these books rise above the norm is that when I go back and look at the text I've read, there doesn't appear to be sufficient description to have resulted in the clear mental image that has resulted. I feel the detail, my senses tell me that I've experienced something colourful dramatic, new, but when I look at the words, there's no sign. It's like looking at an impressionist painting - stand too close and all you see is individual brush-strokes, daubs of paint - but when you stand far enough away to see the whole, you feel you can see every intricate detail, even though you know those details aren't actually there.
Anyone who's read about how to write will probably have read that 'less is more' - don't use too many adjectives, adverbs etc... and of course the human mind is very good at filling in gaps, so there's nothing new there either. For me, the genius is in knowing which words to leave in, and which to leave out, and if there's a set of instructions somewhere that tells you that then someone's succeeded in carrying out alchemy!
So, going back to where I started - I do still maintain that I write for myself, but over the years I've come to appreciate good writing more, and so I have strived to create good writing myself. One aspect of what I consider good writing is that which provokes a response in the reader (emotional perhaps, or some other sensory reaction), but where the effect of the writing is greater than the sum of the component words.
I suppose that most (if not all) writing makes us feel. We experience something. Good writing (in my opinion) does it more, and does it better, and usually with fewer (better chosen) words.
I write for many reasons - first and foremost I love inventing and telling stories, but also I write so that I can get better at it. I'd like to be able to make readers feel. I'd like to know that someone has read something I've written and as a result has felt that they have been somewhere they'd never been before. I'm not talking about what's generally regarded as Literary Fiction - any novel can transport the reader, whether it's to a different place, a different time, or to experience existence as a different person.
I may still write for myself, but unless others read what I write then I'll never know if I'm getting closer to my goal...
Tuesday 3 July 2012
Why Write?
A good question, or so it seems to me...
I mean, ok there are people who write and you could be forgiven for assuming that they do it for the money, but that's like saying that Picasso painted for the money, and anyway what about the rest? The vast majority of people who write never make any useful money out of it, but still they write.
Is it like buying lottery tickets then? Do we write in the hope that the next book will be the one - the best-seller that makes millions - the one that will change our lives for ever...? Well, maybe, but I'm far from convinced.
As in most things I'm not qualified to comment on why other people write, but I know what motivates me... well I think I do.
Let me start by telling you what doesn't motivate me to write. I don't write for the money - I've been writing for thirty years and only even started to contemplate trying to get something published in the last twelve months. To be frank, the sales of The Testing of Archie Rathbone wouldn't pay for a packet of cigarettes (just as well I don't smoke I suppose). I'm not motivated to write by a need for external validation - most of what I've written has never been read by anyone other than me, and the rest has only had a very narrow audience.
So if it isn't acclaim, and it isn't money, then what...? Is it the thrill of seeing your name on the cover of a book? Is it the hope of some sort of imortality - leaving something behind for posterity? These things are all factors I'm sure, but none of them on its own persuades me to write.
I'm afraid that this is going to sound pretentious, but however uncomfortable I may feel in saying it, I know it's true: One reason I write is that it's a form of self-expression. For some people it's music, for some it's painting, for others it's kicking a football around a field that lets them feel that they know who they are, and tells anyone else who's interested. For me, it's writing. That said though, it's not that my stories tell the reader much about me (though I suppose that might be the case), more that the creative process itself acts as a form of therapy - a release of the pressures of modern existence.
Over the years (and increasingly so more recently) I've found that if I go for long periods without writing (more than a month or two) then I start to feel unsettled - I experience very real withdrawal symptoms. The pressure starts to build...
Now you may be wondering what's brought on this self-analysis - why all the navel-gazing? Well, I suppose I feel that if I were you, and I'd read my earlier posts about my attempts to get my novel selling on Amazon I'd be beginning to wonder - why bother? I'd estimate that The Testing of Archie Rathbone must have taken at least six months to write (if you include all the redrafting and other associated activities). Based on current showing, it looks as though downloads are going to struggle to make it into three figures (and the majority to date have been free of charge) so you can work out for yourself that writing (in this case at least) doesn't pay much per hour!
So, for me at leat, that's the answer - the reason I write - I need to. I can go for days, weeks without letting my mind emerse itself in that heady, intoxicating creative smog, and then one day I'll suddenly become aware of feeling a little edgey. I won't know why at the start, and it will just linger for a few days, getting steadily more pressing, insistent, harder to ignore. Then the penny will drop - realisation will dawn, and I'll look for opportunities to start writing. Sometimes it won't be possible - after completing the first draft of The Testing of Archie Rathbone I had to force myself to carry out several redrafts, but after the initial creative process has run its course these largely editorial exercises are staid and suffocating by comparison. Unhappily then, the clock that times when I'll need my next fix usually starts its count soon after the first draft is filed...
It's been quite a while since I last did any writing. Although I had written the first sixty pages of my next novel when I decided to go back and put the effort into getting The Testing of Archie Rathbone ready for publication, that was last year.
And now? Now I'm starting to feel edgey...
I mean, ok there are people who write and you could be forgiven for assuming that they do it for the money, but that's like saying that Picasso painted for the money, and anyway what about the rest? The vast majority of people who write never make any useful money out of it, but still they write.
Is it like buying lottery tickets then? Do we write in the hope that the next book will be the one - the best-seller that makes millions - the one that will change our lives for ever...? Well, maybe, but I'm far from convinced.
As in most things I'm not qualified to comment on why other people write, but I know what motivates me... well I think I do.
Let me start by telling you what doesn't motivate me to write. I don't write for the money - I've been writing for thirty years and only even started to contemplate trying to get something published in the last twelve months. To be frank, the sales of The Testing of Archie Rathbone wouldn't pay for a packet of cigarettes (just as well I don't smoke I suppose). I'm not motivated to write by a need for external validation - most of what I've written has never been read by anyone other than me, and the rest has only had a very narrow audience.
So if it isn't acclaim, and it isn't money, then what...? Is it the thrill of seeing your name on the cover of a book? Is it the hope of some sort of imortality - leaving something behind for posterity? These things are all factors I'm sure, but none of them on its own persuades me to write.
I'm afraid that this is going to sound pretentious, but however uncomfortable I may feel in saying it, I know it's true: One reason I write is that it's a form of self-expression. For some people it's music, for some it's painting, for others it's kicking a football around a field that lets them feel that they know who they are, and tells anyone else who's interested. For me, it's writing. That said though, it's not that my stories tell the reader much about me (though I suppose that might be the case), more that the creative process itself acts as a form of therapy - a release of the pressures of modern existence.
Over the years (and increasingly so more recently) I've found that if I go for long periods without writing (more than a month or two) then I start to feel unsettled - I experience very real withdrawal symptoms. The pressure starts to build...
Now you may be wondering what's brought on this self-analysis - why all the navel-gazing? Well, I suppose I feel that if I were you, and I'd read my earlier posts about my attempts to get my novel selling on Amazon I'd be beginning to wonder - why bother? I'd estimate that The Testing of Archie Rathbone must have taken at least six months to write (if you include all the redrafting and other associated activities). Based on current showing, it looks as though downloads are going to struggle to make it into three figures (and the majority to date have been free of charge) so you can work out for yourself that writing (in this case at least) doesn't pay much per hour!
So, for me at leat, that's the answer - the reason I write - I need to. I can go for days, weeks without letting my mind emerse itself in that heady, intoxicating creative smog, and then one day I'll suddenly become aware of feeling a little edgey. I won't know why at the start, and it will just linger for a few days, getting steadily more pressing, insistent, harder to ignore. Then the penny will drop - realisation will dawn, and I'll look for opportunities to start writing. Sometimes it won't be possible - after completing the first draft of The Testing of Archie Rathbone I had to force myself to carry out several redrafts, but after the initial creative process has run its course these largely editorial exercises are staid and suffocating by comparison. Unhappily then, the clock that times when I'll need my next fix usually starts its count soon after the first draft is filed...
It's been quite a while since I last did any writing. Although I had written the first sixty pages of my next novel when I decided to go back and put the effort into getting The Testing of Archie Rathbone ready for publication, that was last year.
And now? Now I'm starting to feel edgey...
Monday 2 July 2012
An Amazon Adventure (Part 5)
Well I can't claim that as an unqualified success!
First, some figures: Over the entire promotional 48 hour period about fifty copies of The Testing of Archie Rathbone were downloaded (free of charge). Of those, eighty percent were downloaded in the USA, the remaining twenty percent downloaded by Amazon's UK customers. Unfortunately I didn't have access to the internet over the weekend so I couldn't check to see what the book's rating was as a result of these downloads. At the end of the promotional period the price returns to what it was prior to it starting, so it's only possible to see its paid ranking (currently about eighty-nine thousandth).
So what conclusions do I draw from this exercise?
Well, for starters, I hadn't realised that any improvement in ranking would only apply to the 'free of charge' league table, so in terms of improving the book's standing in the paid list this has been a fruitless exercise. That said, there are other potential benefits, and they are ones that may take a little time to materialise (if indeed they do):
Firstly, any Amazon customers who have downloaded my book, and also download other books, may contribute to the 'customers who bought this also bought...' information. As a result, The Testing of Archie Rathbone may appear on people's searches as an incidental by-product.
Secondly, there are now over fifty more copies of The Testing of Archie Rathbone out there than there were a few days ago. Hopefully some of the people who downloaded the book will read it, and some of those who read it will write a review. I realise that I'm piling up the 'hopefully's but hopefully any reviews will be positive, and these in turn may entice potential customers to buy the book.
Coming back to the low number of downloads; I can't pretend I wasn't disappointed at the level of interest shown, particularly as I've heard of other similar promotions resulting in thousands of downloads. Unfortunately I'm not sufficiently well-informed to be able to judge whether this poor showing was as a result of the quality of the book, the cover, the blurb, or perhaps just poor marketing on my part. Worse still, I don't suppose I shall ever know.
Anyway, the next step in this process is to see if any of the potential benefits do materialise. How long that might take, I just don't know, but I'll share the results (and my reactions to them) with you.
In the meantime, I can at least report a very small trickle of new sales since the promotion ended. Whether or not that will be sustained, only time will tell...
First, some figures: Over the entire promotional 48 hour period about fifty copies of The Testing of Archie Rathbone were downloaded (free of charge). Of those, eighty percent were downloaded in the USA, the remaining twenty percent downloaded by Amazon's UK customers. Unfortunately I didn't have access to the internet over the weekend so I couldn't check to see what the book's rating was as a result of these downloads. At the end of the promotional period the price returns to what it was prior to it starting, so it's only possible to see its paid ranking (currently about eighty-nine thousandth).
So what conclusions do I draw from this exercise?
Well, for starters, I hadn't realised that any improvement in ranking would only apply to the 'free of charge' league table, so in terms of improving the book's standing in the paid list this has been a fruitless exercise. That said, there are other potential benefits, and they are ones that may take a little time to materialise (if indeed they do):
Firstly, any Amazon customers who have downloaded my book, and also download other books, may contribute to the 'customers who bought this also bought...' information. As a result, The Testing of Archie Rathbone may appear on people's searches as an incidental by-product.
Secondly, there are now over fifty more copies of The Testing of Archie Rathbone out there than there were a few days ago. Hopefully some of the people who downloaded the book will read it, and some of those who read it will write a review. I realise that I'm piling up the 'hopefully's but hopefully any reviews will be positive, and these in turn may entice potential customers to buy the book.
Coming back to the low number of downloads; I can't pretend I wasn't disappointed at the level of interest shown, particularly as I've heard of other similar promotions resulting in thousands of downloads. Unfortunately I'm not sufficiently well-informed to be able to judge whether this poor showing was as a result of the quality of the book, the cover, the blurb, or perhaps just poor marketing on my part. Worse still, I don't suppose I shall ever know.
Anyway, the next step in this process is to see if any of the potential benefits do materialise. How long that might take, I just don't know, but I'll share the results (and my reactions to them) with you.
In the meantime, I can at least report a very small trickle of new sales since the promotion ended. Whether or not that will be sustained, only time will tell...
Thursday 28 June 2012
An Amazon Adventure (Part 4)
The Price of Success
Well, here goes - I'm about to conduct a little experiment. Any of you who has looked will know that The Testing of Archie Rathbone has been available on the Amazon Kindle store for nearly two weeks now, but what you can't see, other than by deduction from the extremely low ranking attributed to it on the store, is that it's not exactly flying out the door!The book started out (briefly) at £2.99 (about $4.50 I think), but I rapidly reduced that to the minimum permitted under the standard Ts & Cs - £0.75 or $0.99 (plus Amazon's delivery fee). Interestingly (perhaps) this drastic price cut had absolutely no discernable impact on sales performance.
Now before I go on, if you've read any of the posts that precede this on you will be aware that I'm exploring strategies for making my newly published book 'visible' on the Amazon listings. The principle I'm working on is that most people who explore Amazon's offerings will do a search based on some appropriate search criteria, and still faced with pages and pages of books that meet those criteria will probably scan through no more than perhaps ten of those pages (maximum) before either giving up completely or at least trying a new search. The result of this is that if your book is plumbing the ranking depths then Amazon't default sort criterion will mean that your book will never even be seen, let alone evaluated for possible purchase.
So, leaving aside any other strategies for now, starting tomorrow (Midnight PST Thursday 28th June, or 7 am Friday morning here in the UK) for 48 hours my book will be available on Amazon at a promotional price of £0 ($0). Now whether Amazon still adds a delivery fee to this I'm not sure, but either way this is the closest it can get to being free of charge. Now given that there are (allegedly) a large number of Kindle owners out there who only download free books (or at least strongly favour them) then assuming there aren't another ten thousand other books in the same category as mine, all also free at the same time, then there's a fighting chance that The Testing of Archie Rathbone will be seen, and (hopefully) downloaded. The net effect of this (the theory continues) is that when the promotional period ends, if there have been sufficient downloads then the improved Amazon ranking may be enough to make it appear much higher up in people's searches.
If the theory proves valid then the book will still have to fend for itself in competition with all the other books on offer. It will still be evaluated and judged either as being worth a try, or not. This can't overcome the deficiencies and failings of a sub-standard book, or one that is not presented to best effect.
So there we are - the gauntlet has been thrown down - the challenge accepted. I won't know the outcome until the end of the weekend, but I'll share my findings with you when I do!
The Trenchfoote Legacy
Oh, by the way, and before I sign off - in case you haven't noticed I have added a link (to the right of this page (under the LINKS heading) called The Trenchfoote Legacy. Trenchfoote is a character from my book, and the link takes you to a separate blog based on the premise that he has somehow escaped from the book's pages...Tuesday 26 June 2012
An Amazon Adventure (Part 3)
Uneven Odds
My investigations into, and grappling with the psychology and technology of self-publicity is on-going, and likely to take a while. I'll post more about this as and when I have something to report.In the meantime, I thought I'd share my musings on another related subject. One source of frustration for me is that both writing, and thinking about writing requires usable tracts of good quality time, and these are in short supply. Even though I am currently out of work (unless you count being a writer of course) I still struggle to find those moments when I can think and be creative without distraction, or the nagging feeling that I should be doing something else. So, whilst I try not to make a habit of whiling away the small hours deep in thought, when I do find myself wide awake at two in the morning I tend to grasp the opportunity it presents.
I'm sure that those of us who write would all like to believe that there is some correlation between the stories we tell, how well we tell them, and whether or not they achieve any commercial success. Leaving aside my on-going attempts to make The Testing of Archie Rathbone appear somewhere within the portion of Amazon's listings that is visible to the human eye, last night I kept thinking about an observation made recently by a friend. When discussing whether or not TTOAR had what it takes she observed that she had read many books (that had obviously been considered good enough to make it into print) that were, in her opinion less worthy of publication than my own.
If like me your reaction to such well-intentioned observations is (privately) to question the impartiality of the observer, then you may also be familiar with the attendant sense of mild frustration at not being able to confirm your suspicions, either way. In my case this isn't false humility. The truth is that the effort required to publicise your own book is significant, and therefore not something you can undertake unless you're committed. Perhaps like a lot of writers my emotions are a mix of total self-belief, and abject self-doubt. I can't begin to explain how those two states of mind can coexist, but in my mind they just do! The point is that if I could trust my friend's evaluation of TTOAR then I would know that it is worth expending every effort to publicise my book, secure in the knowledge that her opinion is likely to be shared by a significant number of others.
There is another doubt that was nagging me at two this morning though. Going back to my friend's observation (and my nocturnal cogitations), there are a number of strands that can be picked from this:
Changing tastes
The types of story, styles of writing, pace, use of language, amount of description and countless other characteristics of a work of fiction all change over time - whether in response to changes in society or perhaps even (in some cases) leading those changes. I would hesitate to suggest that today's readership is necessarily more sophisticated in their tastes, but there is sometimes a slightly naive quality in the way some books were written in say the 19th Century.I suppose what I'm suggesting is that sometimes a book will be published because it is 'right' at that point in time, but ten years earlier or later it would never have made it into print.
The established name
We must all be aware of books that have been published, written by an established author, but which have left us feeling disappointed. It's tempting to speculate whether or not those books would have been published if they'd been submitted by an unknown writer, but in some cases I'm sure they wouldn't. Whilst this is galling to the unknown writers amongst us who are struggling to achieve some sort of recognition (and fondly imagine that their work has the merit to justify it), it's hard to fault the commercial logic of a risk-averse publishing house, safe in the knowledge that a weaker book from an established author will probably still at least cover the publishing costs.Greater competition
As you will probably have discerned for yourself, I am no expert, but particularly with the advent of ebooks and e-publishing the number of books available for purchase/download seems to have increased astronomically. Why is this? As always I suspect, for a number of reasons, but here are a couple for starters...- perhaps there are more literate people (not to mention a lot more people) than there used to be, and therefore a larger pool from which would-be writers will inevitably emerge
- in the 'good old days' when the vast majority of books were published through an established publishing house, both literary agents and the publishers themselves filtered out the work that (in their sometimes demonstrably flawed opinions) weren't good enough. With the advent of self-publishing of ebooks, these filters have been removed resulting in a tidal wave of books hitting the e-bookshelves - many excellent, some inevitably not
So where does that leave me? My friend may be right - The Testing of Archie Rathbone may yet find itself onto people's Kindles in large numbers, but to assess its credentials by comparing it to other books (even printed ones) is probably not a particularly sound approach.
Sunday 24 June 2012
An Amazon Adventure (Part 2)
So... what's the answer? That, as they say, is the sixty-four thousand dollar question.
If I'm honest (with myself as well as anyone sufficiently interested to read this) then I'd have to say that although I went into self-publishing with my eyes open (i.e. not expecting to become a best-selling author overnight), and would be the first to confess that I may well fall foul of some of the items in the list with which I closed my last post (Part 1), I don't think I had fully grasped quite how hard it is to get your books noticed.
I don't know how the search engines work that Amazon uses, but I know (from watching) that selling one download can move a book up the listings by tens of thousands of places, but that advantage is short-lived unless it's followed by further sales. In reality though, I'm sure that single digit sales aren't going to be sufficient to make a book visible to anyone other than the most determined bookworm. It's the classic catch-22 situation - your book isn't going to be visible unless you get a significant number of sales, but you aren't going to get a significant number of sales unless your book is sufficiently visible.
Anyway, I've no doubt many of you will be all too familiar with this conundrum. Some will have found a solution, whilst others will have remained frustrated. Let's face it; for your precious novel to fail to sell because it's (frankly) not very good, whilst painful, is still ultimately something you can learn to live with. For it to fail because no one can find it (leaving you wondering whether it might have been a success if only enough people got to open the cover) is much harder to swallow.
There are plently of people out there (mostly those who have triumphed in the self-publicity stakes) who have shared their thoughts on this subject, and some of the theory at least is 'out there'. For what it's worth, if my own contribution to that is of any interest then I shall share it here in due course.
In the meantime, I am battling with the technology - more of this anon...
If I'm honest (with myself as well as anyone sufficiently interested to read this) then I'd have to say that although I went into self-publishing with my eyes open (i.e. not expecting to become a best-selling author overnight), and would be the first to confess that I may well fall foul of some of the items in the list with which I closed my last post (Part 1), I don't think I had fully grasped quite how hard it is to get your books noticed.
I don't know how the search engines work that Amazon uses, but I know (from watching) that selling one download can move a book up the listings by tens of thousands of places, but that advantage is short-lived unless it's followed by further sales. In reality though, I'm sure that single digit sales aren't going to be sufficient to make a book visible to anyone other than the most determined bookworm. It's the classic catch-22 situation - your book isn't going to be visible unless you get a significant number of sales, but you aren't going to get a significant number of sales unless your book is sufficiently visible.
Anyway, I've no doubt many of you will be all too familiar with this conundrum. Some will have found a solution, whilst others will have remained frustrated. Let's face it; for your precious novel to fail to sell because it's (frankly) not very good, whilst painful, is still ultimately something you can learn to live with. For it to fail because no one can find it (leaving you wondering whether it might have been a success if only enough people got to open the cover) is much harder to swallow.
There are plently of people out there (mostly those who have triumphed in the self-publicity stakes) who have shared their thoughts on this subject, and some of the theory at least is 'out there'. For what it's worth, if my own contribution to that is of any interest then I shall share it here in due course.
In the meantime, I am battling with the technology - more of this anon...
Friday 22 June 2012
An Amazon Adventure (part 1)
Poisonous frogs? Lost tribes? Mosquitoes the size of helicopters?
Well, no. Publishing a book through Amazon's KDP facility is really very easy and not nearly as scary or daunting as exploring our dwindling rainforests (I imagine).
No, it's not the mechanics of self-publishing an ebook that present the problems but the business of marketing your offering once it's available for download. So, this post (and perhaps parts 2, 3, 4,..) is about my experiences of the 'dark side' of getting your book out there.
A few months ago here in the UK, one of our best known TV personalities did a short item on a teatime magazine programme about the challenges of writing a book and getting it published. Now I should say up front that this is someone I respect and even admire - in fact I'm currently reading his published diaries - but his summary of the prospects of any budding first time novelist getting published was utterly bleak and damning.
It may have been a coincidence that the following evening a second article was aired that put 'the other side' of the debate (citing examples of those who have been successful), but I can't help wondering how publishing companies would have reacted to the first night's broadcast, dependent as they are upon a constant stream of hopefuls for the handful of promising new writers to assure their future economic security.
The truth is though (as common sense would suggest, even if you haven't had first hand experience), that publishers have to make money, and they aren't going to take a chance on your book if in their considerable experience and judgement it's not going to set the cash registers ringing (or the ebook equivalent). But thankfully, there are other reasons why publishers don't pounce on your creative output - perhaps their business model only allows them to publish a certain number of new books each year, and they've filled their quota, or perhaps they've just got it wrong! It does happen...
So it seems that an ever increasing number of us are by-passing the mainstream publishers (if that term can still be used in this context) and instead choosing to self-publish our literary pride and joy as ebooks.
That's what I've just done.
As I've said, the mechanics, the button pressing, isn't too difficult, and even if you get it wrong, you can change most of it until you get it right. If like me you are publishing for the first time then I expect you'll experience a mixture of anxiety and excitement - excitement that your book has grown up and is being sent out into the big wide world to seek adventure, but anxiety that you might discover it a week later, still sat on your doorstep. (Perhaps that wasn't the best analogy, but you get the idea...)
This is the point where this post started. It's the point at which it becomes clear that deciding that you can succeed without a publisher is not the easy option it might sometimes seem. It's where I am right now.
Let's assume that you've written your book, redrafted it, redrafted it again (and again, and again...), formatted it, designed your cover, and done all of the other things you have to do before you publish your ebook. Let's also assume that you've logged onto the appropriate publishing site (I've only used the Amazon KDP one, but of course there are others) and pressed all the right buttons in the right order. You've experienced the anxiety and the excitement, and a few hours later you get that emailed confirmation that your book has been published and is available for download...
Then what? Are there people who do all this and then just sit back and watch the money roll in? I doubt it - at least not first time authors.
You see, there are lots of factors that determine whether or not your ebook sells:
Is it a good idea for a book?
Is the plot structure good?
Is it well written?
Is the cover eye-catching?
Does the blurb capture the imagination?
...but none of these are going to matter if no one can actually find your book in the listings!
Well, no. Publishing a book through Amazon's KDP facility is really very easy and not nearly as scary or daunting as exploring our dwindling rainforests (I imagine).
No, it's not the mechanics of self-publishing an ebook that present the problems but the business of marketing your offering once it's available for download. So, this post (and perhaps parts 2, 3, 4,..) is about my experiences of the 'dark side' of getting your book out there.
A few months ago here in the UK, one of our best known TV personalities did a short item on a teatime magazine programme about the challenges of writing a book and getting it published. Now I should say up front that this is someone I respect and even admire - in fact I'm currently reading his published diaries - but his summary of the prospects of any budding first time novelist getting published was utterly bleak and damning.
It may have been a coincidence that the following evening a second article was aired that put 'the other side' of the debate (citing examples of those who have been successful), but I can't help wondering how publishing companies would have reacted to the first night's broadcast, dependent as they are upon a constant stream of hopefuls for the handful of promising new writers to assure their future economic security.
The truth is though (as common sense would suggest, even if you haven't had first hand experience), that publishers have to make money, and they aren't going to take a chance on your book if in their considerable experience and judgement it's not going to set the cash registers ringing (or the ebook equivalent). But thankfully, there are other reasons why publishers don't pounce on your creative output - perhaps their business model only allows them to publish a certain number of new books each year, and they've filled their quota, or perhaps they've just got it wrong! It does happen...
So it seems that an ever increasing number of us are by-passing the mainstream publishers (if that term can still be used in this context) and instead choosing to self-publish our literary pride and joy as ebooks.
That's what I've just done.
As I've said, the mechanics, the button pressing, isn't too difficult, and even if you get it wrong, you can change most of it until you get it right. If like me you are publishing for the first time then I expect you'll experience a mixture of anxiety and excitement - excitement that your book has grown up and is being sent out into the big wide world to seek adventure, but anxiety that you might discover it a week later, still sat on your doorstep. (Perhaps that wasn't the best analogy, but you get the idea...)
This is the point where this post started. It's the point at which it becomes clear that deciding that you can succeed without a publisher is not the easy option it might sometimes seem. It's where I am right now.
Let's assume that you've written your book, redrafted it, redrafted it again (and again, and again...), formatted it, designed your cover, and done all of the other things you have to do before you publish your ebook. Let's also assume that you've logged onto the appropriate publishing site (I've only used the Amazon KDP one, but of course there are others) and pressed all the right buttons in the right order. You've experienced the anxiety and the excitement, and a few hours later you get that emailed confirmation that your book has been published and is available for download...
Then what? Are there people who do all this and then just sit back and watch the money roll in? I doubt it - at least not first time authors.
You see, there are lots of factors that determine whether or not your ebook sells:
Is it a good idea for a book?
Is the plot structure good?
Is it well written?
Is the cover eye-catching?
Does the blurb capture the imagination?
...but none of these are going to matter if no one can actually find your book in the listings!
Thursday 21 June 2012
The chicken or the egg? (What comes first in writing?)
Have you ever wondered where stories come from? Do you sometimes read a book and ask yourself how the author came up with the idea?
I had never really given this question much thought until I started to find it directed at me. Subsequently, I scoured the web, read books on the theory of 'How to write a novel' and came to the conclusion that there are possibly as many answers to the question as there are writers.
Some people have to have a clear map of their plot before they start to write, while others may have only a sketchy outline, depending instead on the storyline leading them through the creative process. Some writers have a message or philosophy they want to communicate, and their story is wrapped around that. In some cases the character or characters come first, and by virtue of being sufficiently well developed they take over the story. Another favoured approach is to take your character and put him or her in a challenging situation to see how they react...
It seemed a simple question when I was first asked...
Where do I fit in? How do I write?
It varies. I suppose my approach is generally a mixture of these approaches, but I'm not one of those who has the plot mapped out in detail before they commit thoughts to paper (or fingers to keys). I read of one very famous (now sadly departed) author who used to set out their plot elements on index cards, and lay them out on the floor so as to show how they inter-related - all this before they started to write. My problem with this method (however much I'm in awe of someone being able to be that structured in their approach) is that for me writing has to be (and to feel like) a creative process, and to do that much preplanning would take all the joy out of the writing that would follow.
I know there is a danger of this sounding pretentious, but one of the reasons I love writing is precisely because it often feels unpredictable. I will have some of the plot planned, particularly where a plot has complex interdependencies that have to be set for the reader to uncoverover, but there's nothing quite like starting to write and suddenly becoming aware that the direction the story is leading you is as much of a surprise to you as you hope it will be for the reader.
The Testing of Archie Rathbone started out as a simple 'what if?' question - what if you woke up on the beach of a tropical island, with no idea as to how you came to be there? The book I'm currently working on is another 'what if?'. Perhaps there's a pattern developing...
In the end, I suppose that for me the approach I take depends on the type of story I'm trying to tell. In some cases the character defines the story, in others the story defines that characters. But in all cases, there is an initial seed - a germ of an idea that sets the whole process going, and because I have no control over what that germ is, or where it comes from, I don't think I have much say in my approach to writing either.
Wednesday 20 June 2012
The Testing of Archie Rathbone
It's an interesting and rather sobering thought - The Testing of Archie Rathbone (as I ultimately decided it should be called) has finally crossed that invisible barrier - the one that separates the published from the as yet unpublished. My book is now available on Amazon Kindle.
If you were to ask me if the achievement is all I expected then I have to confess I couldn't say, because I don't know what I expected.
It's sobering because after several years in the writing, an interminable period of editing, redrafting, and all the other details that are necessary before that barrier can be crossed, there's nothing more to be done - those years of work mean nothing now. It's all down to whether or not anyone wants to read it, and if they do, whether or not they like it.
Perhaps I should start by giving you an idea as to what the book is about...
The Plot
Having fallen asleep in his flat in Clapham (London), Archie Rathbone is understandably indignant when he wakes up to find himself on the beach of a tropical island. He has no idea as to how he's got there, nor how to get back home. His only company on the island is a talking seagull.Meanwhile, back in London the price of Phoenix Tuna shares is going through the roof, and Emma, Archie's recently ex-girlfriend, suspects something fishy.
Neither of them realise that in trying to unravel the mystery, they are about to put the whole human race in danger.
Will Archie escape from his island prison and confront his captors? What is the connection between the secret organisation ALIRTS and the cafe proprietor Jakub Baranski? And what have Bolt, Upright & Clench (Tailors to the discerning since 1746) got to do with it all?
The Testing of Archie Rathbone is a tale of treachery, sorcery and the price of fish...
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