Here I am at the edge

A new audience To my surprise, Germany is challenging the USA for readers of my blog today. As I was closing my eBook section on Amazon last night; I realised that my first sale was to a lady living in Munich . The only other sale of The Dockland Murders was for me, to show I had put the book for sale. Over a decade later, and the shop is closed, with no more sales for the short story . The mood changes   For a long time the main thrust of my blog readers were in the USA , with Russia a distant second. This week that has changed with Germany taking the lead from the USA.  What styles? As a writer you need to be perceptive to your audience needs, to this end I've developed a knack for picking my target markets. American readers prefer Science Fiction such as my hit series Forgestriker   http://hereiamattheedge.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/forgestriker-collection.html#.VdhxgCgViko  .  Russian readers prefer the Noire style of my Pat Canella stories. In my opinio

Awards and Sales  What difference did it make? Award winner   Nearly three years have passed since my e-book   https://www.draft2digital.com/book/32117  won this award, and to this day, I am still amazed as to why this happened   http://hereiamattheedge.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/strange-things-happening.html#.VdcZmCgVikp . Despite being an award winner, the book is still to sell more than half a dozen copies in three years.  Changes    I can honestly say - and people I know will tell you the same - the award meant a lot to me, but I haven't changed. I am still the unfulfilled, insecure writer I was before the award. Winning the award has meant little to me, and hasn't changed my persona, or my life.  Forgestriker    Even though the sales for the series Forgestriker  http://hereiamattheedge.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/forgestriker-collection.html#.Vdca-SgViko   keep amassing, I am still dismayed. The reason for my dismay is that despite nearly 600 sales for the s

29 Today The glorious 29th Wedding Anniversary   The 29th wedding anniversary isn't one you usually celebrate with a big occasion, but to us it means a lot.    Death's door    I'm not joking when I say I spent the first two weeks of our marriage at death's door. As a treat for my stepson we visited Bristol zoo , on the Monday after we got married.   The day started wet, and by 1200 I was so wet, and cold, I was visibly shivering. I tried to stay as long as possible for the sake of my stepson - to make him feel part of the family - but the longer I stayed, the more worried my wife got about my health.   We arrived home and my wife phoned our doctor; as a rule doctors don't like making mid-afternoon house calls, but our doctor came out. Doctors won't admit you to hospital unless they feel it's urgent, our doctor wanted me hospitalised immediately. He spent the next two weeks visiting me each afternoon - I had developed Pleurisy.   At the

Booster pack A series not to miss  Forgestriker    Eighteen months on, and my series   http://hereiamattheedge.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/forgestriker-collection.html   is still selling well, this week all SEVEN books have sold. I don't know what I did what I did right, but hopefully my new scifi story will do half as well. 

The inevitable Onward and upwards #amwriting As a writer I realised one day this moment would arrive. I am amazed it took so long to come. The bubble has burst on my sales. We're almost half way through the month, and I'm heading for my worst month for sales. My previous worst was 8 sales, at the present rate of sales I'll be lucky to surpass my first month on Barnes & Noble , when I sold 3 e-books in as many days. #amwritingscifi With the great success of my Science Fiction series Forgestriker   http://hereiamattheedge.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/will-my-series-reach-600-sales.html#.VcstGagViko   to keep my faint belief in my ability glowing, I am going  to attempt a novella based on my on line serial The Word . This ran as a series for 14 weeks, three years ago.  #amwritingfantasy Another ongoing project is my fantasy book Mordhiemicus . This is a Medieval story about a group of people fleeing a burning city, and fighting an evil warlord   http://h

African horror to come Akuji- Lord of the Underworlds  Free reading   This is the opening to one of my projects, the intention is to write a story of adventure in the style of Rider Haggard, like my Amazon second best selling book Did we see him?  Did we see him?   DWSH was based on a true mystery, this is fiction , or is it?   In the land of Akuji believe everything, for anything is possible. Akuji - Lord of the Underworld. "Akuji, how I wish I could forget the name, and the untold terrors it brings back to my tormented mind; alas, once heard, never forgotten. Before I proceed to tell you of the terrors I had the misfortune to witness, let me introduce myself, and explain how I came upon the name which has tormented for so many months. My name is Gregory Harding; I am the executor of my late uncle Charles Palmerston's will. You may have come across one of his works, Did we see him.  The book was a popular read among the well-to-do social circles for

Jazz on my mind                                           In dreams The main source of many of my short story selections used to be my dreams, but recently, I have stopped thinking of writing when I go to bed. The reason for this is I found out that Barnes & Noble , the top bookseller in the USA have been sending my ebook selection out free. This practise has cost me $80 a month for the last decade, this is more than I earn from writing in a year. The story Ghosts of Jazz is  based around a small jazz venue I used to frequent in Cheltenham , Gloucestershire . The club is story is a venue in the style of the old speak easy of the 1920s. A closely packed underground room, with little light, and easily missed if you didn't know where to look. The Cheltenham International Jazz Festival is the largest of its kind in the UK. On one trip to the festival I had the pleasure of listening to Ornette Coleman . The largest British festival is the Scarborough Jazz Festival , but

Teens and a mystery Three years ago I wrote this teen romance , I never expected the book to sell, after all a grown man writing teen romances - the idea amazes the brain. Debbys' Beau https://www.draft2digital.com/book/34032   has gone on to sell more copies than my last novella - A Sailors' Love   https://www.draft2digital.com/book/34522 . The two stories couldn't be further apart if they tried.  I wrote DB in an afternoon, never expecting it to sell. I lived, loved and breathed ASL for over 14 months, expecting sales , and a possible sequel. As it turned out, DB will be the one with the sequel.