When my first book was released, I assumed authors wrote a book then sat back while royalties flooded in from everyone who had bought it, and the publishers did everything else. Expecting to sell millions of copies under my pen name (because all proper authors use a pen name, don’t they?) it was quite an …
Tag: books
Workmen and book reviews.
A fellow author on Facebook posted a snippet of conversation between two ladies which angered her, but I found rather sad. The gist of it was they would not read any book which had less than 1,000 reviews. It was also a dig at Indie or self-published authors and the smaller publishers. The lady who …
The Making of ‘Weird and Peculiar Tales.’
This was originally intended as a Facebook post but for various reasons has ended up as a blog post instead. Here is a little of the background to how Weird and Peculiar Tales came about. I first ‘met’ my co-author Paula around six years ago through an online writing site. We seemed to be pretty …
Blogs, scams and nice people
I try to vary the content of my blog to keep it interesting, but it’s sometimes difficult to know which type of post people prefer. Should I keep it book related?Should I post more short stories? (These always seem to be popular but are very time consuming when I should be working on my next …
Book locations
A book blogger mentioned recently about running a series on books set in specific locations. It started me thinking about my own books, and the times and places where they were set. ABC Destiny The date is indeterminate but it follows the story of Delphine, the illegitimate daughter of an English member of the aristocracy, …
Valentine’s Day – Bed of Roses
Followers of my blog probably realise I write a lot of short stories. The general opinion is novels sell better than short stories which I find quite surprising in today’s hectic world. I personally enjoy reading them, and assuming people’s attention span is shorter than it was when I was a child, it would make …
Plagiarism
Blogger, Janet of 'Tidalscribe' mentioned an interesting fact recently about reading on a Kindle compared to a paperback. Even if you’re enjoying a book, it’s easy to forget what it’s called as the title is not staring you in the face. It reminded me of my recent brush with plagiarism. Shortly before Christmas I mentioned …
Communicating
The problem with being an ‘unknown’ author is that normally you don’t have a large team behind you with an enormous marketing budget. It reminded me of my previous career in banking when the dedicated small business centres were initially being set up. Head of the first and largest in the country at the time- …
Waiting for Santa -Val’s Tales
It doesn't look as if the final audio story for Val's Tales will be available on our YouTube channel before Christmas, which is a shame as the 15th December was our first anniversary. Never mind. I'll let you have a sneaky read, and you can check out our podcasts for all the others. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsmbM57q4SzHbOcx3CPbr1Q Apple …
Christmas Val’s Tales and The Stars Will Shine Again
Christmas is a time for giving, whether it be donating to the annual collection for your favourite charity or a small gift for a friend. It’s also a time for sharing, whether it’s the washing up after a traditional meal, the children playing together or the joy of a new addition to the family. As …
Continue reading Christmas Val’s Tales and The Stars Will Shine Again