P.J. Murphy's Writer Site

Somehow, a few months have passed since my last update. Not sure how that happened. At least no one can accuse me of bombarding you with information!

So, here’s an update of what I’ve been up to, following up on some threads from my last couple of posts.

Six Steps to Save a Soul

For the uninitiated, this is the name of my next novel, not a self-help book. It follows anti-hero, Trent Argent, trying to redeem himself by putting his dubious skillset to work supporting Geneva’s nonprofits. And before you ask, he isn’t based on me.

I had the good fortune to have a work sabbatical earlier this year, during which I finished the first and second drafts. Since then, I’ve shared it with some readers, making various tweaks and additions based on their feedback. I’m feeling pretty good about it right now, so I’ve decided to take the plunge and pursue traditional publication.

Cue delays. Preparing a submission package is a slow torture. With some help from a tutor I met on my writing retreat, I’ve spent many hours refining my synopsis and cover letter- only to notice a typo in the first line of the letter after I’d already sent out to a few agents. Oh dear.

If it gets picked up, it’s going to mean further delays before Six Steps sees the light of day. One of the great advantages of self-publishing is that you can get something out there quickly. The traditional process of layers of editing and slotting into a publisher’s distribution and marketing plans can take much longer. But if it comes to it, I think I’ll live- it will be worth it!

In the meantime, I have my next novel – Beach of Spies – to get on with. If it comes out how I’m hoping (and I find a better title) I think it has potential.

Netgalley and IngramSpark

In my July post, I told you about an experiment using these two platforms. Netgalley enables manuscript sharing with reviewers, librarians bookshops and others in the industry. IngramSpark is a self-publishing platform like Amazon but with the advantage that bookshops don’t hate it so could potentially order your books.

So, how did the experiment go? I think the most appropriate word is ‘Okay.’ I wasn’t expecting a tectonic shift in sales, given that I was trying this out with Dead Letters, which had already been out a year. And I got pretty much what I was expecting: a few nice reviews on Goodreads (and a couple of confusing ones). No spike in sales or three book or movie deal, unfortunately. But it has confirmed that slotting it into a marketing plan for a new book may yield results.

And maybe next year, depending on how things go with the traditional route, that’ll be exactly what I’ll be doing…

Some competition success

Having spent quite a lot of money last year entering into various competitions, I decided to hold back this year to a select few. I’m pleased to say I’ve had some success with Yesterday’s Shadow, the coming-of-age novel I wrote many years ago but only published back in February.

Yesterday’s Shadow is currently in the longlist (i.e. through two rounds of judging) of the Page Turner Awards – a competition that selected Dead Letters as their top mystery book last year. The judging isn’t over yet, so I’m still hoping to be shortlisted this year. We’ll see!

I also entered Six Steps to Save a Soul for the presigious Bridport Prize and received a nice email saying it made it to the top 6% of submissions. Given that the standard practice with these competions is to tell you nothing if you’re not selected, I found that quite refreshing. It’s little things like this that keep up the motivation levels!

Thanks for reading this far. I am to not leave it so long before my next confession – but I gurantee nothing! Bye bye for now. Paul