Author Blogs

And people wonder why I refuse to go with KDP-S … I am afraid of having the wrath of Amazon aimed at me for no good reason whatsoever, as happened to the authors here. David Gaughran Phoenix Sullivan is well-known in the indie community – I’ve known her myself since 2009 or 2010 and consider her a close friend. Aside from being exceptionally generous with her time and knowledge, tirelessly sharing her insights on marketing and algorithms, Phoenix is also well known as a vocal campaigner against scammers and cheaters – particularly on the current big issues of book stuffing and clickfarming. And now she is being targeted. Phoenix made a box set free for a few days back in September, advertisi...

I was only one out of many who signed petitions, made donations, etc., to try to get Tony moved to a sanctuary. Many of my readers may not know about my animal welfare and humane education work. This was just one small example. A lot of people tried very hard, in a system rigged against us, to help this big cat. Sadly, we failed. Free Tony The Tiger Tony’s 16-year confinement and ultimate death as a roadside attraction expose the failure of the American legal system. By Stephen Wells / AlterNet October 19, 2017, 11:50 PM GMT Direct Link: https://www.alternet.org/animal-rights/tragic-tale-tony-truck-stop-tiger Tony should have been allowed to live in a sanctuary, where he could feel grass und...

Available on Amazon UK and Amazon US After viciously assaulting a corrupt but powerful clergyman Robin Hood flees the only home he has ever known in Wakefield, Yorkshire. Becoming a member of a notorious band of outlaws, Hood and his new companions – including John Little and Will Scaflock – hide out in the great forests of Barnsdale, fighting for their very existence as the law hunts them down like animals. When they are betrayed, and their harsh lives become even more unbearable, the band of friends  seeks bloody vengeance. I’d been intrigued by the success of Steven A. McKay’s Forest Lord series so decided it was time to take a look. The ‘Forest Lord’ in question is Robin Hood, and the st...

    You have guessed it, this post is all about marketing… BUT… not marketing as you may comprehend it from a basic level, which is an amalgamation of advertising and promotion, but marketing from a perspective you may not have realised exists. Have I got your attention? I do hope so, because I believe having a clear understanding of this view of marketing can make or break your success as an author. I once worked in hard-copy magazine publishing and spent many hours discussing marketing with prime agencies like Saatchi & Saatchi, John Walter Thompson (JWT), BDM & BBDO (now combined with Abbott Mead & Vickers I think,) along with media buying services Zenith, Media.com and OMD and PR compani...

I’ve always been a “pantser.” I don’t outline my stories, decide how long they’ll be before I start writing — none of that. My characters have taken me in unexpected directions too many times for me to willfully disregard that opportunity. There’s no One Right Way to be an author, so if you’re into plotting and outlining, that’s fabulous. Kim Delauro says it well here. Enjoy this re-blogged article! The Focused Writer I expressed excitement in my last post over having time to plan for NaNoWriMo, but that planning will not include outlining, deeply developing characters, or anything of that nature. While no approach–being a “Planner” or a “Pantser”–is the “right” approach and every writer is ...

This is a little out of the ordinary for me; I don’t generally read graphic novels. This one was an exception, and I’m truly glad I read it. Fetch: How a Bad Dog Brought Me Home by Nicole J. Georges My rating: 5 of 5 stars The first time I picked this book up, I sat it back down. The first few pages reminded me uncomfortably of the passing of our dog, Katie , last November. Like Beija, this book’s dog heroine, Katie was a eccentric who was wary of strangers and had her own particular ways. She was not an easy dog. She was 15 when she left us. I picked up the book this morning and read the entire thing in one sitting. Toward the end, tears were flowing. Nicole adopts Beija initially as a gift...

Available on  Amazon UK  and Amazon US London 1667. Set in a London rising from the ruins of the Great Fire, Pleasing Mr Pepys is a vivid re-imagining of the events in Samuel Pepys's Diary. Desperate to escape her domineering aunt, Deb Willet thinks the post of companion to well-respected Elisabeth Pepys is the answer to her prayers.  But Samuel Pepys's house is not as safe as it seems. An intelligent girl in Deb's position has access to his government papers, and soon she becomes a target of flamboyant actress Abigail Williams, a spy for England's enemies, the Dutch. Abigail is getting old and needs a younger accomplice.  She blackmails Deb into stealing Pepys's documents. Soon, the respect...

I was invited to write about my experiences with short fiction by the Contents Page Book Club UK; you’ll find the full article at the link. While I’ve done three full-length novels, I’ve written several novellas and quite a few short stories. I’ve participated in seven anthologies in addition to publishing collections of my own work. Frankly, I cut my authorial teeth on short stories, from junior high school right up until the present day. I learned how to make a story tight, what kind of details you needed to include to make it compelling, etc., by reading quality shorts like The Lady or The Tiger and The Night the Bed Fell … and did my best to apply those techniques to my own work. via Gue...

Now I’m a little confused (not difficult in my case) as my guest today has his name on Facebook as H Max Hiller and also as Hiram Hiller, but I’ve checked very carefully and they are one and the same. I hope you don’t mind me calling you Max? H. Max Hiller’s restaurant career began with a cooking job on Bourbon Street at the age of seventeen. His resume now includes many of New Orleans’ iconic dining and music destinations which provide a lifetime of characters and anecdotes to add depth to his Detective “Cadillac” Holland series.    He now divides his time between working as a chef aboard a boat traveling America’s inland waterways and writing in the home he and his wife share with their re...

This popped up on Facebook today with huge thanks to Sally – an author’s dream Smorgasbord - Variety is the spice of life The first author with a recent review is Colleen Chesebro for her book The Swamp Fairy: The Heartstone Chronicles Volume One. About the Swamp Fairy Fourteen-year-old Abigale Forester, recently orphaned and a ward of the State of Illinois moves from Chicago to Florida to live with her aunt, her last living relative. Magnolia Forester becomes her legal Guardian, and together they claim an ancient inheritance; land that belonged to Abby’s mother’s family for generations. Holding onto the only piece of her mother Abby has left, a calcite pendant and her mother’s most sacred p...

New on Amazon US and Amazon UK Margaret Beaufort is remembered as a pious and formidable woman. Before she was the king's mother, she was a young wife who was desperate to secure her son's future. Take a peek into the life of Margaret Beaufort before she dreamed of a Tudor dynasty. The Last Lancastrian is a prequel novella to the Plantagenet Embers trilogy, which begins with Plantagenet Princess Tudor Queen: The Story of Elizabeth of York . About the Author Samantha Wilcoxson is an American writer and history enthusiast. Her 2015 novel, Plantagenet Princess, Tudor Queen, features Elizabeth of York and was selected as an Editors’ Choice by the Historical Novel Society.  Samantha lives on a sm...

Hi, everyone.  I entered Bayou Fire in the 2017 AuthorsDB Cover Contest and we’re down to the wire.  Please visit the link by 11 PM on Monday, October 23, and cast your vote.  You do not have to log in to review or vote. https://authorsdb.com/2017-cover-contest-results/24254-cover-contest-2017-bayou-fire As always, my thanks to James Courtney for the jacket design, model Jason Aaron Baca, and photographer Portia Shao. Original link

TRAVEL BIT We walked around Carcassone castle and were very impressed with how well the building had stood up for the last 800 years, I mean even the walls were nice and clean. DH remarked several times that they don’t erect edifices like they used to, to last for centuries. I detected the odd pitying glance from the passers-by, which was puzzling. We sat and watched the movie on its history and learned that all the people living in and around the castle had been ordered to go and relocate on the other side of the river. Next, the Black Prince came along and set light to the Bastide as they call it, and that didn’t do it much good either. The locals were quick to grab what stones were left t...

I always loved it when the teacher would read to us. My mom read to me as well, and sometimes my husband still does. I think that being read to helps develop a life-long love of books in the vast majority of cases … and it’s a treat any time. A Teacher's Reflections People often ask why I chapter read.  After all, many of the children in my classroom are are three-years-old.  When we chapter read, the children don’t have an image from a picture book.  They have to make the pictures in their head.  That requires language development.  The more they hear, the more they learn.  Even the youngest children benefit enormously.  For example, they may not ‘get’ the humor of the goose repeating every...

I’m privileged to be among several multicultural book authors and bloggers. I’ve also been blessed to work with illustrators from around the world, from Israel to Spain to the USA (and co-author a book with a Canadian author). We are changing the world. I plan to post links to multicultural blogs and sites as we approach Multicultural Children’s Book Day in January 2018—send me your links! Last year I was honored with the International Book Award for a diverse Western novel (clean thriller ). This year, the recognition has been wonderful, disturbing, and humbling. Along with presenting on writing and publishing and participating in library author panels from American Fork to Brigham City, I’...

Today is Indie Author Day.  There’s an on-line Indie Fringe Festival , and many authors are doing events at their local libraries.  I had great intentions of doing just that. And then I looked at the calendar. I am doing CampbellCon on October 21, and Modesto ComicCon October 27-29.  I had a wedding reception last weekend.  This is, quite literally, my one “free” weekend all month, and I need to do things like buy groceries and have the oil changed in my car.  So, doing a library event went out the window.  (Which reminds me, I have books to return as I make my rounds.) That’s okay, though. What I am doing is working on a new story, Ghosts of Whitehaven, for the forthcoming collection.  I go...

New on  Amazon UK  and  Amazon US At the start of the 16th century in Tudor England, Lavinia Maud finds her instincts as an assassin tested by love and faith. She balances revenge with her struggle to develop a tasteless poison and avoid the wrath of her ruthless patron. With her ideals in conflict, Lavinia must decide which will satisfy her heart: love, faith, or murder—but the betrayals are just beginning. Finding Writing Inspiration From History Through thousands of years of human history, we’ve done some pretty crazy things. We’ve invented, discovered, survived and destroyed. We’ve cultivated a varied mélange of settings across the world, spanning a vast array of cultures and technologic...

I enjoy having control over all aspects of the publishing process and for the last six years used a range of tools that produced good results. Then I saw this post by Joanna Penn (who helped me start self publishing)  Why I’ve Moved From Scrivener To Vellum For Formatting Ebooks Like Joanna, I'd been alerted by a reader to an ebook formatting problem that didn't show up on my Kindle. (Line breaks to show change of scene had closed up on her e-reader) This made me wonder how any other readers had said nothing - and if it had cost me sales. The solution seemed too good to be true. One easy to use tool that could import my Word document, allow me to design the layout based on good practice and ...

You may remember this post from earlier in the year, where I shared the back sleeve photo from a 45 RPM record by Jon Gon ?  I was their publicist in the late 1980s.  Well, I got to thinking about the guy who was their manager.  His name was Martin David Clemson; you’ll see him listed on the photo, too.  Through the magic of the internet, I decided to look him up. Now, in fairness it must be said that Martin and I were both in the running to manage the band.  The group was so torn about the decision that I offered to serve as publicist to make it easier on them.  Martin obviously felt pretty insecure about the matter, and he undermined me with the band several times.  We also failed to see e...

Yellow Jack by Josh Russell My rating: 4 of 5 stars First things first: the daguerreotypes referred to in the text of this book are entirely fictional (I suppose the fact that there are no actual plates to go with the plate numbers should have been a clue, but I presumed it was a decision made for the eBook edition of the novel). This bugged the hell out of me, to be honest, because the story is interspersed with these allegedly scholarly discussions of the subject matter that sent me looking for more information. That’s time I’ll never get back again. Now, maybe you think this is a selling point … and maybe it is. The author has so cleverly convinced the reader of scholarship that at least ...