Black Friday Blues

Chris Hall23 Comments

Black Friday Blues by Chris Hall lunasonline

This weekend wasn’t the best time to try an ebook giveaway. I really should have known though, because if I’d checked on what happened this time last year, I wouldn’t have bothered.

So what happened? I hear you ask. Especially after the (northern hemisphere) summer giveaway of The Silver Locket did so well: 292 copies downloaded and up to #7 in the genre hit parade (albeit briefly).

Oh, but how quickly I’d forgotten the November 2018 debacle. A five day giveaway of the same book had resulted in just 20 copies downloaded. Now this year, buoyed up after the happy surprise of last August, disappointment reigned supreme again.

I was all over LinkedIn and more than a little bit on Twitter. I pitched in on Instagram and posted all over my personal Facebook page. Loyal friends locally liked and shared: one more download!

Of course it didn’t help that the Facebook Elves took 6 hours to approve my US ad. Maybe they were busy approving the million other ads (or were they busy giggling naughtily over the slightly racy start to chapter ten?). Or, when I tweaked the UK audience demographic yesterday morning, the edit was still under review 10 hours later, well past the Great British tea-time.

Two days of ‘bigging it up’ and busily checking the KDP reports. All for just 17 bites. Couldn’t I even give these away???

No! No, because everyone’s in a Massmart store filling their shopping carts with improbably-sized flat screen TVs, so huge that they totter precariously over the edge of the super-sized luminous pink trolleys they wheel, dodging and weaving through the slippery-floored over-peopled mall. (Or so my friend Jonathan told me. You don’t think I ventured out that day? Are you mad?).

Still, after a tiny flurry of downloads in Canada, You’ll Never Walk Alone peaked at a heady #47 in Romance Action and Adventure.

All wasn’t lost anyway. I have three free books from other indie authors to read on my Kindle.

Just remind me next year to concentrate on the last few days of NaNoWriMo and give the Black Friday thing a miss.

After all, wouldn’t we all rather be writing?

 

It’s all over now

Chris Hall11 Comments

nanowrimo 2019

The final week shuddered to a grinding halt yesterday, with not a single word more written since Thursday. ‘Life’ got in the way. 

Never mind.

The ‘life’ bit included trying to persuade people to help themselves to the free download of ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone.’ I’m pleased to say there has been some success so far, and the offer will still be running for almost another 24 hrs.

Back to NaNoWriMo. I didn’t quite reach my hoped-for word count of 30K, but I’m beyond 25K and story-wise I’m reaching the mid-point, although there are a few blank spaces in the chapters I’ve written so far. Compared to last year, I’m about two chapters shy of where I got to with ‘Following the Green Rabbit‘, so I’m pretty satisfied.

Of course it isn’t all over. The story continues to drip forth. I’m hoping to have something approaching a completed MS by next Easter. Then comes the tricky bit. To paraphrase one of Mr Shakespeare’s characters: ‘To query or not to query?’

If you were participating in NaNoWriMo on any level, how was it for you?

Back on the Black Friday Bandwagon

Chris Hall7 Comments

black friday lunasonline

Here it is: MY FREE OFFER TO YOU!

Until Sunday 1 December (midnight PST)


YOU’LL NEVER WALK ALONE
5 star rated on Amazon and Goodreads

A novel set against the backdrop of 1980s Liverpool. It’s a tale of love and loss, thieves and gangsters, and ultimate reunion and redemption. There are mysteries to be solved and a few laughs along the way. And don’t forget your dancing shoes!
PS – it’s not about football or allegiances but is does contain content of a sexual nature; some swearing and occasional violence. Try a sample!

Download from these links:
USA  ~ UK ~ Australia ~ Canada ~ India
Other countries, such as South Africa

 

Imagination

Chris Hall14 Comments
what do you see 5 by chris hall lunasonline
Island perspective by Chloe Smith

As the world turns,

you turn with it

always just a little out of kilter;

existing within a land of virtual friends

and made up characters,

submerged in the limpid pools of your mind’s eye,

where with every throw of the dice

you win.

Written in response to Sadje’s ‘What Do You See #5‘ photo prompt.

Black Friday and Beyond

Chris Hall2 Comments

Goodreads ratings for Chris Hall's books

Offers are about to abound on my novels as we approach the holiday season. They’ve all been well-received so far, so stay tuned to grab your freebie ebook or reduced price paperback.

NaNoWriMo Week #3

Chris Hall6 Comments

nanowrimo 2019

Well, I’m pretty pleased with myself at the end of week 3. I have a further six chapters more or less completed, although obviously not polished, and the story is flowing now.

My characters are fleshing out nicely: they have quirks and foibles and they’re starting to spark off one another. Yesterday I nearly fell off my chair trying to imagine what it would be like to climb up the inside of a cave, and I became quite breathless swimming along an underwater tunnel.

It’s been fun!

I’ve fallen a little behind today, as I spent all morning chatting over rooibos tea and biscuits with one friend, and half the afternoon chatting over coffee and stollen with some other friends. I must take advantage of the sudden sugar rush!

On to the final week…

Enjoy, fellow NaNo writers! My tip of the week: cake helps.

The Epic Journey

Chris Hall17 Comments

what do you see 4 by chris hall lunasonline

He’d battled over the Melancholic Mountains of Mythndlore,

scythed through thick forests where Dark Shadows lurk

stumbled across Mind Leaching deserts and now

wading through the stagnant Green Marais

at last he’d found what he was seeking.

The light at the end of his personal

Tunnel of Angst

…

Finally, he types

‘THE END’

Written in response to Sadje’s ‘What Do You See #4′ photo prompt.

Writer seeks reader…

Chris Hall3 Comments

Kindle front page

I’ve put together a collection of offers for e-readers which will start on Black Friday!

  • A 4 day free ebook offer for You’ll Never Walk Alone will start on Thursday 28 November at midnight PST.  I’ll be doing some targeted advertising to parts of the US and Canada via a Facebook ad campaign to see how the novel will be received ‘across the pond’.
  • Hot on its heels will be a 5 day freebie of Following the Green Rabbit which I’m going to run alongside a reduced-price offer on the paperback version, targeted at UK readers on amazon.uk. Again I’ll be trying some paid advertising via Facebook. This certainly worked for my ‘summer-read’ novel: ‘The Silver Locket’ (penned as Holly Atkins), reached the dizzy heights of No.17 in the UK charts for free Kindle books during that campaign.
  • And talking of the summer, I’m going to try a similar freebie offer directed towards Australia and New Zealand to see if they’d like to pour themselves a Pimm’s and spend a sunny afternoon with The Silver Locket over the holidays there.

Offers will be across all Amazon territories, so you might want to bookmark this page, although, of course, I’ll be mentioning them again as they’re launched!

thank you

To everyone who has read my books already.

Especially to everyone who has read, rated and reviewed
on their WordPress sites, on Goodreads and on Amazon. 

I’m really thrilled by your support and enthusiasm for my work!

 

 

NaNoWriMo Week #2

Chris Hall12 Comments

nanowrimo 2019

Well I’d be fibbing if I was to say it was all going swimmingly. And, in a sense this is more prevarication. So I’ll keep it short.

This week two things have been troubling me:

Firstly, the story I’m working on is set in a semi-fictional part of South Africa, which I know fairly well, and it’s sort of present day, but there’s something which doesn’t feel right. I’m not yet sure what it is.

Secondly, I’m having trouble with a couple of characters. I can’t quite work them out. I’m still waiting for them to speak to me. I’m sure they will. I need more conversations!

I just checked back to this time last year. I was doing better word-count wise, but I can see there were doubts in my mind.

Oh and my laptop is on a go-slow. Must be the heat: mid afternoon, 34C in the shade.

Okay, I’m telling myself it’s going to be fine, fine, fine. Just go with the flow and enjoy it! It’s not that anyone but me is piling on the pressure.

Going back to the writing ‘happy place’ for a couple of hours…

Onward and upward, fellow Nano writers!
(as I said this time last year).

To which this year I add:
Relax. Enjoy.

 

The Writer’s Gift

Chris Hall19 Comments

what do you see 3 by chris hall lunasonline

Waves of words wash over her

transporting her through

space and time

to other realms

where dreams come true

and the adventurer knows no bounds.

 

Riding the White Horses of the Camargue

Dancing with Wolves

Searching for The Beach

 

She journeys to the Centre of the Earth

explores King Solomon’s Mines

and witnesses the Return of the King.

 

Laying aside her book

she drifts, dreams,

and the waves of words

still wash over her.

Written in response to Sadje‘s ‘What Do You See #3‘ photo prompt.