Today is the official release date of Deep State (Acer Sansom#4). Anyone who pre-ordered this title should now find it on their Kindle. Thank you for your support of my writing.

For a couple of weeks now pre-official-release copies of the book have been with readers who voted for it in Amazon’s Kindle Scout programme. Long enough for some feedback to be posted on Amazon. I’ve been genuinely thrilled with the response so far. My particular appreciation to all those involved.

Dirty Business (Acer Sansom#1) was the first book what I ever wrote. I vividly remember bashing away at the school computer in the staffroom of my first Istanbul school during free periods. I would never have believed back then that I would be putting out my fourteenth book and the fourth (and possibly final installment) in Acer’s journey.

When I released R&M#7 I said it could be the last one. Similarly, Deep State could well be the last Acer. As with R&M I haven’t decided whether I want to write another and even if I do it won’t be for a good while. As I said regarding R&M, I have other projects that I want to try in other genres.

I have thoroughly enjoyed writing this series of books. I like Acer. He’s not a cold-hearted killer. He is flawed. He makes mistakes. He has been naive and suffered for it. A reader once commented that Acer is a ‘poor man’s Jack Reacher’. If I had responded I would have told that particular reader that he just didn’t ‘get’ Acer. I ‘get’ Acer. I’m happy to say that lots of readers seem to ‘get’ Acer.

One of my greatest fears as a writer is that one day I might turn out a stinker in an otherwise generally well received series. That would bother me greatly. Quit while you’re ahead, my dad would sometimes say. I feel that I’m ‘ahead’ with both Acer and R&M. It’s a good feeling.

As many of you will know, I’m on a bit of an enforced break from the writing at present. I’m currently up to my chin in DIY with a ticking clock against me. But sometimes I need a break from my break.

I was born in New Romney, a little town just down the road from where I live now in Dymchurch. In New Romney stands St Nicholas church. It is an impressive medieval building. One of several old churches of The Marsh that are all worthy of a visit.

Like most old churches the ravages of time and weather have taken their toll. St Nicholas church is very fortunate to have a group of concerned local residents, the ‘Friends of St Nicholas Church, New Romney’, who contribute a great deal of time and effort towards fund-raising and general support of the church with the sole aim of helping to preserve, maintain and improve the building for future generations to enjoy.(Maybe one or two are also looking to jump the queue at St Peter’s gate when the time comes.)

One regular function is a monthly booksale in the church. It is held on a Saturday. Donated books are sold on tables along the central aisle. There is a hot drinks table and a cakes table. There are tables and chairs for visitors to sit at and enjoy their refreshments and their book purchases. These days there is also live music provided by local musicians that can vary from classical to folky tunes. All this in stunning historic surroundings with the morning sun streaming through the reticulated stained-glass window that dominates the altar wall. Truly civilised. If it were not for the unselfish giving of people like the ‘friends’, something that I’m sure is replicated all over the country, then people like me wouldn’t be able to experience such splendid mornings. Thank you one and all.

Today is Saturday. I went to the book sale at St Nicholas church. I also went to support my mum. My mum is the sort of practising atheist who makes Christopher Hitchens (RIP) seem… unsure of himself. It is a great irony lost on none of us that mum, the raging atheist, does charity work for a church. To be fair to her, she does it for one reason only – the grand old building. Serving on the hot drinks stall also provides her with many an opportunity to be rude to people. Something she clearly enjoys. Love her.

This is the kind of event I miss when I’m in Turkey. It is such a quintessentially English affair, very atmospheric and evocative. Whenever I attend, I always feel like I’ve walked into an Agatha Christie novel. I spend most of my time looking around waiting for the first murder to occur: death by razor blade in the walnut cake, strychnine in the lemonade, perhaps a bit of ‘loose’ masonary falling from the belfry to smash someone’s skull to a pulp.

While the coffee and homemade cakes are greedily consumed by the faithful – and why not, they are exceedingly good – I first make for the tables of books to play elbows and shoulders with others like me. Modern first editions are my thing. Hardbacks with dust jackets in very good condition or better. Books are 50p each. I don’t want most of what I bought today. (I’ll never read a biography of Osbert Sitwell. I don’t even know who he is!) but when I see a fantastic hardback book in pristine condition for 50p I can’t help myself. I see myself as a ‘book rescuer’. I had a great haul today.  One of these is gem of a find for a collector like me. Can you guess which one and why. (Answer at the bottom of the post.)

*

As many of you will know, Acer Sansom #4 Deep State went live for pre-order this week. Anyone who nominated the book in the Kindle Scout programme should have received an advance complementary copy in thanks from Amazon and me. It’s already had four reviews posted and they are very positive. Naturally, I’m thrilled (relieved).

Deep State can be pre-ordered here: Amazon UK and here: Amazon US  Release date 31st May.

*

I have been managing to do some homework this week for my chosen ‘literary’ career. I’ve written before about my desire to have a go at recording audio versions of some of my books. I’m still dead keen.

Now that the skim of plaster is dry, I’ve spent most of this week sandpapering woodwork, undercoating and glossing, emulsioning ceilings and cutting in on walls in preparation for a couple of days on the roller.

Decorating is not my idea of fun. I find it tedious in the extreme. But it is a quiet job. I found an old cassette player/radio at home and stocked up on audio books from the charity shop across the road from me. I’ve been listening and learning and enjoying being read to. I still think I can have a bash when I have the time.

*

Answer to my question: Our Game by John Le Carre. Le Carre did not care for the dust jacket of the first impression of the first edition.

1st impression. It is a bit crap.

Consequently, only about 1000 were printed and most of these were dumped at airport bookstores by the publisher in the hope that they would be bought and flown far away never to return to the UK. Future print runs had a different jacket and the publishing number string on the copyright page indicates later impressions.

2nd impression. And this isn’t crap, too?

The original books are quite sought after by Le Carre fans, of which I am one. That’s how I knew. It was a rare moment when I spotted it. The sort to have the blood racing and the palms moistening. I’ve put it in a box.

PPS The cake of my day could have been well and truly iced if the Robert Galbraith novel, aka JK Rowling, had been a first impression. Alas it is not, but still a very nice, tight copy of an early reprint to go with the others I have of hers until I do unearth that elusive first impression, perhaps at a St Nicholas booksale. Amen.

Deep State (Acer Sansom#4) is now available for pre-order. If, like me, you nominated the book for the Kindle Scout programme you should already have had notification from Amazon that your free copy is ready to download. For everyone else, please see the links below. Once again, thanks sincerely to all those who took the time and trouble to nominate the book.

It’s my understanding that readers who get an early copy are able to leave feedback on Amazon before the book goes ‘live’.

It’s been a long time from finishing this one to it becoming available for reading. Here’s hoping that the wait has been worth it.

Deep State Amazon UK   Deep State Amazon US

PS I didn’t get to set the price on this one. That was Amazon’s call.

The church at St Mary in the Marsh

I missed my blog post entry last week. In truth there wasn’t anything of note to record in my Diary of a CWAP. I did some more DIY. And then some more. And then some more.

My big sister came for a visit at the weekend. The weather was fabulous. On Sunday my big sis, my little sis and I dug out the push-bikes and went for a cycle ride across Romney Marsh. It was wonderful out there. The Marsh was beautiful, fragrant and alive with the sounds of spring: lambs, frogs and birdsong. Perfect.

We stopped at the church of St Mary in the Marsh and paid our respects at the grave of E. Nesbit. She of The Railway Children fame and a certain Booker & Cash short story. I said to my sisters, ‘So, have you read my Booker & Cash short story in Three Short Blasts?’ They looked at each other and then at me. There ensued a deafening silence as the lambs, the frogs and the birds held their collective breath. I rode the next three miles some hundred yards out in front, sulking. Their loss.

Still waiting for Amazon to release Deep State Acer#4 into the wild. They are taking their time. And they don’t say much. In fact they remind me of an ex: hard to get hold of and when you do, you wonder why you bothered.

I have been working on a writing project at night and for an hour before work in the mornings. And this weekend I’ve been able to have a concentrated bash at it because the plasterer is in upstairs and I’m keeping out of his way. It’s nice to get back to the desk and my laptop.

I’ve been back in the UK for a month already. How time really does fly. Overall, I’m enjoying the change in my circumstances. It’s nice to have a bit of variety in life. I just wish my little boy wasn’t so far away for so long.

The renovation project has turned the corner and things are starting to come together. Another month should see things finished. I hope so because my wife called to let me know she’s changed her tickets and they’re coming earlier than expected.

Yesterday, Rope Enough (The First Romney and Marsh File) received its 1000th comment on Amazon UK. That feels like a milestone. I honestly have no idea how many times the book has been downloaded, but it does run into tens of thousands. That’s because it’s always been free to download as my try-before-you-buy initiative. In that regard, I suppose, it’s been quite successful. However, the really important statistic linked to this milestone, for me, is what the starred feedback rating average amounts to. Rope Enough is currently enjoying a 4.4* out of a possible 5* average. And that is a wonderful feeling of validation for my writing. That is something for me to celebrate.

A couple of weeks ago I received the line-edited copy of Deep State – Acer #4 – back from Amazon. Because of other commitments, I’ve not been able to have a sustained run at it, so, an hour in the morning before work and sometimes an hour before bed. It’s taken me a long time to get through it. Much longer, I suspect, than many of the other books adopted by the Kindle Scout programme, which are overwhelmingly American in pedigree and style. This is because I write British English and the Kindle Scout editors are ‘correcting’ the manuscripts for the US market.

The manuscript is returned to the author with all the suggested changes made and detailed in the mark-up pane of an MS Word document. If one is pitching one’s work at an American market it’s easier to read through and adopt, or not, the points made. What I had to do was to open my original MS Word document alongside the ‘corrected’ version, search for the suggestions and then incorporate them, or not, into my original document. Continually switching between documents like that is a very time consuming and laborious process. But it felt like my best option.

I had to do it this way because of the huge number of changes that had been suggested with regard to the differences between British and American presentation and language. A good example of this is that American prose makes use of double speech marks as the norm. While UK formatting uses single speech marks.

US: Acer said, “These shoes are killing me.”

UK: Acer said, ‘These shoes are killing me.’

See what I mean? And there are so many spelling differences between the two languages – words and letter combinations that crop up regularly.

I had a choice to make: (a) accept the edited manuscript with the double speech marks and other differences of formatting (I just couldn’t because as established last blog-post, Acer and I are British writing for, predominantly, the British English market), (b) accepting the revised version and going through it to change all the formatting and spelling back to British English (I’d rather kill myself) or (c) do what I did – read them alongside each other and make changes to the original, if I agreed with the editor’s comments.

My decisions have also been informed by the not inconsiderable matter of series consistency. To have accepted half of the suggested changes would have made Acer #4 incompatible on various levels with Acers #1, #2 and #3. Not good for anyone reading them in order and not good for anyone who reads #4 and decides to try one of the others.

I hope no one thinks that I’m complaining. I am not. However, I do think that this is something that Amazon need to consider when they select books for publication. Perhaps British editors editing for the British English market would be a step in the right direction.

On the plus side, it soon became apparent that the editor really understood the book and the characters. He made remarks that I had to think hard about. For the record, I found him very professional, insightful and thorough. It’s just that he had a job to do on my book and his employer’s expectations and mine were different for the finished product. I even sensed in a couple of places that he seemed reluctant/sympathetic with some of his suggestions. Maybe that was just wishful thinking on my part.

I’d like to share a couple of cherry-picked comments from the editorial feedback letter: Overall, the manuscript has a fast pace and some excellent plot twists and well-developed characters… The flow of the plot is great and imaginative… The plot is very strong with some nice surprises… Of course, all of those sentences continue with a ‘however’ or a ‘but’ or an ‘although’ but I’m feeling positive today.

Anyway, all done now. Of course, once all the changes were made I had to then read the book again to make sure I hadn’t buggered anything up while I was toying with it. (That was a day of DIY lost.)

The good news is that Deep State – Acer Sansom#4 is about the best it can be. And I think it’s not a bad read. It’s gone back to Amazon now. Pinged off this morning. I’m waiting to hear from them regarding release date. All those who nominated the book in Amazon’s Kindle Scout campaign will get a free e-copy in advance of publication day. Lucky you. And me because I voted for my own book. (There was nothing in the rules to say I couldn’t.)

For those who didn’t get to see the opening sample of the book that was available for reading during the Kindle Scout campaign, here is the first word of the first paragraph of the first chapter as a teaser: ‘The…’

I’m sure you’ll agree from that, it’s gripping stuff.

*

And now for an update on the millstone. Because it’s my writer’s diary and I should include things that stop me writing as well as everything else.

This week I ran a ring main round for the sockets and a circuit for the lights; disconnected and took out the gas boiler and the gas fire; built the frame for a cupboard in the bathroom; removed some blown plaster from downstairs; did some gardening; cleared out some rubbish and now I’m working on removing all the woodchip wallpaper in preparation for my plastering friend skimming the walls.

On the brightside, literally, the weather seems to be changing for the better. I’ve even started enjoying the odd drink in the garden. Talking of which, my coffee cup beckons…

Dear CWAP Diary

Ten days back in the bosum of Romney Marsh. And I’m just about over the couple of days it took me to get back home from Turkey. Couple… of… days…

You just know things aren’t going to go your way when your suitcase comes around the carousel at Baggage Reclaim looking like this.

You know that old joke about luggage in London, you in Istanbul etc. It’s not funny.

So because of flight delays and connecting flights missed and ‘luggage issues’ I didn’t get back to the UK until late Tuesday night having spent most of Monday and Tuesday stuck in Istanbul  and in the same clothes for forty-eight hours.

I made the London Book Fair for the last day: Thursday. It was much as expected – lots of book industry people doing lots of book industry things. Busy people. Nothing there for me. But up on the top floor Amazon had a good set up. I caught an open chat on writing for children – a genre I have ambitions to write in – so, interesting. And then I had the good fortune to catch a couple of Amazon’s best-selling authors who were very friendly, down to earth and good to talk to.

Amazon’s Kindle Scout got back to me this week with editorial feedback on Deep State. (When Amazon accept a book for publication part of the deal is that they have the manuscript looked at by editors from Kirkus.)

Feedback was generally positive with some suggestions for minor alterations and the like. Nothing major and most of the recommendations  were related to making the text more American, which is feedback wasted because Acer and I are British. One of the good things about the feedback is the understanding that recommendations are just that and the author is free to accept them or not as they wish. Now I must make time in my DIY schedule to look at the text, deal with it and send off the final version.

I haven’t written anything new since I’ve been back home. Here’s why:

I’m enjoying my new set of challenges and renewing old acquaintences with my tools, even if many of them are, like me, a bit rusty.

I’m taking a day off today to catch up with computer related stuff and look seriously at Deep State now that I’ve had a few days to mull over the suggestions.

Ten days and I still haven’t had a rasher of bacon. I’m intending to rectify that this morning.

Oh, and I’ve got a letter to write to Turkish Airlines…

So that’s my Turkey time finished for a while. I’ve had a little under eight months of a writing sabbatical. Not many people get lucky enough for that sort of opportunity in their lives. In that time I’ve written and put out the four books above. I’ve also written eighty thousand words of Booker & Cash #3 (I feel like I’m on the home straight with that one), ten thousand words of Booker & Cash #4 (that was just accidental – an attempt at a short story that I realised had some legs in it) and a sixty thousand word first draft of a stand alone that might be the start of something special. Then there’re the weekly blog-posts and I overhauled the first three Romney & Marsh Files, which was quite a time-consuming task. But a necessary one.

Life has been good here. Surprisingly really good. I existed in my bubble in the suburbs of Ankara and I have been happy.

For myself as much as anything (this is my writer’s diary after all) I’m going to detail a typical working day in my writer’s life.

6.30am – my little boy usually wakes up demanding attention. That’s my job.

8.15 am – I walk my son to school, which is about fifteen minutes away. Sometimes it snows.

8.30 am – My usual Turkish breakfast at my usual table in the local eatery. (Including mug of tea 12.50TL, which equates to just under £3. Bargain.) I used to go home and make my own until I discovered this place. (No shopping, no preparing, no washing up. Eat, pay, go. What’s not to like?)

9.15 am –  Back home. Sit down to write.

(Yesterday, Sunday, I stripped the walls of my Post-its and put them somewhere safe. That was pretty sad. I felt like I was moving out, which I suppose I am.)

1.00 pm  – Down tools, change into running gear and head to gym.

1.15 pm –  Arrive at gym and torture myself for an hour.

Anyone else remember Roger Newel-Post?

2.30 pm – Table tennis partner arrives. Let the games commence.

3.45 pm – Leave gym, run to meet son from school.

4.30 pm – Arrive home. Do stuff.

Even his T-shirt was impressed with that Yorkshire pudding.

7.30 pm – Put son to bed and read him a story. That’s my job.

8.00 pm – Sit down to watch a film. (Great TV packages in Turkey)

10ish pm – Back to current writing project

Midnight – Bed.

On a good day I’ll manage 5000 words. On a slow one half that.

I feel like I’ve had a productive and enjoyable time as a writer. And I’m still brimming with creativity. My walls are plastered with Post-its of ideas for new stories.

I don’t really want to leave Turkey just now but I have to. It’s a visa thing. I’ve got to get out for three months minimum. And then it will be summer in the UK, which I quite like, so I’ll be back home on the Marsh until September. Then… we’ll see.

By the time anyone sees this I will hopefully be somewhere in the air over Europe looking down on the world with an alcoholic beverage in my fist. Tomorrow I’ll be at the London Book Fair. I’m looking forward to that. See here: LBF Blog-post.

Writing is going to have to take a back seat in my life for the next few months. I’ve got a list of jobs to do as long as Inspector Gadget’s arm. And I need a bit of a holiday. I’ve worked quite hard during my sabbatical.

I’m gutted I didn’t get to wrap up B&C#3 before I left. It’s my own fault. I was struck with a book idea in February and spent the next three weeks knocking out a first draft. And it is good. But it cost me valuable B&C time, which I haven’t been able to claw back. I can’t not finish B&C#3 as soon as possible because I’m in the swing of it and it’s a bit complex for me. I can see I’m going to be burning some midnight oil for a week or two back home. So be it.

I recently read a very interesting and affirming article here: When the well runs dry.

The author of the piece considers the feelings of tiredness that a creative can experience on finishing a project. This is definitely something I can relate to. I found it hard to understand the first few times it happened to me – I thought I was coming down with something – but now I’m used to it. It’s become part of the process. I finish the first draft of something and it’s like someone’s pulled my plug. I become quite listless for a few days. It’s good to know it’s normal for some.

After eight months of writing solidly, I need to give my ‘well’ an opportunity to fill up a bit. Preferably with beer. I’m looking forward to heading down the road to this place. Romney Marsh Brewery No prizes for guessing why.

I intend to keep my Diary of a CWAP up to date. There will be news to share in the coming weeks – Deep State (Acer #4) and Waifs & Strays (B&C#3) for starters.

I would like to end this chapter (groan) in my writing life by taking the opportunity to once again offer my warmest and sincerest thanks to all my friends and readers on social media who have taken an interest in my writing and helped me to have such a wonderful time of it. Your ongoing support is greatly appreciated.

Writers are nothing without supportive readers.

And finally many thanks to Martin and Shelagh who have both had their editorial and proofreading work cut out for them with the above books. They are the reasons my writing is not littered with errors like what it used to be (?). Professional help is something else a serious writer can’t do without.

My sunshine on Dymchurch beach.

A few weeks ago I wondered out loud on social media whether to attend the London Book Fair. I had no ‘real’ understanding at the time of what the event was all about. The response of those who answered my thoughts was fairly consistent: don’t bother.

What the London Book Fair is: a place for the book industry’s players to get together and do business: press the flesh, network, trade, buy, sell, thrash out deals for their traditionally published pets. It is a place for the professionals.

What the London Book Fair isn’t: an opportunity for unpublished or self-publishers to prowl the stands and the aisles, clutching carrier bags of manuscripts and book synposes, stalking possible marks (agents and publishers) that they might be able to corner in the hope of impressing them with the quality of their work and get a ‘deal’ out of it.

I’m clear about all that. Now that I am I can attend and just relax. I have my ticket.

Why would I go to an event where I will likely be treated as a pariah if my identity were uncovered? The truth is that having just spent eight months living in a culturally sterile city – in fact hidden away in the suburbs – where my unswerving daily routine has been devoid of cultural and English language experiences that haven’t come out of a computer screen, a television or a Kindle I feel the rather desperate need to dive into an atmosphere devoted to one of the loves of my life: books. (Think man in tattered clothing, sunburned to a violent crimson, weeks of stubble and almost blind from the intensity of the light, crawling out of the Sahara desert and spotting a swimming pool shimmering with cool, unchlorinated mineral water. [Or is it a mirage?]) And the opportunity to visit and soak up a bit of London’s atmosphere is something else I’m looking forward to. Maybe I’ll call in on the bookshops in Charing Cross Road and Cecil Court. Just thinking about it is making me smile.

As for the LBF I have aboslutely no intention of doing anything other than turning up, mooching about, handling books, smelling success, sipping coffee and generally spooning up the ambience of the place. I don’t think that I even want to talk to anyone. (After eight months in the wilderness I’m not much of a conversationalist these days).

I’ve never been to anything like it before so it’s something new for me. It can feed my dreams, which is never a bad thing if it’s not hurting anyone. And who knows, I might learn a thing or two.

One week to go until I must flee Turkey or face imprisonment for outstaying my welcome. (Might be worth it for the material for a bestseller it could give me: Midnight Express 2). As the clock ticks down on my Turkey time and my writing sabbatical I’m taking stock of a few things. Today I feel the urge to make an entry in my CWAP diary for posterity.

The Internet is littered with pithy gobbets of writing advice attributed to famous authors. Erudite phrases that are like word-windows opening onto fields of literary possibilities. I might not be a famous author but I have a bit of writing advice to impart to would-be novelists – my two-penny-worth: don’t be dull.

It might seem obvious to strive not to be dull as a writer but I have read – make that started and discarded – a number of books this year that have proven to be ‘dull’ reads. (Yeah, I know dullness is a subjective thing.)

Technology is allowing increasing numbers of people to realise that dream of writing and ‘publishing’ the book inside them that we are all supposed to have. Good luck to them all, I say. But a word of caution: it’s not enough to be able to write coherant sentences, organise paragraphs, keep a narrative arc going from start to finish. Not if it makes for dull reading. Writing doesn’t have to be gripping but it does need to be engaging. Pace, humour, horror, suspense, twisting plots, colourful characters, startlingly original figurative and/or descriptive language, snappy dialogue – there are many ways one can engage readers. The more strings you have to your bow the better. Obviously. Just dont be dull.

As a writer one must be a reader. More than that. You’ve got to read masters of the craft and learn from them. Understand what it is about their writing that hooks you the reader and learn from it.

Now might be an opportune time to recommend a read. (Don’t worry, it’s not one of mine.) The best book I have read in a long, long time. Certainly my of my top five reads. It’s got everything. The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris. An easy ten out of five from me. And I’m nearly finished with the follow-up Hannibal. This guy is simply brilliant. He has many strings to his bow.

(In response to the suggestion that everyone has a book inside them, the publisher Michael Joseph is reputed to have once said  that most of them should stay there.)

Don’t make yours one of them. Don’t be dull.

I had an idea the other day. The idea is based on another idea that I had a good while ago.

The older idea isn’t really an idea. It’s more of a belief. The idea/belief is based on property ownership. I’ve always considered physical property, particularly of the bricks and mortar kind to be the best kind of property investment one can make. I’m still keen on that kind of property ownership, but I’ve changed my mind about whether it’s the best kind of property to own. So what it the best kind of property to own? Could it be intellectual property?

Owning the right intellectual property can prove quite profitable in the right hands. I would even go so far as to say that owning any intellectual property can be quite profitable in the right hands. This all got me thinking about the intellectual property that I own: the rights to my books. OK so I’m using the word ‘intellectual’ in the broadest sense. (Thought I’d get that one in first.)

When I started thinking about my IP (intellectual property) I wondered if I could profit from it in a different and more immediate way that might appeal to some investors.

If I were to make for sale the rights in every shape and form to a series of my books would I get any takers? That got me thinking two things: which series and what sort of money would I want for it.

I’ve decided to  sell my Acer Sansom series to the highest bidder – all rights to every book. I will happily sign a contractual agreement that I won’t write another. The  purchaser can do what they like with them: keep my name on the cover, change it, whatever, change the titles, change Acer’s name, whatever. All a prospective purchaser would need to do would be to meet my reserve price or better it and then the four book series is theirs to do what they like with. In the right hands the four books could bring a nice monthly income for as long as the world reads books.

In the hands of a savvy business person I’m sure there is good money to be made with these books. As well as continued sales of ebooks (a market that with my limited enthusiasm or nouse for self-promotion  I have hardly scratched) there is the physical book market (none of the Acer books has ever been printed). There is also the audio book market to take advantage of (again something that I haven’t touched and something that is growing in popularity and is quite lucrative). And, who knows, maybe film rights one day. I repeat: who knows. All for a one-off lump sum.

Why would I do that? Because I need a one-off lump sum.

I’ve given this a good deal of thought. It’s the right thing for me. The package as outlined above is now open to bids on ebay at the following link address. So, if you’ve ever fancied owning your own series of thrillers to do with as you wish just click on the link and make a bid. There is a modest reserve.

Ebay UK Acer Sansom series: full rights auction.

Now that the date has passed  I’m posting below the information that the link above provided.

Yes, that’s right it’s an April Fool’s Day joke. That’s why I haven’t allowed comments on the original post.

Did I get you? If you want to pass comment (swear at me), please do it on social media WITHOUT GIVING AWAY THE APRIL FOOL. I’d like to get as many people as possible. 🙂

PS: Anyone seriously interested in the Acer series let’s do lunch. (Bring your cheque book.)