Authors Electric

  Since publishing her first book in 2014, Scottish writer Wendy H. Jones has proven herself to be a force of nature. Consider the breadth of her output: the bestselling Shona McKenize police procedural mysteries, the quirky Cass Claymore investigations, the Fergus and Flora mysteries for younger readers, the Bertie the Buffalo books for kids...and a series of how-to books for writers.  She's uniquely qualified to teach, embodying the lessons we need to survive with a million new books coming out every year. Wendy's almost everywhere: signing, interviewing, hosting a popular podcast, guest blogging, conventioneering...you name it, and she's likely there. As a former traditionally published writer (under the name Kelley Wilde), I've been struggling for some time as an indie writer. Though I didn't mind the struggle, I'd grown sick of struggling stupidly. And I knew the time had come to either quit or pay attention to someone who's aced the arena. Luckily, Wen...

Social media in general is getting a bad press these days and for very good reasons. But writers would be unwise to distance themselves entirely, as this post (adapted from https://alibacon.com ) shows. Over two years ago, while despairing of my then work in progress (now fully fledged as In the Blink of an Eye) I stumbled on a newspaper article describing the St Andrews Photography Festival. St Andrews, what's not to like? This was so germane to my languishing WIP I was immediately intrigued and also a bit cross there was no official website to tell me more. However there was a Facebook page - a poor relation to a website perhaps but as I ran my eye over it, I mused how wonderful it would be to be involved and I found my fingers adding a post about my photography interests and my writing and inviting the still rather mysterious festival to contact me.  Afterwards this struck me as ridiculously brazen. I was an 'unknown' writer with a novel lying aroun...

What a year it’s been! A life-changing year. This month, and almost to the day as I write this, it’s been a whole year since I published my first book. A year in which, for the first time, I’ve been able to call myself an author. Not just wish for it, or dream about it, but actually introduce myself as an author. And because I decided to launch my book on the anniversary of the birthday of my leading historical character (2nd October), I was able, courtesy of a totally unexpected, but rather fabulous invitation, to celebrate its first anniversary at the same time as his birthday  –  in his old home, surrounded by other devotees – and with cake! Lots of cake! (More on that later.) Did I think a year ago just where I’d be now? No – not at all. My only aim was to get that book published – to master the labyrinthine processes needed to produce an ebook, and paperbacks via two different suppliers. And to adhere to US, as well as my own UK, tax regulations, becaus...

Call me old-fashioned, but I love a good bookmark, and I have a large collection ready for action whenever I need one.  Some of these have been made for me by those too young to read my books yet... I have some that I've treasured since I was very young - I've had these two since I lived in California at the age of 8... I have some handmade ones, such as these two I embroidered when my eyesight was sharper than it is now... Some are souvenirs of bookish events I've enjoyed or at which I've spoken... Bookmarks make great low-budget souvenirs of places that I enjoy visiting as a tourist... So when I decided to produce some swag to promote my growing Sophie Sayers Village Mystery novels (four and counting...), a good bookmark was the obvious choice. But as to the design, I was stumped. I love the gorgeous book cover designs produced for me by the wonderful Rachel Lawston of  Lawston Design , but with three more books to come in the ser...

As any independently or mid-level traditionally published author will tell you, unless your first name is Neil or Stephen or J. K. and your last name is King or Rowling or Gaiman, you are going to spend a goodly portion of your time attending various conventions to promote your work. This is especially true if you are writing genre fiction. If you are traditionally published and lucky, your publisher may foot the bill for your hotel, and the convention planners may buy a few copies of your books for you to sign and sell throughout the weekend. If you are and independently published author or a traditionally published author and unlucky, you are going to be footing the bills for these things and setting them up yourself. Results may vary. You will still do it, though, because it's part of getting your work out there and building your own name recognition. However, regardless of how much you plan and prepare, every once in a while, things will turn out much differently ...

I am sure the whole world knows that Christmas is upon us. Everyone is chasing their tails trying to get ready for the big day, or two days if you celebrate on boxing day as well. I am no different to anyone else. My days have been filled with present buying, card writing, turkey buying, and a search for all the endless trimmings that go with a turkey dinner. What's this got to do with writing I hear you ask. Bear with me, I'm getting there. I have the added joy of being an author. This means that my Christmas has been full of book signings as well as all the usual parties and frivolities. Okay, my book signings are full of frivolity as well. I'll give you that.  The title of my post is Deck the Halls. Well it's not quite deck the halls today, but certainly dressing me. I have appeared in a number of guises throughout the festive period. In the photo above I was signing books at a local shopping centre. The picture above is me dressed as a smiling santa, comple...

Pretty much everything's on Pinterest. I was planning to write a serious piece about plagiarism for this month’s contribution. In fact I did write a serious piece about plagiarism, but things have got so stressful (and for some of us, pretty miserable) around here, north of the border, that I’ve filed it away for possible future use and gone for a bit of escapism instead. Escapism in the shape of Pinterest. I love Pinterest . But I think it’s one of those sites you either love to bits or don’t get at all . I’m sure somebody has blogged about it before on here (I may have mentioned it myself!) so forgive me if I'm repeating things, but the site has developed and extended over the past couple of years and I reckon it's even more of an inspirational resource than it used to be. Whatever your passion in life, whether it's art or cookery or costume, you'll find something to enjoy. It's an interesting fact that women use Pinterest more than men. I don...