Authors Electric

For those of us who are self-published authors, flexibility and control over every aspect of our product (the book) is one of the best things ever. Speaking for me, control over pricing, publishing, cover art, and the possibility of changing all of these at a moment’s notice may well prove the reason I’ll never visit the traditional publishing model again. In these past years of self-publishing, we have seen many promotional models come and go as the field expands and develops. A few years ago, the self-published or “indie” authors were few and every new strategy they devised was fresh and successful. When Amanda Hocking published her books, setting the first one at 99c and the rest at slightly higher prices, she changed the publishing world. Her books sold like hot cakes, and a new model was born.  Soon after, 99c wasn’t drawing enough readers, as the market was flooded with 99c books following Hocking’s example. More and more authors saw the benefits of self-publishing new w...

As a writer I am often asked where I find my ideas and inspiration; how do I start to build a whole new world full of make-believe people, and most importantly, just what are they going to do to make themselves so interesting? I guess you could say I have around forty years experience of make believe. I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t reading, and writing. After a period of false starts, I realised that the craft itself had to be learnt and that has taken perhaps half of my lifetime to date. I am still learning and evolving, and always looking for new inspiration .   I am lucky to live in this part of the world. The Celtic history of North Wales is a powerful part of the landscape. Someone said that ‘the centuries of men’s hands on the same stones put the feeling into a place.’ My passion for the Welsh landscape and the day to day things that make me laugh, are just as important as the characters in my books, and I guess all of this is a part of me; and that is the...

The Voice of the Sword is heard in our land …   When I started pitching Voice of the Sword , I rather naively assumed mainstream agents and publishers would be interested in something new. This was a YA Urban Fantasy trilogy, I said, that had a fresh perspective; events and characters and inspired from Japanese mythology – a pantheon little-used in western fiction.   Unfortunately, I was entering a market where most agents wanted to hear about teenage girls swooning over pale and impossibly beautiful vampires. They had no interest in bizarre creatures such as the Tengu, the Kappa and the Yuki-Onna. I even had one email from an agent who said she knew nothing about Japanese mythology, so she couldn’t have “any confidence that she would love my work”. I rather thought that was the whole point. Isn’t that why we read books? To learn something new?     March 11 th , 2011 changed everything. I an a British teacher of literature working in an interna...