The Difficult Second Book
If the first book was a whirlwind of inspiration, then the difficult Second book is like a rock band’s “difficult second album.” Reaching a consistent standard over three books isn’t easy. Especially if it’s a trilogy. …
Publishing
Launching Scildan Press
Some real publishing news: we’re launching Scildan Press. This will be the imprint for the series of fantasy novels coming out this October. …
Amazon’s Policy on AI-Assistance
Returned home tonight to find a post from Mark Dawson on Amazon’s Policy on AI-Assistance. The Amazon Terms of Service now contain statements on the use of AI to generate content in books. …
The Rules of Good Covers
You need to know The Rules of Good Covers. ‘Never judge a book by its cover,’ the saying goes. Truth is, everyone judges a book by its cover. And I have a whole series to design…
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The Art of the Book Blurb
Uncovering the art of the book ‘blurb’; that short text on the back cover and in the book summary that entices people to open the book and read. But what is it, and what makes for a successful ‘blurb?’
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2022 a ‘record-breaking year’ for book sales
According to The Guardian last month, the UK publishing industry declared 2022 a ‘record-breaking year’ for book sales.
The UK Publishers Association confirmed an astonishing 669m physical books sold in the UK last year, with a total income of £6.9bn. …
The Trouble with Crowd-funding
Crowd-funding is fine; the trouble with crowd-funding is finding the crowd…
Platforms such as Kickstarter and GoFundMe turned crowd-funding into a viable business model for all kinds of ventures over the last decade. So what about books? …
Stock Images and Stock Covers
Judging books by their covers gets even trickier with stock images and stock covers. Browse certain genres in the Amazon store and you’ll find the same images cropping up on cover after cover. Like The Woman with the Birdcage.
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Listening to The Everywoman (BBC Radio 4)
We’re currently listening to The Everywoman (BBC Radio 4) and BBC Sounds. This neat, two-part documentary poses the question:
If there is an ‘Everyman’ in literature, can the experiences of a female character also be universal?
Novelist Sarah Hall (Burntcoat, Sudden Traveller, Madame Zero, The Wolf Border and others) goes in search of the Everywoman. …
Are E-book Subscriptions the Future?
Netflix. Spotify. iTunes. Microsoft Office 365. Graze. Sock Panda. Yes, you can now subscribe to socks. The question is, are E-book subscriptions the Future? …