News, Reviews & Guest Blogs

Book promotion news

Both Basement Blues and WolfSong are on special over at Smashwords for the month of July.

Get 49% off Wolfsong by using Code SSW50, and Basement Blues is running at a 100% discount - use Code SSWSF.

And if you're hitting Smashwords, there's a whole bunch of authors with specials on - check out Thea Atkinson's brilliant range of psychological thrillers, and Bernard Schaffer's short story collection, Gods and Other Monsters. I'm not sure if the collection is still on special, but if not it's very reasonably priced. The Bakkian Chronicles by Jeffrey Poole is not on special, but worth the read just for the banter between the husband and wife team who find themselves in a really different kind of world.

Over on Kindle, I discovered Voice by Joseph Garraty last month. If you like your horror, get this - I reckon this guy hits the same level as Joe Hill, and if he isn't absolutely huge in the next couple of years, I'll eat my kindle.

John Locke made headlines across the world as being the first purely self-published author to sell a million books on kindle. I took the plunge and read the books - and loved them. Quirky, off-beat and sometimes hysterically funny - I can easily see why he's achieved this. 

On a weird pricing note - I put the price of WolfSong up on the US store. Since then, it's climbed the ranks a bit. I'm not sure why, but US audiences seem to want to pay more for a book. I've kept Basement Blues at the 0.99c mark, and it's been dropping down the ranks. I just don't feel comfortable charging much more for what it is essentially 2 short stories and a short novella; but might need to rethink that in the future. It's the other way round on the UK site, with Basement Blues bopping along quite happily and WolfSong meandering along.

I'm working on the first full length book, and providing my net-book co-operates and I get through the trauma of the finance paper I'm working on for university, hope to have it out in the next couple of months.

Reviews

I got a couple of great reviews on Basement Blues on Goodreads, Amazon and Smashwords - thanks! It was the last thing I was expecting, and I was feeling pretty down when I came across it so it really did make my day.

Guest Blogs

Indie Book Blogger stepped up to the plate (again!) and let me trample all over his blog here. Whether you write or simply love to read, Scott delivers the goods tirelessly on Indie books - I've found some gems on his site. Everything from interviews, to reviews, to good old fashioned banter - go check it out.

The lovely Thea got her hooks in me again via twitter, and talked me into doing a humour piece - Paris Hilton Gets a Fairy, as part of her regular Writer Wednesday exercises on Gonzo Ink. From a writers perspective, her exercises are invaluable - even if you never post them. 

Coming up next - Supernatural Sunday - a look at SHC (Spontaneous Human Combustion, which is just as scary as it sounds..)

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You can find WolfSong on Amazon, Sony  e-bookstore, Nook and Smashwords. Basement Blues is on Amazon and Smashwords

Guest blogs, and blogging in general

The lovely and talented Thea Atkinson had me up as a guest blogger this week over at GonzoInk.

This was my first ever guest blog post, and I was pretty nervous; Thea is one of the most elegant writers I've come across.
I can't claim the same; passionate and enthusiastic yes, elegant, no. It's comparable to inviting a Great Dane puppy into a room full of china. I was hoping I didn't smash anything or leave puddles on the floor.

There was a bit of a hiccup to start with; thanks to my usual ability to kill technology, my home PC decided to go on strike and my net book was giving me gyp. Thea was kind enough to push the date back and I got the post sorted.

It was one of the best learning curves I've ever had; and as it turned out, I had a blast with it.

 It wasn't a blog to just plug the book, it was chance to write about anything I wanted to. How often do you get an opportunity like that? (And why, for the love of Cthulhu, aren't I using it on my own blog? That's pretty much going to change, effective immediately.)

I only started blogging a couple of months ago, and I'm pretty new at the self-promotion game. But looking at GonzoInk, and sites like Mark Williams International  have made me realise that my own blog was pretty, um, boring. Because it doesn't really reflect me as who I am, or what I'm really like. A weekly round-up might keep a few people interested, but on the whole, most of them will probably skip it.

Good blogs not only inform their audience, they entertain, and if you want to be a writer, entertaining the people that shell out their money for your books is vital.

So I'm going to start to blog about the good stuff; which is the world in general, as well as the writing side of things, and see how it goes.

I'd be interested in how anyone else feels about their own and other blogs in the comments section - have you changed your style from when you started? How have other bloggers influenced you? What do you really like reading about in a blog, and what do you hate?