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 …

Technology, Gremlins and Spirits

Last week I jokingly said on Facebook that as my ‘Val’s Tales’ business page was being ‘new and improved,’ obviously something was bound to go wrong. (Facebook is the dedicated social media site where I often publish short stories to give readers a flavour of my writing style, and encourage interest in my books.) In …

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- …

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 …

Aspects-Melissa Compton. Norwich Nights Magazine

Today I’m delighted to introduce you to a rather different ‘Aspect’- 'Producing a community magazine.'  A warm welcome to my guest Melissa Compton and Norwich Nights Magazine. Hi, I’m Melissa Compton, owner/editor/publisher of Norwich Nights Magazine. It is a community magazine focusing on theatre, gaming, books, and food. I have always been a big fan …

Aspects of authors – Jane Risdon

When I started this series I didn’t expect it to be quite so wide-ranging, but it’s made me realise how many facets there are to just ‘writing a book.’ What has touring with a rock musician husband got to do with being an author? Over to today’s guest, Jane Risdon to find out. Smile, breath, …

Questions and Answers

Book bloggers provide a service by reading and reviewing books, and sharing their thoughts with other readers to assist them in making a choice from the millions of books available. They are also invaluable to authors, not only for the publicity they provide, but by helping readers relate to writers as individuals. Many authors are …

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 …

Bloggers and Blaggers

Running a regular weekly blog takes up a fair amount of time. I love writing the stories, but it proves quite difficult trying to analyse which genre readers enjoy most, or if they would prefer more variety. Apart from actually writing and publishing the posts there’s the need to follow up, so I have a …