Other bits
Smash all the Windows: my cover design process
The Making of a Book
This week will be the first of a short series of posts about the production of Smash all the Windows. Its cover design has been attracting compliments, with many people wanting to know about my cover design process. One of the other huge joys of self-publishing is choosing how to present your work. Given that…
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According to this article by Beulah Maud Devaney in the Guardian, the average reader will read 3,000 books during their lifetime (assuming they make it to 90). Like many readers who chose books they are told they ‘ought to read’, Devaney felt cheated when she didn’t enjoy an estimated 300 of the the 900 books…
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As I turn 50…
A smattering of facts about 1967 and a very special offer
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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No one in the UK can be unaware of the tragedy at Grenfell Tower, earlier this month, but many of my readers are from further afield. Fire broke out at a high rise residential tower block in West London, home to between 400 and 600 people. So far 79 people have been declared dead, but…
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This week, Virtual Book Club is taking a break and I’m handing over to Ann Richardson. Ann has worked as a social researcher most of her working life, writing books, articles and reports from interviews with ordinary people about specific health and social care problems. Most of this writing was addressed to professionals working in…
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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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As well as celebration, Christmas is a time for reflection and looking forward to the year ahead, and so here is my (small fanfare) Not quite the 12 Days of Christmas. 1 Book Award (An Unknown Woman, Writing Magazine’s Self-Published Book of the Year.) 1 book shortlisted for Book of the Year (An Unknown Woman,…
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Haweswater: A Literary Pilgrimage
In search of a drowned village
Yesterday, en route to Penrith station for the journey home, our minicab driver asked what had brought us to Haweswater. I told her that it was Sarah Hall’s novel. In fact, I have been trying to get to Haweswater for the past three years. At Easter 2015, we made it up from Kentmere to the…
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Tackling the escalators in an underground station while carrying a laptop bag and a suitcase full of books in Friday evening rush hour is not recommended under ordinary circumstance. But ordinary circumstances these were not. On one of the hottest evenings of the year to date, I left my day-job behind and wove my way…
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Ditching the Glitter Bomb
Organising indieberlin's First Ever Book Fair, by Noel Maurice
We started out with big ideas. Well doesn’t everyone? There was nothing standing in our way. Apart from the fact that I for one can’t organise my way out of a paper bag. And I speak from experience. Polly would be gone, shuffling tourists around ancient Greece, for most of the months leading up to…
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