....yes it's NaNoWriMo time again.

...and what more I've learnt.

Click on the Ellipses (...) button and select Promote and Advertise.

...and what I did this last weekend.

...and what I dislike about it already.

For those out of the loop if people now if people borrow George and the Dragon via Kindle Unlimited the way I get recompensed for this is via the number of pages red.

Here's a look at the chart I'm presented with that shows my Kindle Edition Normalized Pages (KENP) Read.



There are two huge spike, one over 500 and the most recent is 149. In between this there is a tiny blip of 5 pages on 13 July.

Now I'll be the first to admit sales of George and the Dragon aren't huge but this data is so incomplete I find it hard to be able to extrapolate anything from it.

It doesn't tell me how many pages it considers George to be. On the Amazon website it shows:

Length: 248 pages

So let's go with that.

How many people have borrowed George and the Dragon? I have no idea the data isn't available to me.

How many people have read the book in its entirety? Again I have no idea.

Does this data represent pages read that day or pages read over any kind of time or, as I suspect, pages read since the reader's Kindle device last connected to the internet.

Does this represent 60 people having read 10 pages each who then read no more of the book or 3 people who have all finished it but the data hasn't quite caught up with one or more of them.

Another issue I have is that I still have no idea how to consolidate this data along with my standard sales figures so I can get some idea of how well the book is doing when I look back over time.

All-in-all I can't use this data and have no idea how many people this is reaching.

George and the Dragon will be Free for all on Kindle on 1-3 August.

Once this promotion has completed and my 3 months initial subscription to Kindle Unlimited expires I don't think I will be continuing with it.

It was something I had to try for myself and it was unfortunate that Amazon changed things while I was doing it but I have learnt from it and that was important.

Phil

...or use an alternative?" he queried.

...does anyone really know?

...or how big is your dragon?

Twitter followers: 51,975  Facebook page likes: 935

...or getting the words onto the page.

Back on subject my plan is to finish the first draft of the sequel before the end of the month. I expect it to be about the same length as my first novel so I've got about 35,000 words to write or about a 1000 a day.

I've come to the conclusion it's almost impossible for me to write at the weekends. I simply don't get a break from the family. It makes it impossible to get into the story and start to type it in to Scrivener.
So my usual time to write is on the train to and from work, that's about 40 minutes each way or 1hr 20 in total. I can hit 800 words on a good day in 40 minutes. However, as I've discussed before in this blog I find it really hard to write when I'm tired.

This evening I managed 148 words and then fell asleep on the train. Not a good way to start the month and to hit my target. So if you take out the weekends

I've got about twenty days and 1,500 words a day to complete. It's like a mini NaNoWriMo :)

Wish me luck.

 Phil

Twitter followers: 51,038  Facebook page likes: 860

..or 'How do you go about naming a book?'

Twitter followers: 49,548  Facebook page likes: 843

...dragons

So I've been trying to figure out Goodreads and have discovered that you can add books to certain lists.

Once a book is added to a list it can then be voted for by other people which in turn raises it up the list increasing its profile in the process.

Add a book to enough lists and you should be able to see it included in multiple lists like this:

This is where you come in. What I hoping I can persuade a few of you to do is vote for George and the Dragon so that it moves up these lists and into a more favorable position.

If you click on the following link, or the image above, it will take you to the list of lists that George and the Dragon has been added to.

https://www.goodreads.com/list/book/22967575

Any likes on any of the lists will be gratefully appreciated.

Thanks

Phil

Twitter followers: 48,794  Facebook page likes: 841

...well not quite all.

If you've got an Android phone or tablet you can also fin it on the Play store:


You can also buy the book via Barnes & Noble in both paperback and eBook formats.

If you're in the UK then it's also available on KOBO.

If you do read it and enjoy it the please leave me a review.

Thanks

Phil

Twitter followers: 48,280  Facebook page likes: 841

...Eureka moments.

...but never made the final cut.

Today is the day we celebrate the cowardly knight St George killing a baby dragon, what a heroic deed that was. Spitfire certainly doesn't think so!



To celebrate this I thought I would share with you 10 things that could have happened in George and the Dragon but never made it past the editing stage.

1. George aged unnaturally so he could bond romantically with Emily.  He ended up tearing out of his clothes but it didn't really work and was vetoed by my sister who was heavily involved in the early editing of the novel.

2. There was a coven formed of mystics, shamans, warlocks etc from different nationalities there were responsible for summoning Spitfire.  Except for the spell the coven were largely in the way and their roles otherwise in the book were easily filled by the two scientists on their own.

3. Originally a French female spy went on the trip with George and Emily to London.  She was to have a German rival but anything she offered the narrative could easily be distributed to Squadron Leader Andy McKnight and Section Officer Caroline King.

4. The shopkeeper was Chinese. He was called Bai Hu and was the personification of the White Tiger of the West. He was a master with the spear amongst other abilities. In the end I felt it was better not to mix eastern and western mythologies. Although looking forward to the introduction of the Japanese into the war and I guess it becomes inevitable in some way.


5. Group Captain Ford was an expert fencer, having won awards during his time spent at Cambridge. I guess this never changed but the fight in which he demonstrates his prowess was removed as it served no purpose to the overall narrative.

6. The original message between George and his mother overwhelms her and she is taken to the medical room at Camelot.  The coven then seek to revive her.  It was a clumsy attempt to make the coven more useful and was removed when they were removed.

7. The original coven survives the attack on George's uncle's mansion via teleportation.  Teleportation was a magical device I used a few times but it felt like an easy way to solve various situations and the tunnel concept I used in this scene has a much more realistic feel to it,

8. There was a fight on the train home from London which resulted in half a carriage being destroyed. George unleashes his full powers and it's the first time you get a glimpse of what he can do but again it just felt unnecessary and was removed at the beta reading stage.

9. The Dawn Raider encountered a German torpedo boat and destroyed it before it could act.  It was nice bit of action but unnecessary in the overall narrative of the book.

10. The armoured coffins that the German pilots ride in where a very late addition to the novel. A beta reader pointed out the pilots survival rates would be minimal otherwise as they have no magical protection.  The Silver dragons already had their armoured shells so the change seemed logical. It's also an attempt to show a difference between how the allies and the axis treat their dragons.

So there you go 10 things that never made the final cut.

Don't forget if you are interested I'm currently running a give away in celebration of the fact George and the Dragon is 1.  There are 5 signed copies of George and the Dragon I'm giving away.


All you have to do is get yourself over to Goodreads and enter the competition. Easy!

If you know anyone else that might like to win one of the books let them know too!

Phil

Twitter followers: 46,876

Facebook page likes: 828

...George and the Dragon

That's right, George and the Dragon has officially been out a year. Although I announced it's release on St George's day, 23 April 2014, the official publication date on Amazon is 19 April 2014, today!

..of a writer.

Twitter followers: 44,261

Facebook page likes: 821

I was answer a random, probably pointless survey earlier for another writer and one of the questions that popped up was this:

"What do you think about all day?"

Now I suspect this particular survey was geared toward a writer of erotica, sometimes it feels like that includes just about every indie-author on the planet, and so I believe my response to this question may have been of little use.

What was my response? Fantasy and Sci-Fi and I suspect my kind of fantasy with dragons, wizards and such like isn't the hand-cuffs, whips and nipple clamps kind the poser of the questionnaire might have been looking for.

However, it's true if I'm not thinking about ideas for my current works-in-progress, like the sequel to George and the Dragon, then I'm probably thinking up new ideas for new works,

The above is the encapsulation of an idea that's been floating around in my head for ages. It stems from this:

Lucifer

Means "bringing light", derived from Latin lux "light" and ferre "to bring". In Latin this name originally referred to the morning star, Venus, but later became associated with the chief angel who rebelled against God's rule in heaven (see Isaiah 14:12). Even later it became associated with Satan himself.

...write?

Twitter followers: 38,752

Facebook page likes: 757

People often ask me how I write and the best answer I can give is that I write in conversations.

But what does that really mean?

Well on Monday morning on the way in to work, as I often do, I wrote some more of the sequel to George and the Dragon. This is what I managed to write:

“Hauptmann Steinhuaser are you out of your mind?”

“Good afternoon General von Vogler I wasn't expecting you to be here.”

“Clearly not and I doubt you expected to have to explain your actions either but here I am and I am still waiting.”

“You were gone, the mission to render London into ashes had had limited success and our forces had been defeated by the British.  It seemed prudent that I should act to replenish our dragon numbers while we awaited your return.”

“Indeed, and the attack on our forces?”

“They attacked us and quite frankly if they weren't prepared to win that fight they never should have started it. And besides now I have a much better idea of Eissturm’s combat capabilities. This, as I am sure you will agree, will us a more effective combat unit for future engagements.”

“We shall see about that. I have a mission for you and given your recent actions I shall be making you the mission commander.”

“I get to engage the enemy dragons so soon?”

“No. There is another enemy asset I wish for you and your new companion to destroy.”

“But what is the point of having command of a regal dragon if not to attack the British and their dragon Spitfire?”

“Do not rush to seek out your enemy Hauptmann they will seek you out soon enough and then you will have your chance.”

This is a conversation between the main antagonist in George and the Dragon, General von Voglar and a new antagonist character Hauptmann Steinhauser. Hauptmann if you are curious is the Luftwaffe equivalent rank to Flight Officer, the same rank that Alexandr Sokol holds. It is the rank immediately junior to Squadron Leader.

You'll notice there's no descriptives in that at all.  Not a single said, bridled, glared, commanded, advised or any other word and nothing written about what the two characters are doing.

All that I will fill in at a later point when I work my way back over their words and work out more fully in my mind how the two antagonists react to each other.

This is how it turned out after the second pass:

“Hauptmann Steinhuaser are you out of your mind?” General von Vogler demanded as he appeared in the keep doorway.

“Good afternoon General von Vogler I wasn't expecting you to be here,” Liesl responded as she made her way across the court yard.  Even from a distance the General could hear that her voice was laden with sarcasm.

“Clearly not and I doubt you expected to have to explain your actions either. But here I am and I am still waiting for a explanation and I am unaccustomed to waiting for anything,” the General responded. He was more lenient with the young officer than he would have been with any man under his command.  It wasn't because of her sex, he had been hard enough on her while she proved herself to him.  No he had plans for her and while she proved herself to be useful it didn't hurt to extend her a little leeway now and then.

“You were gone,” she shrugged as she spoke, “the mission to render London into ashes had met with limited success and our forces had been routed by the British.  It seemed prudent that I should act to replenish our dragon numbers while we awaited your return.”

“Is that so? Well I find I cannot fault your logic and might even be tempted to command your use of your own initiative. So tell me what of the attack on our forces?”

“In truth the pilots attacked us and quite frankly if they weren't prepared to win that fight they should have kept their feet on the ground. Besides now I have a much better idea of Eissturm’s combat capabilities it will make us a more effective unit for future engagements.”

“I look forward to a time when the evidence corroborates that statement. Where is the Zauberbuch?” as he asked the General held out his hand waiting expectantly.

Liesl fished the leather bound book from within her flight jacket. It was smaller than she had expected it to be when she had learnt of its existence and the General easily held it in one hand.
“Thank you. I trust that it will never leave this castle without my permission again,” he said and without waiting for a response added, “I have a mission for you and given your recent actions I have decided that you will be the mission commander.”

“I get to engage the enemy dragons so soon?” Liesl asked finding it to suppress he excitement welling inside her.

“No. There is another enemy asset I wish for you and your new companion to destroy,” the General said as they entered his office and he scooped a file up from off of his desk.

“But what is the point of having command of a regal dragon if not to attack the British and their dragon Spitfire?” Liesl asked a whine almost perceptible in her voice.

“Do not rush to seek out your enemy Hauptmann they will seek you out soon enough and then you will have your chance,” the General said hoping that she may accept his wisdom but suspecting she would seek out the first chance to engage the boy, George and his Dragon, Spitfire. “Close the door on your way out,” he said dismissing her at the same time as he handed her the file containing her orders.

It's not perfect yet but that will come in time when the first draft is complete and I start revising the manuscript etc.

Hopefully that's also whet your appetite for the next instalment in the Knights of the Sky series.

Phil

...I don't just write!

Twitter followers: 38,752

Facebook page likes: 757

I know it may come as a surprise but there are other things I like to do as well.

I play Magic the Gathering, which is a collectible card game (if you're bored already skip this bit) and have recently started blogging about playing a particular variant of the game called Commander.

You can find my new blog here: http://commandingthoughts.blogspot.co.uk/

I've also, more recently, started to learn program in Python using Pygame.

I'm not the most accomplished programmer but I have been pleased with my efforts so far.

So far I've written an algorithm to randomly generate a complete island including adding caves and villages.


You can explore this island, discover the caves and enter them


The caves themselves are also randomly created when the island is generated.

As you explore the caves your vision is limited by your light source so, while you know where you've been, you can't see too far ahead and you never know what might be behind you.

So far all you can do is move around and uncover the locations on the island and explore the caves.

There's a huge list of jobs that still need to be completed to get it close to playable as a simple game.

Caves need to be populated with traps, treasure and monsters.

Once monsters have been added combat needs to be added.

An inventory for the hero needs to be added.

Villages need to be created and populated with people, shops etc.

A magic system needs to be created.

Experience and levelling needs to be worked on.

These are just a few of the things I can think of as I sit here and update my blog there's probably a lot more that I'll discover as time progresses.

Oh and what is more Chloe, my daughter, is desperate for me to add dragons to the game. And who am I to refuse!

So what do you get up to in your spare time.

Let me know.

Phil

...sports personalities or authors?

This is something I found myself discussing with my colleagues earlier this week and the answer to be honest surprised me.

Before I continue I have to be clear that the figures I sourced on-line can be taken with only a modicum of accuracy.  For example:

Terry Pratchett, the creator of the Disc world, Death and Binky among other amazing characters, on one site is reported as having a personal wealth of $40 million on another the figure is $65 million.  That's over a 50% increase from one site to the next, quite a staggering difference.

So back to the question.  It started, as a lot of things do with talk in my office about football, no not the American version proper football, and how much certain premier league players earn.

What developed from there was a comparison with stars in other sports and before long one of us had turned to the internet to see who earns what in the sports world.

Before looking have a guess yourself, who is the top earning sportsman?

The answer is Ion Tiria.  Who? Yep I've never heard of him either. Apparently he was quite a good tennis and ice hokey player way back before I was born and is currently worth a cool $2 billion.

Second up is a certain Michael Jordan who is reportedly worth $1 billion.



Third is Formula 1 mega star Michael Schumacher and my thoughts go out to him and his family.

Fourth on the list is Vince McMahon - who is, let's face it, a successful pantomime producer and has nothing to do with sports what-so-ever.  So I'm scratching him from list as I do not recognise his validity to be on the list in the first place.

Fifth on the list? Arnold Palmer, venerable golfer and with a staggering $675 million.

Sixth on the list, and I'm including sixth because I booted Vince to the curb, is former NFL quarterback Roger Staubach with a worth of $600 million.

So there you have it the top earning sportsman and one thing I would say is that several of them have earned a large part of their amassed wealth as entrepreneurs.

So how about the authors?

Well there are no prizes for guessing who is sitting top of the list.

Author of the Harry Potter books herself, J.K. Rowling with an estimated net worth of a cool $1 billion.

Sun Myung Moon was a Korean religious leader, businessman, and media mogul who had a net worth of $900 million before his death and is listed 2nd on the list.

3rd is creator of Garfield and Odie, Jim Davies, with a cool $800 million.


4th on the list is Candy Spelling widow of Aaron Spelling the famous TV producer.  I'd question her inclusion just because she wrote her autobiography.

J. R. R. Tolkien, a personal hero of mine, comes in 5th with an estate worth $500 million.

If I'm discounting Candy Spelling much like I did Vince McMahon then sixth on the list is Paulo Coelho, a Brazilian novelist, musician, and lyricist who has a net worth of $500 million.

So right at the top there's not much difference in the figures which surprised me a little. What does happen though is that the authors list gets 'poorer' more rapidly. I say poorer I should probably just say less wealthy.

Ronaldo, he with the precocious talent at football, is at #50 on the sports star rich list with a personal wealth of $150 million.

That position on the authors list is occupied by Ken Follet with a worth of $45 million.

I hope you found this interesting, I certainly did and would love to earn even a fraction of what some of the authors have managed.

Phil

...to the world

Twitter followers: 33,174

Facebook page likes: 625

I've tried lots of different methods to try and sell George and the Dragon to people, but none of them have been more successful than just connecting with people.

Which is all well and good but the number of people I see and speak to on a daily basis can probably be counted on both hands and feet.

So in order to find people intrigued by the idea of Nazi Dragons fighting RAF dragons during the Battle of Britain wrapped up in a fantasy adventure I need to be able to cast my net further afield.

To date nothing has done that better for me than Twitter. The greatest thing about Social Media in general is that it is truly global. However, it is far harder to find people outside of your immediate circle of friends on Facebook, for example, than it is on Twitter.

You only have to look at my Facebook Page likes (625) vs my Twitter Followers (33,174) to see how extreme the difference is.

But this post is more about the global breadth of connections I've made than the differences between Facebook and Twitter.

This is a map of where my followers are located around the world courtesy of Tweepsmap.


Close inspection will show you the majority, almost 50% of my followers are in the USA.  I've never been to the USA and know only a couple of people how actually live there.  Yet 15,000+ people who follow me on Twitter come from the USA.

Now a large number of them aren't going to be interested in my book but the more people I can reach out to the more chance I have of selling my novel and any further works I also choose to self publish.

This is why I've set myself the goal of gaining 200,000 Twitter followers by the end of this year.

I then set a target of 2,000,000 for the following year but as you can only follow 365,000 people in one year that may be a bit of a stretch but still I intend to try.

Wish me luck :)

Phil