One year has gone ... should we do plans for the next year?

Once again it's time to say goodbye to this year and keep our fingers crossed for the next one.

On a global scale, the world has gone through so many changes that we could hardly process them all. We have wars, shifts of powers, and global economic crises. Yet, we're still here and for this, should be grateful for what we have. 

On a personal level, I'm grateful for having remained sane during this massive income of news. This is also the reason I left the social network aside. Sometimes, I had the impression that social media, instead of bringing us together, is setting us apart, and at times even one against each other.

It didn't use to be this way back in the days when we all started to navigate the web searching for new friends around the globe.

During this year I focused on improving my writing, maintaining my business, and finding a balance between my writing career, my day job (the one that pays the bills), and my family.

I usually don't like to make long-term plans and I don't believe in the new year's propositions. They're generally destined to get busted by the first half of the year, forcing me to rethink everything from scratch.

Instead, I have a loose plan that includes reaching the so much sought balance between everything that matters in my life.

Next year, I'll keep writing new books of my police procedural's series and I'm planning to start a new series that will be released during the first half of the year. 

I have in mind an organized crime thriller series set between Sicily and the US. With all the inputs I receive daily from the news I can say that my ideas have started to flow wildly, giving me endless prompt for many books.

In sight there are new adventures for the Wandering Writer, starting already from May, so if you have enjoyed the previous adventures, stay tuned because I have new destinations in mind.

For now, I wish you all a serene Christmas, and I'll be  back soon before the end of this year with some new trips.

Take care!

Some resources for writers - part two

So last time, I gave a couple of hints about some resources that can help you have results with AMS. Those were, of course, based on my experience, and I am, by no means, an expert. Nevertheless, I got good help from them, and I hope they will provide the same service to you.
Now, for what concerns producing an audiobook.
I am one of the few unlucky fellows who are not eligible for ACX, the program of Amazon that gives you the chance to produce audiobooks without paying upfront the narrator and opt instead for shared royalties.
This is undoubtedly the best deal you can have at least for the beginning when you cannot afford to pay the average cost of the narrator, which is on the range of 2000 USD (!)
I have searched everywhere for a chance to get it for a reasonable price, and the best option offered was to produce it by myself, being me the narrator. Now, it is not that I want to doubt my reading capabilities. Still, there is a significant difference between me, reading my book, and a professional narrator, who knows how to use his/her voice to give life to the characters.
Nevertheless, I found a way to find a narrator who will agree to produce my book outside ACX for a shared royalty.
One thing you could do is to go directly to the ACX directory, where all the authors are listed (https://www.acx.com/ss?keywords=&sortBy=&pageIndex=1&) and search for the information of the various narrators listed there.
Some of them have listed their own website with the contact information. Also, they mention whether they are available for a hybrid share, a full share, or upfront payment.
This means that the narrator is also working with other platforms and can not only come to an agreement with you outside ACX but also suggest different distribution options.
My novels are quite voluminous, and an upfront payment would result in a minimum of 3000 USD. This is entirely out of my present and near future budget, so contacting them might be the way people like me, who can't access ACX, to have access to audibles.
Looking around, I have also found out this resource:
https://blog.findawayvoices.com/announcing-voices-share-a-better-royalty-share-option/
They offer a hybrid option, which is a 50% payment for the final product and 60% in royalties. They also provide a wider distribution than ACX, so your title won't be restricted to their own site but to the widest distribution possible
, increasing the chances of the sale.
I am still looking around, and see which is the best option to get started with the production of an audible version of my books.
One very interesting and informative blog I have found out during my search is the following site: https://www.writtenwordmedia.com/self-publish-audiobook-production-and-distribution/
Here there are listed several options besides ACX.
I hope this is going to be useful to you as much as it was enlightening to me.
I will consider all the possibilities and see which one will be the chosen one.
That said, I wish you all a great weekend and see you next week for another blog.

Some resources for writers

So I have been for a while not just in my writing cave, avoiding all human contacts, except my workmates. Yet, I wasn't only writing, I was trying to find some good and viable way to use advertisements, and if you are a writer looking for some cool resources, just follow me here.
The first thing I have noticed is that Amazon ads have been changing, and there is not just the general .com site where to advertise. When you go to the AMS page, you will find that you can choose the marketplace, and depending on where you live, you are given a couple of more choices to choose from. This is, from my point of view, good news, because it offers the chance to target better your audience depending on where they live.
Once again, this means that you need to do demographic research when you think about the keywords to target your audience. The other good news is that as the general amazon.com seems not to give good results with titles, which have less than 10 reviews, this might not be true for other marketplaces.
Meaning that if amazon.com is restricted because you don't have so many reviews, you might want to check other marketplaces.
Many of us found it struggling when it comes to the keywords, and "publisher rocket" (https://publisherrocket.com/) is indeed the best tool you want to have if you mean seriously to start the road of AMS ads.
The point is that you would like maybe first try it, and unfortunately, nowadays there aren't trial versions anymore. You get instead a 30-day money-back guaranteed. But what if during those thirty days something happens and you cannot even get to try it? Well, you keep the software, and if you are not satisfied, there is nothing much you can do.
One alternative is offered for free by Sonar. (http://sonar-tool.com/us/)
Sonar is a free tool to search for keywords on different marketplaces. It doesn't have all the features of publisher rocket, but it is a way to start and get your hands on the ads with a free tool to understand how keywords are working and how they can be useful for the marketing of your book. The key is trying with as many ads as possible, starting with a low daily limit of 5 $.
I have had 25 ads (and I still have them because I am still on the trial phase) with the daily limit of 5$.
The average monthly expense for the whole was barely reaching the 15$, but it gave interesting results.
No, I haven't become famous yet LOL
Mainly I am starting to see which might be the right keywords to be used, so to be ready to purchase the publisher rocket tool.
Another important thing is how to get your book to the right category. If you nail the right one, you can easily be an Amazon top seller for a long period, not restricted to a time of big sales. This is because customers are looking more into detail the categories they are interested in, and being in the right one makes you more visible, discoverable, hence purchased. Being in the right category means also having fewer competitors.
To understand better the categories and their importance, I suggest you read this article:
https://www.kindleranker.com/articles/kindle-categories-in-historical-fiction/
and use https://www.kindleranker.com/ at your advantage.
Kindle ranker gives you the chance to make two searches for free per day. Although you can use the 0.99$ option to have a 15-category search for 24 hours. Or, if you have a large volume of products, you can take advantage of the subscriptions offered. At the moment I am OK with the two free searches a day. I don't have so many products yet.
Anyway, whatever you do, it is important to follow the ads constantly, not perhaps daily, but twice a week to see what you need to change and try something new.
One thing I personally do not recommend is letting someone else taking care of managing your ads. Although this might sound like a great idea, you need to be the one who checks the ads and calibrate them. You are the one who knows the book better. So if you really want some help, better to follow some courses, but have full control over your actions/books.
I am also looking for producing audiobooks for my novels, and if you don't have access to ACX, like me, I might have found a solution for that too. Follow me also on the next week's blog to find out more.
Meanwhile, I hope this information was useful for you.
Have a great weekend!

It's birthday week

It has been three years since the day when, for the first time in my life, I have pressed the 'publish' button on what it was back in the days CreateSpace of Amazon.
It was for my novel "A Tale of a Rough Diamond."
For this milestone and birthday, I have set up a deal, and from the rest of the month, my debut novel is going to be priced 0.99 $ ONLY ON KOBO!:
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/a-tale-of-a-rough-diamond

The reason why I hadn't put the sale on Amazon is that the book is not inserted in Kindle Unlimited, so I cannot set a limited time deal.

If you haven't had the chance to read it, I am going to explain the reason why you should not miss this deal.
About the story:
At first, it is a tale of a dysfunctional wealthy family. From the outside, everything seems as perfect as in a fairy tale, and even for the main character, Stephan, who finds himself dealing with a careless mother and a jealous brother, things seem to go almost fine, until all hell breaks loose, and due to his restless nature, he will find himself framed in a crime and going to jail .
Everything seems lost, and Stephan will have to fight not only for his own life but for the justice he deserves.
It is a tale of deception, and indeed not everything or anyone is the one it seems to be.
Every character has his/her own purpose, and whether from the outside, they might seem to act in a despicable way; for some of them, it is a mean to cope with unspeakable traumas.
It is a tale that gives the chance to look deeper into the soul of people before judging them.

If you want to know more, here are a couple of excerpts featuring the hero and the villain:

The Villain:
Roger looked at his hands. They were shaking – that nervous shake he’d learned to recognize and deal with a long time ago. His head felt as if it were going to explode, so strong was the pain he felt.
He reached for the cabinet, where he kept the first-aid kit and took a couple of analgesic pills. He knew they wouldn’t really help, but he took them anyway.
He was expecting two guests, both very important. The first one didn’t worry him at all, as he knew he could easily be dealt with.
The second one, however, was on a totally different level. The success or failure of all he had built so far was at stake – his firm, his career, his wealth, and his own life. That was the reason for the restless state of his mind, that made his hands shake and his head ache.
He looked anxiously at the clock. There was still time, but it seemed as his heart had a different perception of time, and it started to race in his chest. He took a couple of deep breaths and went to sit in the armchair behind his desk.

He made himself comfortable, sinking into the soft leather, and closed his eyes to regain some calm. He thought about what the deal of the game was, and how the success of both the meetings was to be achieved. Success was not an option.

The Hero:
Stephan waited in the darkness, feeling nervous and excited at the same time. Every time he was at that exact spot, waiting for the car of Reece stopping by or for Jonas to whistle him about his arrival, he felt the adrenaline rush, foretasting another adventure with his mates.
A couple of whistles, and he understood his friend arrived, just in time, before that restlessness on the background of his turmoil, would have overwhelmed the excitement and he would have ran away, scared like a child.
“It was about time, where is Reece?” asked Stephan.
“He is waiting in the car a couple of blocks away from here, there was a cop car parked there,” he said, pointing the entrance of a shop.
Jonas walked fast and barely exchanged a single word with him, like he generally used to do.
Stephan didn’t say anything either, but his behavior made him more nervous than he already was.
“Come on guys, we don’t have the whole night,” said Reece impatiently.
“What’s the matter with you tonight, it seems like we’re going to rob the Central Bank in the middle of the day,” said Stephan.
“Shut the fuck up, kid. We are not going to a party,” hissed Reece as he drove as fast as he could to their target.
Stephan could tell, when Reece had been drinking, and knew that he could become quite dangerous; therefore he sat down on the backseat of the car and remained silent as Reece ordered.
As they arrived in front of their target, Reece remained still for a moment, like he was hesitating and was almost ready to give up everything. “Fuck that!” he mumbled.
“Come on let’s go!” Reece added as he got out of the car.
“OK, kiddo, do your trick,” Jonas whispered.
It was a matter of a couple of minutes and the door opened, then a few seconds, and the alarm was put to sleep.
“Jeeha!!” Jonas exulted as they all got inside the house.

The small group of friends dispersed to the different rooms of the house, looking for something to rob that could give them some small wealth.

I hope you will give it a chance, and that you will give me your impressions/feedbacks about it.
If I grabbed your attention, and you want to know more about me and future deals, you might want to consider joining my Newsletter.
I do send news, fun facts, bonus material, and exclusive deals, to my subscribers once a month, and whenever something new happens, like when I am delivering ARCs, for example.
Here is the link to join:
http://eepurl.com/dny4RL

That will be all, and as usual, I wish you a great weekend.

Paula

Something I have learned.

I know that this is not the end of the year, and we are a bit in advance for the New Year's resolution, let alone consideration about this year.

The fact is that October 2019 marks the anniversary of my career as an author.

In October 2016, just three years ago, at this precise moment, I was finalizing the preparations for publishing my debut novel.

I was quite excited about it, and I considered one of the biggest leaps in my life.

Indeed, there have been many leaps I had done. From the day I decided to leave my country to study abroad, to the time when I moved away to another country, following the promise of a job. Then, to the decision that it was perhaps about the time when I published my novel too.

Little I knew at that time about the things I needed to take into account, and it was not just the question of putting something on the internet. It was a question of building my brand, growing my name, and being part of a growing community of writers, whether seasoned or newbies like myself.

I have found an incredible and supportive community ready to give all sorts of advice to bring my novel to the eyes of the readers.

I had many doubts, and some I still have. Something was clear to me since the beginning, I wasn't interested in having a contract with any publishing company, not big nor small. I understood since the beginning that this meant two main things: sharing a cake that might be not big enough and have no words on the creative process. 

In some cases, this would have meant also restricting my say in what and how I wanted to write.

I am a rebel by nature, and I have never accepted people telling me what to do or how to do things unless it was me asking for advice.

I have read many comments of people bashing indie-authors. They claimed that since they are not represented by any publishing houses, they are not worth the attention of a readership. For what I saw, the quality and content can be equally missing in both indie and traditionally published. (I have in mind a few examples, but I am not going to list any of them here).

One big lesson was to build a community, and I have found out that by sharing more than "buy my books," I could grow my list of followers. Those might or might not buy my books, but the more they are, the more I get visibility.

Hence, social media is not really a place where I sell something, but it is a place where I build something, namely connections and brand.

The biggest lesson, anyway, arrived this year after a series of lectures about different kinds of ads. I have tried AMS and BookBub ads, and although I still have a lot to learn, I got results.

I started to study, really taking time to go through all the material I have accumulated and classified 'for later review.'

Well, I guess this is the time when I finally start to review the accumulated material. That is something else I have learned, which is trying not to procrastinate excessively. Nowadays, life is hectic, and we have thousands of things to think about and to do. Nevertheless, I want to try and find the time for my growth as an indie author.

It might take time, but determination can perform miracles.

Will I be able to honor my propositions?

We will see, and I will keep updated. I will also update any progress, whether this could help someone in the same situation.

For now, I just wish you all a great weekend, and stay tuned for next week's blog!

Doha, you can't even imagine it.

So, here, we were ready to board once again to return back home after our journey. We could not leave Nigeria without anything that made me wonder.
We just passed the check-in and passport control when we reached the gate. However, there we had to go through another security check before entering the plane, which sometimes happens when the flight company does not trust the local screening completely.
I arrived at the counter, and the woman there started to open my carry-on baggage for prohibited items. Everything followed the routine when suddenly she glanced at me: "Do you have anything for me?"
In the beginning, I wasn't sure what she meant, or whether she was just joking, so I just replied that I didn't have anything.
She looked a bit disappointed and seriously: "aren't you, my friend?"
At that point I just thought you gotta be kidding me, bribing at the safety check at the airport? Really?
"No, I am not your friend," I replied firmly.
She checked thoroughly and sent me to the body scan, "well you can scan whatever you want, I am not going to get robbed this way."
Of course, this didn't cause anything more than just a delay to my boarding, but the least I can accept in this world is people trying to rob me.
This was just a little incident and didn't really mean any trouble. Yet it raised a few considerations about what is considered legit and what it is not from the personnel at the airport.

So here we were leaving Nigeria to reach our first stop of seven hours in Doha. The flight went smoothly, and at five o'clock in the morning, we reached the International airport in Doha.
Now the first impression:
You certainly are familiar with the heatwave that hits you when you open the oven to check on your food. The same heatwave hit us as we stepped out the plane. The engine was off, so it wasn't because of it. It was like entering a giant oven at 240 Celsius, barely breathable humid and hot.
I thought I knew about the heat after having experienced the Afar desert in Ethiopia... No, this was more... In Ethiopia at least it wasn't that humid, although the temperatures were much higher than in Doha (around 50 Celsius).
It was only five o'clock in the morning, and the temperatures reached already 30 Celsius!!
We reached the well air-conditioned inside the terminal with our great relief.
The first idea was that perhaps we could have had a tour of the city, but thinking twice we could also take a hotel room, have a shower, a good meal and maybe a tour of the city, before returning to the airport.
That was the best idea possible, and we had a hotel arranged within a couple of minutes. The efficiency of the country reflects on the way the general organization of the services.

Now I need to make a small introduction to Qatar. This little State of about 11.000 square kilometers is one of the wealthiest countries in the world. The funny thing is that 88% of the population are expats working there, the rest 12% is Qatari.
I cannot figure out yet a good reason to move and live in such an over, where, going for a walk is totally restricted to the night or early morning.
We tried to have a walk, and our stubbornness found an empty city, where only cars were moving around.

If you have followed the Olympics that is now going on in Doha, you might have heard horrifying stories about the heat, well, let me tell you, they are not exaggerating at all. That place is not fit for humans. Just like the Sahara desert, it is made for very specialized animals.
At least THIS human doesn't consider it as a place for herself. Although I crave the summer and the hot, there is a limit to it. My limit has been abundantly tested in Doha.
So glad to have returned home, where I am free to go wherever I want without fear of dying dehydrated LOL
I wish you, as usual, a great weekend. If you live in similar desertic countries, believe me, you have all my respect and sympathy.

Back to Nigeria

At this point, we were almost at the end of the journey, that brought us to travel by road through four different countries in West Africa.
It was again the time to discover something new, meet new people and getting in touch with heritages far from ours.
Traveling by road can be in some cases tiring, exhausting, and depending on the countries, dangerous, like crossing the border from Nigeria to Benin. Nevertheless, it gives the chance to see more and stop at different places that would be otherwise left unseen.
This time, we returned from Ghana to Nigeria by plane, and with a journey of about one hour, we finally were back to our starting point.
One thing that I wanted absolutely to see was the Lekki Conservation Park, for two main reasons. The first was to observe the local wildlife, and the second to experience the longest canopy walk in all Africa.
I wouldn't have missed the experience for anything in the world.
Yet we arrived in the late afternoon and our driver, who was supposed to bring us from the airport to the hotel, got lost several times.
We were wondering whether he knew where the hotel was, or whether the hotel was really existing.
He stopped about every twenty minutes, asking for directions.
Eventually, after three hours we were able to reach our hotel. It was already dark, so the best thing was looking for a restaurant and call that day off.
The morning after, we already knew it would have been a long day. Our flight was supposed to leave at 18:00, so we should have left the hotel at 15:30. Having eight hours at our availability was reasonable enough for a visit to the park.
The most frustrating experience was dealing with the staff of the hotel.
We chose that particular hotel because it was also recommended by trip advisor and, since our schedule was quite tight, we trusted that they could have helped us in arranging the trip. Nothing more wrong than that.
We reached the reception at about half past seven in the morning, asking the easiest route to reach the Lekki Conservation Park.

The receptionists glanced at us like we asked to have a guided tour to Mars. They had no idea what we were talking about, despite being a highly touristic place.
We showed them the place on the map, and they asked us to wait there as they were calling a taxi for us.
After about one hour, I went there:
"Did you called the taxi? we are a bit in a hurry as we need to leave here at 15:30 to the airport."
The receptionist, who asked us to wait as she called a taxi, replied.
"No, I haven't."
I wanted to explode, but instead, we left the hotel looking for a taxi on our own.
Here the old saying: if you want something done, do it yourself.
We were lucky enough to find a taxi driver who knew exactly what he was doing. He was a young man working for the army and at the same time earning some extra money, driving a taxi.
We reached the Park, paid the fee, and started the guided tour to the canopy walk:
The Center has been covered with wooden pathways that allow an easy walk around the swampy areas:

Monkeys seemed to be curious about us, and we loved them!

And finally, the canopy walk!

We had only one hour to be there, and as soon as we finished the walk, we asked the guide how much time it would have taken to return to the starting point.

"Oh, we are now going to the family park, and there we will chill out for a while..."

"No, no chillout!" I said with a smile, "Sorry but we need to reach the airport in about one hour, so we don't have time, just tell us the route to reach the center, and we will follow it."

The guide laughed and showed us the shortcut back and so we could reach the taxi driver who was waiting there at the entrance. 

IT was indeed a short tour, and I certainly recommend to spend more than a couple of hours in the Park. There are so many things to see and such a wonderful nature to experience that it would have been a pity to skip it totally.

With a smile on our faces, we left Africa to return back home.

However, we had also a seven hours stop in Doha, where we decided to have a look at the city. I will tell more about that experience next week.

Have a great weekend!

Three... two...one... GO!

So, here I am the day of the departure finally arrived! The struggles we had with the visas for this trip took from me at least ten years of my life. It has been a real tour de force.

These are the times required for the visas process for our journey:

1. Benin visa: 10 minutes with the e-visa.
2. Togo visa: with shipping and handling, three days
3. Ghana visa: shipping to Denmark, handling time, and shipping back: one week.
4. Nigeria visa: Shipping to Sweden handling time and shipping back, three weeks worth of constant calls, email reminders, and a considerable amount of money to set up an alternative method for shipping the passports back.
What do we suggest? Africa is big, beautiful and exciting, avoid Nigeria!

This has been our crazy countdown:

Two weeks before the departure: we had to send back our passports to the Nigerian Embassy in Stockholm, because of a series of misunderstandings.

Eleven days to departure: they received the passports.

Seven days to the departure: they asked us to send more documentation, which was promptly sent by email.

Four days to the departure: they advised us to provide for a courier pickup, which we provided the very same day. The courier pick up was scheduled for the following day, and we would have received it the day after, so two days to our departure.
We informed the Embassy about the scheduled pickup, and they acknowledged it.

Three days to departure: The courier informed us that the Embassy declared not having anything to be picked up.
Panicking we tried to call the Embassy... No answer
We sent four emails, and only the day after they replied that now the courier could come.

Two days before departure: Reschedule the pickup. Finally, the courier got our passports, and we started to feel more relaxed.

The passports reached us safely yesterday, one day before departure.
I have never in my life been more stressed than the last two weeks. I was as tense as a violin chord, but now, it's time to celebrate:

The Wandering Writer is back on the road! Whohoo!

Stay tuned, because I am going to post on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/pjmann2016/) and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/paperpenandinkwell) a sort of photo journal, and every week you will have them summarized right here in this blog!
Have a great weekend!

Of life and death

I have no idea whether to a life fully keeps the fear of death away, what I know is that since I was a kid, I have been interested in death. Not in a morbid way, but I asked many times my little self what was the meaning of life, why we have to die and what happens after death. Humankind has always questioned itself about it and created many different theories or beliefs to console itself or to feel better about the fact that one day, we will reach the end of this journey.

Despite the different beliefs and the different concept of the afterlife, one thing it came immediately clear to me, one day willing or not this is going to happen. 

How it's going to happen or when it's going to happen, it is not up to us, unless we decide to end our lives on our own will.

The only thing we know is what has happened in the past and what is going on right now, so with this knowledge we try to forecast and to make a sort of plan for our lives, but then... Yes, then it happens and final day arrives.

I believe the fear of death is not connected with an unfulfilling life, as someone said that for those who are living a life of suffering death is welcomed as a relief. However, for those who are living a happy life, leaving is going to be more difficult. Who would like to leave something pleasant?

From my point of view, the fear of death comes from not being willing to accept it or to even acknowledge it. Once I understood that there was nothing to do about it and that life, as it is designed for this planet, means just fulfilling a biological cycle, the same that is designed for all the living creatures either belonging to the animal kingdom or to the vegetal kingdom (birth, growth, reproduction, death), accepting it came easier.

Yet, death means just a re-arrangement of our molecules, and the creation of food for other forms of life, at least on the material stage. Then if we want to take into account what is going to happen to our soul or to our conscious, that is something that is bound to the different points of view.

Some of us believe in heaven or hell, others believe in returning to our home in the stars, others believe in a cyclical reincarnation based on the way one has lived his/her life... and there are so many points of view about what happens after.

For me, I just wait and see, but meanwhile, I wait, I try to make the most out of this life since it is the place where I can make the difference, and I can act on the direction it has to take.

I personally have no fear of dying, I embraced the concept a long time ago. I have found out that if you accept the fact that all of this is going to end and you keep it in mind, not like something to be afraid of, but something unavoidable, like the rise and set of the sun, or like the days going by and the growth of your hair, your life will get better.

You cannot stop it, so better live and deal with it; to be honest, the original quote from Mark Twain would be better rephrased this way: