Book fairs and book fayres

A couple of months ago, the local council approached authors in the area with a view to putting on a Christmas book Fayre. The date was set and it took place this Saturday afternoon with I believe seventeen authors altogether in attendance. I read and write fiction, but it was interesting to see the number …

Books and Twitter and a little bit of everything

I know I said I might do a character interview but there’s been so much happening on the book and podcast front, I thought it better to delay it for a week. By coincidence, two items this week relate to books and lockdown, and two to foxes. In the Summer, Nikki Vallance did a series …

Procrastination and Social Media

As an author it’s sometimes difficult to decide where to concentrate your marketing efforts. Facebook is probably the first choice, but then you need to get to know your readers so should your personal page include fans, or be restricted to actual physical friends and family? If you have a business page, should it constantly …

Social Media – Facebook

Wearing my Writing Guru hat, I thought it might be fun to look at the use of various forms of Social Media in the life of an author. Facebook, blog, web-site, Twitter, Instagram, author page, newsletters, give-aways, paid advertising – the list is endless, and no sooner have you conquered one than they change the …

Change of Blog Format and Autumn Chickens -Not Fade Away.’

I'm considering changing the format of my blog and rather than post short stories, to concentrate on providing more variety relating to my work as an author. Since I started the site, approximately 4 1/2 years ago (how time flies!) there have been approximately 1,000 individual visitors who either follow or like my posts, but …

Behind the writer

Have you ever wondered about the person behind the book or magazine articles you are reading? Last week I touched briefly on the reasons authors began writing, and their objectives when setting pen to paper. At one time, having a book published involved years of approaching the big five publishers, possibly paying an agent, having little …

When everything comes together

Sometimes it can be frustrating for authors to break the cloak of invisibility when entering the publishing world. Long hours are spent writing, editing, revising and endevouring to publicise their work. There are as many reasons for being a writer as there are genres. Some write purely for their own pleasure and some need to …

Characters and Q & As

As a change from my usual short stories, I thought it might be interesting to do something slightly different this week. Many authors are introverts, preferring to sit tapping at a keyboard instead of shouting ‘Buy my book.’ Fortunately, book bloggers are supportive in helping to spread the word, and one way of doing this …

Characters, genres and inspiration

You probably realise by now that I write in a variety of genres and formats. Following the recent release of my latest book I’ve been concentrating on marketing and publicity, and it occurred to me that as a writer, how little time I actually spend, well, writing!  Inspiration is never a problem, fitting everything into …

Bloggers and books for Christmas

For anyone who enjoys reading, a book makes a wonderful gift for Christmas, but how do you choose? Do you trawl through Amazon and pick something in a genre you enjoy? Perhaps you have a favourite 'Go-to' author and hope the recipient has similar tastes? The big five publishing houses have a difficult decision between …