A few weeks ago I wrote about my quest to learn as much as possible about marketing for indie authors. Well, I’m happy to announce that a combination of hard work, perseverance and some good old-fashioned luck, has resulted in something awesome. BEGINNER’S LUCK, the first instalment of my MYTHICAL MENAGERIE series has reached the…
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Book Covers and Genre Expectations
My writing group touched upon the interesting topic of book covers and genre expectations this week. The general consensus was that fiction readers are pre-programmed to expect certain elements of design based on the genre of the book. Imagine yourself in the bookstore. You immediately know what shelf contains romance because of all the half-naked…
Discovering Instafreebie
I am totally in love with Instafreebie right now! For those of you who don’t know, Instafreebie is a site where authors make free copies of their books (preview chapters, novellas, short stories, entire novels) available to readers. Did you hear that? Free copies! Okay, so for readers who live in countries with access to…
Two Worlds
Bethany knuckled the small of her back, dropping the mop into the pail of murky water. She wiped her brow with the corner of her rough homespun tunic, frowning at the stretch of corridor that still lay ahead of her. “Every day,” she mumbled as her calloused hand wrapped around the handle of the mop…
Book Marketing for Indie Authors
I’ve learned so much about book marketing the last couple of months that I could probably write a whole new novel about the topic (and if the market wasn’t so saturated already, I might even consider it). Many indie authors will tell you they hate marketing and they would much prefer for someone else to…
Penthesilea’s Demise
The clash of weapons reverberates through the air, humid and hot and heavy with the stench of sweat and blood and ash. A moan escapes the lips of the man before me and I pull my sword out of his stomach as his eyes glaze over, his gaze already drawn past the scorched walls of…
Drawing Inspiration from Travel
One of the things that make my soul sing is exploring the world and I’ve been blogging about travel since 2009. I’ve been fortunate enough to have visited most of Europe, various African countries, and Singapore and Thailand. I’ve even been deep inside the Arctic Circle in search of the northern lights. Exploring the world…
Game On
“Shit,” Nancy said. She stared at the blank wall in front of her as if her gaze could punch a hole through it. Trapped in a room without any other exits apart from the corridor she had just run through, Nancy was out of options. A quick glance at her P228 handgun confirmed the worst:…
Inspiration Board: Spirit Caller
Readers often ask authors where they get their inspiration from. For me, characters often spark my imagination and then I build a story around them. I find these characters in the strangest of places: an avatar in a game I’m playing, an image I see on Pinterest or just a random idea that pops into…
What’s up with LitRPG?
I don’t really understand LitRPG. Granted, I’ve only read one novel in the genre and it was, admittedly, mindless fun – but I still don’t really get the appeal of it. For those of you who don’t know, LitRPG is literature (and I use this term loosely) based on role-playing games (RPGs), such as World of Warcraft…
