Tobey Alexander's Blog, page 10

Slow steps in the right direction

Encouragingly my sales continued, like I always say to people who ask, it’s not in the realms of the millions but there is a steady incline. Every few days I log on and check and see someone else has dared to enter my world. Someone else has taken that leap and veered from the mainstream to the Indie and tried something new.

The fact people continue to do this is encouraging and fills me with hope that somewhere along the line world will pas from one person to another and there will always be just a little interest in what I have to offer.

In my mind I would love to think that from the everyday person someone out there may look at a copy and see some potential but that is a dream of a distant future far from now. I didn’t write this story for that, I wrote it because I enjoyed doing it. The fact I want to carry the story on also means there’s legs in this venture!

Some of those that have read Footprints have commented how detailed my descriptions are, how the scenes are presented to you in quite a lot of detail. That is not by accident. Some authors may frown upon that, preferring to give readers the ability to create their version of the world. However, for me, I want you to see what I see, feel what I feel and experience it the way I saw it in my head.

The way I write is extremely visual. Anything I write I have acted out and played out a thousand times in my head until it becomes like a film I’ve watched with obsession time and again. Somewhat like a young child with a favourite film where they sit there mouthing the words. For me my world has existed so viscerally in my head over the time I took me to write this that I want everyone else to see it exactly how I did. There’s nothing more I want to do than share my experience but also know we are seeing the same thing at the same time.

Like I say it may be frowned upon by some but for me that is my style, that is the way I write. Indeed, as working nights these last two days and back on again tonight I remember that writing is not my full-time job. I fit it around my life and in that same vein I am not only Indie but I am self-trained. Yes I may not fit the conventions of creative writings or the methods and structures they would teach on a course but that’s what makes me different.

When I come up with stories or ideas for events within a story they often, if not always, start with something real. As I’ve probably laboured enough the whole of Dinymour was set against the old brewery in my home town. At the moment I love the atmosphere of my night shifts. In them I can really allow my creativity to flourish and come up with ways and events of stories rolling around in my mind. I am blessed in my job that I get to see things and go places that inspire me, less the situations I come across, more the places, sights and sounds but I really am just a sponge and it takes something very small to tickle my imagination.

I don’t write to rules (well obviously I do with sentences etc) but I write how I feel is right and hopefully you all enjoy it. I have my rules, my little things I do in life but really when I write I just do what feels right. I suppose in that way I write instinctively, both as a reader but also as the one telling the story. I know I enjoyed my story so by giving it you the way I do I know that if you don’t like it then it is because what I offer you isn’t to your liking. If that is the case still my thanks for trying, I will only ever grow from feedback and that comes from sales at the moment and the occasional review.

So please continue to spread the word, leave some reviews and hopefully this defiant creative little creature that I am may make a little impact in this literary world.

One of the many things.

I have been asked a few questions by other people who have seen what I’ve “dared” to publish and mostly people ask me “how do you manage to have time to…” Well I’m sure my wife would be the first to wade in and say that I always become a little obsessed with whatever it is I am focussed on at any one point. I kind of immerse myself entirely in it until I become this weird little automaton until I am satisfied I have done what I can with it.

The same can be said for my writing. It draws me in once I get going and even the other day I had those warning eyes from my wife whilst grumbling “don’t you dare!” Darling all I did was create, name and format the three parts that will form Whispering Shadows (the next Jack James venture). Oh yes and I may have also………………..ouch and that’s the point she gave me a polite wife-like nudge!

As for other things in life, those who know me outside of this arena may nod knowingly when I say I can be a little intense with things. When I write, I WRITE. When I gym-it I GYM IT and when I train for a new role I TRAIN. I dare not think how close to the edge I have pushed my family over the years and the last five have probably been the most testing with this book, personal journeys, work journeys and everything else. But then again I’m still here ad still rocking the kazbar! Well more like I’m rocking the crazy dad lifestyle.

But whilst being on occasion intense in what I do, I do remain just a little bit childish (as shown on the nicely decorated new writing implement that is my laptop). Who can resist a few Star Wars decals I say. Well of course there was a large argument between me and my five and seven year old boys as to who should get the coolest one (Kylo Ren) and look who won…..fairly I might add, well mostly fairly. Well ok I gave them an ultimatum of bed early or let daddy have the decal. They saw reason.

Joking aside though finding time to prioritise what I do has never been easy. As a man I often get it wrong (I’m not saying all men do but I certainly do). I’ve had my highs and lows where my priorities have slipped and ultimately I show my flaws. But everyone who knows me will agree that in time I always re-adjust and get everything back to normal.

The ideas are already niggling at me and I have the premise for Whispering Shadows already in a shadowy outline in my head. I know the over-arching story and where I want to go with it I just need to find the details now. Of course I still have to balance work, family and gym into this so I’m determined to keep it all as balanced as I can without, in the words of Bridget Jones “f*****g it up mother”.

It’s probably the wrong way to do things but it works for me. I have to compartmentalise things to get it right. When I travel to work I disconnect as I drive there from home, leaving behind family and worries as much as I can. Once I get to work every work shift I will be there early and workout in the gym, for that time I focus only on my workout, nothing about family, nothing about work. When I shut the shed/gym door on site at work I can then begin to think what the hell life is going to through at me that day. Only when I clamber into the car, more often than not later than expected and more tired than I’d like, I drive home and in the same way as I disconnect from home the process is reversed. I try not to blur the lines. It doesn’t always happen but this way I can get things done mostly without making a mess of things.

People ask me how I do it……well I do it (as Frank would say) “my way”. That may not necessarily be the right way but it is the way that works for me.

I love what I do, I love why I do it and really I love what I get out of it in the end. Be that the kids giggling (or crying if I’ve gone too far as I often do), a good job at work or people actually reading the stories I right then so be it.

All I say is if you have an idea what’s the harm n running with it!?! Go for it, you’re guaranteed to get nothing if you put nothing in but if you try you could always end up with something. Which as they say is better than nothing.

Footprints On the Other Side

A kind feature to help spread the word of my hard work.

Sneak Peek

Captured, interrogated and tortured in the depths of an abandoned asylum called Dinymour. Jack James wakes to find himself captive of a faceless enemy. Fighting to secure his freedom Jack forges delicate alliances and once free of his captivity must begin a new journey of discovery. What Jack learns is that all is not what it seems and the truth of his situation is one more unbelievable than he could have imagined.

Tobey Alexander

Thriller Fiction

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PROLOGUE

Dusk was falling. The grey clouded sky swallowed the last of the day’s dying sun. Heavy clouds lumbered lethargically westward throwing the world into a deeper, darker dusk than was normal for this time of year. The heavier blanket of dark cast by the clouds suited the group of men gathered around an idling JCB Mini Digger at the top of the quiet suburban street.

                Tall houses littered either side…

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Where are the fireworks?

It’s a weird concept and experience going it alone. Entering into this minefield that is the writing/publishing world. It’s one that never quite meets your expectations but in the same vein offers something new and extremely different in many ways.

Independent publishing without the support or backing of an Agent or big publishing house I’ve come to realise is quite an uphill struggle. Fighting amongst the torrents of self-published works that constantly gather pace on my Twitter feed. Mine being just one in a deluge of books. Whereas years gone by the quantity of books being released upon the world was pretty steady, with the opportunity for independent authors to get themselves self published the quantity is staggering and phenomenal.

There are so many genres to choose from and so many varying degrees of quality. I dare not speak ill of anyone who has fought the demons of fear and trepidation to actually out themselves on offer and share with the world something they have created from scratch. I know all too well how vulnerable you feel when you know someone out there is reading what you created and there is a chance they will either love it or hate it.

In respect of it not being what you expect that is simply down to the fact that everyone expects in some way shape or form to take the world by storm. I am nothing if not a dreamer and no matter what, the first time you hit that publish button you expect a torrent of fireworks, the BBC knocking on your day and thousands wanting instantly to buy what you have poured your heart and soul into.

But there is no hype other than what you create yourself, be that by employing someone else to market what you have done or else fighting the world of social media to say “hey look over here, look at me and what I’ve done.” In that way it’s something akin to being at school. The ever proud child trying desperately to show your smudged finger painting and proving it’s better than the twenty eight others from your classmates.

There is no easy way, there is no easy win but what I have come to realise in even this short amount of time is that faith in your own work is key. For me even if five people had purchased my book and I only knew three of them that would mean two didn’t know me and took that gamble on me. No matter what though it would mean five people had shared in my creation and that made us a select group of people.

In the end even if only a handful read Footprints they come into a select group. Only we can speak of Jack James, only we can having the knowing conversations about how things progressed in the story. It’s like being in a select little group and that in itself is just as rewarding.

Don’t get me wrong, I’d love for someone out there to pick up Footprints and say “yes this is something we want to support”. It would be nice to have that support from one of the bigger “gangs in the playground” but at the same time it’s better to be in the playground no matter if I’m surrounded by sixteen friends or a hundred. It’s far better than sitting in the classroom looking out just wishing I could be out there.

Please excuse the probably moronic metaphors throughout this post but it’s easy to get carried away. But no matter what I can always say I’ve done it. I’ve taken that step and if it’s meant to be then so be it. Sometime in the future you never know I may proudly see a copy of something I have written in Waterstones, Sainsbury’s or somewhere so called “mainstream”. Until then I’ll keep spouting my attempts at promoting on social media and hope at some point the right ears hear and the right eyes read and open up the bigger playground to me!

Until then excuse the links but feel free to spread the word or else get yourself a copy:

UK Purchase Link

US Purchase Link

My first user review!

Well as my Giveaway has gone live on GoodReads (linked here) it’s nice to see that people are actually wanting to win a copy. I’ve set aside money to send out three copies of the book to the winners as a hope of drawing more attention to the book. Obviously sales have peaked and dropped but that’s to be expected as I’m promoting and doing marketing myself. Clearly not the best at it but I am learning and quite new to this all.

I have decided to enter the book into some competitions and submitted it to one last night. When I logged online this morning it was nice to see that the one person (up until the giveaway) had finished the book and had given it a review. Yay! They enjoyed it.

Obviously I have a ways to go in order to get full reviews from the wider community but every step is a foundation to something hopefully bigger and broader for my book.

I still haven’t really decided how best to get myself marketed in a way that will continue to garner interest for Footprints. I’m continuing to look into various ways and methods whilst still at the same time trying to focus on the two stories I have brewing in my head – Origins Of The Magdon and Whispering Shadows (the continuation of Footprints).

It’s funny but my head is starting to rumble with ideas. Yes I’ve hardly sky-rocketed into the realms of Amazon Best Seller but you know what, I’ve sold some and that’s what matters. I like the feeling of ideas brewing and having found my orange ideas book it’s nice to see I can remember the things I scribbled so long ago!

We will just have to see what happens over the next few months.

Stick with me and I’ll continue to try and spread the word.

Ripples in an ocean of talent

Well I’ve quite proudly made my sales into double figures, there is a light on the horizon! That means there are at least 15 people who have entered my imagination and of course it really is only early days. The fact that people ARE reading my book is a good sign and the most feedback I’m getting is positive. But now how to go beyond that social network of friends? I promise I am trying (well many would say that about me as a person) but it is a strange affair.

I liken this whole process as trying to a salesperson. You turn up, present what you have but already people have their trusted alternatives. Everyone has their Jack Higgins, Andy McNab, Chris Ryan and similar. Why should the deviate from the known and delve into the unknown? That’s what we fight against and even though you open yourself up to the world there’s only a few that take notice of the “little man”.

I’ve kept everything online but seeing as I have based this on the world I live in – having taken most of my influence from my home town Kimberley, I’m going to start adding some sort physical presence. Just a few simple posters in select (accessible) shops to see if I can get a local audience to come and play!

It really is a massive minefield out there trying to promote and publicise a self-published book. I have a Twitter audience (80 something followers so not too bad) but I know a lot of them will be one click wonders and forget about me. I’m trying desperately not be too spammy and constantly post tweet after tweet and come across as desperate or irritating. In itself it is a fickle and delicate balance on Social Media. I’ve grown my presence with a Facebook Page for the book, an Author profile and invested my time in making myself known on Authors Databases, Book websites and hopefully someone will say….oh hello let’s give this geezer a try!

Of course there are the numerous online companies that offer help to tweet your book for money, or set something up for X amount this month then an offer for another to promote your book. But I look at what they do and I can do it too. Of course they have follower in the tens of thousands and perhaps I should research one of these to do a bout of promotion and see if I can drag in some new readers. No matter how unwilling they are to part from the known I am confident they would like the alternative I am offering.

But then again as I sit here stomping away on the laptop keyboard my daughter has just come running in with her hands held open. At first I couldn’t work out why but then I realised “our” song was playing in the background. She loves to have a slow dance to the song and being there with her just hugging me and rocking side to side with the music and having her head on my shoulder I realised that it actually doesn’t matter. And to share mine and Little C’s song I’ll share a link to the song here (I make no apologies the song comes from the Magic Mike XXL soundtrack – I always need inspiration and drive for the gym after all and it was a good film!!!)

People can choose to read me or not, that is their right. I’d love for the world to know what I’ve created and I’m sure in time, with support from those that have/are reading Footprints that some of them may share the fact they (hopefully) like it.

So much of the future of this endeavour is both in and out of my hands. I can only do so much, I can make the book look appealing, I can sell the story as best I can but ultimately I can dance naked after a gym session with the Amazon link written on my……..chest and still people would have to physically type in the link and make that choice whether they take a gamble and try something new.

I’m Indie, I’m new, I’m unknown but lets face it. Six months ago nobody had heard of Tobey Alexander and now they do. I don’t need an audience of a million, I’d rather have fifty people who wanted to go with me into the depths of my head than a thousand who read the first few chapters and then turned away.

I have in effect thrown the tiny pebble into a massive ocean of talent but no matter what I have made a ripple. It may not reach the shores but the ocean will never be as still as it once was, there will always be the echo of my pebble, my little addition to the world of fiction writing.

Behind the doors – inspiration

Welcome to Kimberley Brewery, formerly Hardy & Hanson’s which sits in Nottingham, England. Once a working brewery and now a building of rack and ruin (currently undergoing  redevelopment into…..something else). Well it was the locally infamous tower that initially caught my attention but it wasn’t until the building was abandoned that it got my attention and started to pique my interest.

The building had something about it and as nature took back a lot of what industry had kept at bay for many years it took on a mysterious presence. The railings surrounding it became ivy-laced and the building began to fall into ruin. What was once a busy building was now an empty shell and then one day I was able to get access inside the building.

Back then the access was a little fleeting as it was a work commitment but seeing inside really fed my imagination and filled it with endless atmosphere and possibility of what I wanted to do with the building in my story. Funny but for me it was always going to be an asylum, the tower, the gates, everything about it just screamed to me the sort of place I could imagine long forgotten but still occupied in some way.

Then in 2012 I was given the opportunity to go inside (this time armed with a camera) and was able to snap some of the inside of the building, some of the things that tickled my imagination and fed into the story.

And for me, as a writer, I know my style can be quite focussed on describing the world, going into detail to make sure anyone who reads it sees exactly what I want them to see. I don’t know if it is what would be expected from an author (you read so many different styles that it’s hard to know if there is a right or wrong). So when I pictured some key places in the story I made sure they were aside from where they were in reality so as not to make the story about a particular place, but I spent a lot of time giving details on what  could see every day and hope to make it so that image lives in the minds of those who now read the story.

I always remember writing the prologue (over and over again) but I always had a particular street in mind as I wrote it. From the camber of the road to the incline and cobbled road I have walked that route a million times and worked so hard t make sure the image I put on paper reflected what I really wanted it to be.

And so in lies the part that my wife hates. Immersing myself in the story as I write it, for Footprints I can say I was swallowed inside my own story. Jack went from a brief idea to a lifelong friend in a short amount of time and everything I would look at I’d see where it could fit, what I could do with it. The amount of time I turned into (what she aptly describes as) a “Grunting Gargoyle” where the laptop becomes my sole focus and I simply put myself into my creative bubble. I’m sure my eyes glaze over and as I write things down I see them playing out in my head. When it’s like this for the first draft my sentences are garbled, the story is like the rantings of a crazed, frenzied psychopath but over time it evolves and becomes something far more coherent and ultimately, some time in the distant future, a finished product!

Well I suppose I’ve rambled a little about the places that influenced me so really I will do the next best thing and shut up and let the picture paint a thousand words. This is the building that I called Dinymour from the inside…

Story maps and little books

Talking to my oldest son about “story maps”, he told me he did them at school and I remembered that for Footprints I used a handmade orange Italian leather book to jot down all my ideas. I poured my entire imagination into that little book and didn’t realise how much I had put in it. Flicking through the pages I can see some of the ideas that died an author’s death and how a single world in some cases flourished into main story aspects. It was quite odd looking at the pages as I could pretty much recall where I was when I did most of them.

But oddly enough in the same (very battered zip folder) I found a little “red” book. No it wasn’t anything saucy, it was Whispering Shadows! Well at least the foundation ideas of what I wanted to do with Jack James next. There’s only a handful of pages done in there but instantly reading the ideas I could see where I was going to continue Jack’s development and made me remember a lot I had pushed to the cobwebbed corner of my mind.

Luckily I was on a computer based training day today and had time to mull things over for what I’d like to do next. I’ve obviously got the Origins Of The Magdon on the burner for the kids but I have decided I need to aim that for a young 10+ audience so the need for novel-length chapters and depth isn’t quite as necessary. In itself a challenge as I am more used to building longer stories that grow slowly than something more concise and aimed at children.

I’m going to blow the dust off the red cover and dig out the erasable pen (a very useful tool for getting rid of some of the more “really bad” ideas). I think I’ll start jotting some more down and see if I can build further on the world I started.

Don’t get me wrong, in the respect of Footprints I have hardy made it to the realms of best seller. I’m happy I’ve made it to double figures of sales in only a few days but I know most of them come from friends and family. I would love to find a way to spread the word and am trying my best to interact beyond the Facebook page. Twitter seems to be a slow going progress but from 0 followers to 41 (sure some may be obligatory follows) at least I am engaging with some people, somewhere. If only to set the word of mouth going in the hope that I will be able to draw in an audience.

Marketing wise I expect alongside the GoodReads promotion starting 1st February 2016 where one of three copies can be won, I will run other promotions where I see it as best appropriate but need to keep researching into what is best and how best to get my idea out into the wider world.

Immense pride

This may be an Indie title, I may not be getting a space on the shelf at Waterstones, WH Smiths or my local supermarket but you know what, seeing someone hold a physical copy of my book is quite something. Yes for those who have done this before or do it as a career I’m sure the first time it happened to you it was something quite enjoyable. I was talking last night when someone asked about the book…..I can honestly say I never faltered from Jack James. I always knew where I wanted him to go in the story and ultimately, where I’d like to take him in the future.

It’s a strange feeling knowing that in the entire world, up until this week, I was the only person who had ever heard of Jack James. I was the only one who knew his story and in reality I have felt like I have lived it (obviously) having created it all up here [pointing to own head].

It’s a mixed feeling knowing now I’m not the only one who knows the story now. But also in the same breath it is ad as I know now I’ve shared him. Funny how all this works!

Well now everything is live and updated (Kindle to be updated over the next 12-24 hours for some formatting errors on my part). This has been one massive learning curve, I’ve loved and hated it but I’m too far gone now to run away. It’s amazing to see it listed on Amazon like a real book…..well I suppose now it is!

Only five years? Should have been longer!

It is a funny thing baring yourself out to the world in a way like this, it’s kind of like choosing the best moment, closing your eyes and hoping for the best. NO matter how many times I’ve gone through the contents of Footprints On The Other Side, no matter how many times I have read, re-read, edited and corrected there will still be mistakes. Things that I will look at and think “really, how did I miss that!?!”

I remember the first draft edit (way back before it was anything like what it is now). I went through it and re-wrote entire chapters, chunks and removed so much that I must have lost 20,000 words easy. That lasted well over a year, scanning and correcting every last thing I could see was wrong in the manuscript until I could read it no more. I then did as I was advised and left it for a good length of time before looking again and then repeated the process again. Discouragingly I found even more then and I had in my mind already edited the hell out of it!

So then another stint of re-edits and then a blank amount of time away from the project whilst I swapped roles at work and had a third child. Come back to it and go through it. At last I am happy, we cross the five year mark and we are happy I say. And so I decide to bare all, risk everything and get it out into the wide world and release my ideas upon the world.

Was it a mistake? Day one and people point some bits out and I notice even more that I should have noticed so many times before. I suppose there must also be the acceptance from me (and hopefully my potential audience) that I have done this with no professional input – which I truly now realise will no doubt show like a thorn amongst the roses out there in the published world. I’ve had help and support from friends who have proofed, read and given me feedback yet still what I really seem to showcase is something that pales in comparison to those things created by those supported in the industry with Agents who get the right people to do the right things.

But then I also think that this is me. Yes I am imperfect, I’m being as perfect with this as I possibly can be. I am but one that has gone beyond just wishing away my ideas, thinking that there is always someone else who will do it and I never could. This isn’t my career, this is my hobby, this is me doing what I can to share what I have created. There is always pride, I’m the first to dismiss my ideas or flee from embarrassment but I have learned one thing through all of this in the fact that Agents have rejected me, Publishers have sunned me yet I believe in what I have written.

Perhaps there will be those out there who wonder “why even bother” but having poured everything into this it would be a waste not to share it just a little. Even if only a handful read it, even if in the future it gets mocked for being imperfect, it is my imperfect vehicle born of my imagination. But perhaps one day someone in that mythical land of “there” will approach me and offer me the opportunity to give my idea the full works and do it the justice it deserves.

Until then I apologise if it reeks of amateurishness but I am what I am and this is what it is. I present my mind in its most perfected form I can.

To that end I have removed the original file from CreateSpace and gone through another edit this weekend. As soon as the Kindle version goes live I will update that to the same newest, better and hopefully more appropriate version that will at least best reflect the effort I have put into this affair.