My Guardianscifi website is listed on several banner exchange sites. I have been getting some visitors from them but compared to the number of exposures of my banner the clicks were disappointingly few, usually two or three a day.

The banner I was using had been copied from my book cover. I thought it looked good but obviously most people did not and so would not click on it.

One of the banner exchange webmasters happened to say to me “Why don’t you make up a banner from some of your pictures?” I though about it and decided to  have a go. While I was looking round for ideas I read that animated banners work better than static ones. As luck would have it the article included a link to free GIF animation software,  GIFfun. You drag in static Jpeg pictures then adjust the time they are displayed on the screen.  If each picture is in sequence and slightly different you get an animated effect. The resultant file is in GIF format so it can be displayed by most web browsers.

I chose the picture I was going to use, one that had dark areas on either side for good contrast for light text. I chose “Don’t Mess With Me” I cut it down to banner size (480 x 60) Then added the first text using photoshop.

First In Banner Sequence

I then produced the next one in the sequence and saved each one in turn.

Second In Banner Sequence

I then dragged the pictures into GIFfun and adjusted the timing until it looked right.

The resulting banner is displayed below. The click rate has increased to double figures!

It seems I have been a bit lax lately, a month since writing my last blog! Oh well.

Since the last entry I have completed all the changes to Guardian Generations required by the publisher.  The publishing contract has been signed and the formal process has begun. The next stage is a full edit by one of their editors.  If the time scale is the same as with Guardian then Generations should be ready for July/August. I will keep you up to date as the process continues.

Some time ago I wrote a blog asking the question where have all the Honey Bees gone?

Since writing that blog I have purchased a small plot of woodland at the bottom of the garden. So I thought why not do my bit and have a go at keeping bees?

I have to admit It’s a long time since I had anything to do with keeping bees. (My father always kept a few National hives at the bottom of our garden) So I have been doing some research. After all things must have changed a lot over the last thirty years or so (Oh god is it really that long ago?)

Bee keeping methods don’t seem to have changed hardly at all. However the increase in disease, parasites (Verroa) and the effect of pesticides is a serious problem that has all helped cause the decline in the honeybee.

There would seem to be a growing minority of beekeepers that suspect part of the problem is the intensive way bees are kept. The bees are forced to use standard size frames with a wax foundation (in most cases of unknown origin) to guide them in the size and construction of their comb.  All of their honey is taken and replaced by sugar water for them to over winter.  There are various other reasons why it is thought that the way bees are kept to maximise honey production on a commercial basis is the root course for their decline.

If you are interested and want more information go to www.biobees.com (or google ‘top bar hives’)

I have decided not to use the conventional method of beekeeping but return to the old fashioned more natural way. I have purchase the timber to make what is called a top bar hive. The bees are free to build their own comb at a cell size convenient to them. It has been suggested that the smaller cell size hampers the spread of the Verroa mite. There are various other advantages for the bees using the more natural method however the down side is less honey for us!

We shall see .

I will detail the construction of the hives in my next blog.

I have spent most of last week working through the changes to Guardian Generations required by the Publisher.  Most of the issues were to do with the time lines of the story and the linking of the characters.

I had move chapters around so that the events were chronological. I originally jumped from one character to another and back again. However the action was taking place in different time frames. As they were not connected during that part of the story I did not think it mattered. The publisher’s reader thought otherwise!

The second issue was I had stayed on each of the characters for too long. This would apparently have an effect of causing the reader to forget what was happening with the other characters storyline. So I have broken the chapters up and ensured the narrative does not stay too long on one set of characters once the time lines converge.

Hopefully it is now satisfactory, fingers crossed.

Most of the previous week I spent building a shop (e-commerce) website for a friend. www.7designs.co.uk . I have to say I was impressed with the result (Nothing like blowing your own trumpet!    )

I suddenly had a thought, why not have a go at advertising the fact I can construct websites?  So tongue in cheek I have started to put together another website.  www.corweb.co.uk (Clive Osborne Rapley Web! Have I been lucky with the domain names so far or what??)

The website is live now but I still have a few more pages to add. Once it is finished I can sit back and see what, if anything comes of it. I do have book three of the Guardian series to continue with while I’m waiting so there is plenty to do in the mean time. 

Guardian book three: 9000 words.

One thing most first time authors know or will quickly discover is however good your book is it will never be a best seller if no one knows about it.

There are two sure fire ways to get publicity and sell a book.

1)   If you are a celebrity and write your memoirs. In this age of celeb culture even if the book is rubbish they fly off the shelves. They are displayed by bookshops in prominent positions, pushed in the papers, magazines and on TV. You cannot fail to succeed.

2)   You have already written a best seller or two. Again your book is displayed in most bookshops, pushed in papers, TV etc., etc.,

So what about the rest of us? All that can be done is produce a website (more detail on that here). Post blogs, set up a profile on Facebook,  Myspace  and Twitter.  In short try and get yourself known by plugging away hoping that some day someone will notice.

Many book publishing coaches, marketing gurus and publicists still advise local book signings and readings. I do not think they work in our modern society unless of course you have written a book with a specific local flavour. Most small signings sell four or five books and will get your book on the shelf of a few local independent shops. But without recognition and serious publicity the book will stay on the shelf gathering dust (at least until it comes time for it to be returned).

So what can really be done? Not a lot! Just keep chipping away and hope for that rare lucky break.

That is unless of course you can come up with a killer idea. Even then it might not have the effect you are hoping for. Whatever you decide to do you need to be sure that it is relevant to your book.  If the people your killer idea attracts are not the type of person who will purchase and enjoy reading what you have written then you have simply wasted your time.

A case in point is the Naked Blonde Writer. Her killer idea is to read her first chapter in the nude. Great idea you might think especially if you have the looks and figure to pull it off. From her website there is media interest in her stunt and her Facebook fan club is increasing in numbers at an envious rate. However I suspect that a very few are interested in her book or what she will be reading.

I would lay odds that most people watching will not even register what she is saying.  So will she sell more books? Probably, more than if she had done nothing but a significant number? I would have to say no. Let’s face it the vast amount of visitors to her website will not be interested in the fact she has written a book.  There may even be a danger of putting serious buyers off. I can imagine the thought process now. If she has to do that to sell her books they can’t be very good can they?

Time will tell. If her sales rank on Amazon increases substantially and stays there then she is right and I am wrong

What do you think?

I have to admit it did give me an idea. Why not do a spoof version? If she gets loads of extra traffic then perhaps I could get some of it too. So what the hell (I hang my head in shame. What a hypocrite!).

So here is my answer to the Naked Blonde Writer; NOT the Naked Blonde Writer

I have completed the redesign of my book website www.guardianscifi.com using a new template and graphics I have produced myself using the same 3D package I use for my pictures. Please go and have a look and tell me what you think.

Guardian Generations is FINISHED! Other than tidying it up and reviewing what I have written it is ready for the first edit.  The word count has ended up at just over 76000 words so the book will be approximately the same thickness as Guardian (Look good as a pair on your bookshelf).

Once the first edit is complete it will be sent off to the publisher for review. Fingers crossed it is accepted. I have learnt a great deal since I started writing Guardian and personally I think Guardian Generations better. Lets hope the publisher thinks so too (Fingers Crossed)

A  Guardian Sci Fi fan club has been started on Facebook that is  definitely worth a look.  One advantage to membership is I agreed to make a few more sample chapters of both books available for members to download.  So if you cannot make your mind up whether to purchase Guardian from reading the first chapter on the website then join the Facebook fan club and you can download the first three chapters of Guardian and Guardian Generations.  If you cannot make your mind up after reading that lot then my advice is just purchase a copy anyway!

Guardian Generations word count 76350