I've just returned from a 3 - week trip to the UK to visit family, taking in Paris, London Cardiff and a brief stop in San Francisco airport. After 10 years, my impression of the UK was - what recession? There are more retail outlets than ever, with a constant stream of people emerging from them laden with bags of 'bargains'.
A new phenomenon was the ubiquitous Apple Store where people seem to just stand around in huge numbers gently stroking Ipad screens. A bit like a nightclub but without the booze. Or dim lighting. Or music. No one seemed to be successful though. Not one person seemed to be leaving having actually secured the services of the aforementioned Ipad. They are, after all, not a cheap date.
The other trend I encountered was the apparent insatiable appetite for German cars. The M3, M25 and M4 motorways were choked with a seemingly endless variety of Mercedes and BMW's, with a few Audis and frequent VWs thrown in as well. I swear the same sporty black Merc kept lapping me on the M25.
In book news, I took a few copies of Milkshake to give to friends and relatives. I decided it would be a bit of fun to leave my last copy in the departure lounge of Terminal 3 at Heathrow.
I wrote inside asking the finder to pass the book on when they'd finished and note their brief possesion on the Milkshake facebook page So I sat down, carefully placed the book on the empty chair next to me and then waited until the cleaners had passed by before walking away.It felt a bit like one of those subtle document drops you see in spy movies. Only later did I remember that the opening chapter is actually set in a Heathrow departure lounge in 2002.
The sequel to Milkshake is currently with 4 beta readers, one of whom has already given me plenty of feedback to work on now I'm back in front of a proper PC rather than a netbook which seems to have about 20 minutes battery life before needing re-charging.
Incidentally, it was nice to see how many locations offering free wifi also offered the chance to re-charge laptops etc free of charge.
I'm off to start work on amending the first draft of TheDestiny Stone. It's 6.40am and I've already been up for 2 hours thanks to jet lag!
Sunday, April 29, 2012
Sunday, April 1, 2012
Blog 12 Beta readers and a fly on the wall
An update on beta readers for the Milkshake sequel; The Destiny Stone. Thanks to some generous offers, I have 3 willing readers (2 in New Zealand and 1 in Australia), who have agreed to go through the draft in the next couple of weeks.
In Milkshake news I had an interesting experience this week. A work colleague has purchased the paperback version from The Book Depository (free worldwide delivery) and keeps asking me about various aspects as she reads. Meanwhile, my manager has downloaded the e book onto her Ipad from the Amazon.com site. On Thursday I overheard them discussing what page they were up to, what had happened so far and how much they were enjoying it.... all without acknowledging I was actually in the room! This proved to be far more immediate and worthwhile than any written review I've ever had!
Incidentally I now have 10 reviews on American Amazon and 7 on the UK version.
Also this week, Milkshake had been reviewed on the popular and well-respected KIWIreviews website. It'll be interesting to see whether or not it generates any sales at all.
Milkshake has now been on sale since mid-October 2011. I understand this week the publisher gets all the royalties and sales details from places like Smashwords (and all its affiliates; Kobo, Barnes & Noble etc) and Amazon. Once the figures are passed on, it'll be my first indication of actual sales numbers.
In Milkshake news I had an interesting experience this week. A work colleague has purchased the paperback version from The Book Depository (free worldwide delivery) and keeps asking me about various aspects as she reads. Meanwhile, my manager has downloaded the e book onto her Ipad from the Amazon.com site. On Thursday I overheard them discussing what page they were up to, what had happened so far and how much they were enjoying it.... all without acknowledging I was actually in the room! This proved to be far more immediate and worthwhile than any written review I've ever had!
Incidentally I now have 10 reviews on American Amazon and 7 on the UK version.
Also this week, Milkshake had been reviewed on the popular and well-respected KIWIreviews website. It'll be interesting to see whether or not it generates any sales at all.
Milkshake has now been on sale since mid-October 2011. I understand this week the publisher gets all the royalties and sales details from places like Smashwords (and all its affiliates; Kobo, Barnes & Noble etc) and Amazon. Once the figures are passed on, it'll be my first indication of actual sales numbers.
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Blog 11. How social is a social network?
This afternoon I finished the sequel to Milkshake . Unlike Milkshake which I struggled to title until re-reading the final draft, this sequel had a title virtually from the first page.
The Destiny Stone is complete at just under 78,000 words.
No-one has read it yet.
I've decided I need a few Beta readers to check things like plot, if the various timelines integrate with each other as well as grammar and spellings etc.
So as a small experiment in the power of social networking, I've advertised for Beta readers on Facebook, Twitter, and the website of my publisher, Night. One fellow Night author has already kindly agreed to read it through, on the basis of enjoying and being a staunch support of Milkshake.
It will be interesting to see where (if any) the offers come from, how many I get, and also what feedback I eventually get from them.
I'll keep you posted.
The Destiny Stone is complete at just under 78,000 words.
No-one has read it yet.
I've decided I need a few Beta readers to check things like plot, if the various timelines integrate with each other as well as grammar and spellings etc.
So as a small experiment in the power of social networking, I've advertised for Beta readers on Facebook, Twitter, and the website of my publisher, Night. One fellow Night author has already kindly agreed to read it through, on the basis of enjoying and being a staunch support of Milkshake.
It will be interesting to see where (if any) the offers come from, how many I get, and also what feedback I eventually get from them.
I'll keep you posted.
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
BLOG 10 - The Pirate Blog
Someone at work boasted at having found a site with 'free' e books.
They'd downloaded 300.
I may have downloaded free music in the past - certainly not 300 albums in one go.
But at least with music, it doesn't require your undivided attention. You could easily load 300 albums onto your Ipod and play them in the background while you go about your business. However, a book requires a semblance on concentration and engagement. You'd probably have to stop most things to read a book.
I hasten to add I've since changed my attitude to online piracy since becoming an unwilling victim of Cap'n (phone) Jack
So why on earth download 300 different titles at once at once? Think about it. Isn't that just literary looting for the sake of it?
I've yet to receive any royalties for 'Milkshake' Its been for sale for nearly 5 months and I'm due my first royalty sometime this month.
I'm not holding my breath. I haven't ordered the Porsche. I haven't booked a celebratory table at a flash restaurant in anticipation. With the amount I'm expecting I'm confident Macca's don't take reservations.
'Milkshake' has been variously priced @ 99c (75p) for the ebook and $11.99 (7.50GBP). One sale; ANY sale is a significant event, both for my ego and, eventually my bank account.
I'm not against free books, or free digital content in general. in fact I'd rather someone read for free, than not read for the sake of 99c. I can fully understand the clever marketing logic of offering an online title for free for a limited period to drive traffic to a particular title before adding a price back onto it.
So please consider the author next time internet temptation stares at you from your PC screen. I read a slogan recently along the lines of 'ebook - took 2 years to write - cost 99c. Cappacino. Took 3 minutes to make - cost $4.00.'
See you next time.
They'd downloaded 300.
I may have downloaded free music in the past - certainly not 300 albums in one go.
But at least with music, it doesn't require your undivided attention. You could easily load 300 albums onto your Ipod and play them in the background while you go about your business. However, a book requires a semblance on concentration and engagement. You'd probably have to stop most things to read a book.
I hasten to add I've since changed my attitude to online piracy since becoming an unwilling victim of Cap'n (phone) Jack
So why on earth download 300 different titles at once at once? Think about it. Isn't that just literary looting for the sake of it?
I've yet to receive any royalties for 'Milkshake' Its been for sale for nearly 5 months and I'm due my first royalty sometime this month.
I'm not holding my breath. I haven't ordered the Porsche. I haven't booked a celebratory table at a flash restaurant in anticipation. With the amount I'm expecting I'm confident Macca's don't take reservations.
'Milkshake' has been variously priced @ 99c (75p) for the ebook and $11.99 (7.50GBP). One sale; ANY sale is a significant event, both for my ego and, eventually my bank account.
I'm not against free books, or free digital content in general. in fact I'd rather someone read for free, than not read for the sake of 99c. I can fully understand the clever marketing logic of offering an online title for free for a limited period to drive traffic to a particular title before adding a price back onto it.
So please consider the author next time internet temptation stares at you from your PC screen. I read a slogan recently along the lines of 'ebook - took 2 years to write - cost 99c. Cappacino. Took 3 minutes to make - cost $4.00.'
See you next time.
Monday, February 27, 2012
Blog 9 - Just a quickie
I haven't blogged for over a month. Time for a brief catch up then.
Mr Dotcom is out on bail and the hysteria over his wealth and lifestyle appears to have died down now the court process has started to get bogged down in the inevitable procedural sludge. You see? This is where real life differs from the edited and stylized imagery of fiction.
Meanwhile, the debate continues in NZ over the proposed purchase of vast tracts of arable dairy land by a Chinese-based company. If you've read 'Milkshake' then you'll know this real-life scenario in some way mirrors the plot. But as with the Mr Dotcom saga, life is very slow when it comes to mirroring art.
Last week 'Milkshake' finally went on sale in a real bookshop! Page & Blackmore in Nelson have taken half a dozen copies, so now locals can go in and peruse, poke and ponder before purchasing.
I may have to have a third and final attempt to get the local media to sit up and take notice by sending out yet another self penned press release.
I was very happy to see a tenth review on Amazon.com, and a five star one at that! Apparently George Polley in Japan purchased a paperback version and gave me a very generous review.
Finally, the first draft of the sequel 'The Destiny Stone' is nearing completion after just over a year and 75,000 words. It should be ready for anyone who wishes to 'beta read' in the next few weeks.
Mr Dotcom is out on bail and the hysteria over his wealth and lifestyle appears to have died down now the court process has started to get bogged down in the inevitable procedural sludge. You see? This is where real life differs from the edited and stylized imagery of fiction.
Meanwhile, the debate continues in NZ over the proposed purchase of vast tracts of arable dairy land by a Chinese-based company. If you've read 'Milkshake' then you'll know this real-life scenario in some way mirrors the plot. But as with the Mr Dotcom saga, life is very slow when it comes to mirroring art.
Last week 'Milkshake' finally went on sale in a real bookshop! Page & Blackmore in Nelson have taken half a dozen copies, so now locals can go in and peruse, poke and ponder before purchasing.
I may have to have a third and final attempt to get the local media to sit up and take notice by sending out yet another self penned press release.
I was very happy to see a tenth review on Amazon.com, and a five star one at that! Apparently George Polley in Japan purchased a paperback version and gave me a very generous review.
Finally, the first draft of the sequel 'The Destiny Stone' is nearing completion after just over a year and 75,000 words. It should be ready for anyone who wishes to 'beta read' in the next few weeks.
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Blog 8 - Only one thing is stranger than fiction...
Before Christmas I blogged vaguely about how, since the publication of Milkshake, life seemed to be imitating art. I put the details on the Facebook page, but I'll also now detail them here as well .
Dec 4 - NZ news website Stuff reports the NZ dairy herd is growing faster than the human population - predicted in Milkshake
Dec 5 - The BBC reports on plans to harness desert sunlight and transmit the captured energy north, to Europe. Again, predicted as a throwaway line in Milkshake as The Felin Project in the initial draft written nearly 7 years ago and retained in the final version!
Dec 6 - Another 'Milkshake Moment' in the media as the NZ airforce finally take delivery of the NH90 helicopter they are secretly testing (in the book) in 2002. I wrote that in 2006.
Dec 17 - Things started to get just a little freaky as some political commentators in NZ started focusing on the Green Party and how their agenda may not be all it seems? Without giving away the plot, in Milkshake the Ecological Political Assembly (of) New Zealand are not quite the good guys everyone assumes them to be.
Things went quiet in the media while the world enjoyed a well-earned break.
Then....
Like some modern-day Ian Fleming villain, an overweight, unfeasibly-named, over-smiling black-clad Teutonic overlord with a penchant for fast cars and faster women and a secretive empire globally dominant in it's chosen field, is arrested in a protected safe room in his $30million mansion...............in New Zealand.
New Zealand?? sleepy little nuclear-free, hobbit-loving clean and green Aotearoa?
How could such a person and his cohorts, this tallest and widest of tall poppies, have lived under our very noses undetected, untroubled by the media? Did no-one ever see that Lady Penelope pink Cadillac cruising down the leafy lanes around Dotcom Manor? Are we really to believe that such a person is able to live and control his empire from a small island tucked away in the bottom corner of the world?
What do you think made New Zealand the ideal location for this mega-villain's lair?
Are we not all just a little shocked that such a character not only exists at all, but chose, it seems to base his operations here?
Kim Dotcom has made me smile. He clearly watched far too much TV as a child and thought he could actually be Dr No while living on Tracey Island, manipulating how and when the online community watches and listens to whatever it was they wished to download.
I bet the Police found an underground bunker, the wall lined with TV's and a counter showing how many $$$'s were being earned by the hour.
The point of all this is to show that, as far-fetched and fictional as Milkshake might appear to be, it's no where near as unbelievable as the unfolding story of the unlikely-named Kim Dotcom.
Dec 4 - NZ news website Stuff reports the NZ dairy herd is growing faster than the human population - predicted in Milkshake
Dec 5 - The BBC reports on plans to harness desert sunlight and transmit the captured energy north, to Europe. Again, predicted as a throwaway line in Milkshake as The Felin Project in the initial draft written nearly 7 years ago and retained in the final version!
Dec 6 - Another 'Milkshake Moment' in the media as the NZ airforce finally take delivery of the NH90 helicopter they are secretly testing (in the book) in 2002. I wrote that in 2006.
Dec 17 - Things started to get just a little freaky as some political commentators in NZ started focusing on the Green Party and how their agenda may not be all it seems? Without giving away the plot, in Milkshake the Ecological Political Assembly (of) New Zealand are not quite the good guys everyone assumes them to be.
Things went quiet in the media while the world enjoyed a well-earned break.
Then....
Like some modern-day Ian Fleming villain, an overweight, unfeasibly-named, over-smiling black-clad Teutonic overlord with a penchant for fast cars and faster women and a secretive empire globally dominant in it's chosen field, is arrested in a protected safe room in his $30million mansion...............in New Zealand.
New Zealand?? sleepy little nuclear-free, hobbit-loving clean and green Aotearoa?
How could such a person and his cohorts, this tallest and widest of tall poppies, have lived under our very noses undetected, untroubled by the media? Did no-one ever see that Lady Penelope pink Cadillac cruising down the leafy lanes around Dotcom Manor? Are we really to believe that such a person is able to live and control his empire from a small island tucked away in the bottom corner of the world?
What do you think made New Zealand the ideal location for this mega-villain's lair?
Are we not all just a little shocked that such a character not only exists at all, but chose, it seems to base his operations here?
Kim Dotcom has made me smile. He clearly watched far too much TV as a child and thought he could actually be Dr No while living on Tracey Island, manipulating how and when the online community watches and listens to whatever it was they wished to download.
I bet the Police found an underground bunker, the wall lined with TV's and a counter showing how many $$$'s were being earned by the hour.
The point of all this is to show that, as far-fetched and fictional as Milkshake might appear to be, it's no where near as unbelievable as the unfolding story of the unlikely-named Kim Dotcom.
Saturday, December 17, 2011
Blog Seven - Inevitable Coincidences?
As I was writing Milkshake I often found life imitating art.
A version of something I made up would suddenly be mentioned in the NZ media, or at least to my ear, it would sound like a familiar scenario.
Now I find the situation reversed. With the book out for over 2 months, stories are appearing in the NZ press which eerily mirror some incidents in the book.
Milkshake could be seen as a cautionary tale; its a 'what if?' or 'speculative fiction' story, showing the reader an alternative, slightly skewed but almost believable version of the present, or recent past. I'm therefore sensitive any events in 'real life' which appear to, in some way, be echoing the fiction in my story.
Three such events have already reared their head in recent weeks.
Am I just hyper sensitive to these news stories, given my feeling that I 'predicted' them over 5 years ago? or am I just warping innocent current affairs to fit my purpose?
I'll let you decide by checking out the links to three recent news stories via the milkshake Facebook page
Of course, you will have needed to have read the book to get the point!
A version of something I made up would suddenly be mentioned in the NZ media, or at least to my ear, it would sound like a familiar scenario.
Now I find the situation reversed. With the book out for over 2 months, stories are appearing in the NZ press which eerily mirror some incidents in the book.
Milkshake could be seen as a cautionary tale; its a 'what if?' or 'speculative fiction' story, showing the reader an alternative, slightly skewed but almost believable version of the present, or recent past. I'm therefore sensitive any events in 'real life' which appear to, in some way, be echoing the fiction in my story.
Three such events have already reared their head in recent weeks.
Am I just hyper sensitive to these news stories, given my feeling that I 'predicted' them over 5 years ago? or am I just warping innocent current affairs to fit my purpose?
I'll let you decide by checking out the links to three recent news stories via the milkshake Facebook page
Of course, you will have needed to have read the book to get the point!
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