Gary Troia's Blog
April 28, 2017
West Ham Till I Die?
I was born and brought up in southeast London. When I made the transition from primary to secondary school, I still had no team of my own. One day, a new boy from a place called Plaistow appeared in my class. At first we viewed him like the Victorians might have viewed a traveler from the Far East, never mind the Near East, but soon he and I hit it off. His father still took him back for West Ham home games, and one time I was invited along. And that was that. I now had my team. If his dad hadn’t invited me, it is very likely I would have been a Millwall or Charlton fan.
It wasn’t long before Ray and I made our own way to games, getting the bus to Woolwich, then walking under the tunnel, or sailing across on the ferry, before catching the 101 on the other side. Initially, I felt like a bit of a traitor, probably like Burgess, Philby and Maclean did, but just like them, I soon accepted West Ham in my heart like a metaphorical communist. My earliest memories are of the European nights, Eintracht Frankfurt, and the little white programmes. It didn’t really get any better than that, so like many West Ham fans, many of my other fond memories are generally perverse but fun, singing our hearts out while being thrashed by six goals at Arsenal, QPR, and Oldham. But the thing was: we may have moaned, but I don’t remember calling for anyone’s head. We were all in it together, come what may. The fickle fan had yet to emerge. Shortly after the “we almost won the league season”, I left Britain to live much of my subsequent life abroad. I’ve listened to games on cheap transistor radios in Los Angeles, stared at the Spanish version of teletext in Bilbao, hoping for it to change in West Ham’s favour and give me a boost before going out. I even wrote a match report for “Forever West Ham” once from a remote farmhouse halfway up a Spanish mountain, where I had moved to find myself. I am now back in England and living in Hampshire. The last home game I saw was against Palermo, but the last time I saw West Ham live was at Southampton last season. And if it wasn’t for my friend, a Saint’s fan, buying me a ticket, I doubt if I would have gone. The reason for this has been a fundamental change in the way I see elite football in general.
The best posts on this site, for me, are when people reminisce: The almost mythical Eintracht Frankfurt game, the peanut thrower, the North Bank bar, etc. Since the inception of the Premier League, the game has become sanitized – in fact it is almost a different game. The half and half scarves, kissing the badge – if you have to kiss the badge to show your loyalty, you are not loyal. I don’t remember Billy Bonds feeling that he had to kiss the badge every five minutes; he just showed his commitment on the field. Advice for budding writers comes to mind; show, don’t tell. Probably the worst sin of all in modern football has to be the sock over the knee; it takes but little imagination to see that a suspender belt is merely a couple of seasons away. So, to support, or not to support, that was my original question. I see the word support as meaning upholding and making a financial contribution to something you believe in. I no longer believe in a game that pays very average Premier League players more in a week than a nurse earns in four years. And so I come to the sorry conclusion, I can no longer say I support West Ham, but I do follow the Hammers all the time. Can’t help myself.
[image error]Gary Troia was born in southeast London and studied Spanish and Philosophy at Middlesex University and the Universidad de Deusto.
In 2010, he left behind a career in education and moved to a small Spanish village, where he began his lifelong dream of writing.
His first book, Spanish Yarns and Beyond, is a humorous account of his time in Spain. ‘A great play on words, witty and well written,’ was how one reviewer described the book.
A Bricklayer’s Tales, published in 2013, is a collection of ten tales, including: Angel Dust, the peculiar story of a man whose new life in America leads to conversations with Ancient Greek philosophers. Mrs. McClintock, an absurd farce in which a Glaswegian couple retire to Spain, and A Bricklayer’s Tale, the story of a disillusioned, alcoholic bricklayer.
Since then Gary has gone on to write seven books.
Gary now lives in Hampshire, with his partner Marina where he continues to write.
April 1, 2015
10 Tips for Becoming a Better Writer
1, The first tip is essential and obvious. If you want to be a decent writer: Read a lot and write a lot. If you want to be an athlete: Eat well and train hard.
2, Read excellent writers and classics. See how they go about the craft.
3, Read poor writers for no other reason than to feel better about yourself.
4, If you want to excel at anything, discipline is the key. Set achievable goals that can be reached every day.
5, There is no such thing as writers’ block. If you think you have it, write about your day. I have never heard of bricklayer’s block, or surgeon’s block, or…you get the point, don’t you?
6, Don’t force yourself to learn new words, you learn new words naturally by reading.
7, Don’t try to write like you think a writer should write, just write like only you know how to write.
8, Write quicker than your doubts can form.
9, Write a first draft with freedom and without a critical eye. Add a critical eye on all subsequent drafts.
10, The last tip is as important as the first. If you want to be a decent writer: Read a lot and write a lot.
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October 31, 2013
“Kindle Countdown Deals.” Amazon Launch A New Promotional Tool For Authors And Publishers.
Amazon has announced a new promotional program for Kindle- Kindle Countdown Deals, which allows authors to discount their books. Amazon customers can see the regular price and the promotional price on the book’s detail page, as well as a countdown clock that tells them how much time is left on the promotional price.
Benefits:
• Time: You control how long your book is discounted – anywhere between one hour and seven days.
• Discount: You set the level of discount, which must be at least $1 or £1 off the regular price.
• Royalties: You will earn royalties based on your regular royalty rate and the promotional price. As a result, if you are using the 70% royalty option, you will earn 70% even if the promotional price is below $2.99.
Customer experience:
It is easy for customers to see the great deal they’re getting, as the regular price is included on the book’s detail page, right beside the promotional price. Customers will see a countdown clock with the time remaining for the promotion. It is also easy for customers to discover Kindle Countdown Deals on a dedicated webpage at www.amazon.com/kindlecountdowndeals
Which marketplaces can run Kindle Countdown Deals?
Initially, Kindle Countdown Deals are available on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk.
How can I make my book eligible?
Books enrolled in KDP Select are eligible if their regular prices fall within these limits:
•$2.99- $24.99 (Amazon.com)
• £1.99 – £14.99 (Amazon.co.uk)
How do I add a Kindle Countdown Deals promotion?
Log into your Amazon KDP account, go to your bookshelf, click on manage benefits,and from here you can set up a promotion.
You can schedule one deal in each marketplace (currently amazon.com and amazon.co.uk) for every 90 days KDP Select enrolment period.
Your promotional price should have a discount amount of $1.00 (£1.00 on Amazon.co.uk) or greater than the regular list price to ensure that the promotion is meaningful for customers. You can choose any discount amount that is $1.00 or greater at $0.99 increments. For example, if your regular list price is $4.99, you can choose $3.99 or $2.99 etc. Once you set a promotional price and increments, Amazon will calculate a schedule for each increment, including the start time, promotional list price and duration.
What is the lowest promotional price that I can offer.
• $0.99 on Amazon.com
• £0.99 on Amazon.co.uk
Gary Troia is an author of two published books. A Bricklayer’s Tales and Spanish Yarns and Beyond.
August 30, 2013
Unlocking the Secrets of Amazon Bestsellers ranks Part 1: Categories
Amazon, just like Google, has it’s own search engine. Once you understand the Amazon algorithm, it can dramatically increase the exposure of your book.Triggers such as keywords, categories, price changes, reviews and spikes in sales start to alert Amazon’s algorithms and once this happens your book is showing up as a recommended buy.
Today I’m going to focus on categories.
When I released my first two books, A Bricklayer’s Tales and Spanish Yarns And Beyond, I put them into the following categories: books>fiction>short stories and books>travel and holiday. That seemed right, but the problem was, the category for short stories has 67,048 books listed, and travel and holiday has 36,906. That is a lot of competition.
When choosing a category, you don’t want one with a broad market, like I had initially done. You want a category that is narrow, that way Amazon’s algorithm is alerted once a book hits the top of a category. I would have had to sell thousands of books to reach the top of the bestsellers’ in short stories. With a few simple changes to the categories, my books are now in Amazon’s top bestseller ranks.
Spanish Yarns and beyond is currently:
#1 in Books > Travel & Holiday > Countries & Regions > Europe > Spain > Cities & Regions > Basque (only 136 books in this category)
#14 in Books > Travel & Holiday > Countries & Regions > Europe > Spain > Cities & Regions > Catalonia (only 74 books in this category)
A Bricklayer’s Tales is currently:
#10 in Kindle Store > Books > Biography & True Accounts > Reference & Collections (only 316 in this category)
Finding the right categories will take a bit of time. To help you get started, click on this link: http://www.amazon.com/-/b/?node=1000. Choose a category that is most appropriate to your title. Don’t just place your book in a category because it’s a niche. It needs to have some connection to your book. Readers, generally, don’t mind what the category is, but when they see it is #83 or #1 on a best-seller rank, it will often prove very helpful in making a sale.
Once you have chosen your new categories, email Amazon through your Author Central Page. Go to the “help” button and email their staff. Most of the time, you’ll find your email is responded to promptly and the category adjusted within 24 hours. If you don’t know what the Author Central page is, just click here: https://authorcentral.amazon.com. You use your Amazon login to access your page. Everyone has one, whether you’ve claimed it or not.
By Gary Troia
August 23, 2013
TOP 15 REASONS WHY I USE PRLOG.ORG FOR MY BOOK PROMOTIONS
A press release is a good way to announce a new book launch or book promotions on- line. I have used PRlog for my last two book promotions, and I’m convinced that right now there is no better free press release distribution site.
Here are my reasons why:
It’s free
You can include an image and a logo.
Social media integration – auto post to Facebook & Twitter
Search engine optimised for Bing News
You can embed a YouTube video into your press release
Search engine optimised for Google Search
Submitted to Google News
You can delete or edit your press release after it’s live
40,000 RSS feeds, javascript feeds & html feeds
Search engine optimised for Bing Search
You can include up to 3 categories
Search engine optimised for Yahoo Search
Gives statistics about how many clicks and where they came from
Search engine optimised for Ask Search
Search engine optimised for AOL Search
August 21, 2013
Hanworth bricklayer is building new career as an author
A BRICKLAYER turned writer from Hanworth, who thought up the title for a book 12 years ago, has released it as a collection of short stories.
Gary Troia, 51, of Broadlands, has self-published A Bricklayer’s Tales, which touches on real-life experiences in the building trade, as well as dealing with drink and drugs.
He began his lifelong dream of writing when he moved to Spain three years ago, where he also wrote his first book, Spanish Yarns and Beyond, a group of stories that give a humorous account of life in a new country.
Mr Troia said: “I started off as a bricklayer. I had left school with no qualifications but wanted to be a writer. I finally ended up going to university studying philosophy and Spanish and then got work teaching brickwork.
“I then gave up education and went to Spain. My first book, Spanish Yarns and Beyond, is about life living on a little mountain in Andalusia, where I started writing.”
The 107-page A Bricklayer’s Tales was released on July 17, with stories including Angel Dust, the peculiar story of a man whose new life in America leads to conversations with Ancient Greek philosophers; Mrs. McClintock, an absurd farce in which a Glaswegian couple retire to Spain; and A Bricklayer’s Tale, the story of a disillusioned, alcoholic bricklayer.
After returning home to the UK, and settling into his Feltham home with partner Marina, Mr Troia signed up to a course at Richmond College – ‘How to write a novel in a month’.
Now he is well on his way to fulfilling his passion of writing with a debut novel coming soon, with the first draft completed just this week.
Without giving too much away, he said ‘there is a bit of a supernatural thing – it’s the idea of good and evil.”
■ A Bricklayer’s Tales is available to buy at Amazon for £5.95, or on the Kindle at £2.99. Spanish Yarns and Beyond is also available for £2.97 (paperback) or £2.01 (Kindle). For more information, visit www.garytroia.com
August 2, 2013
Amazon Best Sellers Rank
Gary Troia was born in South-East London. He studied Spanish and Philosophy at Middlesex University and the Universidad de Deusto, Bilbao. In 2010, he left behind a career in education and moved to a small Spanish village, where he began his lifelong dream of writing.
His first book, Spanish Yarns and Beyond, is a humorous account of his time in Spain. ‘A great play on words, witty and well written,’ was how one reviewer described the book. Spanish Yarns and beyond is currently ranking : #1 in Basque #2 in Catalonia in the Amazon Bestsellers Rank.
A Bricklayer’s Tales, published in 2013, is a collection of ten tales, including: Angel Dust, the peculiar story of a man whose new life in America leads to conversations with Ancient Greek philosophers. Mrs. McClintock, an absurd farce in which a Glaswegian couple retire to Spain, and A Bricklayer’s Tale, the story of a disillusioned, alcoholic bricklayer. Currently ranking: #32 in Biographical Fiction and #79 in Lad Lit in the Amazon Bestsellers Rank.
Coming soon, Gary’s debut novel.
Gary lives in Twickenham, London, with his partner Marina.
An Extract from A Bricklayer’s Tales:
Return Ticket
There is always a first time for everything. This is the first time I’ve waited to board a plane handcuffed to a sheriff. I don’t know if he is an actual sheriff – he may be a deputy, for all I know – but he does have one of those metal star-like badges you see in westerns, I just can’t get a proper look at it as the handcuffs prohibit my movement.
I’m sitting in the departure lounge at Baltimore Washington International Airport, and all the adults in the lounge are pretending not to look at the sheriff and me. Their children, however, are still unhampered by social protocol. The parents continually yank their children back from trying to find out what they themselves are dying to know…
Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews
Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
#32 in Books > Fiction > Biographical Fiction
#79 in Books > Fiction > Lad Lit
An extract from Spanish Yarns and Beyond:
How Not to Travel to the Alhambra
We had the best intentions. We were going to make a picnic for the journey and take lots of water as we knew how hot it would be. We had planned very well indeed. However, this plan soon fell apart after meeting a couple of friends who came back to ours for the evening which eventually turned into early morning. This was our third week of living in Spain, and before we left England we had vowed that we were going to visit the sights rather than just hanging around the local area all the time…
Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews
Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
#1 in Books > Travel & Holiday > Countries & Regions > Europe > Spain > Cities & Regions > Basque
#2 in Books > Travel & Holiday > Countries & Regions > Europe > Spain > Cities & Regions > Catalonia
#54 in Books > Travel & Holiday > Countries & Regions > Europe > Spain > Cities & Regions
#81 in Books > Travel & Holiday > Countries & Regions > Europe > Spain
July 30, 2013
Top 10 Free Promotion Sites For Your KDP Select Days
There is much debate about the advantages and disadvantages of using KDP Select, but for me it works. I was getting minimal sales through Smashwords, so I prefer to be exclusive to Amazon. Having run free promos before, to varying levels of success, and experimenting with a variety of marketing, I have found that KDP Select works best for me.
There are now hundreds of free book listing sites. Below, I’ve listed my ten favourite sites, these links take you directly to the submission pages:
http://www.pixelofink.com
http://bargainebookhunter.com
http://bookgoodies.com
http://ereadernewstoday.com
http://snickslist.com
http://orangeberryfreeme.com
http://thefrugalereader.wufoo.com
http://addictedtoebooks.com
http://kindlebookpromos.luckycinda.com
http://www.worldliterarycafe.com
By Gary Troia
Do you have KDP Select tips to share? Where do you stand on Amazon exclusivity?
Top 10 Free Promotion Sites For Your KDP Select Days
I have just enrolled A Bricklayers Tales for another three-month period on Amazon’s KDP Select programme. KDP Select gives Amazon exclusivity of your book for three months, in exchange for this, they allow you to promote your book free for five of those days.
There is much debate about the advantages and disadvantages of using KDP Select, but for me it works. I was getting minimal sales through Smashwords, so I prefer to be exclusive to Amazon. Having run free promos before, to varying levels of success, and experimenting with a variety of marketing, I have found that KDP Select works best for me.
There are now hundreds of free book listing sites. Below, I’ve listed my ten favourite sites, these links take you directly to the submission pages:
http://thefrugalereader.wufoo.com
http://kindlebookpromos.luckycinda.com
http://www.worldliterarycafe.com
By Gary Troia
Do you have KDP Select tips to share? Where do you stand on Amazon exclusivity?
July 23, 2013
Snickslist, Hot or Not? By Gary Troia
This week’s review is of www.snickslist.com The site is a free promotional site for your Amazon Kindle freebie days only. You list your book on the day that it goes free, and for the number of days it will be free for.
The website is linked to www.bookauthors.com , on the day of your promotions your book may also feature on this site, the site has links back to snickslist. Bookauthors is a paid site, only $5.00 a year. It is a site where you can browse authors and books, set up an author profile and participate in discussions. (I have yet to sign up to this. If I do, I shall write a review on it.)
On the day that my book was listed for free, I entered in my book details http://snickslist.com/books/place-ad/. The form is user friendly and the next page of the form allows you to upload a picture of your book cover.
Within minutes, the free promotional advert was live on the site, and featured on the front page all day. By 11pm it was still on the front page, although now at the bottom of it.
The free promotion also featured on the home page banner throughout the day
I was so pleased with the promotion, a full page spread with clear links to buy the book.
In conclusion, this free promotion gained a total of 86 views. Not a great number, but it’s 86 that I would’t otherwise have had. Would I use them again? Definitely.
RATING:
Ease of use 5
Value 5
Quality 5
Page Views 1
OVERALL 4
Gary Troia is an author of two published books. A Bricklayer’s Tales and Spanish Yarns and Beyond.
