Sonntag, 29. April 2012

The story so far...


The story so far...



So where do I begin?

There's been such a lot happening recently.

OK, the free download promo went well and up to now I have ten good reviews on Amazon.co.uk, six on Amazon.com and two on Amazon.de, (Germany). All five stars except for one on Amazon.de which was awarded four... which still ROCKS !!



I've also put up a Facebook page for the book. At first I wasn't sure if it was a good idea, I mean what am I going to put up on it? I also felt it was a tad tacky, to be honest.

Whatever, a few encouraging words from friends and I went ahead with it two days ago. At this moment in time it has 89 "Likes", which is pretty cool in my humble opinion.


I put the You Tube trailer on it, the picture Steve sent from Afghanistan of the book, (which I have still yet to see, lol) and the cover, of course. I also put up a few pictures relating to the story. I'll be putting more material up soon and am toying with the idea of putting the first three chapters up?

Any thoughts on this from anyone who has read it, would that draw more people in??



One of the QDG Old Comrades wrote a good review on the QDG website. He liked the story, the characters, etc etc, but he picked up on the proof reading, which is a fair point. The thing is, the timing was terrible for my book. At the time Tim, the head honcho, had just finished a messy divorce, was in the middle of a move to America AND was just about to be married. Not the perfect setting for any book to be flawlessly edited... which is why mine wasn't :-(

I'd like to be filled with righteous indignation about it, but I'm not. It's my first book, I'm glad someone took it on and if a wrongly dotted "I" takes away from the story, then it's not as interesting a piece as I thought... although it would be nice if it was perfect, lol.



Right, that's it up to now peeps. I'm just waiting for the paperback version to come out and then I'll be bothering you all yet again with links, write ups and begging letters ;-)


Take it easy.

Reggie :-D

Montag, 16. April 2012

Free download promo, was it a good idea?

So, it's a done deal, The Division of the Damned is up on Amazon, costing 77 New English Pence per download.

As it stands now, I've SOLD (according to NovelRank.com, a very dubious website renowned for its inaccuracy) 38 downloads. Doesn't sound much, I know, but it's only been out a week and three of those days were the free giveaway promos, (more on that in a minute). So I'm not altogether unhappy with that, actually; especially because I never thought I'd see it in double figures ;-)

As for the free download promo, that was a roaring success!!.

Let me first illuminate the doubters on the wisdom of putting it out as a free download. The publishers I'm signed to are not rich and definitely cannot afford a promotion campaign; it just isn't on the agenda. Up to now Night has published, (I reckon) about 120 books all told, they do about two to three a month. It's a small publisher, (one boss, two editors, someone for the books and a Yorkshire terrier called Colin... OK, I lied about the dog, would have been cool though) who don't have money problems but they don't have it to spare, so marketing is on the author.

Sooooo, how do I market a book with no money, (as I DO have money problems, lol).

Mmmm, well, Amazon have a deal that involves you being able to give your book away free for five days every three months. That's pretty good of them in that for those five days they don't receive any money either. The idea is that enough people download it and then tell their friends about how good it is and write great reviews, which is what you're all going to do, I'm sure ^^

I let it run for three days, (well, Amazon did) and in those three days I had 3,535 free downloads in the US and 267 in the UK.

That's 3,535 people in America who have my book. What if when they actually finish reading it they tell their friends what a masterpiece of literary ingenuity it is and the word spreads. What if only half of them do that?

Today Amazon, tomorrow THE WORLD sort of thing.

Jessie Aru, (thanks Jess.^^) gave it a mention on BFBS but that's the only promotion I've had outside of Facebook. So the free download worked better than I thought, especially as "Division" sat at number one in Britain, America and Germany in the free download charts for War Fiction... which was very satisfing to see regardless of the fact that I'd make no money on it.



Anyway, that's the situation as it stands now peeps. Speculate to accumulate, as it were.

The paperback is apparently ready to order on Amazon.com but will be coming to Britain and Germany V. soon. so meanwhile I'm pushing my book to my 700 odd Facebook friends and waiting to see what happens.



Have a great day all.

Reg :-)

Montag, 9. April 2012

The Big Day arrives... and I'm on late shift. :-(

I always envisaged hosting a ma-husive party for the release of Division.

I saw myself drunk as a lord, toasting my family, friends and publishers with the best whiskey I could lay my hands on. However, it didn't happen that way.

With about as much colourful fanfare as a wet weekend in Whitby, The Division of the Damned, the mighty tome that cost me so many personal disappointments and such  massive emotional upheaval, squeaked timidly onto the virtual book shelves of Amazon.

A quiet email from Tim let me know that the Kindle version would be up on Saturday, paperback soon to follow.

Was I happy?

Of course, bloody overjoyed !!

However, after the initial thrill, hug with the wife and then show the kids, I packed my bag and went to late shift.

Harumph!

Very unsatisfying, if you must know.

Whatever, that's the only minus to the whole situation. Finally dear reader, after years of writing, rewriting, slicing and dicing, printing, begging for votes and sending my manuscript away, it's done.

The Kindle download version is on Amazon and I'm happy as a Dragoon who's been locked in an off-license all night :-)


It's on as a free download as of Wednesday 11th April, so if you want to download it, do it then.

Right, I'm outta here, Spartacus cannibal holocaust to finish, lol.

Take it easy.

Reggie ;-)