Blue Monday

michael — Mon, 14 May 2012 11:04:04 +0000

Sad day today for me. Two deaths that have left me feeling down in the mouth. The first one was the tragic death of Lee Richardson, one of the top Speedway riders around today. Former World Under 21 champion and Speedway Grand Prix rider, captain of Lakeside Hammers. Only 33 years old. I know motor sport is dangerous and claims the lives of many young people, but it is so poignant when you feel you know the man. He was my favourite rider and I always enjoyed watching him race. He will be sadly missed by his fans in UK and Europe. He was killed last night racing for his Polish team in Poland. A sad, sad loss.
The other death was that of a lady friend of ours, Doreen Bagnall. She had just come out of hospital after falling and breaking her leg. Last night she felt unwell and died. Most unexpected. In the midst of life….
Not a very uplifting blog today, I know, but you can only go the way your heart directs you. I would like to write about the great things that are happening in my book life, but in that direction I need patience. I also need to get my promotional hat on properly and make sense of where I post my book promotions. It’s all rather haphazard at the moment, but my colleagues at Acclaimed Book are putting together something that might help us all to co-ordinate our efforts.
For those of you who don’t have swimming pools in your garden, I’m sure you will be interested to know that mine is U/S at the moment. I have to fit a new control valve but need a few seals that aren’t generally available, so I’ve got to innovate and scratch around for some alternatives. I know: serves me right for having a swimming pool! More later.

Gambling again!

michael — Thu, 10 May 2012 13:38:38 +0000

Today is the start of my Goodreads giveaway. This is where I offer three of my books to Goodreads readers who will put their names down for the draw. The offer ends on May 26th. and the three winners will each receive a copy of A COVERT WAR. This will be followed by a three day, free promotion of the same novel, but in e-book format. The idea behind this ‘scheme’ of mine is twofold: I will send each winner another book to go with mine. It will be a top author for each one. The winners can do what they like with that extra book, but for me it is essential to my slipstream marketing campaign. The follow up free download promotion will enable those who missed out on the draw to download the e-book for free. Anybody will be able to do this regardless of whether they are members of Goodreads or not. The result, if all goes to plan will be that a significant rise in the rankings which should generate subsequent, paid sales of the book. I will also be putting NORTH SLOPE up for free on the same dates. It’s all very subjective and could end in dismal, and costly (not too much) failure.
As a result of my ‘scheme’ I have to concentrate a bit on promotion. The trouble is, there are so many sites where I can promote my book without having to pay that I could spend several hours a day traipsing round the Net. That way I wouldn’t get anything else done. I’m still battling with my current manuscript and keep changing parts of the storyline. If I ever get this one finished I will probably hate the book. But that’s not fair: I’m not that kind of writer. I love all my books, which is natural because I’ve sweated so much over them and waited so long for success. Well, my kind of success! My current rate of progress should see me finish the manuscript by the end of the year.
Yesterday, as I walked into my church, one of the ladies there asked me if I was writing another book. I said I was and asked her why. She told me that her friend has read all of mine and she enjoyed them that much she can’t wait for my next one to come out. Wasn’t that nice? I treasure little gems like that. So, I’d better get cracking. Trouble is; we’ve got guests coming in about an hour’s time and I’ve got to take the dog out. Wish me luck!

Weekend Away.

michael — Mon, 07 May 2012 13:06:57 +0000

Had a good weekend down at our friends place in Almeria. They live in a small pueblo just inside the Andalucian Province set among the hills. The local town has a large ex-pat population with the inevitable mix of languages around the markets. We had dinner at a Spanish restaurant overlooking the hills. The view was terrific even if a little dampened by the heavy rain clouds. There was a family of Spaniards who were having a confirmation party. Lots of music, lots of children and lots of noise. The dining room had to be cleared before the evening diners could sit down. The meal wasn’t exceptional, but I’m not a fan of Spanish cuisine anyway.
The following day we went down to the coast to a small place called Villaricos. It’s along the coast form Mojacar. Lovely setting and not too lively. There is a small marina there, some bars and a lovely walk along the sea front where a great deal of money has been spent. Sunday is market day, but it seems to be less obtrusive than some of the markets we’ve been to out here. Me and my mate always sit and have a coffee while the ladies wander through the stalls. My wife said she would have a holiday home there if we could afford one. I know we don’t need one because we live in Spain. But if we didn’t, and we wanted a home in a little gem of a place, then Villaricos would be it.
Had a very smooth journey home on roads that were practically empty. Motorway almost all of the way. Not having been on the computer since Friday meant I had a lot to catch up on. One piece of good news was that Createspace, who publish for Amazon in USA will now be publishing for them in UK as well. This is good news for us at Acclaimed Books. More later.

Sunny days

michael — Thu, 03 May 2012 14:41:54 +0000

We are basking in sunshine here on the Costa Blanca while the rest of Spain gets rained on. But Spain needs the rain probably more than UK because it is going through the worst drought for seventy years. One of the reservoirs up north is that dry a whole church has been uncovered. It’s a truism that there is enough food and fresh water on this planet for everybody, but there does seem to be an unhealthy imbalance along the way.
We’re off this weekend to visit our friends in Almeria. I believe it’s raining down that way, but we can’t let that spoil our visit though, can we? I’ll be taking a copy of my latest book, THE BOY FROM BERLIN for them. My mate doesn’t read though, but his wife does and she thoroughly enjoys my books. Trouble is; she’s isn’t computer savvy so can’t put good reviews on the web for me.
NORTH SLOPE is now back on Amazon Kindle. The paperback will be there shortly. I’ve learned a huge lesson from the problems I’ve had with the editing issue. I know I must be pin-sharp when it comes to proof reading my own work in future. It isn’t just the poor quality that results from that, but also the poor reviews that are posted on Amazon. So far NORTH SLOPE has picked up 26 reviews, and most of them are four and five star; enough to swamp the editorial reviews.
I checked out my author profile page using Amazon’s URL today. I had to put in the ASIN number for ROSELLI’S GOLD. Terrific page. Trouble is; they have about four books with mine that aren’t written by me. So what’s the point of putting in Amazon’s ASIN number; a direct reference to the book when they add others to it? I’ve contacted Amazon and hopefully they will be able to resolve the issue.
We were supposed to be visiting two elderly folk from our church this afternoon who are in a care home, but one of them had a fall and is too unwell to see us. This means I have a couple of hours spare, so I’d better get on with writing. More work on my next blockbuster? That would be good. See you next week.

Compact Weekend

michael — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 13:16:35 +0000

Today, ROSELLI’S GOLD goes free on Amazon Kindle for two days. The change in sales rankings is quite dramatic when a book goes ‘free’. Although the e-book hasn’t been sold but given away free, it climbs up the rankings according to some weird algorithm that Amazon use. My book has already shot up to 9229 in the rankings from its very low ranking yesterday of about 60,000. In the UK it has climbed into the top 100. If it keeps climbing, then on Wednesday, when the book is no longer free, it will remain with its rank number for about forty eight hours. This usually results in some impressive sales compared to the period before it went free. I began ‘pushing’ the free promotion (as we are advised to do) about a week ago, and according to the sales ranking the book immediately plummeted to a very low rank. I suspect that this was because readers stopped buying it because they could see it was about to be released free. My total e-book sales for USA and UK this month (April) has reached about 750. It will be interesting to compare the results at the end of May to see if my free promotion has done the trick.
It’s been a dramatic weekend for sports freaks in UK (and elsewhere no doubt). For me it’s about football, snooker and speedway. The football has provided some dramatic results in the Premier league and the Championship. Congratulations to Reading and Southampton. Tonight is the critical derby between the two Manchester clubs. Today Roy Hodgson was announced as the only candidate approached by the FA for the job of England manager. Not my choice, but good luck to the man. Saturday evening was the Polish Speedway Grand Prix. Fantastic battles there too: Well done Chris Holder. Hard luck Bomber Harris: he never got started really. And of course, while all this is happening, there’s a World Snooker Championship going on too.
Oh, we were supposed to go away for the weekend but it was cancelled Friday morning. Unfortunately our friend was taken ill and spent the night in hospital. He’s out now but still not too good. We are hoping to go down there next weekend.

Temperatures and Tempers

michael — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 14:37:40 +0000

Weather is warming up. The rest of Spain is getting rained on hard, and a friend of mine was stranded at Bilbao because the ferries were cancelled as a result of the strong winds. He should be away by now though. Here on the Costa Blanca and elsewhere along the Mediterranean Coastline the weather is fine.
I got my knuckles rapped for a reply I posted on a forum (Amazon). Someone wanted recommendations for military thrillers and the like. I recommended A COVERT WAR. Seems I broke the rules: authors weren’t allowed to promote themselves on that particular site. Trouble was; the response I got from the person who used a pseudonym was quite pointed. Accused me of being unscrupulous, sleazy and other unmentionable things. Anyone would think I’d been found guilty of posting some child porn on the web, whereas all I did was respond innocently to a perfectly straightforward question. I deleted the post, but why couldn’t my mistake have been pointed out to me kindly rather than using colourful prose?
I’ve asked Pete Lihou (Acclaimed Books) to put NORTH SLOPE back on Amazon. It’s been my most successful POD and Kindle so far. Hopefully it will continue to soar now that the errors have been eradicated. Four days now until ROSELLI’S GOLD goes free. I’ve got my fingers and toes crossed for this one.
Tomorrow we’re off for the weekend visiting friends in Arboleas. It’s a small town about ninety kms. from Almeria in the province of Andalucia. We visit them regularly and they come up here as well. The good thing about these visits is that we can take the dog with us. Poor cat has to fend for himself for a couple of days. We have a neighbour popping in to make sure his food bowl is full. It has never been a problem in the past, and he hasn’t complained yet.
Back on Monday and another squint at the sales figures which AB.c will post tomorrow evening. More then.

Monday again

michael — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 13:48:12 +0000

Monday morning again and time to get on with the work that needed doing around the place. I had to move the car so I could get a long ladder up against the house wall to remove a dud battery from my alarm box. Then a quick clean around the pool followed by some weeding. While I was buzzing around the place, the song title; “I Don’t Like Mondays” came into my head, and I thought of the irony of life that was entwined around that song. Bob Geldoff wrote the song after a high school girl in America shot and killed her school mates. When asked why she had done such a terrible thing she said, ‘I don’t like Mondays’. Bob Geldoff and the Boomtown Rats went on to fame and fortune, and Bob got a knighthood out of the work he did with the United Nations. All this because he wrote a song that opened doors for him. But the tragic irony is that other lives were changed too, but in a more dramatic and tragic way.

My Monday morning ended up in a less dramatic fashion, but frustrating for a while because the car wouldn’t start. I had to call the RACC out. Once upon a time I would have dived under the bonnet (‘hood’ to my American readers) and sorted the problem out myself. The mechanic duly arrived armed with his computer and diagnosed the problem in about five minutes: it was air in the fuel pump. Ten minutes later he was on his way and I was able to get off into town and buy a replacement battery for the alarm.

Who’s sorry now?

michael — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 13:40:30 +0000

I’ve been reading a whole lot about e-books and the effect they are having on the big publishers, how Amazon are playing dirty and what the big guns must do to offset the ‘damage’ being caused by the digital age to their profits and their muscular control over the world of publishing. Five years ago I was in my publisher’s office in London where John Hale told me that the publishing industry is controlled by the big five conglomerates covering America, United Kingdom, France, Holland and Australia. He told me there was no chance of my books (hardback) being published by the paperback imprints (houses) because I wouldn’t make them any money: fact of life. I was an unknown quantity, talent and good penmanship didn’t come into it. I remember contacting the producer of the Richard & Judy book show on Channel Four. I was told that if I wanted to get my books published I should get a copy of the Writers’ and Artists’ Year Book. I didn’t want to know that seeing as I was an established writer. After reading an article about four years ago where the woman in charge of paperback imprints claiming she wanted more British thriller writers, I contacted her. The reply from someone else was almost exactly the same as that from C4. I replied, pointing out that I was already published and received a further reply from another woman with exactly the same answer. Now Amazon is giving free reign to writers like me and thousands of us around the world, the big hitters are hurting and crying. If they hadn’t operated such a closed, old boy shop and been more amenable to approaches from us bottom feeders in the literary fishpond, they might not be weeping so much now.

I will be putting ROSELLI’S GOLD on a free promotion on April 30th. for two days. With luck this will lift me in the Amazon rankings and result in more sales. Following that, sometime in May I will be promoting A COVERT WAR and putting NORTH SLOPE back on Kindle. And Harlequin now have four of my novels, none of those on Amazon, which they are reading with a view to assessing their potential and making an offer for the paperback rights in North America. I would guess that they might like two of those, but whatever happens, those four books will be available eventually, in paperback and e-book to the buying public. And with no thanks to the UK paperback imprints. Wish me luck.

Monday again and nothing changes

michael — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 16:52:16 +0000

Monday again, beginning of the week and nothing has changed in this world that shows the human race is improving. The Norwegian nutcase goes on trial claiming self defence as his reason for murdering over 70 people. Meanwhile around the world the suicide bombers are murdering others again. And the Press are reporting the slaughter in Afghanistan as the beginning of the ‘shooting season’. Season? Do they think this is something like the beginning of Grouse shooting? And another kind of carnage continues: that of the slaughter of horses in the name of sport. I think it’s time for the authorities to give a closer look at how the Grand National is organised with regard to the care of the animals. And the South American summit of Presidents has actually suggested the legalisation of drugs! At least Obama turned them down. Probably because the CIA would lose some kind of control in America’s so-called Colour Revolution that is being carefully orchestrated in Latin America and elsewhere. It’s the ‘same old, same old’ as folks might say.

No great changes in Michael Parker’s writing journey still. I’ve decided to re-write my latest story but still can’t get myself organised. My days get filled with other things and this gives me reasons for not getting on with my research and pen pushing. I find myself reading reports on South American summits and wondering why everyone else is crazy except me. My book sales have tapered off, but that’s no big deal really. I will be putting ROSELLI’S GOLD on a free promo for two days at the end of this month. Next month it will be A COVERT WAR, followed later by NORTH SLOPE (newly edited!). I expect that to lift my sales somewhat. I am still waiting to hear from Harlequin with respect to the planned paperback imprint of THE BOY FROM BERLIN. That’s something else to look forward to.

Next big thing on the horizon is tomorrow: we take the cat to the vet for his yearly vaccination. That’s a saga in itself. Always fraught with pain and suffering (that’s me and Pat). The cat doesn’t like it either and lets us know it. And we have to clean up after him. Why do we have pets?

Unlucky for Some?

michael — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 13:08:03 +0000

I didn’t realise it was Friday 13th, but here in Spain the Spanish do not consider this to be an unlucky day. I don’t know what date their unlucky day is, but I know it falls on a Tuesday. Do I believe in Friday 13th. being unlucky? Nope! But we all have good and bad days, and today I’m having a good day. Went shopping this morning and bought a new washing machine. I didn’t choose it; I just tailed along with Pat and produced my card when she had made her choice. We went to about five shops before ‘our’ mind was made up. This afternoon we will be visiting some sick friends: an elderly couple who are now in a care home. It’s a Spanish kind of care home, not like you find in UK.

I exchanged e-mails with a writer in Australia yesterday. She wondered if our publisher accepted manuscripts by e-mail or was it necessary to send the typed version still. She wasn’t keen on the idea of paying for the cost of postage to London while she considered the book business seemed to be going through a major upheaval. I suggested she sent her manuscript because of our publisher’s connection with the public libraries and the amount of business they do. If you have faithful readers borrowing your books on a regular basis, then you owe it to them (and to yourself) to keep the titles coming. My library statements for the last two years showed that there had been over 6000 loans in 2010 and the same again in 2011. While not comparable to the top novelists, it means I have a large band of followers and I want to keep my supply of titles up for their sakes as well as mine. So I urged the lady in question to bite the bullet and send the MS.

The eagle-eyed among you will have noticed that I have missed a day between posts. Normally I post on a Thursday, but for some reason I forgot everything about my blog yesterday. I could make the excuse that I was working on my latest novel, which would be true. Trouble is; I didn’t get very far. I also had to make a couple of corrections to my e-book and its original Word doc. It’s all done now and hopefully I won’t be asked to re-edit again.

Next week I will be asking Acclaimed Books to put A COVERT WAR up for a free promotion on Kindle select. This will be at the end of the month followed by a two day promo for ROSELLI’S GOLD. Then NORTH SLOPE will go back