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As a self-published author, I get to blow my own trumpet. (After all, I have no-one to do that for me.) And so with a small introductory fanfare, I can confirm that Smash all the Windows has been shortlisted for the first Selfies Award, produced by BookBrunch in association with the London Book Fair.  “The shortlist we’ve come…
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This week, I thought I’d take a break from the usual Virtual Book Club format. Instead, I put the same question to a number of authors.  “A novel requires stamina and grit,” says author Oyinkan Braithwaite. “You need a certain kind of faith in yourself and in what you are doing to bang out 40,000-plus…
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This week, I thought I’d take a break from the usual Virtual Book Club format. Instead, I put the same question to a number of authors.  “A novel requires stamina and grit,” says author Oyinkan Braithwaite. “You need a certain kind of faith in yourself and in what you are doing to bang out 40,000-plus…
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Last October 1st, I was fortunate enough to be among the audience at Waterstones, Tottenham Court Road, for the Northern Fiction Alliance’s first London Roadshow. I say ‘fortunate’ because sometimes – whether by fluke, luck or some divine intervention – you find yourself witness to the beginning of something special. Something that has the power…
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This week I’m delighted to welcome Helen Matthews to Virtual Book Club, my interview series that gives authors the opportunity to pitch their novels to your book club.  Helen is the author of suspense thriller After Leaving the Village, winner of the prize for opening pages of a novel at Winchester Writers’ Festival. Her second novel…
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This week I’m delighted to welcome Helena Halme to Virtual Book Club, my interview series that gives authors the opportunity to pitch their novels to your book club.   Prize-winning author, former BBC journalist, bookseller and magazine editor, Helena Halme holds an MSc in Marketing and an MA in Creative Writing. Full-time author and mentor, Helena…
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This week I’m delighted to welcome Ceri Williams and Drew Neary Virtual Book Club, my interview series that gives authors the opportunity to pitch their novels to your book club. Ceri and Andrew both live in the Midlands and together, they write under the name, Neary-Williams.  The Clockmaker is their first project together. The intention is…
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This week I’m delighted to welcome Alison Morton back to Virtual Book Club, my interview series that gives authors the opportunity to pitch their novels to your book club.   Alison Morton writes the award-winning Roma Nova thriller series featuring modern Praetorian heroines. She blends her deep love of Roman history with six years’ military service…
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As well as working part-time to pay the bills, together with my brothers and sisters, I am now helping my mother to care for my dad who has dementia. I urgently need to find a way to free up precious writing time. The only way to do this is by cutting out marketing time. That…
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This week I’m delighted to welcome Paul Marriner to Virtual Book Club, my interview series that gives authors the opportunity to pitch their novels to your book club.   Paul grew up in a west London suburb and now lives in Berkshire with his wife and two children. He is passionate about music, sport and, most of all,  writing,…
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