Tobey Alexander's Blog, page 7

Never giving up!

Bing…buzz. Bugger I forgot to put the phone on silent, and it’s 2 am, only two and a bit hours until my alarm goes off to go to the gym and to work!

“Daddy, I think I’ve had a nightmare.” Oh great.

 

Never as close to the cliff-edge as it seems!

 

Fix that with some little mantra we do to get rid of nightmares, and he trundles back off to bed leaving me in silence to stare at the ceiling. Oh yes, the phone.

An email from a publishing house. I half read it knowing it’ll be a “No thank you Mr Unknown author, thank you so much….blah….blah.” But it’s a little different, sure they can’t recommend the book for publishing (as expected) but they are keen and take some time to offer me some advice. Although it’s early I honestly just read the “no thank you” and went into a midnight sulk.

Then when the alarm goes off and I decide to read the email and that’s when I got to the crux, the feedback (and of course the offer to edit for me at a cost of $1,000 – yeah sure I’ve got that in the sock drawer with three kids, a car, a house, two cats, a wife, gym membership and subscription to Muscle & Fitness….I’m not made of money!) But instead of it being No but pay me and it’ll be a yes this guy offers me some pointers and even offers an edit of the Prologue.

He edits a LOT! I’m offended and dejected at first and then I see what he’s done, see what I have missed and probably how amateur I really look. He even says if I choose not to pay then I can do it myself and resubmit as they “like the story”. Really…..someone other than friends and family LIKE the story.

Maybe this isn’t a crazy wasted venture.

So attack I do and hammer the hell out of a new draft. I loose a fair few words and correct grammar and punctuation I had read and re-read so many times but missed. Going back to my psychology background I can explain that but I’m not writing a dissertation of linguistics or scotoma right now….no I’m writing a mickey take of myself.

So really after all this, it’s a week of rollercoaster emotions being ups and downs. Yeah, I have had rejections but even this sole glimmer of hope actually tells me there may be something in this.

Really what I’ve learned this week is to NEVER GIVE UP.

Nothing more to add to that really.

Marketing and submitting

Well I have spent a lot of time perusing all the different ways to advertise and I have decided to “go it alone” and do the best I can with my skills (or perhaps lack of) and alongside creating ways to market my books I have also decided to do a few submissions to Agents/Publishers in the process.

Of course I have already had one or two rejections (the joys of electronic submissions means the rejections come back faster). I’ve also had some “we will think about it” so that can only be a good thing. No matter though I can;t do any more than I am doing to promote The Magdon at the moment.

Once such idea was to create a book trailer.

A book trailer? How on earth would I go about that with just me and my absolute zero experience of filming anything. Of course I’ve said before, I see what I write in my head as if it were a film so perhaps it’s something I could do.

So I thought what would work….I can’t afford actors, I can’t afford camera crews and everything so what did I have that would reflect a bit of a teaser?

Then I started to pull together all the things I have made and built as part of making the Magdon story real for my children.

A sword here, a skull, a diary, some maps, letters, bandages……

The pile grew.

Then I had an idea and quickly grabbed my digital camera. We aren’t talking some all singing all dancing fandangled device. It is a bog standard piece of kit.

Down into my cellar I went and pictured in my head what I wanted to do and how I wanted it to look.

It was simple. I did a few “takes” as it were and then got what I wanted with a few adjustments.

Straight onto the laptop and I know the music I wanted – promptly pointed out by my darling wife that copyright and royalties would be an issue. Damnit. Free source music and a powerful enough track was found, not nearly as good for what I was planning but it would do.

Using software installed on the laptop I did the best I could with the resources I had and do you know what……………..I’m rather pleased with it.

So really what have I learned this week? If you have an idea then run with it. If you have  vision then see it. If you believe in your “product” then promote it. As I have learned there is only one person who truly believes in what I have created and that’s me – I am slowly converting people to my vision but it takes time and I am doing everything I can to self promote and gain some momentum with this.

Here is the link to the finished product!

TRAILER

Alongside this I am running a standard Goodreads competition but have also done my own “like & share” style Facebook competition for a signed copy of my book. It’s all working to slowly but surely expose The Magdon to more and more people. Who knows if it will work, all I know is I can honestly say I am trying.

 

It’s all progress in the right direction

Self publishing is hard. Just when you think you’re doing things the right way you see how wrong you’re getting it and make adjustments and try again. It is not an exact science and I truly think, as has been my experience, it is a big case of trial and error.

So far the sales for Footprints On The Other Side have been steady and The Magdon is still getting legs.

As an author you sit there thinking how nice it would be to log on and find you’ve sold hundreds or thousands of copies but that is a long time coming I expect. You join forums and get yourself integrated with other authors and glean whatever information you can to make a success of what you have and what you are offering the world. Obviously as the creator i have every love and every appreciation for the story I have created.

Just how do I convince others that I’m not a hack, that I’ve not written drivel and it is worth spending your hard earned money and your well earned time to read what I am offering?

It is difficult.

So far I have used Twitter, Facebook and social media to create a footprint, create a little profile and presence and try to convince people I am here for the long run and have something to offer them.

Tweets, memes, images, posts I spend hours pouring over different designs and creating what I think are eye-catching and good adverts to post and spread the word.

This week (between shifts at work) I have spent hours designing a website for my author profile. It’s going well, I just now not only need to increase traffic and confidence in my books but also the presence of my website.

When you look at how big and busy the internet is you really realise how small you are against it all and how much you are swimming against the tide of the world just trying to make the smallest of waves and keep myself afloat.

I keep looking at all these PR companies that say they can do this, that and the other for you but mostly when you look for what they offer you there is very little information and detail. How can I be expected to pay for services and not really know what it entails, most just seem to offer more tweets (I’m already hammering the world of Twitter I don’t feel I want to spend loads asking someone else to do it for me).

When it comes to press releases, launches that’s where I get lost.

In truth I get lost in so many places but trundle along all the same.

No matter what though I keep increasing my portfolio, keep pouring the imagination from my addled brain onto the page in the hope that soon, someone, somewhere will look at it and think “what have we been missing, this is awesome”and the real journey will begin in earnest.

Until then I won’t stop, I enjoy it too much and seeing my imagination printed on the page is simply amazing.

So for now spread the word, help one little man try and make an impression in the world!

WEBSITE LINK

Making it worth while

Whilst not surprisingly I have not ascended to the realms of C S Lewis, J K Rowling or similar the feedback I have received so far has been encouraging and having taken receipt of a quantity of my books in paperback I decided to give me oldest son his own copy. He was awash with disbelief but then after a while quite surprisingly he just started reading it aloud to me.

It was a lovely feeling knowing he was so keen to read it and has even been telling his friends at school about Archy and the Magdon!

This gave me a lot of inspiration and formed the idea for the atmosphere of “the end”

I also devised the ending to the entire series today and having written it I don’t think I want to write anything else today as it’s quite knocked the wind from my sails.

I have been very focused on the Magdon series lately but also last night I had trouble sleeping so lay awake thinking about Jack James and came up with a bridging aspect that I had missed in my final chapter of Part 1 so have gone back and added something that paints the path for the story.

It can get quite confusing, sometimes I may use the wrong name in my stories but as long as I focus myself on the story at hand it seems to work. Like I’ve always said I “know” the Magdon stories so well that it is quite easy, although as I move across into the stories I haven’t really played out yet it becomes a little more of a creative battle between WHISPERING SHADOWS and ORIGINS OF THE MAGDON.

But that makes it so much fun.

Anyway for now here is a little reading from my little man. Please excuse some of the mistakes as I couldn’t ask him to read it again knowing I was filming as he would have gone shy!

Facebook Magdon

 

Confusing world!

Well as I go further along this journey of self publishing I learn each day that I have done something wrong (or on the rare occasion – something right). Following the general advice of Amazon I decided to enlist in Kindle Select which not only forced me to list a price I thought was too high for the eBook but also means I can;t sell it anywhere else on the internet as an eBook (for 90 days). Fine print is fine but when reading it not everything makes sense and it is very easy to just go with the flow as I did and find yourself missing out on getting your work out on all available channels.

So that was my big lesson for this week. As a result I’m now stuck with Amazon only Kindle until JULY for Footprints On The Other Side and even worse SEPTEMBER for Origins Of The Magdon. Saying that though I have now signed up to Smashwords so I can release on all other formats just as soon as my agreement with KDP Select and Amazon comes to an end.

This is honestly a massive roller-coaster affair. Some days I think why did I bother and then other days I love the fact I have done it.

Marketing is another whole new dimension to me. There are some many people offering to Tweet this, feature that, sell this and sell that. Very little makes sense to me and really doing all this off your own back is a very daunting affair!

Thankfully I have managed to receive support from the internet in the form of CircleOfBooks who have featured me and both my books. I have no idea how this will impact, if at all, on any sales but I clearly don’t know what I’m doing on my own so am really grateful when someone takes the time and effort to help me along. The two features for my books are brilliant and keep floating around Twitter so that’s good. Spreading the word is the first step.

I don’t know, it’ been a tough week and you always go in with high hopes and expectations/dreams that never really seem to be reached. That said though at least I am out there in the wide world available for people to read if they want to. Anything less and all the time and effort I have put in would really be a wasted venture.

I was reminded today that four years ago I was editing parts one and two of Footprints…..FOUR YEARS AGO. Now look at it. I have the ability to say people have read it, people have bought it and judging by the slowly rising number of reviews (we are now on three) people have been enjoying it.

I suppose it’s a word of warning to always remain realistic going into this. It’s fine to dream (after all that’s where most ideas come from) but remember it’s not all plain sailing and every day as they say is a school day!

                                    

Origins Of The Magdon: Vircovicium (Vol. 1)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Origins-Magdon-Vercovicium-Book-ebook/dp/B01FZL91PS (Kindle) (UK)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Origins-Magdon-Vercovicium-1/dp/1533010234 (paperback) (UK)

https://www.amazon.com/Origins-Magdon-Vercovicium-Book-ebook/dp/B01FZL91PS (Kindle) (US)

http://www.amazon.com/Origins-Magdon-Vercovicium-1/dp/1533010234 (paperback) (US)

Obsessed much!

Well it will only be a brief addition to the blog but by heck has The Magdon Series become something of an obsession! A good one though.

From an idea to “perhaps” share I’ve now rocketed forwards to a release date of 06/06/2016. I can’t wait. I’ve loved writing it so much that I’ve already done a full draft of Volume 2. T say I was filled with nervousness at having scale down my length to pretty much 1/10th of my normal Novel target I feel it is really doing me good.

Forcing me in a way to cut some of the over articulate stuff to get to the point, build the story I need and want in the best way to tell what I want to tell.

I’ve spent some glorious days on the Isle Of Wight with the family and whilst I’m focussing more on family time than writing time I am still finding opportunities between fun and frolics to jot some ideas or tap away just a little on the keyboard of the laptop.

So I will share one idea that started as a case of me spraying a moss covered stone with the jet wash.

I needed a symbol, something to represent a hidden symbol of the Magdon and I was struggling. I designed my symbol of Syndicus from Footprints On The Other Side and loved it. A blade between two serpents facing opposite ways making the shape of an S. Obviously someone with far more artistic skills could protray it better but for me my crude sketch is enough for me to implant it into the story.

For the Magdon I was really struggling and then I started researching for Volume 2 and then the jet wash helped me. A squiggle and circle and I could see it, my sons could see “Magdion symbols” and I made something of it.

So here you have the before:

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And the after:

It’s nothing complex but it represents something that could be hidden in plain sight without being too over the top. And that really represents what The Magdon Series is. A retelling of a story that has really been with us for so long. When you hear it/read it you won’t think you have to change your world to believe it, it is instead something you should believe has always been part of your world you’ve simply forgotten about it.

So as Monday 6th June 2016 approaches I hope and wish that people become welcoming to the story that has been so much fun and adventure for me and mine.

A little history to the “Origins”

It was a cold bleak afternoon walking my youngest son back from playgroup with my wife. As we walked through the local woods that used to lead us home to our old house we were all startled by a strange barking/noise from deep in the woods. Immediately T (youngest son) asked me “what was that daddy?”

Well like any normal parent I stopped in my tracks and listened for a moment, I was pretty sure I knew what it was (more than likely a fox or dog). As I listened closer I peeked down to see how hung on my words my son was. With his little toddler face he was staring at me like I was the most important person, that what I had to say would explain everything and make him feel safe.

So I did the one true parent thing……I lied!

In the heat of that moment, and because I have always been one for trying to make the normal world a little more fun and exciting I told him what it was. “That sounded just like a Magdon” I said with confidence and so the fable was born.

A throwaway comment, a silly word made up from the idea that if was a MAN with his DOG (swap the last letters of the two words and you get MAGDON).

I thought it would end there! How wrong was I.

Questions came pouring in, especially when A (my eldest) found out about this strange monster making noises in the woods.

What does it look like?

Where does it come from?

Why was it there?

What does it do?

How do you know about them?

My silly little lie was spiralling out of control and soon I was answering the questions with such gusto and confidence that I probably started to believe it. I’m not going to give away the answers to all of those questions as it would spoil the story I am trying to tell and the history I am trying to create.

Needless to say a little white lie became more and more elaborate until Magdon was all they would talk about, much to annoyance of my poor poor wife! I cemented the look, even created a noise I would make outside their bedroom door if they were messing around into the night. I told them that the Magdon was linked to our family and that only very select and very brave people could ever slay the beast.

And so Archibal or “Archy” as he likes to be called was born. My great-grandfather born in Nottingham but an explorer who charted the globe in search of the Magdon and who finally gets to face one of these creatures.

A daring adventure cracking clues and following maps to find Athena and Theokoles, christening the boys as true Feng-Hi (aka Magdon Hunters)

It became so real to them that I created a diary that one of Archy’s friends sent me from Indian when they found out I was related to him. This contained maps, notes and little bits of history that I printed onto the pages and together we would read them. One day we deciphered one of the maps and who would know it but it was local to our home town. One rainy morning the three of us braved the weather and followed the little clues, riddles and the map until we found ourselves in a graveyard. The boys were a little scared as I had told them about the protectors of Magdons so we gingerly explored until we found something.

Two swords etched with their initials, swords with names that meant they were true Magdon Hunters (or Feng-Hi as they are truly known). A found Athena Goddess of War and T found Theokolese Shadow of Death (sorry for the Spartacus rip but at the time I wasn’t worrying that the names would actually come to anything as they were just stories for my boys).

Well the treasure hunt caught the attention of some other parents and they applauded the creativity of it. The boys would not stop talking about the Magdon and the things I had been telling them, so much so that teachers would ask me what it was. Hastily I would explain my boys aren’t mad, only I am but I’m sharing it with them!

My wife insisted that I disguise some real facts amongst the intricate story to make it less a total “waste of their time” but secretly teach them things along the way. So it was I embeded Archy into history and brought the Magdon home to the local area, tweaking history to fit my little creation. I admit she was right seeing as the Magdon was stealing so much of the boy’s attention and time!

It became one of those things that eventually one of the pre-school teachers said I should write it down. They knew I had just started publishing Footprints On The Other Side and said my flair for making the Magdon story up had engrossed the boys so much that I ought to write it down.

And so we arrive here. With some very patient support from my wife and encouragement from friends, oh and of course the undying belief that Archy and the Magdon are real from the boys, I have finally started to write down a series that they can read as they get older. The story has developed so much that writing it is easy – I have really lived this imagined world for the last three years now so really in some way it is real to me.

So that is the justification for Origins Of The Magdon. I’m pricing it cheap as it’s a short book, 10,000-12,000 words so I can pitch it to a new audience aswell as children and adults. With hopeful support from a local publisher/author I may be able to spread this story to readers who suffer dyslexia, after all I want this story to be enjoyed by everyone as much as it has entertained and amused me and my family. I want this to be something I hear children talking about with speculation and a modicum of belief.

After all, every myth started somewhere!

Exciting times

Whilst spending the day at a training event at work there were a few people on the day who have been following my exploits and attempts to delve into the writing world. I was asked how many copies of Footprints On The Other Side had sold and although I’ve hardly sold enough to rival Higgins, Rowlings, Childs or such like they still seemed quite impressed. which was encouraging. What was more encouraging was the fact I started talking about the new Magdon Series and quite a few heads started to turn.

I was asked directly by one person about the age range of the series and that was difficult. Although my boys (five and seven) appreciate and enjoy the story I think in reality the story is probably most accessible by 10 and over, anything less and it requires reading to them and it is also a little scary so that really depends on the child in my opinion – perhaps I’m just a mean dad that makes up stories that are scary for my kids!

On the plus side the feedback I have been getting by a small group of testers has been positive. Thankfully a few minor errors have been spotted which I have no doubt spotted myself in yet another full re-read and edit. The book also remains with the editor of a local publishing house awaiting feedback. I only hope that in that respect no news is good news and I won’t get a Bridget Jones style “oh why did you bother, you are quite silly” type response.

Please forgive the very poor sketches – they make sense to me!

No matter what the outcome, preferably the good outcome of course, I still intend to publish paperback copies of Volume One in the series and slowly pour out the remaining volumes over the next few years. I have the full story planned out and my little green ideas book is getting a little more on the pages with each day that passes.

This may only be a short entry but it is a reminder that things are progressing and soon enough you will ALL have the opportunity to meet the world I have created and lives in with my boys for ages…

Broadening and double hatting

Well since my last post I have completed and submitted the 10,488 length “short story” or novelette that is currently all under wraps title wise. It was submitted to a small local publishing house that deal with books written and produced for dyslexic readers which I felt would be a good avenue for spreading my story but also allow me to focus my story to a level that could also be appreciated by my children at the same time as helping others achieve an enjoyment from books and stories.

It has been submitted by the founder of the publishing house to their chief editor and I am taking no news as good news as it’s been a week and they’ve not sent me the obligatory “sorry but you needn’t have bothered” email. Always a good sign…..hopefully.

I have embraced the project so much that I have upgraded my rough notebook and gone and ordered two more of the infamous Italian Leather small journals I have liked to use for my bigger projects. Each book has a different coloured journal so I know where to write the ideas and already I’m pouring lots and lots of ideas into the pages which tells me the story is there for telling.

Forgive the purposeful blurring but some of the pages (well actually all of the pages) contain spoiler and the world isn’t quite ready for knowing everything! Not yet!

As for Whispering Shadows it continues to perplex me as I desperately try write a linking chapter that will tie across from an element introduced in Footprints On The Other Side but also bleed into the story across Parts I and II in Whispering Shadows. The only issue is it sits aside from the main story but adds a lot to the background and momentum of things that happen behind the main story. Typically I have rewritten it half a dozen times now and still struggle to get everything across in a way I think moulds with the story and narrative.

In all honesty there are two or possibly three chapters left of Part I Whispering Shadows so once they are done it’ll be a full edit which means one month free of all Jack James reading, only idea collating and then to rad and edit what I have done. Of course that fits to give me time to start on the next part of the Origins Of The Magdon Series.

As for Origins Series I foresee there being a minimum of FIVE instalments in this part of the series which will chart across the globe and hopefully provide a lot of mythology and entertainment for my audience.

In all honesty it is very nice to write the Magdon stories in a way I know the children will enjoy and hopefully allow other children to appreciate the little world that I have made for my kids and let them enjoy and help me develop. My middle son enjoys the whole affair so much we were walking home the other day from Beavers and he suggested something that I ran with and by the time we got home I had developed a whole new character and sub-plot that he instantly bonded with when I told him it. The fact that he enters the stories with such passion gives me the motivation to believe that what I am writing therefore is on the right level.

The biggest challenge will be merging the world I have centred around my children to make the whole story feel real but also keep it independent enough so they can enjoy it when they read it. For that part if I go beyond the Origins aspect it will bring it to the modern time and to the adventures “technically” of my boys so some artistic camouflage will be put in place. True to the word of the story though I have had to keep some aspects of names but avoided overuse to keep any friends of the boys who read it to be clear that the family names really don’t matter too much!

So really it’s an update to say I’m still here and still furiously pouring my crazed ideas into hopefully what will be a load of coherent books for a new audience and continue the story for those that have invested and want to see where Jack James is going.

I’m not giving up! I’m in this for the long haul.