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30 April 2014
So today I'm going to look at Grace.

Grace is Emily's dragon they become united in a tense situation in the book, i'll say no more than that. They then grow together and become a force to be reckoned with by the end of the book.  Grace is sapphire blue in colour, slimmer than Spitfire but much faster.   She has a lightning attack unlike Spitfire who, as his name suggests, breaths fire.

In becoming a dragon rider Emily also pushes the toleration limits of the establishment.  They already have a boy fighting in the war and now they are faced with deploying a girl as well.  If you want to know what happens you can buy the book on Kindle, iTunes, Play StoreB&N and Smashwords.

29 April 2014
It occurred to me the other day that many people when they write their books have actors in mind for the roles of their characters.  I think I may even have mentioned it in a blog post.

Well I then got to thinking that there are three dragons in my novel so how do you do something similar for them?  Take a step forward Pinterest and take a bow.   Here are images I have collated that represent the three dragons that feature in George and the Dragon 

First up we have Spitfire, the main protagonist dragon of the novel and the Dragon from the title.  Named and ridden by George.

28 April 2014
A while ago I posted about the up coming changes to the VAT laws in Europe.

You can read the full blog here:

For The Love Of Money

However, I've just realised that I was wrong.

The price we set when we list our books on KDP is before VAT.  I know this as I've been having great fun trying to get my US KDP price to be the price point.

The VAT rate is set at 3%.

For Europe; as of January Amazon will be charging VAT at the rate set by the country in which the book is bought.  Not the country from which Amazon trades.

This is could mean that different European countries will have different rates of tax applied and so their prices will differ.  The UK charges 20%.

This doesn't sound too bad until you consider that Amazon prohibit you selling a book elsewhere for cheaper than it is available on their website.

This means that you may find yourself scrambling to adjust other list prices on places like Smashwords, Google Play etc once these changes come into effect.

The same net effect will be applied, however, you are going to loose money to the tax man come January.

Food for thought.

Phil






27 April 2014
It feels like a life time since George and the Dragon was published.  In reality it's not even been a week yet.

I've learnt a huge amount over the past few months and am in the process of writing it all down.   Maybe one day it'll become a success manual for other authors, who knows.

I'm still looking to create permanent records on line for the book.  I'm a huge believer in spreading yourself across the world wide web as much as possible.

To that end you can now find me on the Authors DB and Bookgoodies.  That's in addition to Smashreads, Amazon Author Central and Goodreads.  It does mean that going forward I will have to make sure I keep all these sites up-to-date.

One thing I have just learned is that you need to set up an Amazon Author Central profile separately for the US and the UK.   Nobody tells you that when you start this process it's the sort of thing you learn along the way.

I'm pleased to report that George and the Dragon is now available on Google Play.  They've also taken it upon themselves to reduce the price.  However, you can't find the book in their search on the website so that's more than a bit frustrating and I've sent them an email expressing my frustration.

One thing I have observed on Georiot.com is the phenomenal number of click-throughs to the iTunes listing of the novel compared to the Kindle listing.  It's hard to see if they've converted to sales but it is interesting all the same.

Tomorrow is Monday so time to think of something cool to write for then :)

Until next time.

Phil




25 April 2014
It's been an interesting few days.

I knew I should upload the book to Smashwords in advance so it could filter through to the other sellers like Barnes & Noble and iTunes.

The one I'm still waiting for is Kobo.  I've also found myself stuck in limbo listing my book with Google's Play.

One thing I did find very hard was getting the price point I desired on my listings on Amazon; $4.99 and £2.99.  I've got the UK price sorted but still not sure on the US one I need to double check it.

I am slowly falling in love with georiot.com and here's why; if you are an author you NEED to read this.

I am based in Kent in England.  So many times someone has given me a link to their book or posted a link for their book on Twitter and even Facebook and it takes me to Amazon.com and the US pricing.

I see something like this:


Now I'm lazy I'm not going to go to the green box and click on it and get to the UK price, especially not on my mobile.  That's a loss of a potential sale.

What georiot.com does is give me a single link that will take the buyer to the correct geographical site for their location.   In my case I'd get to the listing of George And The Dragon on Amazon.co.uk

The second hugely important thing it does is allow me to use my Affiliate links so I get that extra affiliate boost.

Thirdly I've been able to create separate links I can use in different places like the new buttons on this blog.  This allows me to see where the click traffic is coming from.

So, for example, if I decide to take George and the Dragon on a blog tour I'll make specific links for the tour so I can see how effective it was compared to what it might have cost me.

Rant over.

Have a good weekend everyone.

Phil

23 April 2014
So it's the official release day for George and the Dragon.  I've dubbed it George and the Dragon day as it's also St's Georges day.

Hopefully there are people out there buying my book as I write.  But I recognise this is going to be long term commitment and have to plan my marketing strategy around this.

It can already be bought on Kindle:

 George and the Dragon on Kidnle


 George and the Dragon on Smashwords

And, via Smashwords, it's now available on iTunes:

 George and the Dragon on iTunes

It should soon be availabe on Nook and Kobo and othersites as well.  I'm also waiting for it to go live on the Play store.

Now once the book is available it is available forever but I can't just sit back and hope people will discover it I have to go out and actively tell the world it exists.

Wish me luck.

Phil


22 April 2014
Tomorrow, St George's Day, sees the official release of George and the Dragon.


The book is already available to buy, there are delays while both Kindle and Smashwords approve the novel, but I have done limited marketing.  However, I've still sold 6 copies to interested parties.  4 of which appear to be in the US which is great because I don't personally know people who live in the US so they are interested in the work not just buying it because they are friends or family and feel obliged to do so.

If you are reading this and are interested in purchasing the novel you can head over to www.georgeandthedragon.co.uk and there are links to both versions on there.

I realise that selling the book is more of a marathon that a sprint, however, I would like to see a reasonable initial take up tomorrow.

We shall see.  I've done a lot of platform building as this blog attests and have access to 5000+ twitter followers whom I'm hoping will show interest in the novel, retweet my tweets and generally help me with my sales.  There are always other worries, have I priced the novel to high.  Have I done the right thing with not choosing to go with Kindle Select.

When all is said and done these are choices I have made and now I just have to see where my decisions take me.  We have a few marketing ideas to start with and I have ideas moving forwards.

This time tomorrow I'll know if I've been even partially successful.

Wish me luck.

Phil

Today I want to talk about:

George Atkins


However, as a bonus I also want to to talk about his dragon:

Spitfire

After all they are two titular characters of the novel.

George lives in a time when there were no iPads and no mobile phones.  Not every home had a TV and there was only one channel; BBC1.  The computer, as we know it, was years away as was the internet.

For entertainment George would go playing in the street with a toy sword and a wooden plank for a horse. 

Then without warning his whole world is transformed as he finds himself riding a dragon into combat.  From there, along with the dragon, he is recruited by the RAF to fight against the Luftwaffe.   For the most part George treats the whole experience like one big thrill ride but he is very much a child in an adults world and he finds that very difficult to deal with.  

Spitfire is the name given to the emerald green dragon that George find himself riding.  The dragon is brave, powerful and a fantastic ally.  He is also argumentative and considered to be a rebel amongst his own kind.

More than once he finds himself at odds with Group Captain Ford but he never uses his size and power to sway the argument and the Group Captain. in turn, is never intimated by the dragon.

You'll be able to read about how the George and Spitfire meet tomorrow when the book is officially released on Kindle.

I hope you'll enjoy the book and if you do you'll give it a great review.

Phil





21 April 2014
If you search this blog you will find no reference to the name Emily.  Although you may have noticed her name prominently features on the Word Cloud from George and the Dragon I posted earlier this week.

The reason for this is that I've been deliberately keeping her under wraps.

While George is the titular hero and main character of the novel he is not alone.   There is also a major heroine as well.  Her name is:

Emily Saunders


There routes to which they become the heroes of the novel are very different, but they both have a huge role to play both in George and the Dragon and in future books in the Knights of the Sky series.

There's only two days now until you can find out about Emily's story...although if you're eagle eyed you might just have noticed the book is already available.

Join me tomorrow when I introduce you to George.
20 April 2014
Not every book I've read has an ultimate antagonist, but sometimes they are essential to the plot.  In this regard George and the Dragon is no different to most.

So today I present to you:

Colonel von Vogler

He hasn't always gone by this name.

Early copies of the novel have him called General Hoffman.  However, at some point I decided that General didn't sound write in my head.  However, Colonel when I speak it with an exaggerated German accent in my mind sounds perfect.

So we then had Colonel Hoffman but I felt Hoffman was too nice a name for my ultimate antagonist as set about searching for a new name for him.

I don't know exactly when I settled on von Vogler but I do recall that it was close enough to vulgar to appease my need for a name suitable for the character.  He is not a very nice person as you'll find out if you read the book.



19 April 2014
On day 1 of 12 characters in 10 days we met the pilots of 505 squadron.  Today we meet their boss:

Squadron Leader Andy McKnight


McKnight is the oldest of the four pilots, a Scotsman, a father of four grown up children, a widow and a veteran of World War I.   Before being seconded to 505 squadron he was a test pilot for the RAF.  He is one of the most highly thought of pilots in the service.

In the book though he is such much more; he represents a father figure, the action hero of the piece and is involved in so much more then just fighting Luftwaffe dragons with Hurricanes and Spitfires.

You can see how important he is in George and the Dragon by checking out the word cloud I produced of the book:


18 April 2014
If you've read the blurb about George and the Dragon you should be aware that George's mother is a part of the novel.  Her name is:

Mary Atkins


Mary's life in the book is not a an easy one.  She has a husband at war, a brother who is messing with things that he shouldn't be and a son who just happens to find himself riding off to war on a dragon.

The fact that she can deal with all of this without having a nervous breakdown speaks volumes for the strength of character that she possesses.   However, there are facts that can't be escaped it was her decision to move the country that indirectly lead to George meeting the dragon.  She isn't as powerless as she may at first seem and she may just know more than she ever lets on!

You can find out more on the 23rd April when George and the Dragon is released on all good eBook formats.
17 April 2014
There aren't just RAF officers and evil Nazi Archaeologists in George and the Dragon.  There are also three children.  Yes three.  Technically one of them is almost an adult but in the eyes of Group Captain Ford, who as you know is in charge, they are all children.

At only 12 years of ago the youngest of the three is:

Harriet Saunders


But everyone just calls her Harri.  She is the younger sister of Emily, whom we shall meet in a few days, and is largely overshadowed by her older sister for reasons that become apparent in the book.

However, though her role in this book maybe as a supporting cast member do not underestimate her influence in the Knights of the Sky story.  She is still young and has plenty of time to grow into something magical.


16 April 2014
Imagine if you will living in a time when children are seen and not heard and a woman's place is still largely seen as being in the home.  Then imagine you are taken out of your paper pushing day job and placed in charge of a top secret RAF squadron and charged with the simple role of combating the Luftwaffe's newest weapon:  Dragons.  Then when you do get the chance to employ a dragon on the side of the RAF you have to accept that doing so puts a 13 year old boy on the front line.  How would you deal with the responsibility thrust upon your shoulders?

Welcome to the world of:

Group Captain Alastair Ford


Unused to a commanding post he now runs 505 Squadron and the Special Operations base from where it operates.  At one moment he may find himself dealing with mythical monsters attacking the British Isles then the next he has to deal with George's mother or a truculent dragon. 

Whenever I think about the Group Captain I have to accept that his role in the scheme of things is by far the hardest of all the characters in the book.  But he is smart and adaptable and quite possibly just the right sort of man for the job.  At least Churchill thinks he is.




15 April 2014
and they weren't all men.

As I continue to introduce you to some of the characters you'll meet when you read George and the Dragon I turn my attention to first of several female characters featured in the book.

The victor off the Battle of Britain with a group of pilots, photographed during a reunion. 
Click on the picture to link back to the source.

I came across this and other pictures like it while researching which characters I wanted as part of the story.  It made me realise that I needed a strong female WAAF officer, not to have one would have done as much disservice to the women of the WAAF as having 4 English pilots would have to the other Europeans that fought as part of the battle of Britain.

So today I'd like to introduce you to:

Section Officer Caroline King (W.A.A.F)


Women in the second World War did not fight on the front lines.  Back in World War II not only did they not fight in the war they had their own service and their own ranks.  Caroline is an office in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force; she holds the rank of Section Officer.  Section Officer is the equivalent of the RAF's Flying Officer the rank immediately above Pilot Officer.  The rank is at the same level as the British Army Lieutenant.

Section Officer King is very good at her job, demands much of those around her and pivotal to the story.   She's good looking but would not dream of becoming involved with any of the male officers that work along side her.

  



14 April 2014
It is a fairly well known fact that the Nazis truly where looking for all sorts of artefacts during World War II.

It all stems from Heinrich Himmler's belief that the Nazis could find the mythical city of Atlantis, where, it was thought, a master race had lived and this would enable the Nazis to reinforce and legitimise their own Aryan master race claims.  

Himmler created an SS unit called the Ahnenerbe (Ancestral Heritage), comprising archaeologists and scientists, scoured the globe hunting for proof of the lost Aryans of Atlantis. 

He also had them working on another secret mission; securing the greatest prize of all - the Holy Grail. The archaeologist who started all of this was called Herman Wirth, a scholar of ancient religions. 

It is from this that films like Raiders of the Lost Arc, to a certain extent Hellboy and more recently Captain America: The First Avenger have been born.

In all of these films you have something akin Herman Wirth but they usually end up looking more like the bespectacled Heinrich Himmler.


And so with that history in mind may I introduce you all to:

Prof. Walter Klein


He is a reluctant pawn, never intending to get caught up in the Nazi war machine.  But it is he who locates the treasure that enables the Luftwaffe to summon dragons and use them in combat with the RAF.  Although a reluctant pawn it also doesn't stop him from the corrupting influence of the power of magic.  I'll say no more right now you can find out his role in the novel on 23 April.

Phil

 

 

13 April 2014
The countdown to George and the Dragon day, 23 April 2014, begins today.

Each day between now and the 23rd I am going to focus on a character from the book.  However, today to start with I am giving you an insight into not 1 but 3 characters.

Meet the RAF Pilots of 505 Squadron:

Pilot Officer Marius Kowalski,  Flight Lieutenant Jakub Sokol and Capitaine Jean Claude De La Grange.

Marius is English by birth but has Polish Immigrants parents he is my nod towards the Polish pilots who made such a difference fighting for the allies during the battle of Britain.  He is the youngest of the four pilots, you'll meet the fourth member of the squadron later this week,  but also one of the most skilled.

Sokol is Czechoslovakian fighter Ace and has fought in the skies above many countries since fleeing his country in the aftermath of it's occupation.   He is the good looking one of the group but also calm under fire and just as good in the air as any of his fellow pilots.  His prized possession is a Dewoitine D520.  It was the French equivalent of a Hurricane, slower than a Messerschmitt BF-109 but much more manoeuvrable.  


The French only made a few of them before the Nazis invaded and Sokol managed to fly one out of the country to England.

Capitaine Jean Claude De La Grange is my nod to the very small number of Free French pilots who flew with the RAF during the Battle of Britain.   He is a huge man that is very hard to shoot down.  In a way he is the comedic one of the group but not because he is riotously funny.

Together with their Squadron Leader they make up 505 Squadron; a special operations squadron with one role to deal with the Luftwaffe dragon menace.

Join me tomorrow when I introduce to Prof Walter Klein.



12 April 2014
I write a lot about my author's platform as part of this blog.  Well there's no denying that a picture can be worth a thousand words so I decided to try and create a graphical representation of my platform.

And here is the sum total of my work so far.

by Phil Tolhurst

I've just worked out I can embed it on the blog not just show it as an image!

I'm quite happy with the way it turned out.  You have to consider I was hunting around for software to make my life easy and stumbled across mind mapping software examtime.com from there the rest was easy.

Let me know what you think.

Phil

11 April 2014
.....so what have I been up to this week?

Platform


I think I've largely finished with setting up my not so secret project:


The website is now up and running, the twitter account as just shy of 1000 followers and it also has a Google+ business page.

The idea behind it is to give me a second avenue of promotion for George and the Dragon and all my future solo ventures.  It will also give me the ability to promote any work published by friends and associates.  It maybe in the future that I will be able to monetise it's services but that's a long way off.  As is taking on any other authors under the publishing side of the company.

Although I do have a very clear idea how the publishing side of the company would work.

I've spent several evenings this week fighting with the layout of this blog; trying to improve the social media links presented when you access the blog.

I've also added links to other people's blogs.  If you have a blog you want me to add to my blog let me know.

Writing

I am nowhere near as far forward with the final changes to George and the Dragon as I wanted to be.
Which means I shall probably spend a large part of the weekend hacking away at it.  However it will still be released on 23 April 2014.

Pinterest


I created a new Pinterest board this week.  Something I added to this blog with yesterday's blog post.

It's titled Cool Places and will be full of vistas that I think evoke something in my imagination that will eventually spill out into my writing.  Not least of which are creepy abandoned theme parks.

Looking Forward


I have plenty to look forward too one George is release.  Ongoing publicity and marketing new projects and I have several courses of study that I wish to complete that are paid for but have been on hold while I finished the book.

But at the moment my total focus is on 23 April 2014 - George and the Dragon day :)





8 April 2014
This is a discussion about old money or Imperial money as they used to call it.

In my book two of the pilots have a wager originally they bet £5.  A harmless amount in today's money, not much more than a pint in London today.

Before I go on maybe I should recap how Imperial money worked:

2 Farthings = 1 Ha'Pennie (1/2 Penny)
4 Farthings = 1 Penny
2 Ha'Pennies = 1 Penny
12 Pennies = 1 Shilling
240 Pennies = 1 Pound
20 Shillings = 1 Pound
21 Shillings = 1 Guinea
2 Shillings = 1 Florin
2 Shillings and 6 Pence = Half a Crown 
5 Shillings =  1 Crown

So that aside lets look a wages:


Marius Kowalski is making the bet; he is a 19 year old, son of Polish Immigrant Parents, and holds the rank of Pilot Officer.

So in he would have been earning £237 a year.  That's £19 14 shillings 6 pence a month.

Taking it one step further that's £4 10 shillings and change a week.

So a £5 bet was more than a weeks wages!  You are now starting to realise my mistake I hope.

A pilot officer currently earns £24,615.

That's £2051.25 a week.

So that £5 bet would be worth more than £2000 in today's money!

Just another thing you have to be careful of when writing in an historical setting even if what you are writing is Fantasy.

Oh what did I change it too?  Marius declares he has a 10 bob note in his wallet.


Still a lot of money but a lot less than 5 pounds.

Phil

7 April 2014
If you're like me you're a writer so you write.  But, if you want to be a self-published author that's not all you'll end up doing.  You'll find yourself involved in everything from Advertising to Zen (and the art of selling).

In doing this you'll need help.  So here are 10 of the tools I use to help me develop my novel and author's platform.

1.  Scrivener                                                                            


Undeniably the most important piece of software on my computer.  Scrivener suits my style of writing down to the ground.  It enables me to write in chapters while keeping all the work I've done as part of the same project.

This is how George and the Dragon looks in my version of Scrivener:


2.  Word

I still use Word I find there are things on word I am more comfortable with doing in word than in Scrivener; probably as I've been using it for 20 odd years.

3.  Pro writing aid                                                                                              


Keep your chapter length lower than 3000 words and you can use Pro Writing Aid for free and it is one of the best editing tools available on-line.  Try it you won't be disappointed.

3. Pixlr 


Pxilr is an on-line image manipulation program that is second to none.  It takes a bit of learning but once you get the hang of it it's great.

4. Irfanview


Irfanview is a free to download installed image manipulation program.  I don't think it's as good a Pixlr but I still use it as I'm used to how it works.

5.  Cool Text


Cooltext is a great little on-line app for generating logos, like the one on this blog no less.

6.  The Logo Creator


For more complex logos I have a paid up version of the Logo Creator.  Like most software it has a bit of a learning curve but once you get used to it you can create some great looking results.

7.  Wordpress


Both www.philiptolhurst.co.uk and www.gerogeandthedragon.co.uk are created in Wordpress.  Wordpress websites don't have to have blog functions they can look and feel just like any other website.   The advantage of Wordpress is the many themes and widgets available that mean you can produce some pretty amazing results without having too much by way of prior knowledge in web design.

8.  Artisteer


The theme for this blog and both my websites were all designed with Artisteer.  If you've noticed the recent changes to this blog they were made in Aristeer.  With blogger themes you can simply click a button, enter your blog details, and Artisteer does the rest.  Wordpress themes are a little more complex but not overly so.

9.  Dropbox.


Cloud storage has it's downsides.  The most important of which is making sure your files have been uploaded to the cloud before shutting down your PC.  However, the upsides such as being able to access your Scrivener projects anywhere easily outweigh the downsides.  

10. Pluggio


Pluggio helps me to manage my tweets and Twitter accounts.  It's invaluable especially when it comes to arranging for tweets to be posted while I'm sleeping but large parts of the world are just getting home from work.






6 April 2014
What's your favourite dragon movie?
  
pollcode.com free polls 

If you choose other please leave a comment!

Phil
5 April 2014
Google+ is an enigma to me and I don't mind admitting it.

Today I learnt how to get a unique Google+ URL:  google.com/+PhilipTolhurst

This blog post here explains it far better than I can:  http://www.techwalls.com/set-custom-url-google-plus-profile/

This is what my Google+ account looks like to me:

 Google+ account for Philip Tolhurst

The bit on the left shows the following:


So apparently my Google+ page has been viewed over 70,000 times.  By who? Seriously I do no, zero, zilch, promotion of my Google+ page aside from links on my website and those I've written into this blog over time.

So how have over 70000 views been generated by my page?

The truth is I have no idea but I'm now intrigued and it makes me think I should be making more of the account and enticing people to follow me more.

In that regard I would really welcome suggestions.

Answers on a postcard please.

Phil

4 April 2014

Birthday

Not only is today Friday but I've had the day off work because it's also my 42nd Birthday!  

Platform


I really wanted to let you into a secret today about what I have been working on for the past week.  I've been so tied up in this new project it's the primary reason I have not blogged since the beginning of the week.  A major lapse on my part.   However, DNS servers taking 24hours to redirect my new website mean that it'll be tomorrow I launch the new project.

I've almost gained 2500 followers on @PhilipTolhurst but am hoping to significantly increase that reach.

Writing

I'm still in the middle of trying to 'beef up' two of the key battle scenes in George and the Dragon.  As well as this I've been slightly altering the way one of the minor characters die.

I've decided on a publication date for the book.

23 April 2014 shall henceforth be know as George and the Dragon day!

Looking Forward


I've started work on the top secret Cyberpunk Novella I mentioned last week.  I think I've formed the setting and am now writing the conversations before I fill in the gaps.

The Novella will have to form part of my Camp NaNo word count as there's no way I'll be able to start another project there's too much else going on.

I know I complained last week about only working on one project at a time but wearing so many different hats truly does require my attention to be spread.  I just hope it's just not spread too thinky.



Phil