When Worlds Collide

I'm participating in an authors' promotional event at work on Monday. At Cheshire Police headquarters. In the canteen. There are four or five us involved and I think the others all have actual physical books to display and sell. I have 100 not-very-good cards from Vistaprint (the proof copy printed out way better on my home pc than on their cards). How do you sell an ebook other than online?

But I shall appear on Monday and put my cards on the desk. Maybe stick around and have a chat with the others. Possibly even put in an appearance at lunchtime when it gets busy (the canteen that is, not the queue to look at my cards). Because my jacket cover has been up on posters all week with my name on. And my guilty secret is out. I'm an author. And not only do I write - I write sex and drugs and other unspeakable nasty things. What on earth work colleagues are going to make of it all, I don't know, but I suppose "coming out" was inevitable as soon as I uploaded my book onto kindle. After all I want to sell it and if people don't know it's there, they can't buy it, can they?

Wish me luck!

Guest Blogging Again.

Guest blogging here and here today. My, but I'm getting around a lot at the moment...

Sales Report!

So we're up to a huge total of 30 UK kindle sales of Hamelin's Child so far. Can't hand in my resignation yet then. But I do have 4 5-star utterly fabulous reviews on Amazon UK - and not all from my mates either! Handful of US sales and no reviews as yet, but then I have only just discovered that the UK and US sites are completely different. I've been whoring myself around the UK discussion boards and it looks like I'll have to do the same on the US ones too.

I don't find PR easy. Despite the fact that this novel was long-listed (top 20) for the Crime Writers' Association Debut Dagger Award a few years back, there's still a small part of me that wonders whether everybody is secretly laughing at me. It may well be as much do with the controversial nature of the content as anything else, but I've been doing some research over the past couple of weeks and there's a lot worse stuff out there.

So I've been contributing to facebook discussions, guest blogging, grabbing every opportunity to yell "ME! ME! ME!" on other peoples' blogs and generally trying to put myself out there. Not sure I'm ready for an all out assault at work yet (there are a couple of guys selling their books in the work canteen in a couple of weeks), but we'll see how brave I'm feeling. It's kind of hard to sell an e-book anywhere other than online.

Setting the World on Fire

So OK, I haven't made the best-sellers lists yet. But this kindle thing is curiously addictive. I can't resist the temptation to keep checking the stats on Amazon. Some good reviews, but so far they're from people I know - what I want is for people I don't know to take a look. I feel like I'm coming out of the closet at work, as slowly people are starting to pick up on the fact that I write (mostly due to the amazingly talented Pete Gorrell who has designed my covers for me). It was lovely to get a response from a work colleague who'd bought and enjoyed my novel - a response from a reader, rather than a writer and somebody who is less concerned with plot and point of view and structure, and more interested in whether it was a page-turning read (apparently it was). So my confidence is slowly building, although I expect to be contemplating the motorway bridge when I get my first bad review, which will happen. Can't please everyone. 


But I'm glad I did it. So far, anyway

Yorkshire Crime

I'm guest blogging again on the You're Booked website...

Self Published!

I've done it. Self published! See book link opposite. Can I give up the day job now?

Starting the fire with kindling

My wonderful dad bought me a kindle last week. I'd been toying with the idea since well before Christmas, but hadn't been able to justify the expense. Wow. I didn't realise how much I wanted one until I got one.

So there's the fact that it's an e-reader. Straight away I bought a couple of books from Amazon's kindle site (Burn, Baby, Burn and Impeding Justice if you're interested - both thrillers and I can recommend them). So easy - one click on the kindle and two minutes later I have them. Where I live, there isn't a bookshop other than WH Smiths within 15 miles and a lot of the best stuff is no longer commercial enough for the big publishers to touch, so the only way we get to read these gems is via kindle anyway. Since I'm not interested in celebrity memoirs or chick lit, I'd far rather be able to read what I want, rather than what some arbitrary gatekeeper decides I can have. So I'm convinced. I love my kindle and I look forward to a long and fulfilling relationship.

Then there's the writing angle. Last week I had an epiphany of sorts. I've spent many many years trying to interest commercial publishers in my writing. And the key word here is commercial. I've been told I can write by people whose opinions count (friends and industry professionals). I've had some great reviews. But I'm not commercial enough. Publishing is a business, and in these days of recession, if you can't make guaranteed megabucks, you don't stand a chance. Only established authors and celebrities are sure wins; nobody can afford to take chances on unknowns, unless of course you are really good and commercial - like my friend Ellie whose debut fantasy novel is due out from Gollancz in June. Which is where kindle comes in. What have I got to lose? Readers will decide if they want to pay for my books - if they like them then hopefully they'll leave some good reviews and tell their friends. If they don't, well I'm no worse off than I was before, am I?

Watch this space...