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 …

Reviews and ABC

Authors are a funny lot and often have a way of connecting things which on the surface are totally unrelated. In a convoluted way I moved from enjoying an Elvis tribute artists’ show on Facebook, to explaining the scenario of one of my books to an elderly man who doesn’t read English. Would you believe …

Author Interview

There are so many different outlets for authors to try and publicise their books, it’s difficult to decide which ones to use. Blog, web site, Facebook author page, Twitter, Amazon author page, You Tube – I have all of these but keeping them up to date can take up all the hours which should be …

Indie authors book reviews

What makes you decide to buy a particular book? Is it because it’s the latest release from a favourite author so you are confident it would be money well spent? Are you swayed by the publicity and feel you will miss out if it’s the latest ‘must read’ on everyone’s lips? Do you only read …

Writing and Publishing

‘You should write a book.’ How many times has someone been told that by a friend and thought ‘It seemed a good idea at the time?’ There are two routes to becoming a published author (or possibly three.) Write a book, perhaps find an agent, submit it to a publisher and do the happy dance …

The English Language

You’ve got to love the English language. Who else would use ‘Fed up’ not to mean you’ve enjoyed a good meal, but the world in general is a bit blur? I’m not even sure if that’s spelt correctly as so many of the words we use are rarely written down, but make a lovely noise …

Where does the time go?

When I first started writing seriously, I was under the impression you wrote a book, publishers published it, and you sat back with a smile on your face while everyone bought it and left glowing reviews. Even with my traditionally published books I had no idea you were expected to do your own marketing; I'm …

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 …

Best Man. Part 3.

The final part of the short story. If you haven't read Parts 1 and 2 you might like to read those first.   I had a thousand questions but kept my council as we went back to his suite of rooms, and our talk turned to the forthcoming nuptials, which seemed a safer subject. ‘Tell me …

Summer Changes, Winter Tears and George and Mary

I'm delighted to announce that my latest book 'Summer Changes, Winter Tears' is now available on Amazon in both eBook and paperback formats. Summer Changes, Winter Tears paperback UK Summer Changes, Winter Tears eBook USA Although basically a Romance, the story includes nostalgia from my first visit to the Mediterranean island of Malta, and the …