Michael's Blog (195)

January 17, 2015

I’m in the process of re-publishing seven of my titles which up until now have been published under the name of Acclaimed Books Ltd. The reason is simple: I want to manage my own titles now that me and my wife have settled back in UK. One of the problems with changing the name of the publisher — in this case from AB.c to Michael Parker — is that any reviews accumulated can be lost unless you keep the same ISBN number and don’t change the edition number. I learned the…

January 10, 2015

I’m a little early with my blog post this week, but sometimes I’m a little late. The first couple of weeks of 2015 look promising for what my progress in the literary world could be like. I have seen a short lift in my book sales, although nothing to get too excited about. I also attended the Chindi writers group in Chichester, and will be going up to London for the International Thriller Writers’ Organization’s European meeting.

Meeting with the Chindi group…

As the old year succumbs to Father Time, so we all look forward to what the following year might hold for us all. I’m no different and tend to feel a sense of optimism as the New Year approaches. This time last year I was in the middle of chemo therapy, living in Spain and wondering what the future held for me. Now we are living in England and I have no worries about my condition. We are settled into our new life and I have great hopes for my continuing progress in the book world. I have a…

No internet today because we are waiting for a carpet fitter. This meant emptying the lounge and dining room, hence no router plugged in. It’s amazing how, in today’s world, being without Wi-Fi tends to render one helpless for a while. So, waiting for the carpet fitter to arrive meant I could finish my current reading: Lamentations by C.J. Sansom. This is an historical novel, a best seller, but one that a Goodreads search could not find. I tried twice because I wanted to leave a review for a…

I made some progress last week with my manuscript, but it was more of a reviewing of my work and learning to put it on Scrivener at the same time. It will take a while yet, notwithstanding the fact that Christmas will get in the way. I’ve no trouble with that. After all; Christmas is to be enjoyed and used as a time to forget the pressures, whether self-imposed or not, that we all have to endure throughout the year. I also resurrected my attempts to get an acceptable, book jacket uploaded to…

I decided to write my blog a little earlier today because I find myself making excuses for not getting the entry out on a Monday. Last week has seen more activity in the promotion and marketing effort I’m putting to my books. One major achievement for me was the production of one thousand bookmarkers. I designed them myself, although I listened to constructive criticism from family and friends, and had them printed at a small printers in Bognor. I picked them up last night and am delighted…

Once again another gap between blogs. No excuse, but then I don’t have a great deal to say at the moment. I have been brushing up on my Scrivener project. This is a writer’s work tool to help in the building of a manuscript. It’s extremely useful and popular with a lot of writers. I’ve just about worked my way through the course, but have promised myself to go through it again. It’s not a long course, and the project is loaned on trial for thirty days. That’s thirty days that are not…

So where was I? I missed last week’s blog post, but have no real excuse. Maybe it’s just a case of getting back into the swing of things. I’m slowly getting my writer’s head back, and have started promoting again. Over the last month or so, my rankings on Amazon have dropped away steadily, and I can only put that down to the fact that I have been pretty lax in that department. Mind you, my rankings picked up a couple of days ago. I think that was because a small promotion I had planned…

Its three weeks now since I wrote my last blog entry and a great deal has happened in that time. Most of it, probably all of it, has been to do with re-inserting ourselves back in the British way of life, and what a pleasure it has been. This doesn’t mean that our previous Spanish way of life was inferior to what we are discovering over here in England, but it’s all so ‘user friendly’, if that’s the right way to put it. No doubt a major element of that is the language and how natural it all…

This could be my last blog entry for a while. This time next week we will be travelling up to Bilbao to catch the boat back to England. Technically we’ll be homeless until we have handed over the money for our Park Home at Pagham (West Sussex).

It means no Wi-Fi for a while, but like a lot of people of our age (me and Pat), we have travelled thousands of miles over the years without Wi-Fi, mobile phones, tablets, laptops and all that modern paraphernalia. We will still have our mobile…

Two weeks today and we’re off to UK. After all the moving around over the years this will be our last move. (I won’t include the ultimate one that we all have to go through). We will be settled in Pagham and looking at a change in our lifestyle after seventeen years in Spain. Apart from the small sacrifices that are necessary when moving house, one part of my routine that is on hold at the moment is my writing. Although I still have times during the day when I could sit down and write, I…

I’m back with Andy MacNab after wasting time on other ‘polished’ thriller writers. MacNab’s writing is so clever that you forget that he was basically a foot soldier who we tend to regard as brawn over brains. But taking into consideration the considerable skills and bravery required to be a member of the Special Forces (SAS), it makes you realise just how clever these men are. With MacNab, he has added powerful storytelling to his CV. Imbedded in his writing is the colloquial, non PC jargon…

Life is a lottery, so they say, and there’s no question that some people draw the winning ticket and others do not. Sadly, most do not. What we have to look at, as Eric Idle’s song tells us, is to always look on the bright side of life. So drawing away from the daily horrors of this world; horrors that are constantly in our newspapers and on out TV screens, I want to talk about another kind of lottery: producing a best-seller; a book, naturally, seeing as my blog is connected to the written…

I sense a slowing down of indie book sales; not just here in the Parker household, but generally across the whole spectrum. I could be wrong and way off beam, but I have read opinions on the web from people working at both ends of the publishing industry. In the continuing battle between Amazon and Hachette, a claim has been made that they are each trying to eliminate the other. This sounds like one trying to gain a territorial advantage over the other. The product, i.e. book sales, is being…

n the midst of all this chaos is a writer trying to sell books. I have a book promotion running with Best Indie Books for my novel, HELL’S GATE, but how successful has it been up to now, or will it be? Well, it’s been running for a couple of weeks and I have sold zero. I suppose it all comes down to marketing again. Without a professional approach, or at least a pseudo professional approach, I suppose my sales will reflect my ability as a market man and not the quality of the…

Last week was quite an eventful one for me and Pat, although not from a writing perspective. We purchased a park home at Pagham in West Sussex, and will be returning to England on October 1^st. permanently. We have seven weeks to go and I know my writing will take a back seat during that time, even though I will make some inroads into it. The four days we spent in England were hectic, but fruitful. Bit like bringing a manuscript to fruition.

Someone spoke to me today saying…

What is it about a title that intrigues people? Last week I included the phrase, Bodice Rippers in my blog title. Over the last few weeks on Goodreads, my blog has been read by an average of 1 (one) over several weeks. This is worked out by the number of zero reads and the occasional two. Suddenly interest has shot up to eleven readers. Where have you all been? Perhaps I should title this entry as fifty shades of grey, and see what happens. Maybe I’ll go viral!

I saw a post on…

Good news: my scan results showed I am now clear of tumours. Remedial medication has started and so have our plans to return to the UK. After three hours on the drip my next appointment is 23^rd. September. I told my specialist here in Spain that we planned to return permanently after that. I will carry on with the treatment once we’re back in England. The change in our lives means we can plan ahead. I have also knuckled down and made headway with my WIP (work in progress). I am…

I had my scan last Tuesday. No dramas there and back home in time for lunch. Wednesday we picked up our friends, Kath and Don, from the airport; back home in time for lunch. Thursday was different: we drove down to Alfoquia in Almeria province to visit more friends; Ray and Lynn. Spent a few hours with them and had lunch in Albox, then departed for a small village up in the hills called Los Colorados. This was where our niece, Becky was on holiday with her husband Jason and daughter Lox…

I didn’t get to the scan; it was postponed at the last moment. I’m on my way there tomorrow. Results to come next Tuesday 22^nd. So, what have I been up to? I had a weekend in UK; travelled over there to see the British Speedway Grand Prix at the Millenium Stadium in Cardiff. I always stay with our son, John and we go together. It’s nice in that it gives me a lot of time to be with my boy; something most fathers treasure. I certainly do. The speedway was good too. The trip back…