Here I am at the edge

From nowhere to the best month Less than a week ago, this month was looking like being my worst for sales. In the last five days, my readers have turned the tables and bought ten of my e-books, this is the amount I hope to sell in a month. #GhostAdventures Other than the vast quantity of sales, one pleasing thought is the rise in interest of my ghost stories - after all before this year, that was how I gained my rep as a writer .

Mass sales With SIX sales in FOUR days, and FOUR sales in the last TWO days. I can confirm this month is not the worst of the year for my series   http://hereiamattheedge.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/forgestriker-collection.html#.VlnJ0VXhDnA .

                                 A world of repeats I can tell this is an updated post; the post asks a question which I answered many times. In my opinion, the answer to my question, sadly, is yes, writing has died. You only need to see all the rewrites of older stories; some people will say, but the younger generation didn't get to read them. My reply is put your iPad down, and use the library . This may sound arrogant, but it isn't, I know I could have written a better story than Deadwater Fell . The person who decided to turn a mediocre film, 1 1/2 hours, into a 4 hour series should be shot. The same is happening in India , years ago there was a great film called Nagin about a snake changing lady; now it has been turned into a 7 season (I don't know how many episodes) teen romance .

The best of times, the worst of times I've been trying to earn a little money from my stories for coming up on five years now, and one thing is constant.  Contrary to popular opinion, my best time is NOT #Christmas , despite the fact I made my rep writing #GhostAdventures - I hate that term - my stories are more spiritual than scary. In the last four years, Christmas has constantly been my bad period. My best months are from late March to early June .

The death of a close friend October 18th, 1989   What a way to recall my birthday   http://www.history.com/topics/1989-san-francisco-earthquake , I can still remember the news of the earthquake, and reports that only Short Wave radio messages were coming from the scene of the disaster.  On a personal note, I will always remember the day as the day I was informed a close friend had hung himself. We were never able to prove who pushed my friend to the act - we knew who did it - and even if we had proved the facts beyond doubt; nothing would have happened as the masons code of silence protected the guilty parties.

Ghost riders Contrary to what you may think, not all my dreams are about wars, ghosts and spectral imagery.  I often have dreams about the countryside in more peaceful times, and dreams of places I visited. Not all dreams are related to events in my life either, remember a dream is a gateway to your subconscious   http://hereiamattheedge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/gateway-to-subconsious.html#.VlmNOFXhDnA , but they don't need to have an apparent meaning.   Last night's dream was once such dream for me. It is no secret to my friends that I'm a motorcycle racing fan, and one of my dreams was to own a British motorcycle.  I would posit that the majority of people have heard of the Isle of Man TT races  http://www.iomtt.com/ , even if you don't know their glorious history or the exact location - you have heard about the races. The races take place during the 1st week of June, and to many racing fans, they are the highlight of the season. For a long time, I had wished

Returning to your e-reader Next month the hit series Forgestriker along with a few ghost stories will be returning, as for the other 35+ e-books, they're for the trash pile - not to worry - they never sold, so my sales won't be affected.

E-book giveaway All stock on Draft2Digital is now free Giveaway   I have finished the changes - everything on   #Draft2Digital   is free. As the majority of my 48 e-books never sold - many won't return for sale - now is the opportunity to get an e-book that will not be back for sale.

I can find no reason   Today, while logging a doctor's appointment in on my Ipad, I came across an appointment for December 3rd.  I checked at the hospital this morning after my heart scan, it wasn't booked in there, and I don't think it's for the doctor's either.  My only answer is it may have been added accidentally, I was scheduled for an ankle operation on August 3rd - but it got cancelled.

History, Art and Music Cold Lake Air Base  One of my interests is  #NativeAmerican   #Arts   and  #History and many years ago the interest landed me in trouble - mainly because the person I was with didn't understand what I said, and thought I had Shamanic abilities. I never told you her that I did. She made the leap from me saying I liked the art and respected their religious outlook to thinking I was a Shaman. #Supernatural  Tonight, I was watching an episode of the series Supernatural called Bugs . In the episode, Sam and Dean meet with a Native American to discuss the history of a patch land and find out it is cursed.  When I see a Native American actor/actress, my interest takes over, and I research their lineage as much as I can. The man in the episode is  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Herman , he was born on the Cold Lake Reservation in Alberta and died two years ago in Edmonton .  I thought I recognised the name Cold Lake, I should, in 2009 I took th

My disability Because I don't cover my leg support, I've got used to strange looks from passersby. It is an unfortunate genetic condition that I can do nothing about.  I won't hide my support and I'm sorry if it offends people but it is part of my life, and I'm not ashamed of the support.  Until today, nobody had physically shunned me. Today at a zebra crossing a lady moved away from me, as if she thought she could contract my disability.

Affiliate plan  Grammarly    There is a way to earn some money, and improve your writing at the same time. If you join Grammarly, you can sign in for an affiliate plan, every time someone enters the site, and you get mentioned, you get some cash   http://hereiamattheedge.blogspot.co.uk/p/grammarly.html#.VlXvq1XhDnA .

Grammarly re-write I started this book about three years ago and returned to it for the first time this week. My idea was with some tweaking I could make it readable for my friends - I was wrong! In a big way. In the interim time, my style and grammar have changed greatly and I can see the many flaws in the original story. Add to that Grammarly tells me that I need to re-write sections that have run-on paragraphs, and I got to the point where it would be easier to write this section of the story from the empty page, rather than correct the multitude of errors.  TBA   I have no idea when the book will be ready for my friend, and buying the book - if I did put it for sale - is pointless, unless you've read the earlier books.

Sex - one area I can't write Genres   People will tell you there are areas that some writers can't write. I thought there may be genres I couldn't write, and I am correct- I tried - last night in a desperate attempt to get some sales, I tried to write a sex story, and I failed to maintain my interest.  2012 Three years ago, I was offered a contract to write for a sex publisher in Miami ; the staff was keen to have me on board having read my posts about my ebook Sexual Explosions 1   https://www.draft2digital.com/book/32234 . The cover on this post was for another erotic romance I had planned for a couple in another story, but I never wrote the story. At the time, I had my doubts about not only writing for them but what they were asking. I have no qualms about having sexual content in my stories. A Sailor's Love   https://www.draft2digital.com/book/34522   is highly erotic in parts, but that is my point, the sections are part of a larger story, not the story. S

Writing became hard for me One of the characters in an episode of   #Fringe   I have just seen epitomised how I felt about writing.  The character said, "One day, I looked up and a few months had gone, and then I looked again and another month or two had passed. After that is was easier not to play the piano," in my case it's writing a story.

Sex on the menu Until now   Until now, I have tried to avoid writing sex stories, not that I can't write them, I was attempting to build a reputation as an original writer. Now, I don't care - if they sell, write them. Reputation   Some will ask, won't this tarnish your reputation? To these people, I will reply - what reputation? My reputation is based on the sales of one book in a seven book series - hardly anything to cause me to worry. Sales   Will people ask for my change in direction affecting my sales figures? I reply - what sales? My sales are based on the sales of the same book as my reputation - one good book in over 35 - nothing to worry over. I am not concerned that this style of writing is as far from what I sought as can be expected. If it sells, it sells, and I can deal with the bad taste in my mouth and the hollow feeling I get with some whiskey. I am an entertainer and as such I must give the crowd what it likes - in this case, sex stories , not

I know it's premature but I realise Yuletime is a good month away, I thought I'd say Merry Christmas  now as I probably won't be online until the New Year - if then. If, and that is a big IF, I return I'll probably have a new philosophy on selling. My new selling strategy will is going to be based on the lowest common denominator, gone will be decent pictures on the covers and engrossing stories with character development .  In will be, tacky covers and stories of graphic sex containing little substance. The philosophy of it sells, write it. Instead of trying to write something I'm proud of I'll chase the dollar signs. What I'm doing will leave a nasty taste in my mouth, and an emptiness in the pit of my stomach, but hey if it sells, why bother about the after-effects? 

PROGRESS A concept of realising that you have made a forward movement - like hell it is!   My advancement in writing style has led me to have to re-write - NOT EDIT - past stories. How is that progress? I end up with more work than I can handle, and for what? Today, I spent over three hours trying to edit my new Chronicles of Mark Johnson e-book, only to find it would be easier just to scrap the idea and start over. That means re-writing over 40 pages - some progress!  Thanks   Forget it, over 550 e-books sold in 18 months and not a word of thanks. Really, trashy as it is, I am considering putting out the e-book as it stands - or at least as it does when it's finished - why should I care what anyone thinks about my writing? After all, all you pay is loose change for months of work. Complaint  The next time you consider complaining, consider how long the writer took to write the book against the meagre amount you paid. To give you an idea, I'm

Limited reading The return of my demon-hunting hero Mark Johnson http://hereiamattheedge.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/mark-is-back.html#.VlRgbFXhDnA   will be for a few friends. There will be no general release of the third book in the award-winning Chronicles of Mark Johnson series.  Why? you ask.  The answer is easy - books 1 & 2 never sold, and only a few friends enjoyed the books despite them being award winners. 

A big thank you  It means the world to me I'll never who you are, or where you buy my e-books but last night a little miracle happened.  To the people who bought my e-books - I can't thank you enough. To you it was small change that you spent but to me it renewed my belief in my ability a little, at a time when I am at an all time low. Still the worst month   Last night's three sales allowed the month to reach the level of the lowest (full) month - still below the ten sales I like to aim for in a month - but the ammount sold is acceptable. 

Mark Johnson is back on the trail of the witch Today I hope to resume my stories of ex-photographer turned demon hunter Mark Johnson .  In the award-winning opening book Chronicles of Mark Johnson,   https://www.draft2digital.com/book/32117   Mark needed to face his demons to conquer external, eternal entities from other dimensions. In the sequel Wharefemere finale   https://www.draft2digital.com/book/32125 , we got to find out what happened when a lady crossed him he thought loved him. This book, although not an award winner is claimed to be a harrowing account of a man going through a mental collapse by two New York reviewers. The return   This book is going to be the turning point in the series, as Mark takes the war to the witch, in her domain with no idea if he lives or dies. But, if you know Mark, you'll know he'd rather die fighting than take it laying down like a weakling - I warn you, book 2 scared me, and this is going to be better.  Word count  

An unknown circuit For many years, I have had vivid dreams - and still do - some are nice, others are scary like the one I had two nights ago, but that's another story. This story concerns a motorcycle racing track. I admit I'm a motorbike fan. One of my dreams was to own either an AJS   http://www.ajsmotorcycles.co.uk/#!pre-74-stormer/imqjf , BSA  http://www.classic-british-motorcycles.com/bsa-motorcycles.html , or Greeves  http://www.greeves-riders.org.uk/history , but money and ill-health got in my way.  In this dream the rider in racing down a hill with banks on either side covered by trees, at the bottom there is a sharp right-hand bend. That is how I know it's a motorcycle track, not a track used for car racing as a car wouldn't be able to make the turn. I have researched the topic for many years to no avail. My first thought was Knickerbrook at Oulton Park  but the track is flat and my dream clearly showed a downhill section through woods.  After many

I never found rhyme or reason  Shortly before leaving RAF Lossiemouth http://www.raf.mod.uk/raflossiemouth / , in Scotland, for my overseas posting to RAF Laarbruch, in Germany http://www.forgottenairfields.com/germany/north-rhine-westphalia/dusseldorf/laarbruch-s443.html . I received a parcel from RAF Cottesmore http://www.thunder-and-lightnings.co.uk/spotting/cottesmore.php . The arrival of the package in itself was a mystery but to get one from Cottesmore was even more mysterious.  The first question I was asked was "Who did I know at Cottesmore?"   The answer is nobody.  At the time, I had a book listing airfields in the UK, before I confided in my book I asked the Corporals and our Sgt. if they knew where RAF Cottesmore was, nobody had the slightest idea.   Being a bit of a history buff, I had some idea of the location of the former USAAF bases in Norfolk , so RAF Coltishall http://www.spiritofcoltishall.com/history   wouldn't have surprised me - I did h

Styling the thrust I put the success of the early e-books in my series Forgestriker down to my high-action style of writing.  I say, "I wrote my stories like Mickey Spillane , not Jane Austen "   - please don't misunderstand me, I have masses of admiration for Ms. Austen's work but it isn't my style.  I have the tendency to write action stories, with action all the way - hence the short stories - there is some detail, only what I feel is relevant. The same goes for language content; I don't use profanity for its sake. If it's in the story, I feel it suits the mood of the story; men under stress and pressure swear when things go wrong, it would be wrong not to include some swearing during intense situations. Weirdness    One thing I can do, I have been told it heightens the tension, is to get into the character of the story. I find it easy to think myself into the story and write as if I was the lead character.  That is the reason when a story f

Is there life beyond our galaxy? I forget which well-known scientist said he thought our planet is the only one with life - as we know it - in existence. This statement coming from a man with a high reputation in the world of science is fantastic in its arrogance.  There are so many factors to consider, not least is that we know so little about our galaxy and the world of astronomy is ever expanding our knowledge of our surrounding  http://us.blastingnews.com/tech/2015/11/a-tronomer-start-on-huge-chile-tele-sore-exrest-ng-to-f-nd-l-fe-on-other-planets-00654379.html .  The subject of science is too vast to believe we are the only life in the galaxy. If that was the case, what is hidden in  Area 51 , and why is it still top secret?  How do you explain the  Nazca lines  or  doppelgangers ?  http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/identical-looking-strangers-seated-together-on-plane-and-in-same-hotel/?utm_source=fark&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=goodnewsnetwork .  Las

Amazon and Shelfari   I made a large change to my blog today. Previously, I had my stock of books in a bookcase from the site Shelfari . As the site is an off-shoot from Amazon , and I am not selling there - I saw no need to keep the shelves up.  Honour roll A minor change made today is the unlisting of the page - Honour roll - I started the page when I had a few sales on Amazon, and I entered writing contests. There has been no good news - other than the success of   http://hereiamattheedge.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/forgestriker-collection.html#.Vk4_mFXhDnA   and even that success has dried up this month.  WIP  I considered starting a page with extracts from my new works but I gave up that idea - nobody is interested in buying anything - and I put out  #FREE   tidbits now and then.

I sit in my chair, writing these blogs for you to read, and the constant thoughts running through my mind are - Does it matter what I write? People will read almost anything as long as it's free. I accepted many things this year; some are good while others are not.  I came to accept that while I may be a good writer - I must be good, the blog gets over 350 readers a day - people are unwilling to buy my e-books. This proves my earlier thought that people will read this as long as it's free.  I am trying to regain the confidence I once had with my writing ability. This will be a long and perilous road, always in the back of my mind are the recent failings - perhaps they'll make my writing sharper and more intense; something that was shown with the interest in my recent excerpt from a new story. Again, this proves nothing to me, I had lots of interest in Chronicles of Mark Johnson , and people asking when A Sailor's Love was going to be published - only for both b

Amazon ratings are beyond laughable Getting to the point. My Amazon ratings fell off the chart this week, like an ice cube in the Nevada desert - but I am beyond caring.  I get told I need the coverage for my sales, I think I can afford to miss the two sales every three months - if I'm lucky. If you want to find me, the easiest way is to look on Draft2Digital , or Barnes & Noble , they are the only people who have helped me sell books in the last 19 months.

What a change! Two months ago, the sales ran at 9 out of 10 days of the month; I had a sale. This month, it's almost down to one-a-week.  This month is my worst on Barnes & Noble - including Jan 2013 when I joined. That month, I sold as many as I have this month, and I was only on site for three days. Christmas   The holiday period makes no change to my sales figures, even if I put e-books for free, as I did last year. I did that to see if the free books would induce sale; my sales continued to slump until March - there goes that fallacy - giving presents to get sales.  Another fallacy is that a lot of blog reads could mean interest in the books - don't believe it - my award-winning e-book  Chronicles of Mark Johnson  was all over the internet for months and never sold.  I had the same reaction to my erotic love story A Sailor's Love - months before its release people were saying they wanted copies - so many lies , I don't take any notice anymore. I

                                                    Dignity For years, and to this day, I had colleagues in the writing community, who asked why didn't I shout about my success as a writer ? I have several reasons, my dignity will not let me praise myself as I view self-praise as no praise. I would rather repeat what someone says something nice about my work than spout my praises. My friend Julia who lives in Seattle told me she thinks I am an excellent short story writer. My daughter, Alex, told me she doesn't know anyone who can engage her so quickly in a story as I am able to. Then there is also how do I see myself? In short, not a success despite my  bestselling science fiction series  -  https://hereiamattheedge.blogspot.com/2015/09/my-best-sellers-keep-selling.html  - or for the award -winning short story selection    https://books.apple.com/ us/book/id808235642 I wrote over a decade ago. One of the reasons I don't blow my own horn is I don't feel worthy as a

Futureproof From time to time, my friend Julia will ask me to evaluate software, and I am happy to oblige as she has helped me a lot. Grammarly  I can say in all honesty Grammarly is the best editing tool I have used. It is far better than Microsoft Word , and for the little extra you pay, you get far better value and something that is easy to use.  Futureproof   At the other end of the rope is Futureproof - I can not recommend this software.  From the outset, the program looked cheap and gimmicky. The system relies on you visiting various lists to perform the most minor of changes. Word/ phrase changing  On FP, you need to run a line through the words and access a list of options to delete the phrase. Most people are capable of backspacing, and what you miss Grammarly will delete at a click. If you want to change the words in a phrase, you can circle them and access another list of options. Grammarly will not only do this for you but sometimes give you a variation of p

Avenging Angel  This segment is an excerpt from my new story about a priest on a mission.  The two cops looked down at the body slumped against the wall, and the victim was a male, in his 30's and from his clothes, he was an out-of-towner. It is easy to tell the out-of-towners by their clothes. The clothes were high quality, designed for style, not for durability. The folks who lived in Kedgetown had got used to the foul smells given off by the power plants, and the waste piles that covered the tight lanes. Style meant nothing when within minutes of walking out of your house, you got coated in ash, and the smell of refuse clung to you like an evil-smelling cloak. Joe Hash – a former policeman – now a low-grade collector of the dead bodies that littered the streets glanced at his colleague, Pete Frome, and said, "Same M.O. as the last one?" Pete didn’t need more than a brief glance. The pose, card, and Biblical quote were identical. "Sure, what did you

Imagination can be good, but be careful The mind is like a city, some roads lead to pleasant dreams, and others are blocked for our safety.  For as long as I've written stories, I wondered did I have a weird mind that fed on coffee, or was I just a good storyteller?  In recent times, I have cut back on my caffeine intake, but this hasn't stopped the weird dreams.  I shall have to remember not to watch my favourite programs like  #Fringe ,  #X-Files ,  #Warehouse 13   and  #Supernatural   immediately before I go to bed. 

A spooky story I have always been a lover of cats, but not all of my furry companions have loved me. One such was my stepson's kitten "Fluff," she was a tabby with a temper, that she usually took out on me. From the time we met, until shortly before she died, she never liked me. Her attitude changed in the last year of her life, not because she was older but for one weird instance, that I cannot explain.   The cats  - Fluff and her mother, Softy - had the lower floor to themselves on a nighttime, and we slept in the master bedroom, the room furthest away from the kitchen.    On the night in question, we were fast asleep - when to my dying day - I will swear I heard my name called. The call was so clear it woke me with a chill.  I dashed downstairs, to find Fluff trapped beneath an ironing board, the dislodged board had fallen across her back and trapped her against a wall. She had a severely damaged spine but lived for about another year. From that day, we we

My reasons for leaving Facebook I have many reasons, and not all are known  With the growing antisemitism  on Facebook , I came to the conclusion that I am better leaving a site which supports Jew-hating.  Antisemitism is the latest reason. I have been thinking about leaving for months. Facebook does nothing for my blogs or sales. Each day, I used to add four or five blogs to my profile and for what? Five or six readers, in the end the site became useless to me - I do better on Google and Klout . The Times They Are A Changing   They certainly are changing times. Two years ago, a lady I had the unfortunate happenstance of knowing threatened to have me reported and ejected from Facebook for comments about her - at that time, I pleaded to stay on - I ran a small help page for a few writers. Now, the tide has turned and I am walking away.

War on Islam The latest outrages done by ISIS in Paris  reminded me of a little-known 1970s film - Is Paris burning? The latest crimes include not only attacks on innocent Jews but the hunting of innocent disabled people .  You may think this incredulous act of barbarism not real in the 21st century , but you need to remember most of the Islamic states  are still living in the Middle Ages.

Can the improbale happen?  There is a strong possiblity that for the first time in nearly two years, my sales on Amazon will be more than the sales on Draft2Digital .  This is not to say my Amazon sales are good, more to emphasise that without a miraculous sales boost this month will be my worst on Barnes & Noble. In January 2013, I joined Barnes & Noble and in the last three days of the month, I sold more than I have in the first two weeks of this month.  My worst month prior to this month was June 2014, when I sold 7 e-books, even that low appears beyond my reach this month.

Some things worked, lots of things failed for me. When I started, I was told it would take ten years to get my work recognized; here I am after 15 years and no further on. Amazon  Most people's first port of call is useless unless you have a name people can relate to items for sale.  Apple Apple has become the go-to site -    https://books.apple.com/us/author/alan-place/id504489780     - to buy my ebooks. Draft2Digital  D2D is the best site to use for distribution - https://www.draft2digital.com/book /  - the site is also continually taking on new platforms to help sales. Overall view on the past . I had a little success on Draft2Digital for about three years, but nothing has sold in any amount for the last decade, though I have tried different genres to attract readers.

Why not write for free? Being paid to write  The idea of paying to read my stories appears to be an alien concept to my readers. While I write my blog, and it's FREE the blog will continue to thrive. For the last year or two, I have considered and rejected the idea of putting my stories on here FREE . If not to you, my time is valuable to me.  Why write for free?   Let me be brutally honest with you, despite what my friends may tell me about being one of the best sci-fi writers they read - writing does NOT, nor will it ever pay. In 18 months, I averaged less than $1.50 a week, and this is considered good.  Now, you can see my dilemma; writing doesn't make my time worth the effort, on the other hand, why should I put it on here FREE ?  This blog gets over 300 readers most days, but this leads nowhere. I asked myself many times - Is it popular for its variety, or because it's free?  My friends will say variety is drawing the readers in, I tend to the latter - pe