Leopold Borstinski's Blog, page 8

Cuba is closed

As predicted last week, I am pleased to announce that I have finished the first draft of Cuban Heel, the fifth book in the Alex Cohen series. It is set in the 1950s and follows Alex as he journeys to Havana to help Meyer Lansky build Las Vegas in the Southern Hemisphere. Now all I have to do is read, re-read, edit, re-re-read until it is all shiny and then it’ll be time to hit the publish button.

The good news is that you can pre-order your copy either on my website or on the major sales platforms–you can access them via my site too. The book is not available yet in all locations for dull, technical reasons. What you can be sure of is that the novel will be released by the end of April and earlier if I am able to get everything ready in time, no matter what my blurbs might say.

The bad news is that, unfortunately, there is no single ‘publish’ button. If only it was that simple. First world problems, eh?

Leo

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Nearly done…

I don’t have much to say this week but I am aware I was stoically silent last week, so I thought I’d at least open my mouth, if only briefly.

The good news–from my perspective–is that I am within spit of finishing the first draft of book five of the Alex Cohen series called Cuban Heel. The experience of writing in the second UK lockdown late last year took a lot out of my writing energy levels and I nearly ground to a halt. As ever, I’m not complaining because this is a minor issues compared to the genuine pain and anguish others have gone through.

And I have a handful of chapters to finish–just the denouement to get down on paper. Typed anyway.

So that’s making me smile. Hope you stay safe.

Leo

Proof

I’m heading toward the end of book 5 of the Alex Cohen story, Cuban Heel, and that means there’s only a couple of books before I reach the end of the series. For a while there, I thought I’d never see the light at the end of the proverbial tunnel. But now I can see the first draft should be completed by the end of February and that’ll mean I am on track to get on sale by the end of April at the latest.

The other piece of news I have is that I am readying a novella about Jake Adkins PI, which is called Proof and is a sampler from The Case. I am going to use it to warm up readership for the new Jake series which will launch next year. Today is the first day anyone has seen the cover and I will, of course, let you know when the novella is available for free download.

And there’s one other thing, which has only a tenuous link to crime thrillers. Years ago, there was a 1989 French film called Monsieur Hire, directed by Patrice Leconte with a soundtrack by Michael Nyman. I have been looking for the soundtrack ever since but have failed to buy it. The closest I got was seeing it in a record shop in the backstreets of Soho (London) but I was an impoverished journalist at the time and had no money to buy it.

Big whoop. This is my question: if you know where I could buy it (digitally or CD, I have no vinyl record player any more), please do give me the web address. I’ll be truly grateful.

Leo

And the results are…

Many of you were kind enough to respond to my survey a couple of weeks ago and I thought I would share an overview of the results–and what I intend to do about it.

Almost everyone said they were prepared to buy a book direct from my website either at the standard price or at a small discount, but over 90 percent of those who responded positively said they’d do it at full price. So I will make sure I continue to offer my books direct to you without you having to go via one of the many lovely sales platforms.

The next thing I found out about you is that less than a fifth of you are part of Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited program. I had been thinking of putting some of my books into that ecosphere, which would have meant that the only place I could sell my books was on Amazon, so not on my site or on Kobo, Apple, B&N etc. At this point, I judge that it will benefit more people (and make me more money) if I don’t go down that rabbit hole.

Finally, the other message from you related to what I should be writing next. Half of you would like me to leave the Jewish gangster stories once the current Alex Cohen series is over and move over to the private eye tales of Jake Adkins, from The Case. And that is my plan. Once I’ve finished Alex’s book 7 then I will start on the first of a fresh series set in the 1930s and ’40s. Book 1 will be available early next year as I can only write three books a year, but they are coming down the tracks. I promise. In honor of the new series, I’ve reskinned The Case with a whole more jazzier feel.

So thanks again to everyone who completed the survey and gave me an insight into your views.

Leo

Kobo book deal

This isn’t something I don’t do very often but between January 15 and 19 on the Kobo platform, the Bowery Slugger is taking part in a First in Series offer where you can buy it for only 0.99, but you must be in the US or Canada for the offer.

Wait! Before you give up if you don’t live there, I decided to extend the opportunity on January 18 and 19 across the planet, but still on Kobo.

So if you want to grab a cheap copy of the first in the Alex Cohen series, you know where to go. And you can also get some other first books at a discount too.

Fill your boots.

Subscriber Survey

Hi

As I mentioned late last year, I’d like to find out a little bit more about you – so I shall be very grateful if you would complete a subscriber survey for me.

There are a handful of questions and the whole shebang shouldn’t take you more than a minute or two–and are geared around what you buy/read of mine and where you get your books. There are three questions to help me understand the context of your responses ie your gender, email and location and these are optional because I am interested primarily in your initial responses. If you subscribe to the newsletter, I already have your email but it means I can connect your responses to, say, how long you’ve subscribed. The other two pieces of context are to help me improve my marketing, to be honest.

The survey is live for one week and ends on Saturday January 16, so please go to www.leopoldborstinski.com/survey-jan21 sooner rather than later and grab your chance to have a say in the future direction of my novels.

Thanks in advance

Leo

My first award

Listen, I know I said I wasn’t planning on posting anything until after the holidays, but news just came in today of which I am genuinely proud and humbled. So I thought I’d share it with you.

I’ve been given a best Crime/Thriller Book Award 2020 by blogger Chicks, Rogues and Scandals for Midtown Huckster, the third book in the Alex Cohen series.

Thank you to Chicks obviously and to everyone who has supported me with kind words, book purchases and so many positive reviews.

As I write this, the date is January 1 so let me wish you all the best for 2021, no matter what happens in the world.

Leo

Seasons greetings

This is my last intended post this year so I thought I’d let you know what I haven’t done this month.

First, I should point out that I am not a ho-ho-ho kinda guy so I don’t even seek forgiveness for my bah-humbug attitude. If you’ve read any of my stories, you should have picked up on that vibe already. Second, for the last six months I’ve told myself I was going to write a special short story tracing Sarah’s origins in New York as a bonus for Alex Cohen readers at Christmas. That ain’t happened.

Third, I also told myself I’d write a subscriber poll so I could find out a little more about you, but you can hunt high and low, but lo you won’t be able to find it… yet.

This leads me on to make some promises for the New Year (with apologies to those readers who don’t follow the Western European calendar). I will be running a poll/survey in January because I still want to find out your interests, even if I have been slack in December. As for Sarah’s tale? Well, that’s been lying at the back of my head since I wrote the Broska Bruiser–I flipped a coin whether to write an Alex or Sarah origin story. So perhaps once I’ve finished book 7 then I’ll flesh out the idea I have for Sarah.

Either way, let me wish you as enjoyable a festive time you possibly can have–given your levels of celebration and any local restrictions in place.

Ho ho ho

Leo

How much is a chip worth?

For reasons I can’t fully explain, I found myself going back over some of my research on 1940s Vegas for Casino Chiseler and found that there is quite a market in poker chips from the Flamingo Hotel dating back to that time period. There is this one and there are others on auction sites which are priced in the hundreds if not thousands.

This got me thinking about the value of a piece of plastic or clay–and the associated connections with the times in which they were manufactured and used. I assume that it is the latter that creates the current value. I must admit to hankering to own one of the critters but not at any price. As I was carrying out my research, over time I began to hold the belief that $100 might not be such an expensive amount. Then I slapped myself, of course.

How much do you think a Flamingo chip from the early days of its life is worth?

Just saying hello

Just thought I’d touch base, but personal circumstances have been complex and prevented me from progressing Cuban Heel much further.

I am hoping to have more positive (or at least extensive) news next week.

In the meantime… enjoy.