Ranking...by Paul Knight

I first would like to give a shout out to the ‘Cyber Babes’ for all their support and promoting of my novel. You guys not only set the standard in the PSP tagging community but also show what team work is all about. Many Thanks!!!

Since putting the word out I have had this strange curiosity how I am faring in the Google Search Engine results. So I typed in my name ‘Paul Knight’ and hit ‘Search’. My name and book popped up at number 10 on ‘The web’ option out of 23,700,000.

However, type in ‘Paul Knight’ and hit ‘Search’ for just ‘The UK’ option and my name and book pop’s up at number 8 out of 1,710,000. Which can’t be bad.

Type in the title ‘Coding of a concrete animal’ and I’m Number one, a small victory I know but still…it all helps.

But on another note…type in ‘Big Paulie Walnuts’ and I rank NO.3 on the web and numbers 1& 2 on the UK.

At this rate, by the time the book is released, I could rank number 1 in all the searches…

My fifteen minutes of fame is fast approaching (again) – like I have said before, I have lived a whole other life before becoming the law abiding figure that presents these blog’s to you and this time I may have to take advantage of it and make it last a little longer.

The mystery that is me continues…

I know this entry comes across a tad random and a touch egotistical but you gotta ride the wave…to be honest, I am more impressed with myself that I actually finished a project…the last achievement (family not included) I succeeded in was passing my Masters Degree while working on average 11 hours a day for seven years…in a corruptible environment, granted it wasn’t a 2.1 but I did pass. Getting that certificate felt good and gave me a sense of accomplishment for a few brief moments because lord knows I have yet to find how having an MBA as helped my working life or career development. We all know it’s who you know not what you know!

On the subject of my past and books (a weak link I know), I have just finished reading ‘Meeting the Guv’nor’ by Alan Mortlock. Al is known as the “pirate promoter” because of the stigma that still goes hand in hand with the unlicensed boxing circuit (people fail to understand that it’s called ‘unlicensed’ because it’s not sanctioned by the boxing board and not because it’s illegal). In truth, Alan is a well experienced boxing trainer and promoter who runs the IBA and should be commended for not only turning his life around through Jesus but for also the awesome shows he and his fighters put on…you should make a point to catch one. A few of my friends and family have fought for Alan over the years and none of them have ever said a bad word about him or the way he runs his business.

Anyway, I wanted to read his book because Alan was born and raised in the same neck of the woods I was brought up in, drank and visited the same haunts, all the same night clubs and ran the same snooker / boxing club I used to go to. ‘Hayden’s’ was where I went to spar with some up-and-coming fighters in the nineties, just to stay in shape, and it was there that I got a chance to go a few rounds with Scott Welch, before he went on to win the heavyweight title.

Another young chap (at the time) who used to knock the heavy bag around when I was at Hayden’s was Jamie Mclean, the son of the legendary Lenny Mclean. Jamie has grown to become the spitting image of his old man and I hope he is still living the way Lenny would have wanted him to.

So if you want to know what kind of background I came from, read this book and you’ll get the idea…although I’m 10 years younger than Alan (no offence if you read this), we still moved in the same circles…only I was probably wheeling and dealing with the offspring / younger siblings of the villains he was rubbing shoulders with.

That’s it for this one…stay frosty.

My first review...by Paul Knight

Okay, now I am playing the waiting game…Matador has produced my AI (Advance Information) sheet that goes out to all the major buyers, media and reviewers. This sheet can either grab someone's attention, sending your possible writing career to dizzy heights or get your work sent to the bottom of the bargain basement bin. The decisive moment is coming and the question that haunts any writer will soon get answered…

Is my work any good?

Every author has his loyal followers who are biased and will easily gloss over any flaws when give feedback. However, professional men and women in the industry that make a living from choosing the best authors to make their commission on are a little more disconcerting when giving back criticism…it's a lot like being a stockbroker, you need to believe that this is the right stock to invest in if you expect others to invest in it too.

What is it that as got my hopes up that my work will be seen and recognised as being something to invest in…my very first, professional review…I am well chuffed…

Date: August 23, 2006

From: Jean Wahlborg, Editorial Co-ordinator – Dorrance publishing co.

'Coding of a concrete animal: The Billy Michaels story', written by Paul Knight, is an intriguing submission of original fiction that focuses on the extraordinary life, exploits and adventures of the main character. Born into a family steeped in nefarious deeds and activity, Billy Michaels' fate was cast from the cradle. As a third generation 'East End' villain, Billy's childhood was short, though eventful.

Learning the tricks of his predestined trade from masters in the field, he proved to be quite adept and effective in this endeavour. While his future appeared to be nothing more than a litany of successful and profitable capers, events as he would have anticipated weren't exactly as he expected. From this foundation, the author constructs a riveting saga the embodies many of the same traits often associated with well-known works of a similar literary genre.

Composed in captivating narrative and compelling dialogue, the story flows at a brisk tempo. The plot contains more than a few strategically placed, unexpected twists that should maintain the reader's interest throughout. The characters are well developed and presented in a multi-dimensional fashion revealing the intricacies of their unique personalities and individual agendas. In addition, Mr Knight effectively manages to avoid artificially padding the work with superfluous material and unnecessary characters thereby keeping the focus directed towards the primary storyline. Navigating the plot to a well-conceived and logical conclusion, the author could leave the reader with a sense of time well invested in the reading of this story.

Paul Knight's highly descriptive style of writing combined with a keen attention of detail further enhance's the appeal of this work.

You have got to give it up for that one, haven't you? I mean, that has got to be a motivator for the buyer just as much as it motivates me…

Well anyway, I am keeping this blog brief because I just wanted to share that review with you all and get on with my Friday night plans…

Stay chilled...

The next chapter...by Paul Knight

When looking into the world of POD (Print On Demand), I found that there was more than a fair share of cheaply produced books with no marketing or professional input. The next range of printers offered a little bit more but were not very clear in their pricing what was included and seemed to be happy to hide the small print regarding the extras. The higher range of companies I found were very much upfront but lacked the customer services skills that was required for newbie's into this field…all except one, Troubador. I found their responses, fast and concise and they were the only company that encouraged you to get other quotes. They confidently admitted that they were not the cheapest but they did produce the best quality work and when you are trying to get your first novel out there, presentation is what it is all about.

Jeremy (from Troubador) was and has maintained to be a complete star, he as been extremely helpful and as offered advice on the overall finished product. Troubador, also as their own publishing division, called t2, which is where I asked for my manuscript to be sent for consideration.

Although t2 have yet to tell me one way or another, Matador (a subsidiary of Troubador) offered a publishing partnership with me on my first venture…If I can get enough interest on this first one then hopefully a larger publishing house will be interested to take me on for the sequels (you heard me right, sequels…I have so many tales to tell…all fiction of course, because how would I, a PSP tagger and all round nice guy have any insight to such goings on???).

If anyone out there can get a campaign going that will help me sell 100,000 copies then I am all ears…(It will have an International ISBN number…so anyone can order it through their respected suppliers, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Waterstones etc).

If a love cheat can be ratted out worldwide from a friendly email to a work colleague or a film clip of a chimp peeing in his own mouth can become an inbox star or a guy can get his partner to agree to a threesome if his web site gets x amount of hits or a film can have hardly any media attention but still become one of the most eagerly released box office titles (Snakes on the Plane) all thanks to the power of the internet. Then surely there is hope for me yet to hit such a measly target when there are billions of users that have the power to spread the word….wouldn't you agree?

Anyway, back to my entry into the realms of publishing…Luckily, I could design my own front cover (and save myself £300 or $550) and had a couple of people spend a month proof reading it for me for free (saving yet another £700 - $1200). My biggest challenge was getting those in my circle, who feature heavily in my book or should I say characters based on them, to be okay with me writing about the subject matter in question. They might not be top of the criminal food chain but an unsolved crime is still just that…unsolved. A lot of answers could be found by those searching for answers in this publication…those who are heavy in to the folk lore could have a field day deciphering the clues and piecing the puzzle together. It's the Di Vinci code only easier to read and not as complicated to understand… (Just how gutted was everyone who rushed to buy his second title only to find out it had nothing to do with his last one…If I'm not mistaken, it was set in the military…come to think both his following titles were…I could be wrong, they may of come before Di Vinci, I'm not much of a reader so I couldn't honestly say this is the case…I'm a big enough guy to admit if I'm wrong).

My first sequel is into its 5th chapter and I got to warn ya that this one is dark…American Psycho kind of dark (only without the rat pipe…that will mean more to the book fans than the movie fans), because it centres on the decade where the main character, Billy Michaels, goes through a very violent, unflinching time in his life whilst working in the Entertainment Security industry…It ain't going to be pretty folks…but still, that's the sequel and getting the first one out into the public eye.

I'll keep you updated

Getting started...By Paul Knight

Hey all, I'm Paul Knight and this is my introduction to my blog…it's not going to make any Top Ten Poll list but I am hoping it will encourage other writers and alike to stick with their chosen forte and take a few risks with it…what's the worst that could happen, right?

For all those that have read my profile, as much as writing about my darker days may hold a lot more interest I really do not think owning up to some of the naughtiness I got up to in my younger years on the Internet is going to do my freedom any good. However, who knows, along the way I may just let a few things slip when trying to make a point.

This is the part, that if this were a tacky, low budget TV show, the screen would go all wavy and it could make the fact that a flashback was about to take place. I have a few skeletons in my closet, I think to those reading about me would have already gathered, and 4 years ago, I thought I would exercise a few demons and write down a few things that still haunted my dreams…

I sat down in front of my PC at work (I was just starting a complete career change from the industry I was in for many, many years) and started to make use of my very limited IT skills. Tallying up all the hours I spent writing, it equated to 72, I had produced a 70,000-word manuscript without even realising it. When I first started, it was to tell a few stories, but as the words kept coming I set my target to 100 pages, but then I went past that mark and could just not believe where I ended up.

To the handful of people that read it, the feedback was "That ain't too bad", a compliment in my circles…so I got crazy ideas of having it published and investigated further on how to go about it.

They say that everyone has at least one novel in them, which is all fine and dandy but when the total of said people actually sit down to write it, the publishing world becomes a very unfriendly place. Each publishing house receives on average 100 sample manuscripts per day…granted that most of these manuscripts that each individual publishing house receives are duplicates…it still highlights that there is 700 new authors trying to get noticed every week x 52 weeks per year. You work it out, that is a lot of competition…it makes X-Factor look like a school playground, five-a-side kick about. Moreover, to accompany that much competition, comes rejection after rejection after rejection…if you have tried it, then you will understand where I am coming from.

Now this is not a slur or reflection on those who work at publishing houses, looking back on it all, I get that they can become overwhelmed with the submissions, I get that to actually read each and every manuscript would take an army of readers and I also understand the default rejection letter they all send out is not a true reflection of your work. But I tell ya, when you are sending out sample after sample and only getting rejected…you do start to question yourself and ask "Just how sh*t is my work?" and wonder why they just can't take a few extra minutes and jot down what was wrong with it…just a couple of hints to make it better…just a little help to change the work from ugly duckling into beautiful swan. But they don't and all your nearest and dearest do with their biased opinions is try and make you feel better but not given any constructive criticism on what needs to change, be taken out or added. So where does that leave you…?

Two publishing houses I owe for actually proving that last point wrong was Blake publishing (John Blake), who offered me the chance to get it published on condition…I used the real names and places of the characters involved (I changed the names and distorted a few timelines to protect the guilty). This was something I just could not do…I would be dropping far too many people in to sh*t creek for things they were never convicted for…it was unfair to them and I would not be upholding my East End upbringing. So that was out of the question but still, it was very encouraging and a much needed boost to stay on course and to keep sending the manuscript out.

The other publishing house that made a difference was Piatkus books (Piatkus Books), in their rejection they did point out three things to me:

The book was too short, it needed at least another 50,000-words.
The way I wrote it as a first person perspective did not work for the book.
It was too centralised on only the main character.

At last, actual constructive feedback that I could expand on …albeit that it arrived just as my motivation was sucked dry by numerous, sterile default rejection letters…plus, as I said, I was embarking on a career change, so for the next 2 years I turned myself to moving on up the food chain of my new profession.

This finally brought me to February 2006, when I got the urge to revisit my original manuscript and expand on it. I kept the letter I had from Piatkus books and used their feedback to restructure my book, changing the perspective of the way the story was being told, threw in some story arc's and puffed out a lot of the sub stories and characters. It took me 4 months to rewrite it (a huge increase in time than the 72 hours the first draft took) and I got it to the point where I felt comfortable for anyone to read and judge it.

It was time to restart the publishing section again…I was older, a little wiser to what to expect and I knew the book was now more fitting to it's genre and word count. The first publishing house I sent the new and improved manuscript to was Piatkus, I included in my covering letter about all their help first time round, thanking them for their input blah, blah, blah, threw in my sample chapters and S.A.E. It took just 6 days from the point of sending it to getting it back to find the same sterile, default rejection letter I was getting the first time round…If you ever needed a mental equivalent of getting kicked in the nuts…reading that first rejection letter would be it.

It was the first of many but they did not faze me like the first one did…I knew I had something better than before but I was well aware that I was no J. K. Rowling, I was not destined to be a No.1 bestseller or win the Turner prize. I was a writer who had stories to tell…I was a storyteller who just wanted to be heard (or read, depending on how pedantic you want to be about it). And it was with this determination that I took my destiny in my own hands and eventually teamed up with Troubador to produce 'Coding of a concrete animal'.