Authors Electric

I published my first book last autumn. I think I may have mentioned it in my last Authors Electric blog. I suspect I’ve mentioned it a few other times elsewhere too. I’m pretty pleased about it as you can imagine. I’m sure all first-time-published authors are – both traditionally and self-published. I probably go on about it a lot... It's my book! On a reader's shelf! In some excellent company, of course... (Thanks to Yuko for the pic) This month I’m publishing my second book, the sequel to the first. No doubt I’ll bore people to death with that too. But something occurred to me in the past couple of weeks. Although it might appear to be the same thing, in fact everything has been completely different. Yes, the processes for production of the books have been the same (roughly). Although I forgot some aspects in the meantime, I learned a great deal first time round and haven’t had to reinvent the wheel completely in terms of uploading everything to my chosen ...

Or perhaps I should just stick to 'Hi!' And as a newbie blogger for Authors Electric I should really introduce myself. Alex Marchant, author of historical fiction for children, at your service! [ doffs cap with a flourish, bowing deeply ] I write ‘author’, of course, as we’re all authors on here. But I still say the word – and write it – with a momentary (or longer) hesitation. Because, unlike all the other fine bloggers on here, I’m very much a newbie at this too – and I have to be reminded that, yes, I can call myself an author. I have written a book (in fact, more than one), I have published it (even if independently – and, after all, that’s all the rage now), and I am earning money from it. Well, some, anyway... enough to record on my upcoming tax return. A hesitation, or two, also occurred when I received the invitation to join the Authors Electric team. What could I bring to the party? I’ve been writing my own blog for a few months now, but it’s still ea...

My first picture book - first published 2007 At the beginning of the year I decided to set myself some goals. A few of these goals are linked to my writing. The first one was to get at least one picture book traditionally published or at least a contract signed. So, in order to set the ball rolling I decided to go through my computer files and put all my half written stories and story ideas in one place. A few hours later I'd rediscovered: 10 picture books - written to first or second draft stage 25 picture book ideas - some sketched out whilst others are just a few bullet points 4 fantasy stories for young confident readers - two have chapters sketched out whilst the other two are just a jumble of ideas. 1 young adult story - jumbled ideas only 3 steam punk stories for confident readers - one has each chapter sketched out 1 kids TV show - ideas for the first five episodes are sketched out 3 short stories for adults - the type you get in magazines 4 novel ideas for ...

As a small indie publisher trying to sell eBooks via Amazon I'm always open to new ideas on how to increase sales. So when a writing friend suggested I read ' Make A Killing on Kindle ' by Michael Alvear I decided to download it. This is the first book I've read that does not advocate using social media to sell books. Instead the author suggests using the tools available to the writer on Amazon. Realising the only thing I would lose would be the 18 hours he states it takes to implement his steps I decided to give it a go. So I picked one of my books I felt was under achieving and started to follow his suggested steps. I updated my author profile, tweaked my book, changed the title slightly and redesigned the front cover. I also spent time researching terms I could use in my book's search engine profile. I know SEO is important in ensuring your book shows up in searches but I hadn't realised that such small changes could make such huge dif...

Thankfully I've never suffered writers block but then again I've never been in the position I find myself in now, where I just can't stop the new ideas from coming.   I recently took on a two-month contract for a local language school. I've been employed as a property manager (glorified house keeper) for a student residence with just over 100 rooms. It's not a job I've ever done and have no background in this type of work. I was just in the right place at the right time. Since starting the job I've been more inspired to write than I think I've ever been before. Even the title of this post was inspired by the bunch of house keys sitting next to me as I typed these words (image to the right).  It all started on the 1st July whilst I was packing my travel bag (I'm having to sleep on site at least four nights per week). I'd just completed researching a method of constructing stories called 'accumulative' or a 'chain' s...

Until recently I thought I was the laziest writer alive. I know I'm not really, because there's a bookshelf lined with books to prove otherwise, but when I'm idling at my desk - or doing something else altogether to avoid facing the screen - I feel  incredibly lazy. There are writers who turn out three thousand words a day, or write tirelessly for hours on end. I just can't do that. Sometimes, especially at the start of a project, I have to cajole, bully and threaten myself in order to get anything done at all. Fortunately it's not always like that, or why would I do it? A book usually takes off for me when I'm about a third of the way in. And I love revising. When I was revising THE DAMAGE DONE for its Kindle edition, I found myself working at all hours, reluctant to stop. Revising is so much easier than first-stage writing. It's come as a surprise, this last month, to find that writing non-fiction feels so very different. I'm co-writing a commiss...

Until this year all my writing has been done for someone else to publish and not for myself. I've written for publishers and packagers, working to their deadlines and meeting their briefs. However now I've joined the growing band of writers writing for themselves, producing eBooks I am facing a problem I've never had before. I'll admit I've never been brilliant at prioritising and working out a schedule. But when working for someone else I was forced to at least try. However now I have deadlines I set myself and have to fit paying work around my writing destined to become an eBook. My problem is I have stories taking over my brain demanding to be written. I have: A tale of a rebellious child who is befriended by an aged neighbour A story with an alternate universe, time travel and Scottish monsters A spooky tale of a ghost lost in time Twin sisters who don't know the other exists but can feel each others feelings Plus a huge number of scrib...