Friday 27 September 2013

2013 - not a bad year, all things considered.

I know there are another few weeks to go before we welcome 2014, but I think now is the right time to let you know how 2013 has been treating me. 

Sales of the Tom Gray thrillers have exceeded all expectations.  In fact, I was forced to register for UK VAT earlier this month after reaching the threshold.  The early months were nothing special, but once Gray Justice went onto the Amazon free list in late February, they exploded.  Gray Justice spent over 8 weeks as the Amazon UK number 1 free download, which led to bumper sales of Gray Resurrection and Gray Redemption.  To everyone who purchased a copy, I'm truly grateful.
Sadly, the tax man will get roughly half of the royalties, and my wife has her eye on a new bathroom and kitchen, so I can kiss goodbye to the rest.  I was hoping to use the money to fund a 2-year hiatus from the day job so that I could write full time, but after the above have had their share, I’ll be lucky to get two weeks off.

In the meantime, there’s good news and bad news for Tom Gray fans.  I’ve been working hard all year on his next adventure, and I’m glad to say I've finished it.  The bad news is, it isn’t going to be released until July 2014.
Why not, I hear you cry?
It’s because I was approached by Thomas and Mercer, an Amazon imprint, and offered a 4-book deal for the Tom Gray series.  I penned the agreement in October and they are currently working to edit and proof the first three books prior to a re-release in January 2014, along with some brand new covers.  Book 4 is going to be put through the wringer, too, and while that’s going on I’ll start work on my next title.  At this stage I don’t know if book 5 will be another Tom Gray thriller, but I’ll keep you all posted.  As it is an Amazon company, the books will be exclusive to that site, so if you’ve previously purchased the Tom Gray books from other distributors, I’m afraid you’ll have to download the Kindle app to continue enjoying the series.

I’m really excited about this deal.  Every author wants to get noticed on Amazon, and my books should get a fair few days on the front page.  You can’t ask for better exposure than that.  I may realise my dream of paying off the mortgage and quitting work to write for a living, I may not.  I guess I’ll know in the next 12 months.

So, all in all, not a bad year for Tom Gray and the gang.

12 comments:

  1. Sweet! Well deserved Alan! Good luck in your future endeavors

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    1. Thanks, Kim! I can't wait to see where this takes the Tom Gray series.

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  2. Great news really looking forward to them best of luck in all you do

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  3. Fantastic news. Congratulations and good luck. Hope it all works out the way you want it. I shall wait with bated breath for the next book

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    1. Thanks, Soraya. I hope it won't be too long :-)

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  4. Can't wait for book four, if it's as good as the first three and with your new deal perhaps you will become mortgage free

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  5. hi, hope u had a nice Christmas, do u have newsletter to join

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    1. Thanks, Karen, I did indeed. Hope yours was wonderful, too. I'm afraid I don't have a newsletter, but it's something I'll be looking into over the weekend.

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  6. I'm currently reading the 4th Tom Gray novel and I'm hoping that you keep up this franchise. What I like about Tom is that he isn't a larger than life hero. He's just a normal ex-soldier that gets the job done. It would be great if this character got transferred to the silver screen. It hasn't hurt Jack Reacher in that department.

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    1. I certainly will keep it up, Michael. In fact, I'm working on the fifth Tom Gray novel right now, and have the seed of an idea for number 6.

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