Bill Ward's Blog, page 3
December 1, 2013
Review: Prophet-The story of Nat Turner
In reviewing this screenplay/book I have to say first that if you have any sense of humanity it is difficult not to be moved by this story. I am not used to reading screenplays but thoroughly enjoyed this exciting but ultimately sad tale of a terrible time in the history of man. It moves at a fast pace, tracing the capture of slaves in Africa and their transportation to America. We then follow the lives of a number of the slaves and the boy who is born into slavery-Nat Turner. He is unlike his fellow slaves as he not only learns to read but at a young age can refer to events before his birth. Nat has a presence to him that wins the respect of both slaves and his white masters. However, some of the whites also begin to fear him as he starts to preach and see him as a danger to their way of life.
Nat starts to hear the Holy Spirit talking to him and this gives him the confidence to stand up to the whites and eventually lead a rebellion against slavery. He deals violently with all the white landowners and their families, which was difficult to read when it involved young children. However, slavery is so abhorrent that I was able to reconcile their actions with their situation.
The detail of life as a slave is interesting and well described in the story. There are happy times depicted as well as the many hardships endured. There are interesting characters and events of historical importance.
The story is very well written and you can tell it is the work of an experienced film maker. This is a true story and caused me to research further the historical facts, which added to the whole reading experience.
In summary, I would recommend this book to everyone as both a good read and an educational experience. The content reminds us of the terrible cruelty inflicted on a group of people by their fellow human beings and the attempts of one man to break free.
I really hope one day to be able to visit a cinema to see the film.
Nat starts to hear the Holy Spirit talking to him and this gives him the confidence to stand up to the whites and eventually lead a rebellion against slavery. He deals violently with all the white landowners and their families, which was difficult to read when it involved young children. However, slavery is so abhorrent that I was able to reconcile their actions with their situation.
The detail of life as a slave is interesting and well described in the story. There are happy times depicted as well as the many hardships endured. There are interesting characters and events of historical importance.
The story is very well written and you can tell it is the work of an experienced film maker. This is a true story and caused me to research further the historical facts, which added to the whole reading experience.
In summary, I would recommend this book to everyone as both a good read and an educational experience. The content reminds us of the terrible cruelty inflicted on a group of people by their fellow human beings and the attempts of one man to break free.
I really hope one day to be able to visit a cinema to see the film.
November 10, 2013
Hard Copy Book or Electronic?
As a newly self-published author, I have been intrigued to find my eBook sales are streaking ahead of physical sales by a ratio of approximately 3/1. I can’t confirm with any certainty my experience is the norm but it has prompted me to speak to a few friends, as a form of survey and the results do seem to confirm my experience is not unusual.
Now I have to start by saying, I don’t own any form of electronic reader and frankly it won’t be on my Christmas list. That said, I did buy several of my older children a Kindle each last year as their present, so I am not in theory opposed to them. It is more that I just enjoy the experience of holding a book in my hand and turning the pages. Quite possibly you will think this is to some degree age related. I am fast approaching my 60th birthday but sadly have spent the last 40 years in IT, rather than writing, so it is not that I am uncomfortable generally with technology.
Of course, price is a very important factor in the massive increase in sales of eBooks and it must be viewed as positive, as it makes books more easily available to anyone on a tight budget. Given our children are becoming used to so many electronic aspects to their daily lives, then perhaps eBooks are essential to encourage the young to read more, though I am not entirely convinced, as personally I think you can attach greater value to a real book you share at bedtime with your children, compared to just another image on a screen.
I am also not sure of the impact on book shops and libraries if hard copy sales continue to fall. I can spend hours in a book shop looking at the shelves and as a child spent many hours in libraries. Perhaps I am wrong to be concerned at the future I see and fear?
It is not a great analogy but if someone told me there was a pill I could take that would replace all my meals and give me the perfect diet, they may sell it as more convenient to take and various other benefits but I still wouldn’t be interested. Eating is another of my great pleasures and the experience is almost as important as the content. Taking the analogy one step further, if someone serves up a meal that looks messy on the plate and isn’t quite cooked properly, then no matter how promising the ingredients, I am also not going to enjoy the experience. That is a bit of a random observation and off my theme for this blog, but worth a mention because I have recently looked at a couple of self-published books, which were very poor in terms of grammar and other avoidable mistakes, which detracted hugely from an otherwise promising book.
Back to my main theme and what does the future hold for the physical book versus electronic? I can’t begin to pretend I have any special insight to the future. However, if one looks at all other spheres of our lives, the inevitable conclusion is that electronic books are likely to outstrip physical books, by an ever increasing number. I am not a Luddite but should we be concerned that a reliance on electronic reading might also leave us exposed to new forms of censorship and control in the future? Is it a further step towards an Orwellian state?
Fortunately, as I get to write this blog I can simply pose questions and invite comment!
Now I have to start by saying, I don’t own any form of electronic reader and frankly it won’t be on my Christmas list. That said, I did buy several of my older children a Kindle each last year as their present, so I am not in theory opposed to them. It is more that I just enjoy the experience of holding a book in my hand and turning the pages. Quite possibly you will think this is to some degree age related. I am fast approaching my 60th birthday but sadly have spent the last 40 years in IT, rather than writing, so it is not that I am uncomfortable generally with technology.
Of course, price is a very important factor in the massive increase in sales of eBooks and it must be viewed as positive, as it makes books more easily available to anyone on a tight budget. Given our children are becoming used to so many electronic aspects to their daily lives, then perhaps eBooks are essential to encourage the young to read more, though I am not entirely convinced, as personally I think you can attach greater value to a real book you share at bedtime with your children, compared to just another image on a screen.
I am also not sure of the impact on book shops and libraries if hard copy sales continue to fall. I can spend hours in a book shop looking at the shelves and as a child spent many hours in libraries. Perhaps I am wrong to be concerned at the future I see and fear?
It is not a great analogy but if someone told me there was a pill I could take that would replace all my meals and give me the perfect diet, they may sell it as more convenient to take and various other benefits but I still wouldn’t be interested. Eating is another of my great pleasures and the experience is almost as important as the content. Taking the analogy one step further, if someone serves up a meal that looks messy on the plate and isn’t quite cooked properly, then no matter how promising the ingredients, I am also not going to enjoy the experience. That is a bit of a random observation and off my theme for this blog, but worth a mention because I have recently looked at a couple of self-published books, which were very poor in terms of grammar and other avoidable mistakes, which detracted hugely from an otherwise promising book.
Back to my main theme and what does the future hold for the physical book versus electronic? I can’t begin to pretend I have any special insight to the future. However, if one looks at all other spheres of our lives, the inevitable conclusion is that electronic books are likely to outstrip physical books, by an ever increasing number. I am not a Luddite but should we be concerned that a reliance on electronic reading might also leave us exposed to new forms of censorship and control in the future? Is it a further step towards an Orwellian state?
Fortunately, as I get to write this blog I can simply pose questions and invite comment!
November 4, 2013
Review of Inferno
Inferno by Dan BrownMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is my favourite Dan Brown book. It is far more believeable than his previous books, which I did quite enjoy. I like the setting in Florence and it has several exciting twists and turns. It starts from an interesting premise that Langdon is in hospital in Florence, has been shot and doesn't remember anything. You are never quite sure who are the good or bad guys and this leads to several of the twists. It is as usual for Dan Brown very fast paced and I highly recommend Inferno!
View all my reviews
October 1, 2013
Revenge - Giveaway
September 28, 2013
10 Marketing tips for new Authors
What is Marketing?
This is a question that can be very challenging for new authors to answer if unlike me they have not spent 40 years in sales and marketing. This is my first experience of writing a book but what I have learned over the years will I believe be just as relevant to selling a book as anything else I have done.
Marketing is:
establishing what the customer (reader) wants
developing the product (book) which satisfies this need
making sure potential customers (readers) are aware of its existence and special features
selling it
making a profit!
Marketing puts the emphasis on customers and satisfying their needs. In some cases writing a book is somewhat different, in that some individuals are self-publishing a book to satisfy a need of their own and in my list of points above will ignore point one and simply write a book that interests themselves, before then trying to find customers. Self-publishing makes this possible and in these cases making a profit is not necessarily very high on their agenda.
For many of us we would love to become a best seller but are realistic enough to understand that it is highly unlikely. However, we do want to sell as many books as possible and do want to make a profit, if for no other reason than it is an indicator our book is appreciated.
Marketing is not trying to get someone to buy something they don’t need or want! However, it is making potential customers aware our book exists and why it’s a great read.
There is a great deal of information available to help the new author with marketing. A large number of individuals and companies are fighting for the author’s marketing budget. The initial problem we all face is where to spend our money and invest our time!
An even bigger problem once we have decided on a number of areas to invest is trying to measure which of our investments is truly beneficial! Something that is very difficult to analyse with any certainty and can keep us awake at night.
My advice is firstly not to expect any one marketing avenue to be a “Silver Bullet.” I am a firm believer that you must have multiple arms to your marketing plan and you measure the broader results rather than necessarily the individual components. Quite often a good result will come from an unexpected source. If you are working hard and covering all the bases then you should expect positive results. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket! Do work hard at promoting and keep your book constantly in the public eye.
So you have written your book and are ready to do some marketing. Ideally you need to start marketing well in advance of your book’s launch to make the greatest impact on launch day. Make a plan!
So here are ten examples of potential marketing activity on a limited budget:
1. Firstly you do need a good cover and a great title. These are large subjects on their own but you are going to be extensively promoting both so I believe they are equally important. You need an eye catching cover and a short snappy title is generally better than a long one.
2. Encourage friends and family to buy and leave early reviews.
3. Join all the free sites where you can promote your book. This will involve extensive research. If it’s free then take advantage of it. Don’t just stick with being on one or two sites you think are the best. Contribute to forums and comment on blogs.
4. Have a good Website and/or Facebook page. Also commit to using Twitter regularly. This is hard work at first when you won’t have many followers but with perseverance you will find people coming to you after a while not just responding to you following them.
5. Network with other authors. Review each other’s books. Share Likes etc.
6. Email everyone you have ever known with the details of your new book. Then email them again a week later to thank them for their interest.
7. Promote major posts on Facebook. For a very small cost (starts at £3) you can reach a lot of people.
8. Look at click through advertising on sites such as Goodreads so you are only paying when a potential reader actually shows a specific interest in your book by clicking on it.
9. Measure the success of promotions and advertising and amend as necessary. Facebook and Goodreads in the above examples provide extensive metrics and reports to help you identify what is working. I recently placed an advert on Goodreads and it had no clicks after a couple of days. I changed the words and it now receives a slow but steady number of clicks.
10. If something feels uncomfortable do it anyway! At the very least you will learn from the experience. So ask your local independent book shop if you can do a signing. Ask Asda if you can do a signing in their entrance. Approach your local newspaper to see if they will feature you etc. etc.
I haven’t made any reference to promotional pricing and free copies etc. which is a subject on its own. Personally I am not a fan of giving anything away for free as I don’t believe it is then properly valued. I am also aware of a number of examples where someone who received a book for free then wrote a terrible review. Despite numerous good reviews the terrible one written by someone who didn’t even buy the book can be hard to overcome. Of course you might say the review was deserved but I just feel that someone who hasn’t paid for something is often harder to please than those who have purchased at a fair price.
This is a far from exhaustive list of marketing activities just some suggestions to get you thinking and started.
HyperSmash.com
This is a question that can be very challenging for new authors to answer if unlike me they have not spent 40 years in sales and marketing. This is my first experience of writing a book but what I have learned over the years will I believe be just as relevant to selling a book as anything else I have done.
Marketing is:
establishing what the customer (reader) wants
developing the product (book) which satisfies this need
making sure potential customers (readers) are aware of its existence and special features
selling it
making a profit!
Marketing puts the emphasis on customers and satisfying their needs. In some cases writing a book is somewhat different, in that some individuals are self-publishing a book to satisfy a need of their own and in my list of points above will ignore point one and simply write a book that interests themselves, before then trying to find customers. Self-publishing makes this possible and in these cases making a profit is not necessarily very high on their agenda.
For many of us we would love to become a best seller but are realistic enough to understand that it is highly unlikely. However, we do want to sell as many books as possible and do want to make a profit, if for no other reason than it is an indicator our book is appreciated.
Marketing is not trying to get someone to buy something they don’t need or want! However, it is making potential customers aware our book exists and why it’s a great read.
There is a great deal of information available to help the new author with marketing. A large number of individuals and companies are fighting for the author’s marketing budget. The initial problem we all face is where to spend our money and invest our time!
An even bigger problem once we have decided on a number of areas to invest is trying to measure which of our investments is truly beneficial! Something that is very difficult to analyse with any certainty and can keep us awake at night.
My advice is firstly not to expect any one marketing avenue to be a “Silver Bullet.” I am a firm believer that you must have multiple arms to your marketing plan and you measure the broader results rather than necessarily the individual components. Quite often a good result will come from an unexpected source. If you are working hard and covering all the bases then you should expect positive results. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket! Do work hard at promoting and keep your book constantly in the public eye.
So you have written your book and are ready to do some marketing. Ideally you need to start marketing well in advance of your book’s launch to make the greatest impact on launch day. Make a plan!
So here are ten examples of potential marketing activity on a limited budget:
1. Firstly you do need a good cover and a great title. These are large subjects on their own but you are going to be extensively promoting both so I believe they are equally important. You need an eye catching cover and a short snappy title is generally better than a long one.
2. Encourage friends and family to buy and leave early reviews.
3. Join all the free sites where you can promote your book. This will involve extensive research. If it’s free then take advantage of it. Don’t just stick with being on one or two sites you think are the best. Contribute to forums and comment on blogs.
4. Have a good Website and/or Facebook page. Also commit to using Twitter regularly. This is hard work at first when you won’t have many followers but with perseverance you will find people coming to you after a while not just responding to you following them.
5. Network with other authors. Review each other’s books. Share Likes etc.
6. Email everyone you have ever known with the details of your new book. Then email them again a week later to thank them for their interest.
7. Promote major posts on Facebook. For a very small cost (starts at £3) you can reach a lot of people.
8. Look at click through advertising on sites such as Goodreads so you are only paying when a potential reader actually shows a specific interest in your book by clicking on it.
9. Measure the success of promotions and advertising and amend as necessary. Facebook and Goodreads in the above examples provide extensive metrics and reports to help you identify what is working. I recently placed an advert on Goodreads and it had no clicks after a couple of days. I changed the words and it now receives a slow but steady number of clicks.
10. If something feels uncomfortable do it anyway! At the very least you will learn from the experience. So ask your local independent book shop if you can do a signing. Ask Asda if you can do a signing in their entrance. Approach your local newspaper to see if they will feature you etc. etc.
I haven’t made any reference to promotional pricing and free copies etc. which is a subject on its own. Personally I am not a fan of giving anything away for free as I don’t believe it is then properly valued. I am also aware of a number of examples where someone who received a book for free then wrote a terrible review. Despite numerous good reviews the terrible one written by someone who didn’t even buy the book can be hard to overcome. Of course you might say the review was deserved but I just feel that someone who hasn’t paid for something is often harder to please than those who have purchased at a fair price.
This is a far from exhaustive list of marketing activities just some suggestions to get you thinking and started.
HyperSmash.com
September 14, 2013
All is best though we oft doubt!
Since studying Milton's Samson Agonistes at school this has always been my favourite quote:
All is best, though we oft doubt, what the unsearchable dispose, of highest wisdom brings about.
I am not terribly religious but I do believe in Fate. So when a few months back I didn't get a new job after what I thought was a positive interview, I was a little disappointed but saw it as my fate and as an indication that the future held something different for me.
Having always wanted to write a book I decided the time must finally be right and at approaching 60, I turned my back on the corporate world and produced my new thriller Revenge. I have no illusions I will become an overnight sensation as an author but writing this book has fulfilled a lifelong ambition and made me a very happy man whether it makes any money or not. (I do actually hope it makes money because that is an indicator people have enjoyed my book.)
I feel happier inside than for a long time and so I guess writing Revenge has been good for my soul!
The point of my blog is to remind everyone in a job that has overtaken their life that while material things and your finances are important so is nurturing your soul.
And to quote many before me it is never too late to change direction and you should never give up on your dreams. You can't change the past but you can alter the future. As we all know, if you carry on doing the same thing you will get the same result. I decided rather belatedly to stop what I was doing and try to have some success as an author. I actually consider I have already been successful just by publishing my book even if I miss the secure income from a job!
I will finish with a famous quote by Lucille ball:
"I'd rather regret the things that I've done, than regret the things which I didn't do."
Thanks
Bill
All is best, though we oft doubt, what the unsearchable dispose, of highest wisdom brings about.
I am not terribly religious but I do believe in Fate. So when a few months back I didn't get a new job after what I thought was a positive interview, I was a little disappointed but saw it as my fate and as an indication that the future held something different for me.
Having always wanted to write a book I decided the time must finally be right and at approaching 60, I turned my back on the corporate world and produced my new thriller Revenge. I have no illusions I will become an overnight sensation as an author but writing this book has fulfilled a lifelong ambition and made me a very happy man whether it makes any money or not. (I do actually hope it makes money because that is an indicator people have enjoyed my book.)
I feel happier inside than for a long time and so I guess writing Revenge has been good for my soul!
The point of my blog is to remind everyone in a job that has overtaken their life that while material things and your finances are important so is nurturing your soul.
And to quote many before me it is never too late to change direction and you should never give up on your dreams. You can't change the past but you can alter the future. As we all know, if you carry on doing the same thing you will get the same result. I decided rather belatedly to stop what I was doing and try to have some success as an author. I actually consider I have already been successful just by publishing my book even if I miss the secure income from a job!
I will finish with a famous quote by Lucille ball:
"I'd rather regret the things that I've done, than regret the things which I didn't do."
Thanks
Bill
September 11, 2013
What price an ebook?
Like I guess any new author I have had to decide what is the best price to sell my new book. I did a little research and the views on the subject seem widely different. There are many who say give it away for nothing to build awareness and others seem to sell at a price that is much less than a cup of coffee! Having taken some months and a huge amount of effort to finish my book I have to say I attach more value to it than a latte. Personally I don't see the point of free books when a reader can preview 20% of the book and then hopefully you wet their appetite and they buy the book. There is a stronger argument for someone with a series of books enticing someone to try the first for nothing in the hope they will then buy others in the series. You do need to build public awareness of your new book but it is my view there are better ways than just giving your book away. For example perhaps a short discounted sale period to mark the launch. I believe if someone pays something for your book, even a small amount, they are more likely to value what they have bought and actually take the time to read the book and then provide a review. It is an interesting subject for debate!
September 10, 2013
Excited to have written my first book!
I have to say that I have rarely experienced excitement to compare with having finished my first book. Having made Revenge available to buy as an ebook I now realise that maybe the end of one part of the journey but now begins the bigger part - making people aware it exists so I might sell a few copies. I am learning to use Twitter and have signed up to FB. I am also blogging! I recall a joke I heard a long time ago which I can fit to the situation:
Writer: I can write but I can't sell anything.
Writer's wife: Hell you convinced me to marry you so you can definitely sell!
Thus I am very busy promoting my book.
Writer: I can write but I can't sell anything.
Writer's wife: Hell you convinced me to marry you so you can definitely sell!
Thus I am very busy promoting my book.
