Sock It To 'Em

I was watching a wonderful Monty Python sketch, called How Not To Be Seen, and it occured to me that one of the most effective forms of camouflage is to be a debut author.

After the recent "sock puppet" scandals about established writers using fake accounts to write glowing reviews of their own work, there's still the tricky issue of how to get your book known if you're just starting out.

It isn't easy. You can repeatedly spam all your Facebook friends, or blatantly ask for retweets on Twitter, or amble into Waterstone's and make vague tut-tut sounds – while these approaches may be more morally honest than sock-puppeting, they are unlikely to help promote your book. Or make you popular.

I certainly don't have all the answers. Naturally, I've done the blog/website thing, set up my Facebook page and tried to be entertaining on Twitter. I've spoken politely to some local book shops, and even printed up some flyers which are displayed around the local communities where the story is set.

Is that enough? Well, no. I'm still very much at the foot of the mountain. However, at the time of writing, Eye Contact has 16 reviews on Amazon with a very pleasing 4/5 star overall rating. None of those reviews are from me or my family, and only one of them is from somebody I know.

Why does this matter? Why don't I simply make up a few fake accounts and award myself 5 stars? Because not cheating has given me hope. Knowing those ratings are real encourages me that the series will build a following and be successful. It'll take time, but I have a 3-book deal so I can take the long view (or I could if I was a little more patient).

So thanks to everyone who's taken the trouble to review Eye Contact… and to all the dishonest authors out there, who sneakily try and rate their own books, I say "Dishonest authors, will you please stand up!"

Eye Contact

For me, this is a day of days. Ever since I was a kid, lost in the pages of Tolkien or Douglas Adams, I have dreamed of being a published author.

Over the years I've written magazine articles, and even managed to get the odd short story into print, but a proper book? That was always more of a long-term goal or, if I'm honest, more of a long-shot.

But today, my first novel is finally published by Hodder & Stoughton. Eye Contact began life as an ongoing piece of homework for a Creative Writing evening class. When I started attending that class, our tutor asked each of us what our ambitions were – I told him that I wanted to get a novel published, and that I wanted to walk into a bookshop and see a copy of it on the shelf.

Well, today, I'm off to a series of meetings in London. But on the way home, I'm going to pop into a few book shops and see if I can find a copy.

And I'm going to count myself very, very fortunate indeed.

64

Just finished reading "64 Things You Need To Know Now For Then" by Ben Hammersley, a book which considers the many ways that technology underpins and infuses daily life.

64 of those ways, in fact.

Short, snappy chapters contrast the lengthy title, each one pondering a facet of the digital age - with topics ranging from hacktivism to information overload. Crucially, the writing is accessible enough for normal people to engage with, but it's never dumb - I'm far from being a digital novice, yet there was plenty in there to surprise and intrigue me.

I love it when books make me think - when they fire my imagination - and when a non-fiction book does so, it's doubly satisfying. Ben Hammersley has created an engrossing look at our evolving digital world...

...and he's done it all from behind a truly magnificent moustache.

Another day, another victim...

Today was a truly great day. After an inauspicious start that involved sharing an early-morning train with a stag-party in full warm-up mode, I arrived in Bristol with another dead body.

I should probably qualify that.

Book Two feedback, from trusted readers and my editor, all suggested that another murder wouldn't go amiss. I already had one in mind - hinted at, but not actually shown in the draft narrative - and spent the last couple of weeks planning how it would unfold and sketching it out. By the time I got off the train this morning, the expanded version was woven into the main story, and I think it's going to work well.

It was warm in Bristol, and I walked by the waterfront before heading up to Clifton for lunch. As usual, the West Country Breakfast from BTP was heroic, and I spent a productive afternoon working through my edit notes, adjusting the order of some events, and adding a new opening section.

Already a good day, things got even better when I returned home and found a package waiting for me - my first copy of the finished Eye Contact hardback from Hodder. It looks great, and it's quite surreal to see the final version that will be in bookshops next month. I can't wait!

Don't Look Down

Until recently, I hadn't appreciated just how much worry – how much dread – would come with the completion of book two. At various points over the last year, friends have asked if writing made me feel nervous or exposed, and for some reason I was able to shrug and tell them truthfully that it didn't.

Until recently.

I never saw it coming. Naturally, completing the first draft of book two felt great, and I was able to take a break from weekends of writing. But then, as the weeks crept on, I knew it would soon be time to look at the editing, so copies went out to a few trusted friends. And that's when it happened. Perhaps the simplest way to describe it is being a little like vertigo – everything's just fine until you glance down into the abyss and suddenly you're reeling.

What if this thing that I've spent a year on doesn't work? What if it disappoints the readers? What if I got it wrong?

I've heard several authors say that their second book was harder to write than the first. In my case, the writing part seemed okay, but I was much more worried about the reaction to the second book. Perhaps because this one had something to "live up to" or perhaps simply because I really had nothing to lose the first time round.

It doesn't sound like much of an advert for being a writer. However, there is an upbeat ending to all this. For as tough as those weeks of waiting have been, there is a huge sense of achievement – seriously, it's quite overwhelming! – now that I've heard back from some people who've read it. Yes, there's still work to do – lots to tweak and polish – but the feedback has been positive and, above all, they enjoyed reading it. More than anything, that’s what I wanted... and there’s no better cure for literary vertigo.

Wheels within wheels...

It really ought to be easier than this. I need to replace my car, and I need to do it before the end of the month. I've looked around at what's out there, read reviews, narrowed the field to a few possible options, and I'm in the process of doing test-drives, etc.

I'm a bloke – this process ought to be fun, for crying out loud!

But somehow it isn't. Every vehicle I've looked at, and every dealer I've visited, has one or more negatives associated with it. One miserable salesman shook his head and insisted I'd prefer a different model. Another one told me I could get a particular discount, then immediately rowed back from it. And if I turn my attention to a used car, I feel as though I need a team of forensic motor mechanics, and a tame Trading Standards Officer in tow.

On top of all that, my previous car was great – reliable, great to drive, and really nice to look at. I'll be sad to see it go. So if it's going to cost me thousands of pounds, the process ought to be painless. It ought to be speedy and simple. It really ought to be easier than this.

Paparazzi Piece

What a pleasant surprise. Sitting at my desk, where I've just been handed the post, and the first envelope I open contains a couple of copies of Badische Zeitung - a German newspaper. And there, right across the section front page is one of my Stonehenge Solstice photos, along with two more underneath!

I've had photos published before, but seeing my work in a newspaper is a first - there's even a little Foto credit byline! Maybe one day they'll let me shoot the cover photo for one of my books...