My blogs

  • Research trip

    Tomorrow I am off to Bucharest to do some preparation work on the sequel to Wicked Game. Romania is a key source of people who by one means or another are forced into the slave trade, often referred to as human trafficking. I am visiting the British Embassy, Institute of Migration and some other NGOs… Read more

  • Agent or no?

    A long chat over the weekend has had me trawling the websites of literary agents this morning. A friend of mine has some interesting opinions on them… http://www.stephenleather.com/index.php?page=getting-published It doesn’t make for the most encouraging of reads.  The weekend chat was with a bookshop owner about achieving the balance between creative writing and promotion. I… Read more

  • Buying positive reviews

    Extracts from a blog I recently found when researching this practice. Is there anything than cannot be bought? Authors Behaving Badly: The Seedy Underbelly of Reviewing Up until a few months ago, I didn’t realise there was a seedy underbelly to publishing. But all of a sudden, I can’t seem to look anywhere without turning up… Read more

  • Twitter viruses

    Every day I receive several DM (direct messages) and sometimes Tweets to say that ‘someone is saying terrible things about you’, or ‘I laughed so much at this video of you’ and various similar types, the only common factor being that the message has a link to follow. The wording is designed to hook you,… Read more

  • Publishing on Kindle

    Building Your Book For Kindle Topics covered in this FREE e-book: Before You Write Building the Front Matter of Your Book Building Your Table of Contents Preparing a Cover Finishing Your Book Uploading and Checking the Quality of Your Book Just Before Publishing Your Book Making Changes After Publishing Your Book Definitely worth the one-click… Read more

  • Research trips and Hongkong soldiers

    Off to Romania this coming month. Researching material and locations for the sequel to Wicked Game. Travelling may seem glamorous but I’ve been warned to expect 40 plus temperatures and little opportunity for shelter or aircon. Staying about 1/2 hour outside Bucharest. Twitter following continues to grow and today I was approached to support the… Read more