DI Savage Top 5 In British Detectives

Touch reached number five in British Detective novels today (all books, not just Kindle). DI Savage and her colleagues also managed to break into the top twenty in Police Procedurals and broke the one thousand rank mark in all Kindle books.

I just want to say a big "thank you" to all the readers who made this possible! Touch has only been out a little over a month and I couldn't have dreamed that it would have been this successful so soon.

How not to write

Here is an interesting post by Nick Wastnage (click) on how he writes, what he does and doesn't do when writing. Sound very disciplined. I Wish I could be more like that. Instead I do what I think most writers do: dither, procrastinate, dillydally...

This involves making numerous cups of tea, checking Twitter, NovelRank, Amazon KDP, KU Forum UK, Kindleboards, the weather, local news (in case of interesting crime stories), various police force home pages (ditto) and so it goes on.

Eventually a little voice in my ear says 'What the **** do you think you are doing?' So I struggle into writer mode (after making another cup of tea, of course) and then sit and look at a blank screen for an hour or so. The little voice returns and says 'Well?' Well what? What am I supposed to do? The voice shouts into my ear 'You are a bloody writer so start bloody writing!' I start typing a scene and miraculously words appear on the screen and they aren't half bad. I wonder why one earth I couldn't have done this three hours ago...

I have Cursed the Weather

I fear that I will never be best friends with the South West Tourism. Although many scenes in Touch try to describe the beauty of Devon they invariably end up a damp, sodden mess since it always seems to be raining. There is wind and rain in the first chapter and the last and the sun rarely shines. OK, the book is set in the winter so bad weather should be expected. However, the problem is the poor weather I wrote about has come back to haunt me and this summer appears to have ended before it has started. Here is the forecast for Plymouth for the next few days:

Miserable :-(

Note to self: Ensure next book is set during a two month heatwave or send DI Savage and colleagues to Spain on an exchange!

Just Finished Reading Matterhorn

What a book! Karl Marlantes took 35 years to write this story about a company of marines in the Vietnam war. It is not for the faint-hearted (it is long), the squeamish (it is graphic) or those who like stories glorifying war (this does precisely the opposite), but if you read it I think the story will stay with you a long time after you have finished it. The New York Times called it "One of the most profound and devastating novels ever to come out of Vietnam" and who am I to argue with them?

The good news for Kindle users is that at the moment it is just 99p (not sure of the price in the US but it is cheap): US | UK

Touch is better than...

Graham Hurley, my number one all time favourite crime writer.

No, I don't think so, but yesterday I took a look at my position in the top 100 police procedurals on Amazon and noticed this:

Made my day, although I would have been happier had he been one step above me since in no way would I compare my writing to his!

If you haven't read any of the Faraday/Winter novels then you are missing out since Hurley's writing makes all other UK crime authors look like rank amateurs. The series of books featuring Portsmouth police has created a entirely believable world that few, if any, other writers have managed to match. The only downside is that there is only one book left to be published in the series. After that one of the minor characters (Jimmy Suttle) is moving to join the Devon and Cornwall Police! Look out DI Charlotte Savage... although Suttle and Savage has a distinct ring to it, don't you think?

Touch has Two Five Stars!

And I am not talking about a couple of members of this lot:

(don't know who they are? click)

No, I am talking about reviews. Four things make the world go around when it comes to selling indie books: cover, blurb, sample and reviews. Get all four working and then success will follow... hopefully.