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I felt very strongly that the cover for Small Eden should have a strong local anchor. The inspiration for my tenth novel was the cottage I have called home for the past twenty-one years, built (as far as we’ve been able to ascertain) as the ticket office for pleasure gardens which opened at the turn…
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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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On this day in 1967 I made my entrance into the world. To celebrate my 50th birthday, I have discounted the price of my *ebooks by 75%. This means that from 17 – 24 October, you can get your hands on I Stopped Time, These Fragile Things, A Funeral for an Owl, An Unchoreographed Life,…
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I received a massive 70% reply rate to a survey I issued to my newsletter subscribers. Thanks to them, I now have a fairly good idea how subscribers felt about the free copy of I Stopped Time they received in return for their email address.  They rated it 4.77 out of 5. 76% recommended it…
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I’m thrilled to announce that my seventh novel, An Unknown Woman, has just been named Self-Published Book of the Year by Writing Magazine and the David St John Thomas Charitable Trust. Writing Magazine’s editor Jonathan Telfer said that self-publishers impress more each year with levels of accomplishment shown and that choosing the winner had proved…
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I’m delighted to announce that Andrew Candy’s cover for An Unknown Woman has won the award for best cover design in the fiction category at Indie Author Fringe, Book Expo America. I’m particularly delighted that the award was voted for by fellow authors who are members of the Alliance of Independent Authors – and it…
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My love affair with books began at an early age. (I have to be honest, it was the illustrations I adored). From my teens onwards, once I discovered a favourite author, I tended to buy everything they’d written. My bookshelves are crammed with sets of novels. When I began writing, it was my aim to…
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The January VAT hike for digital products has been tough. For writers, there was a stark choice: either take a 17% hit on income or pass the increase onto readers. In search of a way to redress the balance, I didn’t need to go any further than the aisles of my local supermarket – 3…
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Awesome Indies is the brainchild of Tahlia Newman, who says of the award, ‘My idea is to honour the Indie authors who produce a high quality product and to direct readers towards the Indie Gold that lies hidden amongst the avalanche of available books.’ And it is a challenge to strike gold. Readers are often…
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Without wading through the controversy surrounding the Guardian’s first two Self-Published Novel of the Month awards, how can readers discover the very best in independent publishing? This is where recently launched website Ascribe Novel Solutions steps in. All of the novels featured on Ascribe carry a recommendation from either a traditionally published author, a literary agent, a literary consultant…
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