The league table

Tags

Amazon, e-book, Faith Hope and Trickery, Fatal Forgery, Heir Apparent, Kindle, marketing, Notes of Change, paperback, Portraits of Pretence, sales, Samuel Plank, self-publishing, The Man in the Canary Waistcoat, Worm in the Blossom

Tomorrow is the big day – the publication of “Notes of Change”! Today, therefore, is a day of preparation and reflection. And I haven’t updated you recently on the sales of the Sam series. So here goes – the number I have sold in paperback (print-on-demand through Amazon, and through physical bookshops to which I supply stock) and in various e-formats (mostly Kindle, but occasional other formats):

	Paperback via Amazon	E-book	Paperback via physical bookshop
Fatal Forgery	290	954	145
The Man in the Canary Waistcoat	90	122	75
Worm in the Blossom	62	78	56
Portraits of Pretence	63	78	43
Faith, Hope and Trickery	49	46	26
Heir Apparent	32	36	27
Totals	586	1314	372

As you can see, it’s almost three-to-one in favour of e-books – which is good in some ways as the royalty for e-books is more generous than that for paperbacks. And “Fatal Forgery” is far and away the most popular title. Yes, it’s been out for longest, but I think what the figures really suggest is that not enough people like “Fatal Forgery” enough to stick with the series. That’s something I need to address – another task for the book marketing to do list (how to make sure that people know there is a whole series of lovely Sam books). To be fair to Amazon, they are very good at highlighting series: when you buy one book in a series, the others appear in a tempting carousel display. Perhaps I need to make the pricing more appealing – or investigate the possibility of a seven-title omnibus edition… (Apparently you can’t call e-books a box set, as that implies a physical box – you can, however, call it an omnibus. Like the number 27 to Clapham.)

Penny-pinching Planks

Tags

audiobook, bookshop, Fatal Forgery, Kindle, Portraits of Pretence, royalty, self-publishing, The Man in the Canary Waistcoat, Worm in the Blossom

After all the excesses and jollity of Christmas it’s back to the cold, hard reality of work.  And as this is supposed to be a warts-and-all blog about self-publishing, that work includes totting up my Plank sales for 2017 and trying to work out how much I have made and whether I can yet afford that elegant villa in Ischia.  (Spoiler alert: I can’t.)  Calculating royalties is rather a dark art, as Amazon seems to pay an ever-changing percentage and I have negotiated different deals with different bookshops (for whom I have to order and then deliver copies, so have to take that cost off before I begin), but I’ve had a go.

• “Fatal Forgery”: 20 paperback copies at an average of £1.10 royalty each; 27 Kindle copies at £2.09 each; 9 audiobooks at £1.50 each
• “The Man in the Canary Waistcoat”: 6 paperback copies at £1.10 royalty each; 13 Kindle copies at £2.09 each; 10 audiobooks at £1.50 each
• “Worm in the Blossom”: 4 paperback copies at £1.10 royalty each; 15 Kindle copies at £2.09 each
• “Portraits of Pretence”: 8 paperback copies at £1.25 royalty each; 20 Kindle copies at £2.79 each

That makes a grand total of £242.25 for the year.  Out of this will come tax, and then of course I have paid for cover design, promotional materials (such as bookmarks) and the big unknown: my writing time.  Ah well: it might just pay for a nice pair of sandals for that Ischian idyll.

Fits and starts

Tags

audiobook, blogging, Design for Writers, Discovering Diamonds, Guy Hanson, Hart's Books, Martha Plank, Samuel Plank, The Man in the Canary Waistcoat, Worm in the Blossom, writing

I seem to do nothing on this blog at the moment but apologise – and here I am again.  I have been working on “Plank 5”, honestly, but my day job has been so busy recently that I haven’t had any extra capacity to write this blog as well.  Nonetheless, you might like to know what I have been up to with regard to Plank writing and promotion (other self-published authors will recognise the juggling act!):

• The audiobook “Worm in the Blossom” (the third Plank book) is currently being recorded by the wonderful Guy Hanson of Go4pro audio, who just is Sam – he’s up to chapter 21 (of 40). When he completes a chapter he sends me a link to the audio file, and I listen to it while reading along in the book, and send back any corrections that need to be made.  As you can imagine, I can’t do this on the same day as I am writing “Plank 5” – otherwise I would muddle the plots.
• I have booked time with the fabulous Design for Writers cover designers so that they can work on the “Plank 5” cover in February 2018.
• In idle moments, I have allowed myself to find some possible images for that cover, and I have also started to assemble a list of possible titles for the book…
• I have contacted another independent bookshop in a nearby town – Hart’s Books in Saffron Walden – to see whether they would like to stock Sam. I’ve had no response to my email, so I think I’ll have to call in in person – I should imagine they get hundreds of email approaches.
• I have been selected by the angelic Helen Hollick to be part of her seasonal promotion of “discovered diamonds” – independent and self-published authors of historical fiction. Her idea is to feature an excerpt from a different novel each day in December, from the 3^rd to the 23^rd, with the theme of “Diamond Tales”.  As those of you who have read “The Man in the Canary Waistcoat” may remember, Sam decides to mark his silver wedding anniversary by buying Martha a ring…  His scene will appear on the “Discovering Diamonds” blog on 16^th December, but I urge you to look at all the others – who knows what gems you will unearth!  The diamond-themed excerpts will start on 3^rd December 2017, on this blog.  (You can also click on the “Diamond Tales” logo on the left.)  A wonderful Christmas present for this author.

I think that’s it for now.  Thankfully things are slowing down with work as people – oddly enough – don’t want to be reminded about financial criminals in the run-up to Christmas, so I am hoping to get some good stretches of writing time during December.  Martha would have no truck with this procrastination, would she?

(Review) points mean prizes!

Tags

Amazon, Fatal Forgery, Martha Plank, Portraits of Pretence, review, Samuel Plank, The Man in the Canary Waistcoat, Worm in the Blossom

I have written before about what a thrill – what a tonic – it is for authors to get reviews.  It tells you that people are reading your books (phew!) and not just buying them.  (I know that you still get the money, but it’s sad to think of someone buying your book, reading a couple of pages and then abandoning it – much nicer to know that they have finished it.)  And it gives you invaluable insight into what is working and what is not.  “Plank 5” now has much more about Martha in it than I had originally planned, because the overwhelming call from reviews (and other feedback) is “we want more Martha”.  But I don’t think I had quite grasped the mathematical significance of reviews.

I can’t find the original source of this picture, but it is being widely circulated by authors and writing websites:

As you can see, Amazon – and most self-published authors (including this one) rely heavily on Amazon sales – decides which books to promote based on how many reviews they have received (and, I assume, how positive those reviews are).  This seems to me an entirely sensible approach: if lots of people have bought a book and enjoyed it enough to say something about it, chances are that others will enjoy it too.

So where are Sam and I with our Amazon reviews?  On the Amazon UK site, “Fatal Forgery” has 27 reviews, “The Man in the Canary Waistcoat” has 13, “Worm in the Blossom” has 10 and “Portraits of Pretence” has 11.  And on the Amazon.com site, the numbers are 8, 1, 0 and 3 respectively.  (No, I don’t know why the reviews aren’t shared across all Amazon sites – they’re the exact same books, after all.)  In short, I have a way to go before I start troubling those “you might like” lists too often.

What many readers don’t realise is that you don’t have to have bought something from Amazon to be able to review it on Amazon.  Of course you need an Amazon account before you can post reviews, but if you’ve bought one of my books in a bookshop, or direct from me, or have read a library or borrowed copy, you can still review it on Amazon.

So can I put out another plea, please?  If you have read any of my books, could you take a minute to put a short review on Amazon?  Honestly: a star rating and a single sentence will count to the total – this re-post from last year shows how simple it can be.  It really does seem that on Amazon, points mean prizes.

Death and birth

Tags

character, London, Martha Plank, research, Samuel Plank, word count, Worm in the Blossom

I know what you’re thinking: I’ve been idling away my time in the sun and not getting on with “Plank 5”.  Well, it’s not true: Sam, Martha, Wilson and I have had a lovely few days together while my husband has been away, and I can report that I have now written a quarter of “Plank 5”.  I know that sounds like slow progress, but with a publication date of March 2018, I’m happy with it.

As tends to happen with my writing style, the plot is developing in unforeseen ways.  I have just killed off someone – no-one central, so no need to worry – and had to do quite a bit of research around that.  I was about to dump the body in Carnaby Market (a fruit and veg market alongside the now-famous fashion street) until I consulted the marvellous British History Online Survey of London (a terrific resource, which describes each individual street and its history) and discovered that the market had closed in 1820 and been replaced by new homes – plus ça change and all that.  So the poor fellow is instead in an alleyway between two new buildings.

I have also spent some time making sure that my character records are complete.  For each recurring character I keep a record of anything significant that I have said about them in any of the books – appearance, family history, marital status, food preferences, odd habits, etc. – so that I can be consistent.  After all, there must be at least a dozen of you out there who have read all the Plank books, and you would notice if someone tall and dark suddenly shrank and went blonde.  My latest challenge has been the Atkins family tree.  George and Louisa Atkins run the Blue Boar coaching inn in Holborn, now home to Alice Godfrey and little Martha, and in “Worm in the Blossom” I casually mentioned in passing that they had six children.  Of course, I did not realise that I would like the Atkins family so much that I would keep hold of them for future books, and now I need to sort out their family tree.  If only I hadn’t made them so fertile…

And the winners are…

Tags

Audible, audiobook, competitions, Fatal Forgery, Great Marlborough Street, Samuel Plank, The Man in the Canary Waistcoat, Worm in the Blossom

Thanks to everyone who took part in the competition to win a free download code for the new audiobook of “The Man in the Canary Waistcoat”, the second Sam Plank novel.  (The audiobook of the first, “Fatal Forgery”, was released last year, and work will soon start on number three, “Worm in the Blossom”.)

The answer to the question Which world-famous department store is now located on Great Marlborough Street in London, opposite where Sam Plank was based at his magistrates’ court police office in the 1820s? is Liberty.  Of course it was not there in Sam’s day – it did not open until 1875 – but if you toddle along to that part of London you can still see a small part of Sam’s place of work.  The Courthouse Hotel is now on the same spot as Great Marlborough Street Magistrates’ Court, and one of the hotel’s restaurants is in the old court-room.

Sorry: always thinking about Sam!  Back to the competition.  And the winners are:

• Graham Thomas
• Leigh Moss
• Susan V
• Edward Murphy
• Peggy Denk

Your emails with Audible instructions and your personal download codes are on their way to you – many congratulations.  And if any of you feels moved to leave a review…  Well, you have to ask: regular readers (and fellow self-published authors) will know that reviews matter enormously, for morale, guidance for improvement, and seduction of new readers, and for Amazon ranking purposes.

Progress on all Planks

Tags

ACX, Amazon, audiobook, Fatal Forgery, Guy Hanson, Portraits of Pretence, review, The Man in the Canary Waistcoat, Worm in the Blossom

I once spoke to a professional author – a full-time writer – who said that one of the aspects of his job that he had not anticipated was the overlap of books.  And now I know what he meant.  At the moment I am (a) writing “Plank 5”, (b) trying to promote “Portraits of Pretence”, and (c) checking the audiobook version of “The Man in the Canary Waistcoat”.  So here’s where I am with each of these.

“Plank 5” now has a completed first chapter and outlines for another twelve chapters, and I have been doing a great deal of reading around non-conformist religions in 1828 – from the familiar Methodists and Baptists to the more evangelical and (in those days) wacky Ranters.  We’re a bit too early for spiritualism, which is a shame, as I’d love to write a séance scene!  I am also looking at epidemics, but I’m not going to tell you why…

“Portraits of Pretence” is slowly, slowly gathering more reviews, including this lovely one today on Helen Hollick’s “Discovering Diamonds” blog (“Independent reviews of the best in historical fiction”, so I’m very flattered to have made the cut).  This means that I can now proudly display this logo all over the place:

And in a review on Amazon of the same book, a Mr L Moss said that “Worm in the Blossom” had been his favourite book of 2015, so that’s something I remind myself of when I am struggling with Ranters and epidemics.

And my fabulous narrator Guy has just sent me the final chapters of the “Canary” audiobook, so I shall listen to them over the weekend and we might just be able to audio-publish next week.  After a good start, the “Fatal Forgery” audiobook sales have slowed right down, so I am hoping that Guy will still be willing to record the other Plank books (we’re on a 50/50 profit share through ACX).  And if anyone has any ideas for how to promote audiobooks, please share them – I’m struggling a bit with this one.

Season’s greetings from Sam

Tags

Fatal Forgery, Martha Plank, Nielsen, review, Samuel Plank, Worm in the Blossom

In common with half the world, I use this rather peculiar time of year to reflect on what I have done in the last twelve months and what I hope to do in the next.  I will admit that I have been slightly cast down by the slow sales figures for the Sam Plank books; just between you and me, I am always hoping for that Big Break, for someone influential to stumble across Sam and declare, “Why – this character is magnificent!  I shall ensure that he will star in his own Sunday evening period drama series, with endless money thrown at production values!”.  It might yet happen, but we’re four books in and no-one influential is doing much stumbling.

But at this time of good cheer and so on, it is perhaps better to remind myself of how much Sam is liked by those who have discovered him.  Looking at my recent reviews on Amazon, I see that Mr L Moss was keen on “Worm in the Blossom”: “The two previous books in this series were excellent but this, the third, was even better – before I reached the end of page one I was hooked.”  Continuing the angling metaphor, someone called ‘Hooked on Books’ has been working his/her way through the series, starting with “Fatal Forgery”: “I struggled to put down my Kindle, and found myself contemplating the plot in my head whilst nodding off.  Very gripping read and now on to the next in the series.”  And on Twitter, ‘Leigh (on the left)’ thrillingly declared “Worm in the Blossom” to be his “best read of 2016”.

So what plans for 2017?  I am – as ever – thinking of new ways to promote Sam, and I’m on the trail of a couple of ideas, including giving him away on the Tube…  And on the technical side of things, I have registered with Nielsen’s as a small publisher.  Nielsen’s are the people who fulfil orders for bookshops, so once my titles are listed with them – it’s a rather Byzantine process, but we’re getting there – then any bookshop in the land will be able to order the Sam books through the Nielsen website/phone-line.  And they will send the order to me, and I will fulfil it.  Of course, if I get hundreds of orders, I’ll be in trouble – and with postage costs, mightily out of pocket – but I thought it was worth trying the system to see how it works.  As ever, I’ll keep you posted, as I know other self-published authors like to know these things.

I am taking a short break from blogging and Tweeting – but not, of course, from Sam and Martha, as we’re in the middle of researching Caribbean poisonous plants – and so may I wish you all a merry Christmas and a happy and peaceful new year.

Fame without fortune

Tags

Fatal Forgery, Portraits of Pretence, sales, The Man in the Canary Waistcoat, Worm in the Blossom

How frustrating it is when a tried and tested excuse, a much-loved fall-back position, is taken away.  When lamenting the lack of sales of the Sam Plank books, I have often – with the vigorous agreement of all those around me – opined how unfair it is that celebrities, many of whom can barely string together a coherent sentence, have only to muse, “Hmmm, I s’pose I could write a book or sumfink…” for publishers to throw money at them and crank up the presses.  And then – damn and blast them – their books fly off the shelves.  But a friend recently pointed me in the direction of a programme called “Giles Coren: My Failed Novel”.  The title pretty much says it all: in 2005, the arts critic of The Times (so no-one could accuse him of incoherence) published a novel called “Winkler”, and it was a disaster.  It sold 771 copies.

771…  Of course I turned immediately to my own meticulous sales records.  And I can report that, as of today, I have sold this many books:

• “Fatal Forgery”: 630 copies (paperback, e-book and audiobook)
• “The Man in the Canary Waistcoat”: 239 copies (paperback and e-book)
• “Worm in the Blossom”: 133 copies (paperback and e-book)
• “Portraits of Pretence”: 61 copies (paperback and e-book)

This makes a grand total of 1,063 books, and knocks that 771 out of the park.

Which is lovely.  Except that I can no longer claim that if only I were famous, I’d be selling trillions of copies.  Back to the writing board.

(It occurs to me that Mr Coren’s confessional telly appearance might just be a marketing master-stroke: will sales of his novel rocket, as people rush to see whether it is really the stinker that everyone says?  And anyway, don’t truly awful things start to develop their own wonderfulness – Donald Trump being a notable exception?)

Sign of the times

Tags

author, Authorgraph, dedication, Fatal Forgery, The Man in the Canary Waistcoat, Worm in the Blossom

Always on the lookout for marketing and promotional ideas, I have come across an interesting service called Authorgraph.  In short, it enables people to get author dedications and signatures for their e-books.  I have registered my three current Sam Plank novels with them, and put their widget on this blog, over there to the left, so anyone who has signed up (for free) to Authorgraph can make a request for their e-book to be signed by me.  I have done an on-screen version of my signature and to that can add a short dedication.  The reader is then sent (according to the Authorgraph FAQ) “an email with links to download a PDF version (viewable in applications like iBooks) or an AZW version (viewable in all Kindle apps on iPad, iPhone, PC, Mac, etc.)” of their requested Authorgraph.  It’s a fun idea, and a very pretty website.