Authors Electric

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...

A while back I wrote a book with a friend about how to help dogs afraid of fireworks to cope with the phobia: my co-author, Tellington TTouch practitioner Toni Shelbourne also decided to run some special workshops focussing particularly on this issue which affects so many pets. Toni got some postcards printed to hand out to any interested people, and all five hundred of them had gone within three months. Front - with margin to allow for trimming When it came to getting some more printed, I had an idea - instead of postcards, why not get bookmarks made up instead? It would still be marketing material, with all the relevant information on it, but would be more like handing out a small gift rather than being a bit of blatant advertising. From personal experience, I also reasoned that postcards and flyers often get tidied (or thrown) away, disappearing from sight and therefore mind - and when you do want to lay hands on it, of course you can never find it, although it is guaranteed t...

Books do so many jobs - they educate, entertain, inspire, or offer you a place to escape to when you need it.  They can also be incredibly evocative: pick any title I've read, and it summons up in my mind's eye the time and place when I first read it: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe: I'm behind the sofa in my great uncle's house in Belfast. It's dim and dusty there, but it's the only private place I can find to read in, where no-one can see me sobbing over Aslan's death. My Friend Flicka: In my bunk bed, reading (after I was supposed to be asleep) by the dim light filtering in through the glass panel over the top of the bedroom door. The Hobbit: Sprawled on my stomach on the dining room floor of my grandparents house on a blisteringly hot summer day, and trying to ignore the constant interruptions asking if I wouldn't rather go outside to play. (No! Of course not! Bilbo's trying to beat Gollum at riddles. Go away!) The Dark is R...