Authors Electric

 This week my books arrive from the printers. I am waiting in eager anticipation to open that box, redolent with the scent of newly printed paper. Longing to handle the weight of the book, to hear the pleasing creak of the spine as I flip through the crisp white pages. And to see the cover in all of its resplendent glory. I have had an image of the cover in a computer file for months, and it is stunning. Everyone who has seen it has remarked so. I am really very pleased with the design, and am eagerly anticipating what it will look like ‘in the flesh’. Will the colours be as vivid as I hope, will it stand out in a crowd, will it draw the eyes of potential readers, look good on the shelf of a bookstore? This particular cover was a collaborative effort. My cover designer had worked on the first book and so certain features were repeated for this, the second. The font, the stunning illuminated capital, and the off-white torn top section that represented the vellum used by medieval m...

  I am still relatively new to the whole book marketing thing. I’m doing my best with varied results. I’m taking advice and trying to respond to it. This has included trying to build an email subscriber list, writing a personal blog, guest blogging, and of course being a ‘presence’ on Social Media. I have even given TikTok a try - jury is out for me so far, as to how useful it will be in actually generating interest in my books, but it is early days. One thing I have heard over and over is ‘What is your unique selling point?’ Or, what does my writing offer that people are actually looking for? And that if I ‘find my audience’ then the sales will come. My problem has been that my books fall into a very unique genre and I’ve found it very hard to find an audience for them. They are fiction but explicitly Christian. They are historical fiction but are neither romance nor murder mystery, nor are they adventure stories. There is little to no blood and gore, and definitely no explicit ...

  ‘Compassionate, warm, moving and so VERY funny.’ ‘This is properly brilliant. The pages fly by and I just can’t stop smiling.’ ‘A charming, clever, debut.’ No, these aren’t mine. Not written by me, and sadly not written about my books either. I am in the process of getting people to endorse my soon to be published novel. It involves asking people very nicely to read a PDF manuscript, only partially edited, and give me their views on it. In a line or two. Words that they won’t mind being attributed to them and printed within the front cover of said book. I find the whole business uncomfortable, and positively terrifying. Especially as they are among the few people to have actually read the thing. What if they don’t like it, and cannot in all good conscience recommend it? It’s a possibility after all. Thankfully, the people I have approached have so far been generous and kind. I am already so encouraged to be in receipt of some lovely words of endorsement for The Pilgrim . Th...

  'Colette' In the strange nothingness between Christmas and New Year, I watched a lot of films. One of those was Colette (2018). It tells the story of Sidonie -Gabrielle Colette , the prolific French novelist of the early 20 th century. I admit I found some of the film made me both blush and cringe, and if you are of a delicate constitution when it comes to hedonism being played out on the screen in explicit detail, you have been warned. But it was worth watching for the way it unpacked Colette’s relationship with her first husband, Henri Gautier- Villars . How he ‘forced’ her to write her semi-autobiographical stories and how he ‘stole’ the credit for the four Claudine novels published between 1900 and 1903, with his own pen name ‘Willy’ as the author. Many years later, when she had successfully proved the books were her own work, she was quoted as saying that she would never have become a writer without Willy. He in turn claimed that the books would not have been nearly ...

  If you are a fan of Friends you might remember Phoebe uttering those memorable words in a certain Christmas episode of the show. It caused a laugh. As did much of what came out of the hapless Phoebe’s mouth to be honest. And it is still watched as a meme on YouTube – the clip I found lasts all of 4 seconds and has had 8.1K views. Yes, today is the day before the day before the big event. What does that mean to you? Perhaps you are still frantically last minute shopping, especially food and drink, maybe even presents. Perhaps it is your last day of work before the holidays begin. Perhaps, like me it is a day to consolidate. How far have I got with the wrapping? Have I got enough sprouts? What needs to go on my 'to do' list for Christmas Eve? Is the cake iced, the pastry defrosting, the cookies made? Or perhaps you are just ignoring the fact that it is all kicking off the day after tomorrow, and burying yourself in a Christmas movie marathon, the mulled wine at hand. I wonde...

  Dragon's Hoard In my blog offering last month, I wrote about my first experience of a real-life book signing, and added my little tongue in cheek list of what to do, and what not to do in preparing for such events.  https://authorselectric.blogspot.com/2021/10/book-signings-dos-and-donts-by-joy.html It was well received, for which I am most grateful. But I had made a ‘booboo’ in my first published version of said blog. An inexcusable one. I had fallen into that well-known and tricksy homophone trap. I had used the word HOARD to describe a crowd of people, when of course what I meant to say was HORDE. It was duly pointed out to me by a writer friend and we laughed, because in some ways either word worked in the context in which I was writing. The HORDES might well have appeared at my book signing, in order to stock up on piles of my books, which they could take home to HOARD. (It didn’t happen, sadly!)   It got me to thinking about homophones… Homophone: a word th...

  Becoming a published author rather unexpectedly, has opened up a whole new previously unexplored world to me. The whole publishing/marketing journey has been a steep learning curve, with a few full -blown side swipes included. There have been definite highs – like wonderful reviews, and uncomfortable lows – like the boxes of unsold books. But on the whole I’ve enjoyed the ride. There have been lots and lots of lessons learned - if I should ever do this again. It genuinely has been an enlightening and rewarding experience. This month I encountered another new experience – a real life, post lockdown, book signing – in a ACTUAL BOOK SHOP! I was excited and terrified in equal measure, not really knowing what to expect, being so grateful for the opportunity, and knowing it was something I had to do. At least once, anyway. So I thought it would be useful to record for posterity, some of the things I learned that day, and I am sharing them here in case they might be of use to any...

We are in the process of major renovation/remodelling works to our home. They have been a very long time coming. We bought this ‘dream house’ twelve years ago, and very soon realised that although it occupied a dream position, with stunning sea views all around, the fabric of the house was far more nightmare than dream. I used to joke that I would live in a shed on our plot; but as the years have gone on, and we have not got any younger, the need to do something drastic to avoid that very scenario has become finally necessary. So what’s that got to do with writing you may well ask? Well, it has definitely had an affect on mine. Living in temporary accommodation for four months, and now back home with the renovations going on around us, I have found it difficult to concentrate for long periods of time. Or indeed find the space, physically or mentally, to continue work on my second full-length book. I have satisfied the writing urge with short stories, flash fiction pieces, and blog post...

Joy Margetts’s post on 23 July, A Tale Most Tragical , set me thinking. Anne of Green Gables by L M Montgomery I’m ashamed to say I’ve never read Anne of Green Gables ; but I’ve listened to the audiobook, which I hope counts, and watched a delightful BBC dramatisation about 30 years ago, and loved both. Even if I hadn’t, I’d back Joy to the hilt about interfering with another writer’s work; but loving the story as I do, I was aghast at what Joy revealed the makers of Anne with an E on Netflix have done with it. Not happy with the storyline as written by L M Montgomery in 1908, which lacked the modern required exploration of racism, colonialism and homophobia, the creators of Anne with an E have cheerfully added several new characters and storylines to make up for this. Joy kindly gives the screen writers the widest possible benefit of the doubt, judging that perhaps only this way could the series attract a modern audience.  Really? Anne of Green Gables is a timeless classic...

  Last month I had a week where I felt decidedly ‘under the weather’. I had no energy or capacity to write, or to do much else, so I turned to binge watching on Netflix. I wanted to watch something that was comforting and reassuring and just ‘nice’, and found myself drawn to Netflix’s dramatization of Anne of Green Gables : ‘Anne with an E’. It is beautifully shot and the lead actors are well cast, especially Geraldine James as Marilla Cuthbert, and for the first episode I smiled with contentment as the story unfolded in line with my memory of the book, introducing us to the feisty, imaginative, and irritatingly verbose red -haired heroine. Soon, however, I was dismayed to find characters being introduced that I had no memory of, themes and storylines being woven in that were definitely not consistent with the period and tone of the original book. For example, Gilbert Blythe has a year out (age 16!) to travel the world employed as a stoker on a steam boat, where he meets, befrien...