The Price of Gas

 

The price of gas has increased tenfold. Heating our homes and operating our industries has become enormously more expensive. Ruinously so, perhaps.

However, I reckon the cost of gas has remained pretty much the same.

The cost price reflects the cash needed to extract the fuel from the ground and transport it to the point of use. I doubt there's much difference in cost between now and pre-war in Ukraine. The huge leap in price only reflects the amount people are willing to pay for the stuff.

There's also a lot of talk in the UK about us having 'our own oil and gas'. As a country we have none. We gave it all away long ago to the likes of BP and Shell who are now free to sell it to the highest bidder. And that's where the money is going. Directly into the pockets of already over-rich people who have no need for more money but feel they are entitled to it anyway.

At 20p per therm, the fossil fuel companies were making handsome profits. Now, at 200p per therm, profits have become astronomical.

How can this be? Why should people who can least afford it be paying into the dividend pot for fossil fuel investors?

It's the system. The one we've been told for decades is the only viable way to run the world. We've been lied to. Sold a pup. Exploited.

The biggest contributors to the Conservative Party and individual MP's, apart from corrupt Russian oligarchs, are the construction industry. There's a reason for this.

Let me use the construction industry, with which I am familiar, as an example of the corrupt system which applies equally to every facet of business in the country and, in fact, most of the world.

Land, like the oil and gas beneath it, ought to belong to everyone but it doesn't. Those with the might to claim vast tracts of our country grabbed it while they could. So, most of the surface of our country is controlled by a group of wealthy landowners. Like the Queen. And Chinese investment companies. And the Russian mafia, sorry, oligarchs.

So, what's the cost of land? Not a lot. Especially if you stole it many years ago.

But the price? Agricultural land can be bought for £5,000-10,000 per acre. This reflects the profit that can be made from growing crops. The exact same piece of land with permission for housing will yield over £1,000,000 per acre when sold as plots to house buyers. Our planning system is designed to enrich  housebuilders. Corruption can be no surprise when such enormous profits are involved. Influencing politicians must be extremely good value for money otherwise why invest large sums in political contributions?

In the UK, the cost of a house has little relation to its price. The price, like that of gas, depends entirely on what people are willing to pay. And their ablility to pay is more dependant on the cost of borrowing money from the banks than anything else. Bear in mind that the exact same house in one place can fetch twice the price of one in a less fashionable district. No difference in cost.

I've rambled on a bit. Sorry. I hope you get the picture. Your energy bills are stuffing the pockets of the rich. Corruption ensures this. The media make sure we remain victims because the media is controlled by the mega-rich.

It doesn't have to be like this but it's the way we've chosen. Maybe its time to choose another way.

Services for Writers

Writers don't do it for the money. Which is just as well because very little would get written if that were the case.
There is no money to be made from writing novels. (Or very little, in any event.)
Why do I say this?
Because it's true and I quote the Guardian:

According to a survey of almost 2,500 working writers – the first comprehensive study of author earnings in the UK since 2005 – the median income of the professional author in 2013 was just £11,000, a drop of 29% since 2005 when the figure was £12,330 (£15,450 if adjusted for inflation), and well below the £16,850 figure the Joseph Rowntree Foundation says is needed to achieve a minimum standard of living. The typical median income of all writers was even less: £4,000 in 2013, compared to £5,012 in real terms in 2005, and £8,810 in 2000.

Commissioned by the Authors' Licensing and Collecting Society and carried out by Queen Mary, University of London, the survey also found that in 2013, just 11.5% of professional authors – those who dedicate the majority of their time to writing – earned their incomes solely from writing. This compares with 2005, when 40% of professional authors said that they did so.

Let's be clear, just over a tenth of people that write full time make a living solely from writing.
The average professional author earns £11,000 a year.

So it can't be for the money, so why do we do it?

For me, it starts off as a need to connect, first with myself and then with others. It's not enough to put words down on paper, I have a desire to be read. And, I suppose, appreciated. It's very satisfying to get feedback from people who enjoy what I write and even better when they're asking for more.
I have to write, it makes me happy. But I also need to be read and the only way to reach readers is to be published. I'm one of the fortunate ones, my books have sold very well. But I'm not in the Lee Child league just yet.

Getting published for most writers is going to cost them money. There are lots of businesses offering services to do this and many of them are pretty expensive and not entirely honest.

There are others that have a genuine desire to help writers and not mislead them.

If you're careful who you deal with, though, it will be money well spent. All I urge is that you go into it with your eyes open.

photo credit: mrsdkrebs via photopin cc

Who's Jenny Parker?

People often ask me where I get my characters from. One rather cynical soul accused me of ripping off people I know by putting them in books, making money from them and not paying them a penny!

Well, that's not the way I work. Really.

There are a few people that think they recognise themselves in Due Diligence. One of them is right. All the rest are mistaken. Sorry.

My main character, Jenny Parker, is certainly not based on any individual. She's a product of my imagination, created by my desire to write about an ordinary person who gets caught up in serious crime. I wanted to explore the predicament of someone struggling without any safety net.

I made her an accountant for two reasons. First, unlike someone who works for the law enforcement agencies, there's no obvious support system for accountants who get into trouble. Putting her fate in the hands of the police isn't an option in Jenny's eyes. She has enough trouble already.

Second, the National Crime Agency estimate that there are at least 3,500 accountants who are involved in serious organised crime in the UK. It makes sense if you think about it, getting the money in the first place is one thing but being able to spend it is another. For that you need an expert; an accountant.

When Jenny has problems she has nobody to help her. There's no limit to how far she can fall. That's what I love about Due Diligence, even I couldn't predict what would happen to her. And I'm the writer.

photo credit: BEYOURPET via photopin cc

National Crime Agency

The NCA became operational in October 2013.

This may not mean much to you but I'm a crime writer and I'm getting pretty excited about this new organisation. It appears to be the UK equivalent of the American FBI which has provided a rich source of stories and characters for us writers.

Remember Clarice Starling in Silence of the Lambs? Since the mid 1930's and J Edgar Hoover, the FBI has been at the forefront of novels, film and television.  The arrival of an UK equivalent is a momentous event in crime fiction history.

As a novelist writing stories set in the present, I can't ignore current events and still retain credibility. If the local police force turn up to investigate and the reader knows full well it ought to be the NCA it's not helpful to the plot. As both Due Diligence and Proceeds of Crime involve organised crime, which is the remit of the NCA, I've been following its inception and formation for several years. I've read extensively, watched Keith Bristow, the NCA Director General, appear before the Parliamentary Home Affairs Committee, made sure I'm up to date with developments.

I discussed money laundering over lunch with a senior NCA official who then asked for copies of both Due Diligence and Proceeds of Crime so that they could check them for authenticity. I also suspect that they were very interested by some of the things that Jenny Parker gets up to. So don't go copying her for heaven's sake, you're bound to get arrested.

It's all part of the craft of crime writing, though most readers won't realise how much research has to be done in order that we present them with a believable story. Which is how it should be. My novels aim to excite and entertain. If they're also informative, that's a bonus.

Here's a sample review of Due Diligence:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thumping good thriller

By SallyP-B

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

For a debut novel this was fantastic, more please! I read this in 2 days and really felt for Jenny. Life has a habit of kicking you when you're down but she survived all of it. Gripping and full of action, secret recordings, punch ups, dodgy dealings,fast paced, well written and as a thriller reader this kept me turning the pages. Please though give the poor woman a decent brew!!!!!

Bankers

Bankers should be spelled with a capital W.

If you haven't worked out how our financial system works, let me assist. You put your money into a bank or another financial institution such as a pension provider or investment company. These brilliant, exceptional, essential, amazingly well paid people we call bankers look after it for us. They 'invest' our money, or, to put it another way, gamble it on some financial horse race.

If they win, they win. They get loads of money.

If they lose, we lose, they still win, they get loads of money.

If they do something really stupid and bring the whole financial world to a collapse, we lose our jobs, we're subject to austerity measures and they get bailed out by the government using our tax money.

If they do something illegal like this:

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2013/dec/04/banks-rate-rigging-libor-euribor-rbs-citigroup-jpmorgan

They get fined and we pay the fine, either as customers or through our pension funds or because our taxes have bailed them out.

Why? How come this ridiculous situation is allowed to prevail?

It's our own fault. We're greedy, just like the bankers. Even though deep down we realise that for every pound we gain someone has to lose one, we cling to the hope that we will be the ones who win.

Also, the system is made to appear so complex that even governments are taken in by it all and are afraid to upset the financial institutions in case something bad happens again and they get the blame, again.

What can we do?

These are some of the things that the government and the bankers would find most inconvenient:

1. We could make more use of a barter system. You know, I paint your living room, you give me a hand maintaining my car in return. (By the way, this isn't an offer, merely an illustration.) Maybe even set up a system of local credit for payments in kind.

2. We could start to use a new system of money all together, one that bankers and governments can't control. Things like these:
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/nov/28/bitcoin-alternatives-future-currency-investments

3. We can look to bank more locally, use mutuals or credit unions.

4. We should stop believing that growth is the answer and realise that careful use of resources will serve us all better than grabbing everything we can get. Having more doesn't mean being more happy. We all know that already but we need to remind ourselves constantly because the media are always telling us different.

5. Most of all we can be kind and helpful to each other, lend a hand, lend money, trust people rather than bankers.

 In Due Diligence, Jenny Parker finds herself part of the less savoury aspects of the financial system. There are times she has to rely on the greed of others in order to survive. Fortunately for her, there's plenty of greed about.

Lots of people have said some very kind things about Due Diligence, here's one review picked (more or less) at random.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Thumping good thriller

By SallyP-B

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

For a debut novel this was fantastic, more please! I read this in 2 days and really felt for Jenny. Life has a habit of kicking you when you're down but she survived all of it. Gripping and full of action, secret recordings, punch ups, dodgy dealings,fast paced, well written and as a thriller reader this kept me turning the pages. Please though give the poor woman a decent brew!!!!!

photo credit: Byzantine_K via photopin cc

Money Laundering Regulations

Here is another extract from Due Diligence. Have you ever had a similar experience to Jenny?

___________________________________________

As I queue in line at the bank, an officious lady with hair slightly too blonde and lipstick definitely too pink accosts me. She is carrying a clip board and wearing a navy blue uniform with the bank logo on its breast.

‘Can I help you?’ she demands busily. Her manner is brusque and unhelpful, in direct contrast to her words.

‘Oh.’ I am taken aback at first, deep in my own guilty thoughts. Having grabbed the bundle of cash this morning I decide to open a bank account with it during my lunch break, a sole account, one that Tim is unaware of, my account just for me and my future. It seems a safer place to keep the twenty grand and as I stand here excitedly I wish I’d brought it all with me.

‘Can I help you?’ she asks again and looks aggressively at her clip board as if seeking some justification for all this.

‘I want to open an account,’ I meekly reply at last.

‘An account?’ she repeats loudly. ‘Do you already have an account with us?’ At first hearing, the question appears to be nonsensical.

‘No, no, I don’t have an account. I want to start one,’ I explain.

‘You don’t bank with us?’ she demands, as if I’ve committed a cardinal sin.

‘No, but I want to.’

‘What sort of account?’

‘I don’t know, what sorts are there? Just a normal, everyday current account, I suppose.’ 

There is a look in her eye that makes me feel even more like a criminal than when I came in here.

She bustles off and returns with some forms.

‘Here.’ She thrusts them into my hand. ‘Complete these then hand them in at the reception desk.’ She indicates a large lady in a uniformed blouse that isn’t quite managing to contain everything it’s meant to.

I breathe a sigh of relief and use one of the pens on a chain to write my particulars on the form. The questions are impertinent, but I persevere and put the thing on the desk hoping to get away in time to buy myself a sandwich.

‘Passport, driver’s licence and utility bill,’ the large lady intones.

‘I beg your pardon?’

‘Passport, driver’s licence and utility bill,’ she repeats. ‘You need to have proof of identity to open an account, passport, driver’s licence and utility bill, that’s what you need.’

I fish about in my handbag, pull out my driver’s licence.

‘Here,’ I say, ‘it’s got a photo and my address. That should do.’

‘We need a utility bill and a passport,’ she repeats. ‘It’s money laundering regulations.’

‘I haven’t got my passport with me,’ I say.

‘Can’t you go back and get it?’ she asks.

‘No,’ I reply. ‘I’m only on my lunch break, it’s at home.’

‘You’ll have to bring it tomorrow,’ she says.

I take out the money from my purse and put it on the counter with my form.

‘Can I pay this in now, then, I don’t want to be carrying it around. I’ll bring in my passport tomorrow.’ 

‘Oh.’ She looks at the bundle of twenty pound notes as if it were one of Toby’s soiled nappies. There is a hush. A silence seems to descend on the whole bank. Even the unhelpful lady with the clip board has disappeared, presumably to stalk people elsewhere. The plump lady gives me a conspiratorial look and whispers, ‘Not cash, love.’  I could barely hear her words. ‘At least, not a big wad of cash like that.’ 

I look puzzled because I am puzzled. This is a bank after all; they should be used to handling money.

‘You’ll get a visit,’ she hisses. ‘Does your husband know you have this money?’

I am shocked to the core by her inference and can’t think of a suitable response. ‘It’s all right, dear.’  I must look pathetic because she has started to patronise me in a serious way now. ‘We’re not allowed to tell people,’ but she does anyway, ‘large amounts of cash get reported, then you get a visit from the police.’

She stops whispering, then shovels the money and the form into an envelope that has the bank’s address conveniently printed on it, with a square in the top right corner that helps you to position the stamp in the event that you need to post it back to them.

I get out of there quickly, trying not to run and managing to resist screaming until I’m well away.

___________________________________________________

We live in a strange world, one where it's assumed that any cash we might have is derived from criminal sources unless we can prove otherwise. Guilty unless we can prove ourselves innocent. It's a harsh reality that Jenny Parker faces as she's plunged into ever more desperate circumstances.

Bribery and Corruption

Jenny Parker is having a hard time. She's desperate to take her baby son and leave her husband but can't afford to.

In the course of her work as an accountant, she undertakes a due diligence exercise and thinks she has uncovered some irregularities. She voices her suspicions to a colleague but he overrules her.

A representative of the company she's investigating gives her an envelope containing ten thousand pounds in cash. He makes it clear that this is payment for a positive report, which she knows is going to result even if she objects.

Whether she takes the money or not, the outcome of the exercise is going to be the same.

The money is enough to change her life, to allow her to make a new home for herself and her son.

What would you advise Jenny to do?

If you were faced with the same circumstances, what would you do?

Let me know what you think.

In the meantime, have a Happy Christmas.

Oh, and if you want to know what Jenny does, read Due Diligence. You'll be astonished at the consequences.

Cover Girl

If you sign up for this blog I'll be letting you in on the closest guarded secrets of the publishing industry.

How much money can be made from publishing?

How much can be earned from my novel?

Watch this space for a day by day financial update!

This isn't the cover we decided on for Due Diligence, but I really like it myself. The picture evokes the contrast between the plush city centre offices and the gritty urban landscape that surrounds them. As soon as you get off the main streets, Manchester, like any other major city, seems derelict and threatening. A perfect setting for my crime thriller.

You can probably appreciate the artistic skill that has gone in to this design. The portentous darkening sky, the cityscape, the brighter ribbon of the River Irwell, reflections of the story and its setting. The cover artist, Emma, has actually read Due Diligence (and the sequel, Proceeds of Crime) and loved it. That helps a lot, I'm sure.

Following discussion with the experienced professionals that comprise Open Circle, it was agreed that there needed to be a figure in the landscape. A human being to help engage the reader. So Emma produced some more original artwork.

Covers are of paramount importance. Publishers know this. The big ones have large departments containing lots of artists and graphic designers, smaller ones use talented contractors. At Open Circle, we are lucky to have Emma so we get our covers designed in-house by someone who is not only a talented artist but also an avid reader.

But I digress. You're here for the money, aren't you? You're interested in the financial details, not the artistic nuances.

Let's get back to that, then.

Remember what we needed to earn from Due Diligence? I calculated it as £24,000 or 24,000 copies of the ebook. That's after the publisher takes half the royalty from Amazon and gives me the other half.

So why not just self-publish? Earn twice as much from each copy?

I could, in fact. As Open Circle is my business I effectively am self-publishing. The reason I'm doing it this way is to see if we can help other writers who aren't so fortunate. I've been able to afford the time and expense of producing a top class book. Without the professional cover art, the services of a brilliant editor and a lot of time and expense from others, Due Diligence would be a ragged piece of unevenness that didn't quite make complete sense. I'd still love it, of course, but I'm only the author so I'm very biased.

The other reason for splitting the proceeds with a publisher is marketing. If nobody knows about Due Diligence they won't buy it however good it might be.So Open Circle have to spend a big chunk of their half of the money on making sure the book sells and keeps on selling. In addition, Open Circle has already paid for the editing and cover design.

Open Circle, and any publisher of repute, has to invest in a book without any guarantee of return. The author risks that his time won't be fully recompensed, the publisher risks hard cash in the hope that they will both get paid. So, publishers like Open Circle are the good guys. There's plenty of bad guys out there who require payments from authors for upfront services and marketing. I'm hoping we can do much better if we all work together.

Next time, ebook publishing and what to expect.

Financial Update 2- Production Costs

If you sign up for this blog I'll be letting you in on the closest guarded secrets of the publishing industry.

How much money can I make from publishing?

How much can I earn from my novel?

Watch this space for a day by day financial update!

It's all in the preparation!

Let’s do some calculations. 

‘Whoopee!’ I hear you shout, ‘everyone loves calculations.’

Hold the sarcasm, please. These are about money, so they’re interesting.

Let’s assume I can write 250 words an hour. A novel of 80,000 words would take me about 320 hours, therefore. That’s to first rough draft stage. Then there's all the time spent doing edits and tweaks, rewriting bits, polishing it up, writing a second draft, then a third draft, etc. This all takes at least as much time as writing the damn thing in the first place.

So, I have 640 hours of my time invested in my novel.

Now, how much do you want me to earn? OK, that was probably a bad question. Let’s assume that I'll work for £30,000 per year. That equates to £16 an hour.

640 hours at £16 is £10,240.

If I could complete three novels a year, then I'd get my £30,000 salary. Quite honestly, I struggle to write one, but , hey ho, we’re being accountants here. 

But time isn't all that I've invested. I write with a fountain pen on paper then dictate my words, send off a voice file to a transcription service and receive a word file in return. This costs me about £300 per novel.

Then I need a talented editor. Someone who has affinity with my work, someone with a real desire to make it as good as it can ever be. Good editors don't come cheap. A proper edit, covering structure right through to checking the final proof for typos, costs me £1500.

Now I've got my script I need a cover. Again, cover designers vary from cheap and dull to inspired and professional. You pays your money and takes your choice. My really brilliant cover designer charges me about £400. I could get cheaper but a cover is very important.

Let's do some totting up:

Time                 £10,000

Transcription      £300

Editor               £1500

Cover               £400

Total                £12,200

Now all I have to do is upload it to Amazon and watch it sell.

At £2.99 per copy, I get 70% which is £2.

If I sell more than 6000 copies, I get all my costs back, including my time.

At £0.99 per copy I get 35% which is £0.35

If I sell 6300 at this price, I get my costs back but none of my time is paid for.

There are many authors out there who offer their books free. In this case even if they sell an infinite number they earn nothing at all.

A recent survey revealed that half of all ebooks earned revenues of less than $500.

What I really need now is a good marketing plan.

Next time I'll tell you about that.

Homeopathy and Wheelie Bins

Now and again, I get a pain in my thigh. It's a twinge, intermittent and painful. It feels like an electric shock is passing through my leg. It makes me jump, stops me getting comfortable, stops me sleeping. I believe it's an old man's disease called rheumatism. It's quite common and not lethal.
Nevertheless, it is uncomfortable.

A few years ago, my wife was studying to be a homeopath. I may have asked her politely for a remedy for the pain, but I have the feeling that she noticed how screwed up I had become and offered her help. I'd been suffering on and off for several weeks, my normal grumpiness had been increased by several notches. She prescribed me Bryonia, gave me a single tiny sugary pill and told me to keep it under my tongue until it dissolved.
The pain disappeared within 15 minutes and didn't return.

Until yesterday, when I realised it had come back with a vengeance. I put it down to the wet weather, 2012 has been rather damp on the whole. I complained that I needed another dose of Bryonia and was invited to find it myself, which I did. I administered two pills, just to make sure, and they did the trick. It's gone again, I'm nice and comfortable, no more electricity down my leg.

You might be wondering why I'm telling you all this, and being so long winded about it.
Well, it's all about what I notice in my life. I never notice when the pain stops, only when it's there. I rarely stop and think how well I feel. I suppose it's that thing about counting your blessings, I don't do it often enough.

It's also worth pointing out that homeopathy does work, despite the fact that nobody can prove it scientifically. Noticing it is all that's required.

Which brings me to noticing that my wheelie bin is missing. I put it out last Saturday and haven't seen it since. In case you're wondering, it's green and has 10 written on it in biro. In Chorley, we put our general, non-recyclable waste in a green bin. Our green waste goes in the green waste bin which is actually brown and our recyclables go in the blue bin. So there.
Someone has stolen my bin full of rubbish! I know times are hard but there's little value in the contents. If you see it, let me know.

Remember Proceeds of Crime? Well, its on it's third draft and pretty well sorted, thanks to Dea.

Due Diligence will be published very soon.

Corruption

The events of the past few days haven't really told me anything I didn't already know but they've certainly reminded me of a few things.

I'll begin at Manchester Airport, backing very slowly out of a parking space at Terminal 1. The guy opposite backs out at the same time, we meet in the middle, bumper to bumper, with a small thud. We both get out, examine our cars. Mine is undamaged, I've been slapped harder on my backside and laughed. My car is made of strong plastic, at least that bit is. Americans use bumpers to check when they're parked, the British consider it bad etiquette to touch someone else's car with their own but, hey, the manufacturers don't differentiate.

I say 'My car is fine, how about yours?'

Unsurprisingly, he searches in vain for some dint, dent, depression, scratch, blemish on the arse of his BMW 1 series and replies 'No damage on mine.'

I say 'We've been lucky, then' wave goodbye and narrowly avoid him doing the same thing again.

A woman from my insurance company rings and tells me I've damaged someone's car, they've made a claim and they intend to settle it. My premium will be affected, but not until renewal.

I ask how can this be possible and relate the events above to her. She says that its normal procedure, they pay up if there's no independant witnesses. I am appalled and say so.

The insurance company call me again a few days later. The claim has escalated. The guy is claiming whiplash injury. When I pick myself up from the floor I enquire how can this possibly be?

The whole thing is explained to me by a man who deals with hundreds of claims at a time. My friend tells me that the dealership would have advised the claimant to have a new bumper, at least. They would have given him a car while his was being 'fixed' on condition that he contacts the no win no fee lawyers they recommend. The lawyers advise him to claim for whiplash. This way he gets a new bumper, a free hire car and a few thousand pounds. The car dealer gets the money for fitting a new bit and they also get a fat referral fee from the lawyers. The lawyers get a nice big earner out of the case.

I begged the insurance man to fight the case. The words lying toerag and scumbag lawyers were used but not, I hasten to add, by me. He told me it cost £30,000 to bring a case like this to court and with little prospect of success. These days, the courts rely on court fees from local solicitors like these and if a judge decides to dismiss cases he can be quickly moved on. As it's a big bad insurance company against a poor injured victim, very few do.

The lying toerag, and please remember it wasn't me that called him that, had not sought medical attention, nor had he taken time off work. I asked how then could he possibly stand up in court and expect to be believed. Medical evidence is the answer. The lawyers have a medical specialist who issues a certificate saying the man is injured. This doctor earns huge sums issuing certificates for these lawyers and can be relied on to deliver.

So, in a nutshell, everyone's a winner. Apart from the insurance industry of course. But aren't they big fat cats, awash with money? Yes they are. And it doesn't bother them all that much, they pay up and move on, adding the cost to the premiums they charge.

In other words, the lying toerag and his posse of corrupt professionals are robbing you and I. That's where the money comes from. We have to pay.

The car dealers get richer, the lawyers get even richer, the courts get paid for, the doctor gets very wealthy indeed. I almost forgive lying toerag in the face of all that competition.

The next time you pay your insurance, they are all robbing you.

What am I going to do about it?

First, I'll never buy a BMW but that's not hard.

Second, I'll never use those ambulance chasing scumbag lawyers, neither will I support them in any way. If, for example, they want to rent my empty office space, I'll politely decline.

Thirdly, I'll remain true to myself and not be influenced to lie and cheat even if someone makes it worth my while. I know it will be hard but if I'm going to change the world I have to start with myself.