N.J. Rayner's Blog: The Stobes Trilogy

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

November 15th

Today, the problems and frustrations of writing, somehow seem irrelevant in light of the tragic events in Paris.

There is a horrible irony in the fact that misinterpretation of the writings in a book, can result in such atrocities, not just in France, but across the whole world.

So today, as well as thinking of those young lives cut brutally and pointlessly short, I shall also be holding those I love, just that little bit tighter.

November 12th

Well, so much for sticking to a daily blog?

The last few days have been filled with promotion work, and wrestling with Book 2 in The Stobes Trilogy - The Assassinator.

This second book is proving extremely hard work, and to be honest, I'm dreading 'the difficult third album' The Exodus.

Still, no one ever said this writing lark was easy.

It doesn't help that I have a fourth book - Peter Panic and the Book of Dreams - running around my head at the moment too, and being a male, multi-tasking is not something with which I have a strong affinity.

Like all jobs, being an author - even a relatively unknown one - has routines. Of course, without a formal structure or anyone telling you what to do, it's very easy to get sidetracked by a whole variety of things, from social media to the ongoing feud with the neighbour's cat and his stubborn refusal to not use our garden as his litter tray.

I've organised a couple of Kindle Countdown Deals on Amazon, where you can buy The Time Table for just £0,99 ($0.99 in the US) for 3 days only. The UK promo starts on 14th Nov, and the US on 27th Nov. Well, if you can't do a bit of self promotion on your own blog, what's the world coming too?

You can also follow my irreverent musings on life via Twitter if you feel inclined, at @nigerayner

So now it's back to the writing accompanied by some Del Amitri, Beatles and Kings of Leon.

November 4th

Like most Indie Authors, my days are divided between thinking, writing, book promotion and watching my sales rankings go up and down like a pair of trousers in a Brian Rix farce.

The thinking part tends to involve a lot of tea, chocolate digestive biscuits, cigarettes and staring out of the window praying for divine intervention.

Today though, the actual writing on the second book in The Stobes Trilogy (The Assassinator) has gone pretty well, resulting in a couple of thousand words which might not only survive the overnight test, but also help to get the book back on schedule?

Of course, a major part of the day - like most days - has been spent marketing and promoting my first book.

This part of being an author is like searching for The Holy Grail wearing a blindfold, whilst at the same time building a box girder bridge across the Atlantic using pipe cleaners.

The results of the two pay per click campaigns I currently have running, are not exactly tingling my furtleberries, but they have at least generated a few sales.

And whilst Twitter continues to help spread the word - thank you all my fellow authors and followers - I'm yet to be convinced by Facebook?

But of course, tomorrow's another day, and apparently god loves a trier :-)

I've decided to do a daily blog/diary on the highs and lows, joys and frustrations of being an Indie Author.

So here's the first.

November 3rd.

Another day of finger in the air and hope book promotion. It often feels like shouting at a bus filled with deaf people from across a busy road, but I'm still struggling to discover the alternative.

Navigating plot lines in Book 2 of The Stobes Trilogy - The Assassinator, has been like crossing a lake of treacle wearing a steamed up welders mask.
They say never work with children and animals. Well, it's nothing compared to working with Stobes, Darkinbads, Cribbit Snocklers and Topsiders.!

Far too many cups of tea and packets of Mini Cheddar's have been consumed - again.

Next doors cat has beaten me in a staring contest - again.

Posted a Tweet about a new petition at Chang.org to try and stop Phil Collins coming out of retirement.

Read some Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett for inspiration. It only made me realise how high the bar is, if you want to be a good writer.

NJ.

I'm going to start with a provocative statement.

There are only three reasons for an Author to provide their books for Free:

1) To get Reviews and/or increase awareness.

2) As part of a promotion strategy to draw attention to other 'Paid' books.

3) Desperation.

The irony is, that in 99% of cases, unless you are already an established Author, none of the above is likely to achieve anything.

A number of recent statistics have indicated that the vast majority of people who download free Ebooks from Indie authors, invariably start to read less than 20% of them, complete less than 5%, and post reviews for less than 1%.

With those kind of odds, Indie Authors have more chance of generating an income by playing the State Lottery!

The very fact that a book is Free, means there is no responsibility or commitment from a perspective reader. The reason why people download Free stuff is because it's Free! In the 'disposable' world we live in, nothing is more disposable than something that is Free.

I doubt anyone would expect someone to spend months, possibly years, producing a product, and then give it away for free - it's business suicide. Yet Authors not only do this, but nowadays, they are actually expected too.

People download Free Ebooks onto their Kindles in the same way they press the 'Like' or 'Share' button on Facebook, and the 'Retweet' button on Twitter.

Just look at the number of books on the average persons 'to read' list here on Goodreads? I've seen people with over 35,000 books on their list, which even if they read a book a day, every day, for the rest of their lives, would still take over 132 years to get through them all?

Ultimately, especially for the vast majority of Indie Authors, Free Books are not the answer in a market which is heavily weighted against them by the financial firepower and resources of the mainstream publishers.

Amazon has undoubtedly given Indie Authors a wonderful and cost effective platform to enable them to bypass the 'traditional' publishing model, but it hasn't leveled the playing field, or made the book market any easier to succeed in.

In fact, it has done exactly the opposite, by quadrupling the number of published authors, it has quadrupled the competition.

Of course, Amazon is the big 600LB bear in the game, and no matter what other platforms Indie authors put their books on, Amazon is the one they need to do well on if they want to stand a chance of earning a 'proper' living.

No Indie author wants to think their books aren't good enough. But if readers aren't prepared to part with $0.99 - or half a cup of Starbucks - for a book, then maybe there's a message there?

Of course, gaining visibility is the hardest part of being an author. There are literally millions of books out there, and each year hundreds of thousands more are added.

Giving your books away for free may seem like a way to get that visibility, and build a fan base, but if you can't convert that into paid sales at some point down the line, then all you are doing is competing in a zero end game.

As 2015 begins to settle into its stride - albeit it somewhat grey and wet here in the UK, it's time to set those milestones for the year.

As a writer, most of this year will be spent completing the next two books in my children's/Young Adults urban fantasy trilogy set in the London Underground, The Stobes, with The Assassinator due out around March, and The Exodus due in the summer.

On top of that, my fourth novel, Peter Panic and the Book of Dreams, is scheduled for completion towards the end of 2015.

So I hope your 2015 is a year filled with many dreams, and few nightmares.

And to all my fellow authors on Goodreads, may your prose be plentiful, and your edits few!

Just a quick thank you to all of you who entered my book Giveaway - over a 1000 - a lot more than I thought?

I hope the 5 people who won a signed copy enjoy it!

Also, thanks to those who've added it to their 'to read' list.

Now I'd better get back to finishing the second book in the series.

I'm starting to realise, that being a new author is a bit like trying to spin plates of jelly.

Just when I think I've got them all balanced and spinning, the jelly flies off one, and another falls over.

At the moment, I'm trying to balance promoting my debut novel, finishing the second novel in the series, and being a husband and father - neglect of the latter two, tends to cause problems with the first two.

The folk at Goodreads have been kind enough to let me run a 'Giveaway Promotion' this week, in which I'm offering 5 signed copies of the 'The Time Table' - Book One in The Stobes Trilogy, my Y/A Urban Fantasy set in the London Underground.

I have to admit I am both overwhelmed and flattered by the response so far - thank you all who have entered.

A lot of other people have also put it on their 'to read' list, so a big thanks to you all too.

But back to the plates of jelly?

Just when I thought I was really motoring on the second book, I noticed a rather big inconsistency in the plot line???

So short of contriving to grant sudden superpowers to one of my main characters, I've had to go right back to near the beginning and make some drastic changes.

On top of that, I'm struggling to think of a name for a new character I'm introducing. At the moment she is operating under wholly inappropriate code name 'Ethel'.

To add further complications, the family are currently in heated debate whether or not to get a cat?

Irrespective of my urgent need to resolve a pending major altercation between The Stobes, The Darkenbads and a group of rather horrible Topsiders, it seems that Silver Tabby or Ginger Tabby is a far more pressing concern.

So my week so far seems to be Plates of Jelly 4, Author 0.

As a new author, with my debut novel just published I must admit to feeling a bit nervous at the moment.
Locked away writing in my shed (or my idiot bunker as I like to call it) is one of my great pleasures. But now my first book is published, I feel like I've been dropped naked into the middle of Piccadilly Circus at rush hour!
Even though I've spent the previous thirty odd years working in advertising, trying to figure out the best way to get exposure and market the book has me feeling like an injured seal wearing a t-shirt with 'tasty' written on it, being circled by a school of hungry killer whales.
I've already developed some form of 'digital tourettes' regarding the 'sales report' button on my Amazon dashboard, which I seem to be checking every few minutes with one eye covered.
It would seem that writing a first novel is just the tip of the iceberg?