Mike Bodnar's Blog: Unity by Mike Bodnar

Actually, my apologies, I think I’ve transposed the headline; maybe it should be The Year of the Book, since 2023 was when I completed and published my first spy novel, Unity. Thank you, thanks. Wonderful. No really, there’s no need. Oh all right, keep going… (takes a bow, accepts flowers)

Was Unity a success? Well, that's a good question, but it might not be the best way to ask it. I’m reminded of when Bilbo wishes the wizard Gandalf good morning: Gandalf looked at him from under long bushy eyebrows that stuck out further than the brim of his shady hat. “What do you mean?” he said. “Do you wish me a good morning, or mean that it is a good morning whether I want it or not; or that you feel good this morning; or that it is a morning to be good on?”

I’m no wizard (and some might argue no author), but whether my novel has been a success depends on the perspective. So, at the top level we could perhaps argue that for a novel to be successful it must have become a best-seller, perhaps with the film rights bought by a production company. Unity has sold fewer than 150 copies in a year (pass me the tissues…) and nobody has beaten a path to my door for the rights to it, so in that respect it has been a miserable failure.

Another benchmark would be that an established publisher picked it up and is now promoting it to booksellers and libraries throughout the land, with a generous advance to me to write a sequel. The publisher has organized a number of launches and signings, and I am in demand by all the literary supplements for interviews and profile pieces. Spoiler alert: I don’t have a publisher. I self-published, so no speaking tour or interviews, and no profile pieces. And I can’t afford any paid promotion. Success? Nope.

It’s about here that Gandalf, his bushy eyebrows arching together, would ask: “Or do you mean it’s successful because those who’ve read it have enjoyed it?” Okay, now we’re getting somewhere. By all accounts – and I mean verifiable feedback: reviews and ratings on both Amazon and Goodreads, along with direct emails and feedback to me personally – Unity has been successful. Those who’ve read it have enjoyed it (or for some reason been too scared to tell me they haven’t).

Ah yes, you ask, but are we talking hundreds of reviews and ratings? Because that would be a measure of success surely. Er, no. At time of writing there are 14 ratings and ten reviews on Amazon (but averaging 4.8 out of 5), and nine ratings with five reviews on Goodreads (all five stars). In terms of the quality of feedback then, yes Unity is a successful novel. In respect of the quantity? No, still struggling.

But what about peer endorsements? Established novelists usually have another famous author endorsing their books on the front cover, which gives confidence to the potential reader. If Ian Rankin says of Mick Herron’s Spook Street that it’s “A terrific spy novel” (which he does) then for Ian Rankin fans that’s all they need to check out Herron’s works. Did Unity receive any famous endorsements?

Well, actually, yes. Veteran actor Derren Nesbitt (Where Eagles Dare, The Prisoner, Special Branch, etc.) liked it and said I was “a very fine writer.” (Some may know that Unity has a tie-in to the enigmatic ’60s British TV series The Prisoner and Nesbitt was one of the guest stars). And David Pinner, author of Ritual on which the cult film The Wicker Man is based, calls Unity “a fine thriller.”

Successful endorsements? Yes and no. If Unity was widely available in bookshops and people saw those endorsements on the cover they might well be encouraged to purchase. But it’s not. So, lovely though the endorsements are, it’s like shouting them into the darkness and not even hearing an echo. But I’ve got them, so at least that’s something.

But about now Gandalf would be going, “Hrumph,” and snapping the reins to get his horse and cart moving along with some haste.

Am I despondent? Do I feel writing Unity was all a waste of time? Am I giving up writing altogether? You’d be entitled to ask given that so few copies have sold and considering all the energy I put into it. But for those of you with a bad case of schadenfreude, bad luck; no I’m not giving up, and here’s why…

I learned a lot about writing when I authored Unity. I unashamedly mimicked some of my favourite authors, emulating their writing styles and being inspired by their use of language. Not for a moment is this plagiarism; I am talking about being inspired by other authors, not pinching story lines, paragraphs or whole pages from them. I believe the quality of my writing improved as a result. That’s a success, and I enjoyed writing the book. Yay, high-fives all round.

When the book was in its final draft form I managed to cobble together a ‘focus group’ of 12 pre-readers who agreed to read it and provide me feedback, both in terms of the story and the grammar, spelling etc. As a result, I was able to tweak the narrative appropriately before release and fix most of the errors; any remaining are entirely my fault. How is that a success? Well, I didn’t have to pay for an editor (which I couldn’t afford anyway) and it helped confirm for me that the story was actually okay; independent readers told me so.

And finally, I successfully self-published Unity using Amazon KDP – Kindle Direct Publishing – a platform for authors to get their works published and available globally at virtually no cost. I designed and created my own cover, uploaded and formatted the manuscript, and proofed everything before hitting the “Publish” button. Hey presto, the book was born.

There are no vast stocks of Unity sitting in a warehouse somewhere, costing me storage fees; Amazon KDP makes the eBook version available for instant download, while the paperback and hardback versions are available on a print-on-demand basis, something that still gobsmacks me to this day. I recently ordered ten copies and they arrived within seven days. I don’t know how they do it.

I know of authors who can’t negotiate the mechanics of publishing with KDP and who pay “experts” a lot of money to do it for them. In that respect, I regard having done it by myself an achievement.

But beyond all of that, I wrote a spy novel. It might not win the Booker, it might not be a best-seller, and it might not even be in the shops. The thing is: I did it.

Success.

​(Find out all about Unity: Peace for All, Freedom for None at www.unitystory.com)

Mike Bodnar ponders the frustrations of gaining an endorsement for his debut novel while facing the big problem of all self-publishers...

Caution: Analogy Ahead!

I have been given a valuable jewel, a shining faceted trinket, worth - in certain circumstances - a great deal, and yet also possibly worth nothing. I am in a dilemma. But let's do a quick recap first so you can better understand where I'm coming from...

I self-published my first novel (through Amazon KDP) in April this year. It's a spy thriller in the classic Cold War genre. I may have made a mistake tying it into a popular 1960s British TV series that even today, 55 years after it first screened, enjoys cult status. The series is called The Prisoner. Why a mistake? Read on...

My book - Unity: Peace for All, Freedom for None - takes the flipside of the television series and aims to give a fictional yet plausible behind-the-scenes story to make sense of the enigmatic offering on screen. Problem is, I don't own the rights to the series, and ITV (who do) won't enter into negotiations with me. So, it's published, sadly, as a work of what's called 'fan fiction' (a term I loathe, and a major mistake).

Being a self-publisher I don't have a marketing budget (and because the work is fan fiction I'm not allowed to profit from it, so there's another mistake). Therefore my marketing to date has been limited to a book launch, and lots of social media posts. But I have tried to get endorsements from other well-known authors in the hope their encouraging words might help people decide to purchase.

Fishing for compliments

I have had limited success. Robert Harris's publisher returned the book with a polite no, sorry. Most others didn't even respond. But I did get a lovely endorsement from one of the few remaining actors who starred in The Prisoner, Derren Nesbitt (also of Where Eagles Dare fame, and more), and although he described me as 'very talented', and a 'fine writer', he felt I'd made a mistake tying the book to the TV programme (biggest mistake endorsed by famous actor!)

I have, more recently however, received a glowing testimony from an author rather than an actor, one David Pinner, who wrote the novel Ritual that was turned into a film called The Wicker Man (also a cult classic). His full summation of Unity was thus:

"Unity is very well-written and shows good political nous. A fine thriller: it is also a work of sharp prose and great economy. ‘Art is the gift of saying the most with the least’ and Mike Bodnar knows this.’ "

Lovely. From that I have chosen 'A fine thriller' as the key takeaway, and it now adorns the cover of all versions: the eBook, paperback and hardcover. (And before you ask, yes it does pay to 'know people'. One of my oldest friends just happens to be acquainted with Pinner, so he acted as a go-between for me and cleared the way for Mr. P to read the book and comment on it. I am lucky.)

My main problem however remains: I still don't have a marketing budget, nor a publisher with a distribution network, nor any major literary platform on which to showcase Unity. Yes I now have a wonderful endorsement, but all I can afford to do is continue to bombard my (very) limited following on social media with it.

I do have a few other ideas up my literary promotional sleeve: I plan to send a copy of the book to ITV with both the endorsements in the hope they'll consider Unity as a potential screenplay. (It is in fact written very much in a filmic style). On the other hand they might just take me to court on some basis of copyright infringement, but let them try; the publicity could be invaluable!

Another is to send it to mainstream book reviewers (ditto the endorsements) in the hope that David Pinner's support makes them at least take notice rather than bin it outright. Guardian, The Times et al, you have been warned.

Reviews for the asking (and paying)

Whenever I post on X (the platform formerly known as Twitter) I get inundated with offers from soi disant reviewers saying they will review my book for their 10k, 100k, 250k followers in return for a certain amount of money - so far anywhere between US$30 and $45 plus cost of the book. Well no thanks; I don't hold with the ethics of paying for reviews which, to my mind, renders them worthless.

One thing I can hope for perhaps is that when I've finished writing my next novel (12k words so far but slow progress) which is not tied to any TV programme I can approach mainstream publishers with the endorsements I got for Unity as evidence that I at least know how to write. It might help.

But in the meantime I need to find a cheap (read: free) way of capitalising on David Pinner's wonderful words. I've done virtually everything I can using social media including even trying to give the book away for free (no takers, go figure). It's like finding a dropped diamond after a robbery of the Crown Jewels at the Tower of London: it's worth a fortune but you can't do anything with it.

Any literary gemologists out there? Unity: Peace for All, Freedom for None

I recently received a very thoughtful and incisive review of my new spy thriller Unity.

It comes from a doctor of literature, David Annwn Jones, and he has this to say about the novel:

It's sharply honed thriller writing, comparable to the very best in the field. Amongst the reading pleasures are the clever and devastating links to 60s political figures and what I call the 'faction' effect: you find yourself wondering: 'Is this actually fiction or has the author got the lowdown on what actually happened?'

For me this vindicates the efforts I went to in researching the zeitgeist of 1967 Britain and especially the political situation of the time. My aim was to have enough factual material in the story that anyone who wondered, did that actually happen? or, was that person real? could do some research and discover that yes, indeed it did and indeed they were - rUnity: Peace for All, Freedom for Noneight down to the name of the head chef at the Savoy Grill at the time.

I thoroughly enjoyed that research, and if I'm guilty of anything it's breaking off my writing to go down all sorts of Internet rabbit holes in search of information. If I had chosen not to do that the book would have been finished and published a year ago!

Anyway, I love getting feedback, so if you've read Unity and have some thoughts you'd like to share, please do.

Last week, veteran actor Derren Nesbitt (Where Eagles Dare, Special Branch, The Prisoner, Tucked, and many more films and TV programmes) read my debut novel Unity. He contacted me to say he thought I was 'a very fine writer... very talented,' for which, of course I am extremely grateful.

Derren played 'Number Two' in The Prisoner episode 'It's Your funeral,' and is one of the few surviving key cast members.

Interestingly, he didn't think The Prisoner needed explaining with a backstory; he said that creator George Markstein was happy for it to remain a mystery, a conundrum, and that actor, director and writer Patrick McGoohan equally didn't have any idea what was going on.

Still, he liked my writing, and has already said he looks forward to reading my next novel, The Liscannor Intercept - possibly because it is nothing to do with The Prisoner!Unity: Peace for All, Freedom for None

It's my birthday next week, and to celebrate I'm giving away eBook versions of my new spy thriller Unity through Amazon. But only during this coming weekend, 3-4 June.

All you have to do is get Unity from Amazon this weekend and it's yours for free. All I ask is that after reading you leave feedback here on Goodreads, or on Amazon (or both!). Thank you.

Note: Time zones for the offer may vary over the weekend and the offer may not apply to all countries.

Unity: Peace for All, Freedom for None I recently released my debut spy thriller 'Unity.' It's what's called a 'tie-in novel,' in that it's linked to the classic and enigmatic 1960s British TV series 'The Prisoner,' and my storyline runs concurrently with the story arc of that programme.

Why? Because for decades people have been bemused and bewildered by 'The Prisoner,' and it has developed a cult following of fans who - while enthralled by the story - have for years been debating, arguing, writing and analysing what is was all about. 'Unity' aims to answer most of those questions, and takes as its premise the angle of those who were responsible for kidnapping the resigned intelligence officer who became known only as Number Six after being incarcerated in the pretty yet sinister place called The Village. It is, if you like, the flipside story.

There's a page of Frequently Asked Questions on the Unity website, www.unitystory/faqs

If you enjoy spy mysteries, this is for you, and if you're one of those still bewildered by The Prisoner then this is definitely for you (although you don't have to have seen the series to read the book).

Readers so far have said:

'I really cannot recommend this novel highly enough'
'Captivates the reader'
'The story cracks along'
'Excellent, very innovative and clever'
'Builds to a gripping climax'
'An excellent read!' 
'Thoroughly enjoyed it'
'All I wanted to do was get to the next page!'
'Brilliant!'

And, Unity is beginning to draw excellent ratings on Amazon, currently sitting at five stars.

Having released Against The Current as an audiobook I now need some reviews of it. If you'd like to listen to it, give it a star rating and maybe write a few lines of review, just get in touch; I will give you a voucher code.

By going to Audible.com you'll then be able to 'buy' the audiobook for nothing just by entering the voucher code. Simple!

I have only a limited bumber of voucher codes so it's on a first-come first-erved basis :-) and all I ask is that you review the audiobook on Scribl.com, Audible.com, Amazon or iTunes.

Just go to the book website www.againstthecurrent.uk and send me an email. Mention you read about this on Goodreads.

Thanks!

On Monday 22 May you can hear all about how I produced my audiobook as Paul Teague interviews me for his latest Self Publishing Journeys podcast.

If you've ever thought about creating an audiobook, and narrating it yourself, you'll pick up some useful tips on how to do it (and even how not to do it!) in Episode 64 of Self Publishing Journeys. Bookmark it now! Two days to go!

Self Publishing Journeys: http://bit.ly/2qDqJ74

Against The Current is now available as an audiobook!

For those of you who drive long distance, need distracting on long-haul flights, are visually impaired or find reading a challenge, an audiobook is ideal.

I narrate the book myself, and it will take you almost eleven and a half hours to listen to it all, but you get to hear it 'in the author's voice', and all you have to do is sit back and relax.

Search for 'Against The Current audiobook' on Scribl.com (probably the cheapest option), Audible (Amazon) or just Google it and see what comes up.

And please don't forget to rate it once you've listened. As I write this there are no reviews, so you could be the first!