Things People Say. First Blog Post For Three Months.

Things People say.

First blog post for months. Been away, travelling; been unwell too. Both good reasons for neglecting my blog. Better get back on track though or risk uncharitable assumptions of indolence.

So, Jake, anything happened recently? Quite a lot., but as far as writing goes, the main development has been my ongoing battle with Amazon; the seemingly endless attempt to make my new book, Ramblings of a Deluded Soul, free on Kindle.

I always intended the new book, containing many of the disparate musings first seen in this blog, to be free. It’s a self-indulgent project in many ways, was never intended to be a novel, despite it being ‘novel length’ at over 125,000 words. No, this one’s free, both in USA and UK, as a gesture of defiance to Amazon’s attempt at world domination.

A while back I attended a conference in York where we were offered the chance to pitch our books to agents and publishers on a one-to-one basis. The first publisher I met with had read my manuscript in advance. She told me it had ‘commercial viability – her dreadful phrase, not mine – but she’d decided against taking me on ‘in view of the uncertainty in the industry at this time.’

Fair enough, I thought. No problem with that and, indeed I would have walked away happy with my faint ration of praise if she hadn’t added, ‘I wish I’d met you twenty years ago when you still had a long run of books in you.’ A phrase I wasn’t likely to forget in a hurry. Despite appearances (!) I have no immediate plans to become geriatric. I may not be the man I used to be, but could probably still persuade my aged fingers to tap out a word here and there for the foreseeable future. Oh well, it’s a cruel world.

I’ve been down the rent boy route: flogging my novels to publishers, all of whom managed to successfully contain their excitement. The similarity in the manner they express rejection gave me cause for concern. Surely by now someone in the industry could have come up with something better than, ‘we like it, but don’t love it,’ ‘in the uncertain financial climate we’re not taking on any new clients – unless you’re a footballer or have large breasts.’ (They don’t actually mention the large breasts, but the implication is there!) or, ‘we’re already in discussion with an author on a similar project.’

I decided to take my precious novel in hand and published it as an E-book on the Amazon Kindle platform. After a couple of months it leapt into the Amazon Top Ten and continues to sell thousands of copies.

Selling books in such high numbers, one gets noticed. I’ve spoken at length to several editors, agents and publishers, in person, over the past months. One smart-suited representative of the Big Six told me I had talent, my books were commercial, but had concerns about my inflexible nature. He said, ‘if I wanted you to change a significant section of your book, I get the impression you’d say no.’ Well, yes, I would. It’s my book, not an editor’s idea of my book. I’ve had similar chats with other publishers. All want a modicum of control over output, when to produce a new book, even what it should be about. That doesn’t appeal to me at all.

I never think of myself as a writer. I write, when the mood takes me, but that’s as far as it goes. Being in control of my own life; that’s important. I’ve been ill recently. Not Mickey Mouse ‘man flu’ either but fluid in lungs, gasping for breath ill. My doctor said I should be in hospital. I said no. My long-suffering wife shrugged her shoulders at the doctor, saying ‘he’s an awkward bugger.’ Fair comment, I suppose. She knows me better than anyone.

We’ve talked at length about the books, writing, what to do next. All that stuff. An agent in whose company I spent an entire morning a while ago rings me every week. He’s persistent, very keen and always stresses the amount of money I could earn if I allowed him a free rein in representing me. Last week I told him I was putting my new book out as a free book. He was horrified. ‘It’s not about money’, I said. Long silence on telephone line. My dilemma in a nutshell.

I know what I want. Better than anyone else. I’m better off doing my own thing. In my own way. The awkward bugger’s system.

Ramblings of a Deluded Soul – Free in UK

Ramblings of a Deluded Soul – Free in USA