K J Bennett's Blog

The final hours

2012-02-25T09:42:00.002Z

This week I placed Pike's Quest on the FREE list at Amazon (UK, US, DE, FR, ES, IT) for a five day period: it is now inside it's last 24 hours. The deal expires at mid-night Saturday PST, or around 8 AM GMT Sunday.

You still have the chance to grab Pike's Quest for free.

Why have I done this? I want as many people as possible to read it. Like most writers, I crave a readership. What's the point of writing if the only person who reads it is me? I'm certainly not making the big bucks out of it, but maybe some small ones will follow, once I have an audience.

So, follow the links HERE, download my Kindle book, and maybe check back in a few months to buy the sequel, or anything else I put onto Kindle. You may also like to get your personalised cover.

Enjoy.

Virtual Book Signings

2012-02-20T14:33:00.000Z

Want a signed copy of Pike’s Quest or K J’sShorts, but can’t get it ‘cos it’s on Kindle? Just go to Kindlegraph, sign inwith a Twitter ID (while you’re at it, you can follow me on Twitter -@kj_bennett), and search for my books by name. Then send me a request.

Update your Kindle account to accepte-mails from Kindlegraph (the site provides you with the actual address), andyou will get a personalised cover, message and autograph from me - it’s a free service,but Amazon may charge a small delivery fee if you connect via their 3GWhispernet network.

Pike's Quest for free!!!

2012-02-20T11:37:00.001Z

It’s here: the Pike’s Quest give-away!

Starting on 21 February 2012 - 08:00 hrsGMT, (00.01 PST), Pike’s Quest will be available for free download for Kindlefrom Amazon on these links -

UK - USA - ES - DE - FR - IT

The times are approximate, as I am at themercy of the Amazon servers

Pike’s Quest has received several 5-starreviews on Amazon UK and US and on Goodreads: this is your chance to get it forfree. Why am I doing this? To get readers: I am writing the sequel and wouldlove to have more readers for the first book before I release it. I have a zeroadvertising budget, so this may be the best way to find them.

Spread the word. Tell your friends, tell your enemies. Grab it now (well, when it starts, at least).

My Shorts rule!

2012-02-08T22:08:00.000Z

Well, my weekend of giving away K J's Shorts was quite a success. In league table terms, the good old USA came out tops, with nearly three times the downloads of the UK (proof that things are bigger an better over there?)

I just hope the British sense of humour is fully understood by my American readership, or I may have shot myself in the foot.

Oddly, I had one download in Spain and one in Italy. Ex-pats?

The Amazon terms prevent me from saying how many in total were downloaded, but let's say I am quite happy with the result.

Now, how happy will the readers be? Will anyone post a review on Amazon?

Get my shorts for free!

2012-02-04T09:07:00.000Z

Here it is: FREE for 48 hours -"K J's Shorts - a short selection of short stories" - a Kindle e-book.

On Amazon UK or Amazon US

Also available at the FR, DE and ES Amazon stores.

Enjoy ...

EDIT - also available from Amazon's Italian store - I am reminded of this by the fact someone just downloaded it from there. Grazie.

Get into K J's Shorts!

2012-01-29T21:08:00.000Z

I have just released K J Shorts - a short selection of short stories on Kindle. It's on sale at the minimum price of 99 cents or 77 pence.

BUT - you can get your hands on K J’s Shorts for free on Saturday - Sunday 4th & 5th February, from approximately 08:00 AM GMT (12:01 PST) - it's a 48 hour offer.

See Amazon UK and Amazon USA for book details.

Book review - Sanctus

2012-01-20T20:28:00.000Z

Sanctus by Simon Toyne
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I enjoyed this fast-paced, page turning thriller. If Dan Brown was half as good as his book sales suggest, this is the book he could have written – but he’s not, and he didn’t.

I know there are lots of books out there with religious themes of conspiracy and evil deeds, but this stands out, not least because the author has given the Templers and Catholics a break and has made up a religious sect in Turkey.

My one adverse criticism is that I think the author overcooks it at the end. It became immensely frustrating having half-a-dozen viewpoints constantly on a cliff-edge. At some point near the end I was screeching out loud: “JUST GET IT DONE WITH!” When he did get it done with the ‘secret’ was a bit of an anti-climax, because he’d ramped up too much tension before it was revealed.

I will, however, read the sequel.

View all my reviews

Book Review - Annabel Horton, Lost With of Salem

2012-01-13T22:02:00.000Z

Annabel Horton, Lost Witch of Salem by Vera Jane Cook
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Where do I start?

This novel is amazing: beautifully written, gripping, and un-putdownable (I nearly overran my journey to work via London Underground several times).

Vera Jane Cook has created a timeless character in Annabel Horton – literally. Destined for her soul to pass through time dimensions and to constantly face her demons, Annabel must save her extended family from the Devil’s clutches. When I say extended, I mean close relatives, extended by several hundred years!

Running at about 137,000 words it is never tedious. It is, however, sometimes complex matter to keep up with the family tree, but it is well worth bearing with.

At times heartfelt, always verging on the dramatic, Vera Jane Cook’s novel is a masterpiece. When reading this you may find yourself questioning time and reality, but I doubt you’ll question the abilities of this author. Five very large stars.

View all my reviews

Well, first post of the new year.

2012-01-08T18:19:00.001Z

Happy,and all that formal stuff.

I don’t have too much to say right now,except that my beloved novel, Pike’s Quest, has received yet another 5 Starreview on Amazon UK. I know there is a damned good author reading it right now –Vera Jane Cook, and early indications are that she is really enjoying it. Iawait a final assessment. I have to say, I’ve taken her early comments a veryhigh praise indeed – see her CV and you’ll see why.

I'm writing the sequel to Pike's Quest - I hope more people buy the first one very soon. Anyone who's read an enjoyed it - please pass the word ASAP. Tell everyone how good it is - how GREAT it is - and how CHEAP it is until the end of January (only 77p on Amazon UK, 72p on Kobo/WHSmith, 99 cents in the US. If you know any publishers/agents, tell them, too.

Just an update on my last post: rBooks sent me a holding response to letme know that they had passed my message on to Random House and that I shouldget a reply in the new year. At the time of writing, the e-book version of TheFear Index, by Robert Harris is still on their website at £19.81 nearly £1.00 more than the hardback version.

I wait with baited breath ...

An open letter to Random House

2011-12-27T11:42:00.003Z

Dear Random House,

Thank you for your e-mail advising me ofyour book sale – UP TO 30% OFF - at your website http://www.rbooks.co.uk/.

I was intrigued to learn that the price of RobertHarris’ latest hardback book, The Fear Index, is £18.99 – reduced to £13.20with the discount, and that the paperback price is £12.99 reduced to £9.09. Butplease tell me: how do you justify the e-book price, a whopping £19.81 – reduced to £13.86 with the discount? Further,your website informs me that it is available in one format – epub – and thatthis is not compatible with mobile devices such as iPhone, iTouch, iPad andGoogle's Android.

A scary price for an e-book - plus lies!

Are your marketing department people dim, incompetentor intentionally misleading the public in order to slow or stop the onslaught ofe-books? First you price the electronic version higher than both the papereditions, then you tell people it is not compatible with their devices!

The native format for iBooks (used oniPhone/iPad/iPod) is actually epub .E-book fans can download readers for Android that will take just about anyformat (there may be limitations on some).

Incidentally, customers can buy the epubversion from Kobo for £6.99, and forKindle at £5.59.

And you wonder why the publishing industry is in such a dire condition!

Kindest regards,

Kevin Bennett

A great review

2011-12-23T16:46:00.000Z

New post on my other blog - Yes: let's get this out in the open - I'm bi-blogual.

Pike's Quest: I like reviews, especially when they are like this...:

That's not real publishing (Part 5)

2011-12-17T00:30:00.000Z

I have a sense of isolation...

There’s an air of anticipation whenever an authorI know gets a publishing deal. There’s the waiting, and the building of tensionas the author goes through the process of editing and re-editing. Tales areregaled of how “My editor told me to kill off the main character’s wife so wecould ramp-up the emotional dynamic.” A bit severe for a cookery book ...

Ultimately,there is launch day.

I’ve witnessed several book launches andthey all have something in common: friends, family and associates turn up at a bookshopor other chosen venue. The author and his/her publisher proudly look around atthe assembled masses, chat politely, and in turn they buycopies if the book. Some buy multiple copies for friends and families. Theauthor signs as many as possible and, having long since lost the ability to handwrite through years of computer use, suffers severe finger cramps.

The attendees are under a duty to buy: theyhave been personally invited - or even bullied - and will feel that they haven’t fulfilled their obligationif they don’t get at least one copy. If they have left their wallet/purse/credit card/roublesat home, there is always a promise that they will buy it soon. These defaulters (also called 'marked men') know that now they are now committed and that they must get a copy at theearliest opportunity after the launch so that they can track the author downand wave the book at him/her to get it signed.

Family members who can’t attend also feelan obligation to buy, but they can bide their time a little. Just as long as they have their copy beforethe family’s very own version of Charles Dickens pops in for that Christmasglass of port and to check that THE BOOK adorns the bookshelf. Canny family members will leave the pristine copy on the telephone table in the front hallway sothat the visiting Dickens can see itimmediately he/she arrives.

If the author happens to be a member of awriters’ circle or group, other members will attend the launch and buy thebook. Or they buy it afterwards and produce it at a meeting for all to see thatthey, too, support those lucky enough to beat the slush piles of agents and/or publishers.

The more people the author knows and whoattend the launch party or local signings, the more sales he/she will have inthe first few weeks, and it makes for a warm and cuddly feeling to know that somany people are supporting the writer.

The cover price is irrelevant to all ofthis: if the book comes out in hardback at £18 - £25, attendees may be less inclined topurchase multiple copies, but as the royalties on hardbacks are that muchhigher than on paperbacks, it’s not too much of an issue for the author.

So, the author has a ready pool of purchaserswho will pass on the word to other people, and some of this initial pool willbe kind enough to post reviews on Amazon and such places. I have posted reviewsin similar circumstances.

This is how traditionally published authorsoften make their first multiple sales.

Or you can self-publish the work as ane-book and not have any of that visible support.

Publishing straight to e-book format is, intheory, a good idea. An author can get the book into worldwide circulation very quickly andbecause he/she is fully in control, the price can be set low enough toencourage people to buy it. The author can make a similar royalty on an e-book priced at or around £2.99as he can on a hardback book going for about £18! E-book sales are rapidlyincreasing while paper book sales are declining – particularly in the USA. What’snot to love about e-book publishing?

But who is going to buy it?

Hold up your hand and count. How many peopledo you know that own a proprietary e-reading device such as Kindle, Kobo, Sony readeror, in the USA, a Nook?. How many people do you know that own an iPad, iPhoneor iPod Touch (or an Android smart phone or tablet) and actually read books onit?

I am a member of a writers’ circle with aregular membership of between 40 and 50 people. Many of these people have heardand/or read extracts of Pike’s Quest and have offered help andsupport in the writing process – pointing out which bits weren’t funny, whichbits worked well, etc. I am extremely grateful for this. Without the help andsupport of Verulam Writers’ Circle Iwould not have achieved a high enough standard to release Pike as any kind of book.But here’s the rub: I am aware of only two VWC members who have bought Pike’sQuest. There may be more (I hope so), but they are not makingthemselves known. They can’t get my signature on the e-book, and they know Iknow that. And there's always that lingering issue about whether or not this is real publishing.

I know of only one family member who hasbought it, and one who is getting an e-reader very shortly and has promised tobuy it.

The reason for such a lack of buying issimple – not many people I know possess an e-reader, and no one has been placedunder the unspoken obligation to purchase at one of those wonderful launchparties. Would it be different in the USA, where e-readers are more popularthan in the UK? I simply don’t know.

Of course, there are many ways to read ane-book, some less attractive than others. Let’s see:

Proprietary devices
iAnything devices
Android devices
Apps for PC and Mac.
Apps for other smart phones – e.g.BlackBerry

My favourite is the Kindle: the Kindle e-inkscreens are marvellous works of beauty. The text almost leaps out of the page.

I’ve looked at Kobos many times and I findthe screen lacks clarity and everything seems to display with double linespaces between paragraphs, reducing the amount of text on display. I also findthe touch screen version to have less clarity than the non touch version. Thecontrols on the non-touch version are to my mind, clunky.

I haven’t tried an Android reader yet, so Ican’t comment. I did load the Kobo App onto my BlackBerry, but it’s a Curvewith a screen that is far too small for me to read an entire novel.

I’m not sure of the reading apps for Mac,but my daughter has an iPod Touch. She downloaded the fee iBook App and Iplaced Pike’s Quest on there for her. I never thought I would saythis, but it looks bloody fantastic, especially when set to sepia. She read thebook on it over the course of two days. If you own an iPhone, iPod of iPad andhaven’t yet discovered iBooks, you are missing a real treat. Get the App, loada free classic (Jane Austen will do) and see how good it looks. Once you’re convinced,pop along to the iTunes store and pay your 99 cents or 99 pence and get Pike’sQuest. You’re only risking a small amount of money, a very small amount.

Finally, the reading apps for PC.

Before I had access to Pike on a Kindle, I usedthe Kindle app on my laptop. It’s Ok, but not as OK as an iDevice, nor as OK asa proprietary reading device, but it’s not bad at all. Having said that, Iwouldn’t relish reading a library of books on a laptop, and even less so in adesktop PC. But, would I part with the princely sum of 99 cents or 86 pence to downloadthe Kindle version of a book written by a fellow author and member/familymember to show my support?

For that price? Hell yes. And I would readit.

To end this series on a slightly highernote: I have received two 5 star reviews for Pike on Amazon (UK) and e-mails ofsupport from total strangers. Sales so far are slow, and it’s an uphill struggle,especially without the support I described at the start of this piece. But I’min this for the long haul.

What do I want to get out of this?

Primarily sales of the e-book ... lots of sales, but I want more. I want anagent, I want a publisher and I want Pike in his rightful place - inbookshops, libraries and online stockpiles. Printed. On paper.

Yes, I want to be Geppetto: I want Pike's Quest to be a ‘real’ book!

++++++++++++++

Pike's Quest

Only 99 cents or 86 pence
THAT'S ALMOST GIVING IT AWAY. BUY, BUY, BUY

from

Smashwords for Kobo, Sony Reader, et al, or via Amazon for Kindle on these links - UK - USA - DE - FR - IT - ES

Now also available at

iBooks (UK) - iBooks (US) - Barnes & Noble - Kobo - Diesel (prices may vary)

To read the blurb, click HERE

That's not real publishing (Part 4)

2011-12-14T00:30:00.000Z

“I’m holding a book signing event. Pleasebring your Kindle

and the engraving device of you choice. RSVP ...”

E-publishing is very strange. After a yearand a half or more of hard writing, editing and re-editing, the writer commitsto e-publishing and ends up with a product that he can’t actually hold in hishands. Except on an e-reader.

Many publishers seem averse to the conceptof e-books. They seem intent on suppressing the market by overpricing theproduct. For instance, PD James has recentlyreleased her latest novel – Death Comes to Pemberly. On Amazon(UK site) you can purchase the hardback book for £8.55 (reduced from £18.99),or you can download the Kindle Edition for £6.64. Considering that the averagepaperback goes for around £6.99 - £8.99, how does the publisher justify such ahigh price for the digital edition?

Colin Bateman, one of my favourite authors, has had a string of comedy crime capers published. Not all are available as Kindle editions but Of Wee Sweetie Mice & Men: currently, the pre-order price for the Kindle edition is £4.99 - 30p more expensive that the paperback version. On Amazon, Bateman's most recent release, Nine Inch Nails is priced thus:

Hardback - £13.99
Paperback - £8.40
Kindle - £7.99

Does that mean that the publisher only spends 41p on the paper, printing and cover materials for the paperback edition? I doubt it. In some cases, the e-book is more expensive than the paperback version, particularly if Amazon is discounting the paperback. How can this be?

The Kindle price is set by the publisher. I appreciate that there are overheads tocover, but the digital versions require no typesetting, no printing, binding orshipping costs: all they require is digital formatting, and even a dummy like me can do that.

I’d be interested to know what percentage goes to the author –not much, I imagine. I may be wrong, but my guess is that publishers are trying to make a hefty profit out of e-editions - That, or they want e-publishing to fail in order to protect their interests. They conveniently 'forget' that e-book owners have paid an up-front price for their device, so the books should be at least a couple of quid cheaper than their paperback brothers and sisters.

It was seeing the price of some of thetitles published by companies that led me to believe that there was somestrange, dark art that would make it impossible for me to publish to Kindle,let alone all the other formats that there are out there. But a small amount ofknowledge and a free download or two made my job quite easy.

After a false start or two, that is. Whatfollows is a summary of how I got Pike’s Quest into e-book format.

My first port of call was Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP). Easy-peasy: you have a Word.doc, you upload it, KDP convertsit and you publish. Name your price, click ‘publish’ and you have an instantbest-seller. Except, of course, nothing actually is that easy.

MS Word^TM is a wonderful word processing package, butit carries lots of hidden code. If you use TAB to indent your paragraphs, theKindle conversion will go wonky: some paragraphs will indent, some won’t: some will indent in their entirety – every lineof several paragraphs go right, others go left.

If you’ve used chapter headings to createchapter titles and a table of contents, by the time the conversion takes placethe table of contents links to some parts of text you never intended, and when it doeslink to a chapter heading, the formatting goes awry. Itdidn’t take me long to realise that I would have to take drastic action.

I copied and pasted everything into a plaintext document and saved it as a .txt file. Then I copied it back into a newWord.doc and formatted it afresh, And if that had worked it would have beenfine, but it was only partially successful. I didn't knoiw then about the hidden book marks that Word inserts.

I won’t bore you any further: if you aregoing to try it for yourself, read the Smashwords FAQ section abut formatting and download the Smashwords Style Guide.Then format exactly as it instructs and save the Word.doc as a “web page –filtered”.

Download Calibre. Read theinstructions, import the filtered web page, publish as a .mobi file, check it,upload it to KDP and check the preview. It should be fine. Calibre is brilliant– it will format to just about any e-book type; it’s free, but you can donateto the makers.

To publish via Smashwords (which is thebest way to get an indie book onto Barnes & Noble, Kobo and the iTunes BookStore, you have to upload the original Word document, but as long as you followedthe advice given by Smashwords, it will work.

So, now you have your e-book out there, you just have to convince people to buy it, and this is where the snobbery comes in. Remember that quote at the head of Part 1? No? Here it isagain:

“Oh, it’s an e-book.”She gave a knowing grin.
“That’s not real publishing, is it?”

This is the typeof comment you hear from people. They say similar things about otherself-published authors:

“Oh, he published it himself? That’s not real publishing,is it?”

Often this will be said just as the authorpasses by, and the person saying it does so with the back of a hand up near thelips, as if to shield the author from those hurtful words, but in a stagewhisper loud enough for all of the English-speaking world to hear.

Someone who came out with this argument openly is a lady named Michelle. She posted a venomous response to a posting on THIS WEBSITE. There are many responses to the main article, but let's focus on Michelle: her posting is reproduced in full on THIS BLOG by Phantomimic. It cooked up a storm. Almost as venomous as Michelle is someone calling him-/her-self Observer. His comments are astoundingly bigoted. He may have had a bad experience with one or two independent books, but if one day he ate bad sandwich, would he then declare that all sandwiches are bad?

I know a plumber: his name is Terry Cobby. He’svery good and far cheaper than the like of British Gas. A more polite and accommodating plumberyou’d be hard pushed to find anywhere. I’ve recommended him to loads of people,just like others recommended him to me. He’s self employed: he doesn't work for a large conglomerate, but I know of no onewho whispers, “Oh, he’s an independent. That’snot real plumbing, is it?” as he passes by.

I know another plumber called Brian - he's really crap. He is also self employed. Now HE doesn't do real plumbing. Don't hire him.

The point is this: just because a writer isself-published does not mean the work is rubbish. I think there is a fairchance that some of them (quite a few, actually) will be rubbish. But many, many "traditionallypublished" writers are of doubtful quality and ability. Dan Brown, multi-million-book-selling author ofThe da Vinci Code has come in for a lot of flack over his writing abilities (I knowbetter than to comment in a public forum, personally), as has Stephenie Meyer of Twilight fame.Stephen King has had many highlights, but I think even his most ardent fan mayadmit to a low light along the way. Stieg Larsson wrote the immensely successful Millennium Trilogy - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, etc. I read and enjoyed all three books but, I have to say, I would have enjoyed them all far more if they'd been cut down by about 150-200 pages each, especially his detailed shopping lists!

And what of all these celebrity authors? Theyare “traditionally published”, and some of them didn’t even write the stuffthemselves. Does anyone consider Katie Price (Jordan) to be a literary genius? Actually, it's a serious question: DOES anyone consider her to be that? I've never read one of her books and I have no idea if she is ghost written, although I note that the copyright in at least two of her books (the only two I could bring myself to look-up on Amazon) is co-assigned to Rebecca Farnworth.

Ah, where was? Oh yes: nor is an e-book published by 'the professionals' likely to have better proofing and formatting than one that is self published. Don't believe me? Just check out the samples on Amazon. Some are ludicrously formatted with chapter headings that run into the first paragraph, double line breaks between random paragraphs, poor spelling and punctuation, badly formatted tables of contents, etc. In fact, some paper books have many proofing errors despite having been through a professional edit. I recently read a book published by a relatively small publisher where within the first forty pages there were at least a dozen errors including random paragraph indentation (some, none or too much), missing full stops, missing ellipses, missing quotes, etc. (Does a quick proof read in the hope of eliminating all typos in this posting. Did I miss any? FURTHER EDIT: NO! Found some more several hours after posting.)

There are, of course, some downsidesto e-publishing that transcend even normal self publishing: the lack of signingopportunities, for example. Kindle/Kobo/iAnydeviceowners tend to look at you in horror when you produce a felt-tipped pen andattempt to scrawl across the cover of your book – on their screen!

In the fifth and probably (once I get on a high horse it's hard to get me off) final part, Ishall delve a little further into some more of the pros and cons ofe-publishing and will discuss various e-reading devices.

++++++++++++++

Pike's Quest

only 99 cents or 86 pence
THAT'S ALMOST GIVING IT AWAY. BUY, BUY, BUY

from

Smashwords for Kobo, Sony Reader, et al, or via Amazon for Kindle on these links - UK - USA - DE - FR - IT - ES

Now also available at

iBooks (UK) - iBooks (US) - Barnes & Noble - Kobo - Diesel (prices may vary)

To read the blurb, click HERE

That's not real publishing (Part 3)

2011-12-11T01:00:00.000Z

“Today I was signed to a literary agency – tomorrow I shall

conquer the publishing world. Mwa-ha-ha-ha.”

Such is the battle cry of those authors whoactually get an agent to read and then accept a submission. I’ve heard itseveral times from fellow writers in my local writers’ circle. The really interestingthing, though, is this: representation does not equal publication.

All unpublished authors should repeat this mantra 100 times whilst sitting in a full lotus position before eating their breakfastmuesli.

I shall relate the tale of a man I know: he’sa university professor and a writer of children’s literature. Funny, charming and, I think, talented. Moretalented than me? Obviously – he’s a professor, dammit. But a better writerthan me? Who can say? I certainly can’t.

When the Prof approached agencies, they hada feeding frenzy. At one point, I believe, he had four or five agentsclamouring to represent him. He had his choice of agents, and understandablychose one who is reputedly top of her field. That was probably about threeyears ago. A while back he ditched her. He wasn’t published, despite thenumerous revisions she had suggested [onewonders what made his material so special if she had to suggest revisions: whatdid sh want – a writing credit?]. Off he went, into the arms of another topagent.

The Prof is still has no publishing deal.

The same agent into whose arms the Prof ranrepresents another author I know, a historical novelist, and has done forseveral years: but does she have that contract? No. [EDIT - Actually, YES: with brilliantly good timing, Jenny Barden, the lady in question, announced today - 13 December 2011 - that she has signed to Ebury - part of Random House. Good luck, Jenny, you are a brilliant writer and you deserve every success).

There are obviously advantages to having anagent – for one thing they are the only route to being read by most largepublishing houses – but they are not gods. In the UK they seem to exist purely to suppressthe majority writers, to stop them from reaching those publishers.

Coinciding with my failed attempts toobtain representation and to slip into agency limbo like my two colleagues, I observeda mini-revolution taking place. E-books were becoming a reality.

I never for a minute thought I would selfpublish, and certainly gave e-books no consideration at all, other thanwondering how anyone could enjoy reading a full length novel on a mini-computer.After all, back-lit text is not easy on the eye, and I like to read beforesleep. Why would I want an e-reader? Why would I inflict one on anyone else?

Earlier this year, in a fit of pique, Idecided to serialise Pike’s Quest on the web. For free. It was a bad decision.

I was inspired by Jonathan Pinnock’ssuccess with Mrs Darcy versus the Aliens, but I was mistaken as to the suitabilityof Pike for dissection into short, digestible chunks. Mr Pinnock had written Mrs Darcy specificallyfor serialisation in short chucks of around 600 – 800 words. Each piece wasself contained and the humour was immediate (annoyingly, it also works a a novel, especially good for city commuters). Pike, on the other hand, is a60,000 word novel in twenty-four chapters, some of which are 4000 words long,with jokes that stretch across the entire novel. An extreme example of this isa tool bag that is lost in chapter four or five. It is briefly mentioned later,but the pay-off will not appear until Book 2 is written. It’s the old comedy banana-skintechnique: drop the skin in the opening scene and the clod will slip on it nearthe end - and rather like the opening quote at the head of Part 1.

In short, chopping-up Pike intotwice-weekly sections was not good. The flow was lost. As one reviewer onAmazon states, “... it was a thought provoking page turner with a healthy dose of laugh out loud humour.” Chopping it up detracted from both of thesequalities.

It was while considering my options that Irealised that I was already embracing e-publishing, but in a non-user friendlyway. Now I had to find out how it all worked.

Part 4 follows soon ...

=================================================

Pike's Quest

only 99 cents or 86 pence from

Smashwords for Kobo, Sony Reader, et al, or via Amazon for Kindle on these links - UK - USA - DE - FR - IT - ES

Now also available at

iBooks (UK) - iBooks (US) - Barnes & Noble - Kobo - Diesel (prices may vary)

To read the blurb, click HERE

An interview with Carolyn Arnold

2011-12-09T00:02:00.000Z

Breaking away from my series of "That's not real publishing" posts, today I am pleased to welcome Canadianauthor, Carolyn Arnold to this blog. Carolyn writes about nice things, such asmurder, mayhem and mad serial killers. Her debut novel, Ties That Bind, featuresfemale detective Madison Knight: at the time of this interview I am about 55%** through it (whatever happened to page numbers?) and I am thoroughly enjoyingthe experience. Carolyn’s latest tome, Eleven, was released on 11/11/11.

** and now I've finished it, and it's very good..

Carolyn Arnold

Q: You may have seen from my last interview with Jonathan Pinnockthat I am brutal in my questioning. However, Carolyn, you being a crime writer,I assume you are well connected and that you ‘know people’. All sortsof people ... I may have to go easy on you. So, tell me – please - what is Eleven all about?

A: Eleven Rooms. Ten Bodies. One Empty Grave.

Brandon Fishernever expected this when he signed up as a Special Agent for the FBI. Workingin the shadow of Supervisory Special Agent Jack Harper ofthe Behavioral Analysis Unit his career seemed set. But when theteam is called to a small rural town where the remains of ten victims are foundin an underground bunker, buried in an unusual way, Brandon knows he'll neverreturn to his normal life.

With one emptygrave, and the case touching close to home, he fears he's become the target ofa psychotic serial killer who wants to make him number eleven. Only thing is,everything Brandon thinks he knows is far from the truth.

Q: Ties That Bind features a strong female lead character whobattles against not only the criminal element, but also against the prejudicesand judgements of some of her male colleagues: I can certainly relate to her (even though I'm male),having worked with women in a pressurised and largely male environment for thelast thirty or so years. Did you base her on anybody you know?

A: While there arecharacteristics that have been drawn from my own personality, I’ve never had towork in a male-dominated field.

Q: Does that person know you have moulded you character on her (andis she OK with that)?

A: Yes, I’m fine with it, LOL

Q: Crime writing is, I imagine, a tough area: what research did youdo before embarking on Ties?

A: There was a lot of researchinvolved. I first had to learn aboutpolice department organization and hierarchy. I needed to learn about forensics and trace evidence. A lot of my research was conducted usingtextbooks and the internet. I find bycross referencing this material it gave me a clear understanding.

I also have a few contacts that are, orwere, in law enforcement to help me if I had a question on something.

Q: And did you have to do any extra research for Eleven?

A: I spent a lot of time onthe FBI website researching their organization. I also used Google Earth and the internet to learn about these placesI’ve never personally been. I am alsofortunate to have a friend who lives in one of the cities the case takes themto.

Q: Have you had any problemsaccessing police and FBI advisors, or have you found them only too willing toassist?

A: I did have a problem accessing them directly. I sent emails to both the FBI and the prisonin Kentucky where the one killer is serving time on an unrelated charge tomurder. None of my emails or inquirieswere returned.

Q: What, in your mind, is it about Madison Knight that makes herdifferent from other heroines in detective and crime fiction?

A:Her vulnerabilities. She hasa strong distaste for the sight of blood – a highly unlikely quality for aMajor Crimes Detective – however she wants to have a purpose in her life. She pushes through, inspired by a grandmotherwho believed in her. She also has deepempathy for the family left behind. Chocolate is her soother.

Q: I think I should point out here that you’re not just writing aboutstrong women who fight suppression: I notice that the hero of Elevenis named Brandon Fisher, so I’m assuming that’s a male lead?

A:Yes, Brandon Fisher is the male lead in Eleven. It’s a unique perspective in contrast toMadison Knight as well because while she is a seasoned detective, Brandon isnew to the job. The reader learns alongwith him.

Q: What’s your day job?

A:Do we have to talk about that? LOL Just joking. I work in an officewhere my main responsibility is to collect past due accounts.

Q: Does it get in the way of your writing?

A: LOL I’d love to say it does, but my husband would correct me. I’ll say work is getting in the way of mylife, and he’ll say it’s the job that makes my life possible. He has a point. I’m fortunate to have a good job andworkplace that I enjoy.

Of course, any dedicated author would loveto do their writing full-time.

Q: I think I’m right in saying that you’re self published, as am I:what spurred you to take that step?

A: Yes, you are correct. A lot of factors were considered before Imade the decision to self-publish. Oneof which is just because you land an agent, it doesn’t guarantee you successanymore than getting a publishing contact does. A lot of work is left up to the author these days, and I also preferredto get my work into the hands of readers sooner than later.

I have friends who have the NY agents andthey’ve made the rounds to the major publishing houses. Here it is years later and I still can’t buytheir books.

Q: Do you dream of achieving a major publishing deal, or do youintend to remain independent?

A: Of course I do, but I’m not letting the “dream” of that stop mefrom doing what I love to do – that of writing and getting my books into thehands of my readers. Should I becomediscovered during this course I would certainly consider offers.

Q: On the subject of independent publishing, what can you tell meabout Celebrating Authors and Orangeberry Books?

A: CelebratingAuthors was something I developed to give back and extend support to otherauthors. It is connected with Orangeberry Books in the sense I met the person whoruns this and he has the same goals as I do – to bring readers and authorstogether. With so many books to choosefrom, where can people turn? We wantedto give readers a place to go for a variety of genres.

Q: How much help has it been to you, being a member of these twocollectives?

A: Like I said, I runCelebrating Authors. It was my idea andconcept, and Orangeberry Books was a writer colleague’s. I believe I’ve benefited because as anauthor you need to stand out. The moreexposure you’re given, the more likely you’ll be noticed.

Q: What do you read when you’re not devising nasty methods of killingpeople?

A: Same type of literature LOL I love mysteries and thrillers.

Q: What advice do you have for new authors trying to make animpression in the indie section of the book market?

A: Be professional. This will stand out, trust me. Know how to not only support and promoteothers but how to promote yourself. Youwould be surprised how some authors don’t know how to do this. It’s not a matter of being in people’s facesbut offering them something they want.

Q: Carolyn, it’s been a pleasure having youhere. Good luck with Eleven – I hope to read it soon.

A: Thank you.

Carolyn's catalogue

_____________________________

Whereto connect online:

AmazonAuthor Page

Website

Blog

Twitter
Facebook page
Goodreads

Where to buy her books:

Amazon

That's not real publishing (Part 2)

2011-12-05T20:13:00.001Z

"You can’t sell books to thirteen-year-old boys."

Clearly I was doomed to obscurity.

In Part 1 I detailed, in rather tongue in cheek fashion, my overall view of thepublishing industry. Now I am going to reveal what happened in my contact withpublishers. I must add that prior to any personal meetings I showered indisinfectant and then dressed in sterile clothing and surgical face mask so thatI didn’t pass on any writers’ germs to this highly precious and protected species.

In February 2008 I met Barry Cunningham atthe Verulam Writers’ Circle ‘Get Writing’ conference in Hertfordshire, England.

Barry owns the publishing company The Chicken House and is the man credited with signing JK Rowling to Bloomsbury. I hadthree minutes to pitch my novel to him: he bit. A few weeks later he asked tosee the full manuscript, but I hadn’t finished writing it. He agreed to waitand a few weeks later off it went and great expense.

Iwaited.

And waited.

And phoned.

And three weeks after my call I received mymanuscript and a polite rejection letter. Barry liked Pike’s Quest but thoughtthat the word play and humour was too complex for his readership. This was bothgood news and bad: Baryy Cunningham, discoverer of Harry Potter, liked my writing!The Chicken House publishes Young Adult (YA) material, and having written a60,000+ YA novel I was being told that it was too complex for my target group.

In February 2010 I met Marlene Johnson, Managing Director, Hachette Children’s Books. I had five minutes to pitch to her. Bythis time, Pike’s Quest was not only complete but substantially revised andedited. Marlene listened intently and laughed a lot as I gave her an overview.

“How old is the hero?” she asked.

“Sixteen.”

“So the book would be suitable for boysaged twelve to thirteen, then. They are inspirational, you see. It sounds hilarious, butyou can’t sell books to thirteen-year-old boys.”

And that was that: you can’t sell books to thirteen year-old boys. Clearly I wasdoomed to obscurity.

The only other publisher I managed to getto read Pike’s Quest was Proxima. They were brand-spanking-new and primarily ane-publisher. The response time was very fast and Steve Haynes, the editor, hadclearly read it all. Although he had some nice things to say, he just didn’t get theoverall joke. What I regarded as a light-hearted adventure he regarded ashaving an ecological them that may put readers off. He didn’t like the factthat two of my comedy characters had specific speech patterns – Gran speakswith a Somerset accent and is the only person in her village to do so (ratherlike Samwise in the LOTR films) and Lord du Well has a pronounced lisp. Anyway,it was a rejected.

Thus I continued my hunt for an agent.

I continued sending off batches of three –four chapters, a synopsis and a biography: some came back within four to sixweeks, some took longer. One took nearly a year and had only a scruffily hand-written note saying, “Not this time” (Mic Cheetham agency, be very ashamed). That was unusual though, as most hadquite positive comments but firm a ‘no’ attached.

I began to wonder if these agents were reading the same material that I had submitted: the material that I had written, finely honed and read out to others, and which had them in fits of laughter.

It was during this period that I hadsomething of an epiphany. And that shall be the subject of Part 3. However, the next post on this site will be on the 9 December, and is an interview with Canadian crime writer, Carolyn Arnold.

=================================================

Pike's Quest

only 99 cents or 86 pence from

Smashwords for Kobo, Sony Reader, et al, or via Amazon for Kindle on these links - UK - USA - DE - FR - IT - ES

Now also available at

iBooks (UK) - iBooks (US) - Barnes & Noble - Kobo - Diesel (prices may vary)

To read the blurb, click HERE

That's not real publishing (Part 1)

2011-12-04T21:22:00.001Z

“Oh, it’s an e-book.” She gave a knowinggrin.

“That’s not real publishing, is it?”

The decision came to me after months ofconsideration and years of disappointment: I would self-publish my work onKindle. It wasn’t a something I did lightly.

I’ve been writing seriously (as in,seriously writing stuff that had an amusing edge) for twelve or more years andI have spent a small fortune in posting material out to publishers and agentsin the hope that first they would read what I sent, and secondly that theywould be impressed enough to read more.

In 1999, when I sent out samples of my firstcomplete novel, a fair number of publishers were still accepting unsolicitedmaterial directly from writers. Between then and now that’s all changed. Nearlyall publishers accept only that which has been submitted by a literary agent.This is very bad news for writers, and even worse for readers.

Literary agents are the self appointedguardians of the publishing world. They are the experts in what the publicwants to read, and experts in what the public ought to be reading. Their wordis the word of the publishing God. What would the great reading populace of theworld do if it were not for the literary agent standing steadfast against theflow of inventiveness of writers? Literary agents know full well that if aparticular style of writing was popular in one book by one author last year,then every other author submitting material to them MUST, OH YES MUST, write inthat exact same style and on the exact same subject. Or else!

Publishers, of course, must bow to theknowledge of these literary Gods, because if they don’t, it is they who have todo the hard work of reading new material direct from an inventive author.Heaven forbid that a writer, urgh – A DIRTY,HORRIBLE WRITER, no less – should submit directly to the very sensitivepublisher. Lordy, lordy, lordy, that would never do. Ye gads: authors have GERMS.

As a writer I was in a situation wherefirst I had to identify which agents represent my genre, and then which onesare willing to receive submissions. Recently I have been writing what couldloosely be termed young adult fantasy, but it crosses the age boundaries andalso crosses over into adventure and comedy. Try finding an agent that acceptsthat combination in the Writers’ & Artists’ Year Book!

I identified around twenty that might beinterested, and sent samples out in batches of five. Take into account thepostage (return), packaging and printing costs, and each batch of submissionscosts about £25 - £30. Only a few will accept submissions by e-mail, and thosewho do probably use e-mail as an excuse not to actually read what has beensent.

One of the things agents want writers toinclude in their covering letter is the names of other authors to which theycan be compared. At the same time, agents state they are looking for new andoriginal voices: what do they want? “Dear Agent ... my writing is like a crossbetween J K Rowling and Alfred Hitchcock, yet I retain an element of starkoriginality ...” The real problem is that agents really don’t know what to dowhen someone with a new and original voice does come along, so almost invariablythey reject it.

Over 12 years I have had rejections ofvarying quality: some were complimentary, some less so. More recently I havehad rejections for Pike’s Quest that were downright glowing – so much so that Iwondered why the work was rejected. One agent was thoroughly impressed with thewriting, but after three chapters she wasn’t so sure about the story. She sentme the best rejection ever. But hang on: who is she to judge the story? If mywriting was as good as she said, that should be enough to strike up a workingrelationship. I’m petty damned sure that she doesn’t like everything that her existingclients send to her, but I’m pretty sure she attempts to place it with thepublisher. She did ask me to submit future work to her, but gave not a singleclue as to what she was looking for.

Writers employ agents, agents don’t employwriters. But agents often refuse to work for a writer. This is understandable ifthe writer is crap, but where is the sense when the writer clearly is not crap?Without any intentional arrogance, if I chose an agent to grace with my work,he/she should be honoured that I have done so.

The frustration comes by knowing that thework is of a publishable standard, yet I’ve only been able to get two publishersto read it.

In future posts I shall reveal theoutcome of those two readings, and I shall delve into some of the pros and cons of selfpublishing.

=================================================

Pike's Quest

only 99 cents or 86 pence from

Smashwords for Kobo, Sony Reader, et al, or via Amazon for Kindle on these links - UK - USA - DE - FR - IT - ES

Now also available at

iBooks (UK) - iBooks (US) - Barnes & Noble - Kobo - Diesel (prices may vary)

To read the blurb, click HERE

Pike's Quest: Perhaps one of my finer moments.

2011-11-28T10:51:00.000Z

Pike's Quest: Perhaps one of my finer moments.:

My last Pike Post was a glum affair, full of misery, flu and self pity (and a little bit of embarrassment – OK, a LOT of embarrassment). ...

Christmas dinner

2011-11-25T09:49:00.001Z

Dear World,

I've had to take a day off work due to feeling like my head will explode and having what feels like a combine harvester rolling around the back of my throat. I don't like it.

I would rather have sick days when I'm not unwell, so I could get something done on the writing front, but that never happens, dammit: I'm too honest. Just writing this blog entry is causing the room to spin, so it's a short one (entry, that is, the spinning will have to sort itself out). But before I go, can anyone tell me: what is a traditional Christmas dinner in the USA? This is a serious question, by the way.

All the turkeys will have been eaten at Thanksgiving, and there are probably only two left in the entire USA, courtesy of the Presidential pardon. Hmm, I suppose naming them Liberty and Peace was preferable to calling them Roast and Fricassee!

So what is the USA's Christmas meal of choice?

Maybe, after all that indulgence and feasting on turkey meat in November, everyone indulges on Christmas day with a feast of freshly grown vegetables, direct from the pizza plantations of North America!

On the subject of turkeys, there seem to be few in central government for whom the British public may be less inclined to offer pardons.

See that? I feel so bad that I've strayed into political comment!

Pike's Quest: If you bought a copy ...

2011-11-08T21:24:00.000Z

Pike's Quest: If you bought a copy ...: ... you need to read this. So, my writing weekend in Wales went very well. Far from being wet I was bathed in glorious sunshine. ...

Wet weekend in Wales

2011-11-03T21:02:00.003Z

This weekend sees me heading off to Wales for a weekend of writing and relaxation. I shall be in a chalet just above Dylan Thomas's boathouse - one of my most favourite locations ever. I just hope I am not too hypnotised by the view of the Taff Estuary - it's so magical I find it hard not to just stand there in any weather, sighing the name of the village: "Laugharne..."

It's pronounced Lahhhhharn, by the way.

Pike's Quest: Free-loaders - it's your lucky day!

2011-10-23T14:43:00.000+01:00

Pike's Quest: Free-loaders - it's your lucky day!: Roll up, roll up: free sample of Pike's Quest available for download. Read it on your Kindle or other Kindle/mobi compatible reading devi...

Book promotion at its cutting edge:

2011-10-14T20:15:00.000+01:00

Yesterday saw me at the Pinnock Party for Mrs Darcy versus the Aliens. It was a fab night with wine, nibbles (by Pinnock Junior) and featuring the TASTELESS TEE-SHIRT OF SELF PROMOTION. Stand by for a rare treat: this is book promotion at its cutting edge:

The tee-shirt of success?

See? What a treat I must have been for Mr P and his publishers (who, incidentally, didn't want to publish Pike's Quest). Actually, the St Albans branch of Waterstones was so crowded for the main event that I don't think the publisher actually noticed my brazen cheek.

It was good to see so many of the Verulam Writers' Circle in attendence, not to mention all the people I didn't know. I think I saw acertain Jane Holland there, but I only know her fro her blog and Twitter.

Mr Pinnock, of course, gave us a reading from Mrs Darcy: although I've read it and given it a 5* rating on Amazon, it was great to hear it straight from the author's mouth. Of course, No author wants to go into a reading cold, so to warm up, Mr Pinnock did his best Eric Morecambe impersonation.Next, Mr P wasted no time and launched into his reading. What follows is a video recoded by Verulam Writers' Circle's "grumpy chairman", Ian Cundell.

He was good, that Pinnock, but not as good as my tee-shirt!

What's on tonight?

2011-10-13T17:23:00.001+01:00

Good question.

Tonight I shall be going to Waterstones, St Albans, Herts, for the book launch party of Jonathan Pinnock's Mrs Darcy versus the Aliens. It must be said that Mrs Darcy has had probably the longest lasting book launch ever. She appeared officially on 1st September 2011, but was actually hanging around bookshops a few days earlier. Then there was the blog tour of the universe throughout September, and the official launch at Fantasy Con in Brighton, now the local St Albans event. Gotta give it to JP - his promotional efforts are admirable.

If this was the only event in JP's launch calender, I would feel guilty about what I'm wearing tonight:

THE TASTELESS TEE-SHIRT OF SHAMELESS SELF PROMOTION

As it is, no guilt at all. Keep 'em peeled on this site. I hope to bring to you a photo of me in said tee-shirt in the near future. Of course, if JP does take exception and throws me out, the design may be obscured by blood and tentacles.

But I'll take my chances ...

Pike's Quest: You can help

2011-10-12T21:19:00.000+01:00

Pike's Quest: You can help: Being a newly published type of person, with no proven track record, getting some sales under my belt (yes, there is some room under my belt...

Jonathan Pinnock Versus the Probing Questions

2011-10-07T22:00:00.000+01:00

First published elsewhere on 15 September 2011

“A world tour,” he said, “using blogs.”

“What’s that, a new travel agency? Better make sure they’re ABTA bonded and ATOL protected.”

“No, a tour of weblogs in order to publicise the release of my stunning new novel, Mrs Darcy versus the Aliens.”

“Well you didn’t honestly think I was talking to you because I liked you, did you?”

“Not really. So what’s in it for me?”

“Reflected glory.”

“OK.”

Actually, the conversation didn’t go quite like that: it went more like “TWEET?” Back in July or August, a certain Mr Jonathan Pinnock used Twitter to arrange his month-long publicity blitz of guest blogging throughout September. It was all rather fitting, because it could be argued that without social networking, Mrs Darcy Versus the Aliens may never have reached publication.

So, faced with the prospect of Mr P claiming squatters’ rights in my webspace I had to consider how I was going to play it: hand over total control, and be blackmailed into buying it back at hugely inflated rates? Nah, I’m not (quite) that stupid, plus, I’m a control freak. An interview, perhaps? Ah, now that’s more like it. I am, after all, a trained interrogator. Well, my bosses prefer the term ‘interviewer’, but what do they know? Still, that’s political correctness for you.

Right. Interview it shall be, then.

Q: I have to warn you, Mr P, as you sit strapped into that chair, this may be deep and penetrating. Do you think you can handle it?

A: Ah. I hadn’t realised it as going to be that kind of interview. As long as there aren’t any probes. I don’t like probes.

Q: First off, great to meet you. How’re you feeling? (See, I warned you this would be deep, didn’t I?)

A: Assuming there are no probes, fine. Top of the world, in fact. Although this being published thing is a bit of a roller coaster. One minute you’re elated because you’ve actually got a book in the shops ad the next you’re fretting because your Amazon ranking has slipped by a thousand or two.

A: It’s a sequel to Pride and Prejudice with aliens. (I know, some of those have more than one syllable.) It features most of the key characters from Pride and Prejudice, some of whom reveal a new side to their character (re-evaluating much of their behaviour in the original novel) and others of whom undergo an unexpected (and yet strangely logical) character development. New characters are brought in, as well as real Regency people such as Lord Byron and Sir Humphry Davy. Oh, and Jack the Ripper somehow gets involved as well – I’d forgotten that. Chaos ensues.

Q: In my experience, Jane Austen fans take her work quite seriously - so seriously that some of them fail to realise that she was probably one of the greatest comedy writers of all time. How does the humour in your sequel compare to Jane’s original?

A: Probably a bit broader than hers. Generally speaking, a lot broader. Although I like to think there is some subtlety here and there.

Q: Have you faced the backlash of marauding hordes of Austenites, stalking you, threatening to de-bag you when you appear in public, or otherwise inflict serious pain upon your personage?

A: No, they’re all lovely people. I can’t imagine them wishing to do such a thing! In any case, Mrs Darcy versus the Aliens is on sale in the Jane Austen Centre Online Giftshop, so it has the official imprimateur. Ha!

Q: Are you looking forward to it happening?

A: Are you mad, sir? By the way, have you put that probe away? I’d feel a lot happier if you had.

Q: Have you received any feedback from genuine JA fans – good or bad?

Q: I think I’m right in saying that you serialised Mrs D on the web before getting published, and that you achieved quite a following. What came first, the networking or the serialisation?

A: The networking. I wouldn’t have contemplated serialising the book if I hadn’t already been immersed in social networking.

Q: What advice would you give to anyone trying to reach publication via the same route?

A: Get stuck into Twitter, Facebook, blogging, the lot. Engage with all that and make yourself known. Then introduce your new project to your friends and followers. Make sure your project works well as a serial – does each episode stand alone? Is it short enough to be digestible in a few minutes? Decide what to do about late-comers – I had a regular “Previously on Mrs Darcy” thing that got more and more bizarre as I tried to summarise the entire plot so far in a single paragraph. Think of other ways to draw people in – the single best thing I did for Mrs Darcy was to put together a couple of daft YouTube promo videos. They didn’t have a lot to do with the story in fact, but they gave a feel for the flavour of the humour. And they were over in less than two minutes.

Q: Do you have any views on general self-publishing – would you ever consider it?

A: Hmmm. Good question. Would I have done that if Proxima hadn’t picked up Mrs Darcy? I might have done. But I would have wanted to do it properly, which would have meant commissioning a decent cover (expensive) and a professional editor (ditto). And I would then be spending the next year being very annoying to people, going around shouting at them to buy my book. I guess I’m doing something similar right now but at least I feel I have a publisher behind me. I’ll be honest: the fact that I can point to my book in WHSmith gives me a bit of credibility here.

Q: What is the difference between self-publishing and vanity publishing: surely, it’s a very fine line?

A: Ha ha. Funny you should mention that -

Q: - yeah, I’m the king of funny -

A: - yes I do, as a matter of fact. My Scott Prize – winning collection, Dot(.), Dash(-) will be published some time next year. It would have appeared along with the other Scott Prize winners this November, but my publishers (Salt, who are – quite coincidentally – the parent of the Proxima imprint) quite sensibly delayed it in order to avoid confusion over which book I was going to be promoting at any one time.

Q: Do you have anything else to add, before we wind up this session: perhaps a very great plug for my own opus – Pike’s Quest?

A: I would love to give Pike a plug! What’s not to love? Engaging characters, sparkling wit and a Quest! As well as a horse called Horse and a sparrow called Robyn Fynch.

Q: Thank you, Mr P. You’ve been a wonderful victim. I promised you deep, I promised you penetrating. I think I’ve delivered on both counts. I’ll untie you in a minute and you can mop your wounds. Now ... what did I do with those scissors?

A: No, the difference is quite clear cut. In self-publishing, you as the author are taking control of the whole operation. You may not have a clue what you’re doing, but you’re in charge. With vanity publishing, you’re handing over a large wad of cash in return for some vague promises.

Q: What about self-publishing on Kindle? Do you consider it to be any different to doing it on paper?

A: Similar principles apply, although the production costs are obviously lower and the cover design isn’t so critical (although it still needs to be eye-catching on Amazon). But again it’s all about selling. I keep repeating this: the main reason why John Locke has sold a million copies of his Donovan Creed books is that before he became a writer he was a millionaire insurance salesman. If you think you can sell a million copies of your book, pause a while and ask yourself: could I make a million selling insurance? It’s hard work, and the writing is the least of it.

Q: At the end of Mrs Darcy, the reader is informed that there will be a sequel? When will we see it, and what will it be about?

A: Well, it depends on demand. At present there are no firm plans beyond that last-line promise, although I do have a vague idea of the plotline. However, I don’t want to give anything away yet!

Q: I know you are a prolific writer, but normally your output is short fiction – often very, very short fiction. Do you have any plans to publish a collection any time soon?

A: Generally very positive (apart from the ones that ignore it in chilly silence). I think they appreciate the fact that I’ve written a genuine sequel (albeit a somewhat peculiar one) rather than trashing the original novel. I think there may well come a time when Pride and Prejudice takes its rightful position as merely the first of Jane Austen’s “alien” series…

Q: In words of single syllables, so I can understand, can you give short overview of what the book is about?

“Ah! What a coincidence. I’ve got a blog.”

Buy Mrs Darcy Versus the Aliens at WH Smith and other bookstores throughout the UK, or at Amazon and other on-line book-sellers.

Click HERE for Jonathan Pinnock’s website, and HERE to follow him on Twitter.

My new, improved blog

2011-10-07T20:25:00.000+01:00

Hi,

This is the blog that continues from, and overlaps with, the OLD ONE .

Sadly, then old one was soooooo limited in functionality that I lost patience with it. It came to a head when I had Jonathan Pinnock as a guest on it and I couldn't publish the damned thing. I had to create a web page and link to it. To make up for that, I am republishing the interview as my next post.

In addition to this blog, you might also be interested in Pike's Quest and my main site.

OK, onwards and upwards. Time to post that intrview!