tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-88770886086108952522024-03-18T00:29:57.404-07:00How To Make A Million Dollars From Writing eBooks (or How I Learned To Love The Kindle)Stephen Leatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08179238880325952527noreply@blogger.comBlogger101125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877088608610895252.post-67053724335462985512024-01-30T19:23:00.000-08:002024-01-31T00:00:16.986-08:00Agents - Who Needs 'Em?<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCLFs8kK2_Bh3Ed23Xh7FzzbgWNd9UGD4w2uwKJP4vWhflGzDFT9emv3t9nBvASM-aR7_kDhtovz-w2qnPTaanbnCLrjweaxl-CURhC3IEear0IVuyegAVkVKHqG-3r_gg-oqOmHMzI_N-QV1Gbg9cIQpIvMQ1kjhyp2KG-FEKlRPNRormdrqqa0DbzeI/s1280/First%20Strike%20HB2.jpeg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="832" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCLFs8kK2_Bh3Ed23Xh7FzzbgWNd9UGD4w2uwKJP4vWhflGzDFT9emv3t9nBvASM-aR7_kDhtovz-w2qnPTaanbnCLrjweaxl-CURhC3IEear0IVuyegAVkVKHqG-3r_gg-oqOmHMzI_N-QV1Gbg9cIQpIvMQ1kjhyp2KG-FEKlRPNRormdrqqa0DbzeI/s600/First%20Strike%20HB2.jpeg"/></a></div>
<p>I am just about to deliver the 21st Spider Shepherd book - First Strike. Hodder and Stoughton are set to publish it in July. No agent has been involved in the process, in fact I haven't used an agent for any of the Spider Shepherd series.<p>
Getting an agent these days is difficult. I hesitate to use the word impossible, but for most first time writers I am sure it feels that way. In my experience, most agents lack even basic courtesy and don’t even reply to most writers who approach them. And it’s been that way for many years. I wrote to five agents after I’d written my first thriller - more than thirty years ago - and not one even bothered to reply. Even when I had three books in print and was trying to get an agent for The Chinaman, only two agents out of six replied to my letter. If they won’t even reply to a published author and former Fleet Street journalist, what chance does a first-time writer have? And if anything, it has got worse since then. I am contacted regularly by frustrated writers who are simply being ignored by agents. You’re just going to have to accept that getting an agent is no easy task, no matter how good a writer you are or how good your book is. I’m sorry, but that’s the cold hard truth of modern-day publishing.<p>
Most agents these days have websites and on those websites they will explain their policy on submissions. When I first started you had to send a pristine typed manuscript. That's all changed, these days it’s all done by email. So send the manuscript, but bear in mind that you also have to sell yourself. You need to convince them that they need to read your work. If you’ve written a thriller, then push your military background if you have one. If you’ve written a book set in a school and you were a teacher, mention that. If you’ve written a crime novel and have spent time in prison, sell that. Push yourself as much as you push your book.
<p>
The Writers and Artists Year Book has a comprehensive list of agents in the UK, Ireland and the United States. Or you can Google ‘Literary agents who take submissions’. Write to them all. Every one. That’s the beauty of the new technologies, you can send a hundred emails as easily as one. Agents would prefer that you approach them one at at time, but as most don’t reply they have no right to ask that. Write to every agent you can. Dozens. Hundreds, if you want. Emails are free. If an agent really wants to represent you, he’s not going to care who else you approached.
<p>
In your email, promote yourself but flatter the agent. Find out who they represent and tell them what a great job they are doing for such-and-such a writer and that you think they’d be the perfect agent to handle your book. That’s how I got my first agent – I wrote Gerald Seymour’s agent a flattering letter and he took me on. He eventually sold The Chinaman and The Vets for a good six-figure sum. He went on to become an absolute nightmare - about which, more later!
<p>
Please don’t blame me if agents don’t write back. Most won’t even acknowledge receipt of your email. They can be very frustrating people to deal with. Just keep trying. Keep pushing. Work your contacts. Do you know anyone who works for an agency in any capacity? Did you go to school with someone who works for an agency? Start asking all your friends and relatives if they have any contacts. If it’s any comfort, the publishers I’ve spoken to all tell me the same thing – that if a book is good then it will be published eventually.
<p>
Don’t forget that every literary agency has several agents, so if one agent says no it’s still worth approaching other agents at the firm. Writing is very subjective, and what one agent hates another might love. So keep on trying!
I am afraid I have a very low opinion of agents in general. That’s not an irrational dislike, it’s based on many, many bad experiences with agents. I’ll run a few by you and you can judge for yourself.
<p>
My first bad experience was with literary agent legend Michael Sissons, of Peters Fraser and Dunlop. He sold my book The Chinaman and The Vets to Hodder and Stoughton and I will always be grateful to him for that.
<p>
But he then joined forces with an agent called Peter Matson at Sterling Lord Literistic in New York. They got me a six figure deal with Simon & Schuster, which was great, but the deal turned out to be a disaster. Simon and Schuster did no marketing and no publicity and both books died. Peter Matson tried to move me to another publisher but he let Simon and Schuster find out. I had the most embarrassing lunch ever when Bill Grose of Simon and Schuster effectively slapped Peter Matson down in front of me and clearly took great pleasure doing it. I can still remember the evil smile on his face and the plate of untouched pasta in front of me. I have never had a US deal since.
<p>
I tried to talk to Michael Sissons about the US situation but he refused. By that point he had acquired something of a reputation for being grumpy and terse, and he was definitely that way with me! He refused point blank to discuss it with me. ‘I am not prepared to talk about it any more,’ he said. We parted company soon after.<p>
After I split with Michael Sissons, I went looking for another agent and met Sonia Land of Sheil Land. Big mistake. She talked a good game and said she would go after more money for a two-book deal. I had written a book called The Stretch, which Sky One turned into a movie. She went to see my then editor - Jon Wood (of who more later) and phoned me next day to say that she hadn’t managed to get me any more money. It was a same again deal and she recommended that I accept it.
<p>
I phoned Jon and asked him what had happened. He said that it was a very strange meeting. Sonia had turned up with a large bag and asked him what he was prepared to pay for two more books from me. He said he was offering the same deal as he had offered for the two previous books and she said okay. Then she opened her bag, took out six manuscripts and spent the rest of the lunch pitching work by six other writers to him.
<p>
Jon thought it was hilarious. I didn’t, and parted ways with Sonia, who insisted on being paid her ten per cent commission, even though I never signed the deal. Back then agents took ten per cent. Now they take fifteen per cent. Do they do fifty per cent more work than they used to? No, they do not. So why did they all start charging more? It’s a question that no one seems able - or willing - to answer.
<p>
Anyway, I went on to deal with Hodder and Stoughton direct and negotiated a fifty per cent increase in my advance, for worldwide rights. And no, I would not recommend Sonia Land as an agent.
<p>
Jon Wood later became an agent himself, at RCW Literary Agency, having “left” the top job at Orion, which like Hodder and Stoughton is part of the Hachette group. I had lunch with him not long after he left Orion. It was a very strange affair, he launched straight into a long story about how he had been hankering after new challenges, pastures new etc etc. I listened and smiled and nodded, knowing full well that it hadn’t been his idea to leave. To add insult to injury, he asked me to pay for my lunch!
<p>
As part of the deal on leaving Orion, he was to act as Ian Rankin’s agent and take fifteen per cent of his earnings. That’s a hell of a deal, as Rankin’s last Rebus advance was seven figures, meaning Jon took six figures. I had just finished a book called The Runner and Jon said he would read it. A month later I hadn’t heard anything so I dropped him an email. ‘I’ve been busy, I’ll get right onto it,’ he said. Then nothing. I left it two years to the day before getting back to him, by which time I’d sold the book to Hodder and Stoughton.
<p>
He did have the good grace to apologise - he said he was very busy - but the damage had been done so I didn’t reply and I haven’t spoken to him since. I thought he treated me really badly and I am someone he worked with. In fact I was one of the first authors he edited, he wanted to move from sales to editing and Hodder asked me if I would take him on as an editor. I agreed, as a favour to Jon and to Hodder. He owed me and he still let me down, so I don’t expect new authors trying to break into the business will be treated any better. He wasn’t a great publisher - hence his departure from Orion - and I don’t think he’ll be much better as an agent, so no, I can’t recommend him.
<p>
For a few years I was represented by Julian Alexander of the LAW Agency, now rebranded as the Soho Agency. Julian dropped more balls than a juggler with Tourette’s. The Jack Nightingale series was cancelled by Hodder and Stoughton on his watch and he also lost me a publishing deal with Amazon. He failed to sell my standalone First Response, which I went on to sell to Hodder and Stoughton direct. I asked him to sell the foreign rights to my books - any of them - and he couldn’t. He did manage to sell the TV rights to the Nightingale books and to my standalone thriller The Runner but allowed both deals to wither and die. Oh, when he did the deal for STX to film my book The Chinaman as The Foreigner, he forgot to include flights to the premier as part of my package. I ended up having to buy my own plane tickets, though I did get to shake hands with Jackie Chan on the red carpet in LA so I guess it was money well spent! Ben Clark at the Soho Agency is a better bet, he handles the books I publish through Amazon’s White Glove program and is still young enough to be enthusiastic!
<p>
It is still worthwhile having an agent, if you can find a good one. But anyone who has tried to attract the attention of an agent knows just how difficult that can be! In 2022 I wrote a thriller called Triggers, about an assassin with multiple personality disorder and figured I would try to get an agent to sell it for me. I wrote to Ed Wilson of the Johnson and Alcock agency and sent him a copy of the manuscript. No reply. I wrote to Sam Hodder at Blake Friedman (twice). No reply. I sent the manuscript to two agents at Curtis Brown, one of the UK’s biggest literary agents. One agent, Gordon Wise, didn’t reply. That’s despite us both being selected by The Bookseller Magazine as being among the 100 most influential people in the book trade. I wouldn’t recommend him, obviously. I would recommend his colleague Sheila Crowley even less. Because I know her - she used to work for Hodder and Stoughton - I emailed her three times. She ignored the first two emails and then sent me a very frosty reply after the third when she realised I wasn’t giving up. She said she wasn’t interested and that no one else at the agency would be, either. Good to know that she speaks for all the agents there LOL! If nothing else it proved that she was actually receiving my emails and was ignoring them! If she treats me like that - a Sunday Times bestselling author who has sold millions of books - then I doubt she will be any more welcoming to unknown authors trying to get their first publishing deal. Not long after her frosty email, I saw her walking out of the lifts at Hachette’s HQ, laughing and joking with a couple of colleagues. The look on her face when she saw me was priceless, and she spent the entire walk to the exit avoiding eye contact with me. She knew she’d behaved badly. Anyway, I recommend giving Curtis Brown a miss, obviously.
<p>
Why are agents generally so unhelpful to aspiring authors? I think it’s because most really good agents are just too busy, and the not-so-good ones have become disillusioned with the book trade. The hard fact is that advances generally have fallen dramatically over the past few years, which means that agents have seen their incomes fall, too. An average thriller or crime novel might now get an advance of just £10,000, which means the agent gets only £1,500. How hard are they going to work for £1,500? You know the answer to that!
<p>
Also, agents tend to have many, many authors on their books. Take a look at Jon Wood’s page on the RCW Literary Agency website, Jon has at least four dozen authors to look after including Ian Rankin, Steve Cavanagh, Joanne Harris and the estate of Terry Pratchett. Assuming he works a forty hour week, that means he devotes less than an hour a week to each of his authors. So said authors are paying fifteen per cent of their income for an hour a week. Is that a good deal? I guess you’d have to ask his authors!<p>
So who would I recommend? That’s a tough question. Luigi Bonham (LBA Books) is a great agent. He read Triggers and we had a long chat about it but he’s not taking on new clients.
<p>
I did receive very nice emails from Richard Pike at the CWA Agency, Jamie Cowen at The Ampersand Agency, Harry Illingworth at the DHH Literary Agency, and Sian Ellis-Martin at Blake Friedmann. It’s definitely worth trying them, at least there is a chance they will acknowledge you! None of them wanted to try to sell Triggers, which was fine, and I went on to self publish it. It made close to £30,000 in its first year of publication, which is good going.
<p>
If you are eventually rejected by every agent in town then there are two possibilities – either your book isn’t very good, or the agents are just incompetent. Either is a real possibility. But it might be worth having a closer look at your work, and try to be objective. Maybe the brutal truth is that your book isn’t as good as you think it is. Maybe it needs a total rewrite or maybe you need to start a new book. I think anyone who actually finishes a book deserves a pat on the back for that alone, but just because a book has been written doesn’t mean that it’s publishable.
<p>
One thing you must always remember is that agents are the middle-men in the publishing world. They are acting for writers (their clients) but the actual money comes from publishers. A writer has only one agent, but an agent has dozens, often hundreds, of writers, and will be dealing with all the major publishers. At the end of the day, an agent is not going to jeopardise his relationship with a publisher for the sake of one writer. Publishers are far more important to agents than writers are, and the writer is always going to come off worst in any conflict unless you have the clout that comes with being one of the really big sellers. That’s a sad fact of life, and all writers should remember it.
<p>
There’s no doubt that there are advantages in having a good agent in your corner. The agent can act as a buffer between you and your publisher, so that problems can be resolved without anyone taking it personally. It’s better to have a moan at your agent and let him or her negotiate with your publisher rather than you letting off steam yourself! Publishers generally have think skins and don’t react well to criticism. And it’s definitely true that an agent is better placed to negotiate the financial arrangements – there’s more to a book deal than the advance, and often it’s in the small print that a good agent can really earn his commission. The trick is to find an agent who believes in you and who believes in your work. Needle in a haystack time, I’m afraid.
The worst agents by far are those that I have come across in the States. Awful people. I had one who told me he didn’t think he could represent me ‘because I don’t think I would walk through walls for the book’. It was a stupid thing to say – a good agent is a salesman and a good salesman should be able to sell anything. I had another agent from a large agency grinning with pleasure when he told me that he wasn’t going to take me on. They seem to take pleasure in belittling wannabe writers, an attitude I’ve always been unable to understand.
<p>
One of the great unfairnesses of life is that once an agent has done a deal for you, they will continue to take a percentage of the revenue from that deal for ever. Even if they stop working for you, even if they don’t lift a finger to help you, they still take their cut.
<p>
So royalties of my early books that were handled by Peters Fraser and Dunlop continue to go through the company, which is now run by the son of Michael Sissons, Jonathan. I went in to see Jonathan a few years back to ask for help selling the film rights to my books - that’s his speciality. He was more interested in getting the rights to more of my books and pretty much refused to help me on the film/TV front. He had me meet Tim Bates, one of their literary agents. Some time later I sent Tim a copy of Triggers, my female assassin story, Three weeks later I had heard nothing and when I emailed to ask what had happened, he said he was waiting to talk to Jonathan, who was sick. Really? I was asking for advice about the book, not the film rights, so his reply made no sense. I said that better we part company and that I would look for an agent who was more interested in helping build my career. That’s when Tim said he had no intention of giving up his percentage of my early books. This is what he wrote - ‘PFD will continue to collect money on the live contracts with Hodder, as the agents of record, as outlined in the agency clauses in those contracts and the terms of business you signed. This is entirely normal and straightforward and does not compel us to represent you or offer you advice for any projects going forward.’ <p>
It’s almost as if he takes pleasure in taking money off me without doing anything in return. Scum-sucking parasites? That’s maybe a bit harsh, but I would not recommend Tim Bates or Jonathan Sissons as agents, in fact I’d be wary of the whole Peters, Fraser and Dunlop set-up.
<p>
So, long story short, my advice would be to get an agent if you can. Once you have a deal and the big money starts rolling in, watch your agent like a hawk and if they start to take you for granted, sack them and get another. Most writers I’ve spoken to are unhappy with their agents but few ever move. It’s like banks. People are reluctant to change banks but they should do so at the first sign of a problem. There are plenty of banks out there and there are plenty of agents.Stephen Leatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08179238880325952527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877088608610895252.post-67177982556416785772023-08-24T23:44:00.007-07:002023-08-25T02:45:20.208-07:00Problems With OVO - Is There A Worse Energy Provider On The Planet? Probably Not.
<p>This is Stephen Fiztpatrick, the boss of OVO Energy, which is consistently rated as one of the worst energy providers in the UK.
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHEYXjjr2RIBQ_sB_urcfcFvLT4bSParbBSR8oUb-vJegbVAo9HaAgd-O6KjjfVp5cYBH7vIZ2oUWUfNQKQM205Oi4ZYbXQUTOLa_5lABvynkpU1eT8dmtz42z_R9LJ9D4u_M6A2rQ62vpBhaVPMtK2i2Y_I-QutybU2m4YdHg4dnQl_2ebATit4I9jMc/s4015/-methode-times-prod-web-bin-351faea6-d63a-11e9-9149-9833d870d22d.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="600" data-original-height="2258" data-original-width="4015" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHEYXjjr2RIBQ_sB_urcfcFvLT4bSParbBSR8oUb-vJegbVAo9HaAgd-O6KjjfVp5cYBH7vIZ2oUWUfNQKQM205Oi4ZYbXQUTOLa_5lABvynkpU1eT8dmtz42z_R9LJ9D4u_M6A2rQ62vpBhaVPMtK2i2Y_I-QutybU2m4YdHg4dnQl_2ebATit4I9jMc/s600/-methode-times-prod-web-bin-351faea6-d63a-11e9-9149-9833d870d22d.jpg"/></a></div>
<p>Anyone unfortunate to have their gas and electricty supplied by OVO will know what a truly awful company they are.
<p>In my experience, and the experience of thousands of other customers, they care only about profits and nothing about their customers who pay their wages.
<p>Ovo has been fined nearly £9m for sending inaccurate bills over three years. My bills from OVO have consistently been wrong, always in their favour, of course.
<p> While OVO was recording losses, he took a couple of million quid from the company to buy a mansion in the Cotswolds. Nice.
<p>And Fitzpatrick faced questions over taking £17m in furlough money during Covid after making £40m of payments and loans to other Fitzpatrick companies
<p>Money, money, money, that's all he cares about.
<p>Anyway, here's a copy of my latest letter to him. I am no longer a customer of OVO, and if you have any sense, I would suggest you avoid the company like the proverbial plague. Octopus is a much better bet! A great company that cares about its customers, and is the only energy provider recommended by Which? magazine.
<p>ATTN: STEPHEN FITZPATRICK
<p>CEO OVO ENERGY
<p>Dear Stephen,
<p>I have been having major problems with OVO over the past six months so as one Stephen to another I am reaching out to you directly in a last ditch attempt to reach a resolution before I take the matter to the small claims court.
<p>I never chose to be an OVO customer - I was forced into doing business with your company when you took over SSE.
<p>I am sure you are aware that in 2022, OVO Energy was ranked second worst (only behind Utilita) in customer service by Citizens Advice. I wanted to switch to Octopus - the only utilities firm that is recommended by Which? Magazine.
<p>But before I could switch, OVO hit me with a demand for £33,000. OVO made a mistake when it migrated my account from SSE. I tried for three months to get your customer service people to resolve the issue, but failed. It was only when I approached the wonderful Helen Crane at the Daily Mail that OVO apologised, canceled the debt and gave me £100 in compensation. I have to say the £100 didn’t come close to reimbursing me for all the time and trouble OVO caused me.
<p>You can read about that here - https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/bills/article-11754135/Ovo-billed-33k-month-energy-use-two-bed-flat.html
<p>I would have hoped that would have been the end of my problems with OVO, but I was wrong.
<p>I put the flat on the market at the end of 2022. My daughter moved out at the end of December and the flat was unoccupied for most of 2023. I moved the furniture out in June and the new owners took over the property on July 2.
<p>I supplied a meter reading when I moved out, and a photograph of the meter.
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<p>Unfortunately OVO refused to use my meter reading and insisted on using its own estimate - 9895. As a result OVO is claiming that I owe them money when in fact it’s the exact opposite - by my reckoning you owe me close to £600.
<p>Latterly I have been corresponding with Simone Watts, who describes herself as an Advanced Resolution Specialist, which is nice, but while she is lovely to deal with she is as much use as the proverbial chocolate teapot. This is one of her recent emails.
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<p>Simone never did get back to me as promised. In fact she has been on holiday for the last two weeks and no one dealt with her emails in her absence so I have been emailing into a void. I phoned on Friday and had a long conversation with another charming Advanced Resolution Specialist but she was unable to assist me and was not prepared to pass me on to a manager.
<p>She did, however, tell me that according to her computer, I now owe OVO more than £500.
<p>That is impossible.
<p>The flat was empty for most of 2023, with OVO continuing to take more than £220 a month from me by direct debit. Over that period you took more than £1,300 from me with very little gas or electricity being used.
<p>Take a look at the statement you sent on June 28 this year - I was almost £600 in credit.
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<p>How do I go from being almost £600 in credit to more than £500 in debt, when the flat is empty? No one at OVO seems to be able to explain that to me!
<p>Look at this -
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSTwHIUM1JMGf0Jws9YXSEF_hlDxkmxTzqn_N63aKgLnOu62ujoVz7Edv-KnkSVx7EXbeKzpLqVbpIz7_aMLpzDxlMv5jjvbt68o8fyGCi3RLZ53AmawfTwKZtREKu5oLQ09IkAbiI8KTjxYIL-lgSojOAgbNVcLuIkhIWxkRvTB0-dVMDZnZowbv6JvI/s1848/Estimated%20final%20readings.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="600" data-original-height="1532" data-original-width="1848" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSTwHIUM1JMGf0Jws9YXSEF_hlDxkmxTzqn_N63aKgLnOu62ujoVz7Edv-KnkSVx7EXbeKzpLqVbpIz7_aMLpzDxlMv5jjvbt68o8fyGCi3RLZ53AmawfTwKZtREKu5oLQ09IkAbiI8KTjxYIL-lgSojOAgbNVcLuIkhIWxkRvTB0-dVMDZnZowbv6JvI/s600/Estimated%20final%20readings.jpg"/></a></div>
<p>As you can see, OVO is using an estimated reading of 9895 to close the account.
<p>The true final reading was 9723 - I photographed the meter to make sure there was no mistake!
<p>The difference is 172 cubic feet. 172 cubic feet is equivalent to 5531 KWh. At a price of 10.9p per KWh, you owe me £602.88
<p>I am clearly getting nowhere with your customer relations people, and I am reluctant to bother the Daily Mail again. My intention is to raise a claim in the small claims court to recover the money that you owe me. If you are unable or unwilling to resolve this to my satisfaction within 48 hours, I will raise the claim, and we can both explain to the court where we stand. Stephen, neither of us floated up the Lagan in a bubble, let’s put this to rest now. We both have better things to do with our time.
<p>Best wishes,
<p>Stephen Leather
Stephen Leatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08179238880325952527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877088608610895252.post-87026601320134353782023-07-18T07:12:00.000-07:002023-07-18T07:12:10.490-07:00Only Two Days To Go<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOpB3xQc5UjDVBnrQiNbD_9AGogcGxxvi_e5GQrGOKi6txR0uDv5VmnVSGnbq0iS_5qey5Tx96vzzets5E8oPJHSlH03hUhBcd6IzF5SFSUDmlW0ULfDWSyB8vZxwuu0JYWfqL2Gi5G2uNOBF9ZaCxIeT1qrDu2jHPT1NDXS7hhSQlBih3Z9dDfNB2wP8/s1602/press%20release.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="400" data-original-height="1602" data-original-width="1134" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOpB3xQc5UjDVBnrQiNbD_9AGogcGxxvi_e5GQrGOKi6txR0uDv5VmnVSGnbq0iS_5qey5Tx96vzzets5E8oPJHSlH03hUhBcd6IzF5SFSUDmlW0ULfDWSyB8vZxwuu0JYWfqL2Gi5G2uNOBF9ZaCxIeT1qrDu2jHPT1NDXS7hhSQlBih3Z9dDfNB2wP8/s400/press%20release.jpg"/></a></div>Stephen Leatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08179238880325952527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877088608610895252.post-7271626138143869342023-03-28T10:48:00.003-07:002023-03-28T10:50:25.384-07:00When The Daily Mirror Uses You As A Crossword Clue<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOi1dBhxJEWROCOFxBsIugYmISnCf1XxIjcmOE1gLr2u331WXRTbsN_0wxDb5Ey9ZHcGbeoCvL0oe4IlyOzvm5NE_ThAVCJ5KRDeGBlFOMvr-R2G8EFeCIhme2AqaSRJnD5tQeeBnC9ZGjEDat4CmegoJ3-5d-dIyCJF0y0dNbghLGy4h6m1hmtlWN/s3840/Crossord%20clue.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="600" data-original-height="2160" data-original-width="3840" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOi1dBhxJEWROCOFxBsIugYmISnCf1XxIjcmOE1gLr2u331WXRTbsN_0wxDb5Ey9ZHcGbeoCvL0oe4IlyOzvm5NE_ThAVCJ5KRDeGBlFOMvr-R2G8EFeCIhme2AqaSRJnD5tQeeBnC9ZGjEDat4CmegoJ3-5d-dIyCJF0y0dNbghLGy4h6m1hmtlWN/s600/Crossord%20clue.jpg"/></a></div>Stephen Leatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08179238880325952527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877088608610895252.post-32334800282832628222023-02-12T17:39:00.001-08:002023-02-12T17:40:50.261-08:00Problems With KDP's HardbacksLast year KDP began allowing self publishers to release hardback editions of their books. What a great idea! I tried it with my latest Jack Nightingale supernatural detective novel Rio Grande Night and it was a great success. The hardbacks are of good quality and the price is reasonable. It would be nice if they came with dust jackets, but that's a minor quibble.
My Rio Grande Night hardback was well received so I thought I would try it with other books. So I applied to have KDP print hardbacks of my long-time bestseller Private Dancer, and my Thailand novel Bangkok Bob and the Missing Mormon.
And that is where it all started to go wrong!
KDP told me that everything was fine and that the books would be printed on demand.
But the Amazon.uk site has consistently shown them as 'Temporarily Out Of Stock'.
They can't be out of stock, obviously, as they are printed on demand! You order one, Amazon prints it, and sends it to you.
Except that isn't happening.
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I have notified KDP many times but they don't seem to be able to fix the problem. I get replies, but all the replies say the same, thanking me for notifying them and that they will get back to me. They never do! No one ever gets back to me. I am starting to think that I am not actually dealing with real people and that it is a chatbot replying, because the messages are all so similar!
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwaB4A9Sv-ggfHIgFPQr0duwYYT2IwuIokGwS7rHUNYPFYjT7Ie09Axb8uoEjm89JNQYszcSV7C-4eK8YaxSveQzvtqi6MzvMy13DGxZsQPYEWOXC_dDMfp8EgK_Gqqlr8i9F7LcbcxGbzv09Eqdm6svvqXXjfSohVwICPgX_i4_lgr_b0BNyrDnV-/s1748/KDP%201.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="600" data-original-height="848" data-original-width="1748" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwaB4A9Sv-ggfHIgFPQr0duwYYT2IwuIokGwS7rHUNYPFYjT7Ie09Axb8uoEjm89JNQYszcSV7C-4eK8YaxSveQzvtqi6MzvMy13DGxZsQPYEWOXC_dDMfp8EgK_Gqqlr8i9F7LcbcxGbzv09Eqdm6svvqXXjfSohVwICPgX_i4_lgr_b0BNyrDnV-/s600/KDP%201.jpg"/></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoxjjwGhuwrTctMpazkDSvRRVr0O1EeE6ab5Gs5eWAecK4J1Eg-S5nteSJUmS-2s5jzdy_sA5UZKng7L_5M1wtX-rEkoNXg0zNXvMii4HxgFclmTvVj-H-G07KYoHN9tnOAS1RbhlOBYWPsE4pSOCDs4-8NY8JV370Kzmt41u5_bIdTz6blVRIJC2V/s1772/KDP%202.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="600" data-original-height="838" data-original-width="1772" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoxjjwGhuwrTctMpazkDSvRRVr0O1EeE6ab5Gs5eWAecK4J1Eg-S5nteSJUmS-2s5jzdy_sA5UZKng7L_5M1wtX-rEkoNXg0zNXvMii4HxgFclmTvVj-H-G07KYoHN9tnOAS1RbhlOBYWPsE4pSOCDs4-8NY8JV370Kzmt41u5_bIdTz6blVRIJC2V/s600/KDP%202.jpg"/></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSsLT1ShFz-OuFDX_1RUdGH1MJJ8XnGTMsCfdHIoeUC5pnewS8H8kyHgGO0ZlXoEaKgFBdjIrxFSiJNxW2VQpPjLRvQACjrp_fNSt2sb2aiGkK8_dudYehYis7TLf_YkdAncHnuDRrOziwa_xQG8SMg52xJtbTfUi1pPrv_jsrzRT_yoIw1gsQW0Vc/s1756/KDP%203.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="600" data-original-height="756" data-original-width="1756" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSsLT1ShFz-OuFDX_1RUdGH1MJJ8XnGTMsCfdHIoeUC5pnewS8H8kyHgGO0ZlXoEaKgFBdjIrxFSiJNxW2VQpPjLRvQACjrp_fNSt2sb2aiGkK8_dudYehYis7TLf_YkdAncHnuDRrOziwa_xQG8SMg52xJtbTfUi1pPrv_jsrzRT_yoIw1gsQW0Vc/s600/KDP%203.jpg"/></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDM6sAq8kKKnDSrKvhc5Aw49ZgQb7wX7TiqDjAv9Y-ROrWQRlsCnJVYnOIdGrs90f-HB-d0MnczDXP1cgXUckN_ZIy92E4YD_l2eIrcUpO0Qc3BCrFlFQIcUmjdBTt9fSQmSDfsj7ycGk3uzvJtc_ghT22grVWDaEkr8Mc9zjDq2RG5Sepsb3GZUPB/s1780/kdp%204.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="600" data-original-height="852" data-original-width="1780" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDM6sAq8kKKnDSrKvhc5Aw49ZgQb7wX7TiqDjAv9Y-ROrWQRlsCnJVYnOIdGrs90f-HB-d0MnczDXP1cgXUckN_ZIy92E4YD_l2eIrcUpO0Qc3BCrFlFQIcUmjdBTt9fSQmSDfsj7ycGk3uzvJtc_ghT22grVWDaEkr8Mc9zjDq2RG5Sepsb3GZUPB/s600/kdp%204.jpg"/></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP35bGnCzxyGsoyo_r9L7G7tNaMa-cahqZTaRa34O9oH0X7A67cLlWmG1DjzTsDrHiY4Rk9BVW4Oh5wUilfdaXmxy73FIRgCxRzPn4nSz1V4qQVi9_1WAA_N7RQ6Hw-8VGCqg6KYQAMbbHqIjqKvbODkvzKRfoTUhBp8HzYzp521uUKT6vdZjgg_hV/s1232/kdp%205.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="600" data-original-height="780" data-original-width="1232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP35bGnCzxyGsoyo_r9L7G7tNaMa-cahqZTaRa34O9oH0X7A67cLlWmG1DjzTsDrHiY4Rk9BVW4Oh5wUilfdaXmxy73FIRgCxRzPn4nSz1V4qQVi9_1WAA_N7RQ6Hw-8VGCqg6KYQAMbbHqIjqKvbODkvzKRfoTUhBp8HzYzp521uUKT6vdZjgg_hV/s600/kdp%205.jpg"/></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnPDub6mVjnnABTRRDPPZlw5NPoWuEqTJfZDsxkd-FKmaC4lno6JK-0OWnnaUvLBZNumTKEqQWVe0RRIKkHj-LE7NgJtpNc9D0jpiza1pve_YTAHBeABKeL9J9HfDY6jBGOIGnh5r0NM-uL6JUVigoaB8GKLqKKh-J8noma3nr3TAumamgPz0YkBUC/s1316/kdp%206.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="600" data-original-height="774" data-original-width="1316" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnPDub6mVjnnABTRRDPPZlw5NPoWuEqTJfZDsxkd-FKmaC4lno6JK-0OWnnaUvLBZNumTKEqQWVe0RRIKkHj-LE7NgJtpNc9D0jpiza1pve_YTAHBeABKeL9J9HfDY6jBGOIGnh5r0NM-uL6JUVigoaB8GKLqKKh-J8noma3nr3TAumamgPz0YkBUC/s600/kdp%206.jpg"/></a></div>
A look at KDP's community pages shows that many other self publishers are having problems with getting hardbacks published. And they are getting the same unhelpful replies from Customer Service. I have been in this situation for almost a month now, and nothing has changed! I shall keep you posted!
Stephen Leatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08179238880325952527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877088608610895252.post-13593041789829175362023-01-16T11:21:00.001-08:002023-01-16T11:21:53.705-08:00My Backlist All In One PlaceIf you're not a fan of the Kindle, you can just about fit my whole Hodder and Stoughton backlist - 46 books - in a suitcase! Worth knowing!
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUpG36VpOexXA89FbozYQWKpNOrRTBhCxOCzR0LGWK-q2-Cg-tvR78vceV9l7IXfGvHR9Llz-har0WW7ljkwIAuOLqo--rLoNzAe8q8DcBFude6b5CQFxY4QPgzIJyKkLQUDhWxvnOXPdDk0GLRGiw0vOK6x0w7K915ThuTNmhwQYNHOC7d_SURjvZ/s2016/IMG_8362.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="1512" data-original-width="2016" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUpG36VpOexXA89FbozYQWKpNOrRTBhCxOCzR0LGWK-q2-Cg-tvR78vceV9l7IXfGvHR9Llz-har0WW7ljkwIAuOLqo--rLoNzAe8q8DcBFude6b5CQFxY4QPgzIJyKkLQUDhWxvnOXPdDk0GLRGiw0vOK6x0w7K915ThuTNmhwQYNHOC7d_SURjvZ/s400/IMG_8362.jpg"/></a></div>Stephen Leatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08179238880325952527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877088608610895252.post-24717523046785767202023-01-02T01:04:00.000-08:002023-01-02T01:04:06.416-08:00I Have A Thing About Talking Cats!<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl0Blw5W8B5pVPdCxYYjQhFq1jLGmOA4y9WyEA-JfyvhJCYq7-l7uvzkKbuvr8TotESHffa12y5XoptlZq0zUfsxrjfwdK_2Z9snHo5YvXa7MKz8AuS0rU5irYspwXAOKwPoVx190zdbRG_aYrOq9fudJPcVkErPF8431frEMbXR8dw9c7tyayXRU8/s2520/Screenshot%202023-01-02%20at%2015.56.36.png" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="1268" data-original-width="2520" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl0Blw5W8B5pVPdCxYYjQhFq1jLGmOA4y9WyEA-JfyvhJCYq7-l7uvzkKbuvr8TotESHffa12y5XoptlZq0zUfsxrjfwdK_2Z9snHo5YvXa7MKz8AuS0rU5irYspwXAOKwPoVx190zdbRG_aYrOq9fudJPcVkErPF8431frEMbXR8dw9c7tyayXRU8/s400/Screenshot%202023-01-02%20at%2015.56.36.png"/></a></div>
YOU CAN READ THE BLOG POST BY CLICKING <a href="https://shepherd.com/best-books/featuring-talking-cats" target="_blank">HERE!</a>Stephen Leatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08179238880325952527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877088608610895252.post-119443631272210912022-12-26T00:32:00.003-08:002022-12-26T00:32:50.408-08:00Great Review Of The New Jack Nightingale Novel<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4GUBEgxVZe0Rbbc2Tl1O7LQhlYIgkQTDQOVL-eXDwyIyP4SI56bqDV6nSVEu3qgy8AajAepupuUiKHC4ZTkM6MaMbgGqzzReOR_XPIlu8dpri1WGl6hBayNN7qMwSOhmMozoRqrBqPxnfxS3B_vYExqmbZCa2x-TIqaV1GhU9GFX3gUfOvvUyq9KkOg/s1200/rio-grande-night-stephen-leather-best-thriller-books-kashif-hussain.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="1200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4GUBEgxVZe0Rbbc2Tl1O7LQhlYIgkQTDQOVL-eXDwyIyP4SI56bqDV6nSVEu3qgy8AajAepupuUiKHC4ZTkM6MaMbgGqzzReOR_XPIlu8dpri1WGl6hBayNN7qMwSOhmMozoRqrBqPxnfxS3B_vYExqmbZCa2x-TIqaV1GhU9GFX3gUfOvvUyq9KkOg/s400/rio-grande-night-stephen-leather-best-thriller-books-kashif-hussain.jpg"/></a></div>
You can read this terrid review of the latest Jack Nightingale thriller - Rio Grande Night - by clicking <a href="?fbclid=IwAR0PpIjEjL1nfKQ3vynIQzcwavTjtmd0TWHLUZ6TeWOW1RzSDwyPpzenf1I" target="_blank">HERE</a>Stephen Leatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08179238880325952527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877088608610895252.post-62264006091773152382022-12-25T06:56:00.002-08:002022-12-25T06:58:46.690-08:00More Than A Million Copies Sold On The KindleI was checking my Amazon sales and realised that I have now sold more than a million eBooks on the Kindle. And that's only my self-published titles. In fact it's more than 1.2 million! I have probably sold another million or so through Hodder and Stoughton. I was one of the first authors to break the one million eBook barrier!
My really big sellers were The Basement and Once Bitten, both of which were taken over by Amazon once they saw how many were saying. That was back in the day when Amazon was happy to talk to authors. In fact they phoned me to make me an offer I couldn't refuse! Those days are long gone but I still sell close to 30,000 copies a year!
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Stephen Leatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08179238880325952527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877088608610895252.post-79309267214784154402022-12-15T09:02:00.006-08:002022-12-16T20:20:56.050-08:00Agents - love them or loathe them....Getting an agent these days is difficult. I hesitate to use the word impossible, but for most first time writers I am sure it feels that way. In my experience, most agents lack even basic courtesy and don’t even reply to most writers who approach them. And it’s been that way for many years.</p><div><br /></div><div> I wrote to five agents after I’d written my first thriller - more than thirty years ago - and not one even bothered to reply. Even when I had three books in print and was trying to get an agent for The Chinaman, only two agents out of six replied to my letter. If they won’t even reply to a published author and former Fleet Street journalist, what chance does a first-time writer have? </div><div><br /></div><div> I get contacted regularly by frustrated writers who are simply being ignored by agents. I wrote to seven agents late in 2022 about a new novel I had written - only three replied. And I have sold millions of books! You’re just going to have to accept that getting an agent is no easy task, no matter how good a writer you are or how good your book is. I’m sorry, but that’s the cold hard truth of modern-day publishing. </div><div><br /></div><div> Most agents these days have websites and on those websites they will explain their policy on submissions. When I first started you had to send a pristine typed manuscript. That's all changed, these days it’s all done by email. So send the manuscript, but bear in mind that you also have to sell yourself. You need to convince them that they need to read your work. If you’ve written a thriller, then push your military background if you have one. If you’ve written a book set in a school and you were a teacher, mention that. If you’ve written a crime novel and have spent time in prison, sell that. Push yourself as much as you push your book. </div><div><br /></div><div> The Writers and Artists Year Book has a comprehensive list of agents in the UK, Ireland and the United States. Or you can Google ‘Literary agents who take submissions’. Write to them all. Every one. That’s the beauty of the new technologies, you can send a hundred emails as easily as one. Agents would prefer that you approach them one at at time, but as most don’t reply they have no right to ask that. Write to every agent you can. Dozens. Hundreds, if you want. Emails are free. If an agent really wants to represent you, he’s not going to care who else you approached.</div><div><br /></div><div> In your email, promote yourself but flatter the agent. Find out who they represent and tell them what a great job they are doing for such-and-such a writer and that you think they’d be the perfect agent to handle your book. That’s how I got my first agent – I wrote Gerald Seymour’s agent a flattering letter and he took me on. He eventually sold The Chinaman and The Vets for a good six-figure sum. He went on to become an absolute nightmare - about which, more later! </div><div><br /></div><div> Please don’t blame me if agents don’t write back. Most won’t even acknowledge receipt of your email. They can be very frustrating people to deal with. Just keep trying. Keep pushing. Work your contacts. Do you know anyone who works for an agency in any capacity? Did you go to school with someone who works for an agency? Start asking all your friends and relatives if they have any contacts. If it’s any comfort, the publishers I’ve spoken to all tell me the same thing – that if a book is good then it will be published eventually. </div><div><br /></div><div> Don’t forget that every literary agency has several agents, so if one agent says no it’s still worth approaching other agents at the firm. Writing is very subjective, and what one agent hates another might love. So keep on trying! If you are rejected by every agent in town then there are two possibilities – either your book isn’t very good, or the agents are just incompetent. Either is a real possibility. But it might be worth having a closer look at your work, and try to be objective. Maybe the brutal truth is that your book isn’t as good as you think it is. Maybe it needs a total rewrite or maybe you need to start a new book. I think anyone who actually finishes a book deserves a pat on the back for that alone, but just because a book has been written doesn’t mean that it’s publishable. </div><div><br /></div><div> There was a time when publishers refused to look at unsolicited manuscripts. I came through the slush pile at Harper Collins, back in the days when publishers used to love trawling through piles of manuscripts. What changed? Technology changed. I wrote my first novel on an old manual typewriter. It was bloody hard work. And if I made a mistake I had to retype a whole page. Rewrites were a nightmare! As a result, most would-be writers gave up. The process itself sorted out the wheat from the chaff. But then came computers and printers and writing a book became physically much easier. Anyone could write a book. And they did! And publishers were flooded with manuscripts, the vast majority of which were unpublishable. There was so little wheat and so much chaff that publishers shut down their slush piles and handed the selection process over to agents. Agents didn’t have the staff to deal with the tsunami of manuscripts, which is when the rot really set in. Agents abused their power as gatekeepers by simply ignoring most writers. </div><div><br /></div><div> Nowadays publishers are looking at unsolicited manuscripts again so it is worth writing to editors. Just bear in mind that it is a long shot. Again, sell yourself and flatter them and maybe, just maybe, they might look at what you’ve written. But do bear in mind that your email might not get to the editor, it might be intercepted by an eager assistant. And don’t try phoning them – that is a total waste of time. Again, it is worth working any contacts you have. But don’t ask me or any other writer if we’ll read your work – we just don’t have the time and also won’t put ourselves in the position where we could be accused of plagiarism down the line! I know it’s frustrating, but the thing to remember is that nothing worth having comes easily.</div><div><br /></div><div> One thing you must always remember is that agents are the middle-men in the publishing world. They are acting for writers (their clients) but the actual money comes from publishers. A writer has only one agent, but an agent has dozens, often hundreds, of writers, and will be dealing with all the major publishers. At the end of the day, an agent is not going to jeopardise his relationship with a publisher for the sake of one writer. Publishers are far more important to agents than writers are, and the writer is always going to come off worst in any conflict unless you have the clout that comes with being one of the really big sellers. That’s a sad fact of life, and all writers should remember it. </div><div><br /></div><div>But, there’s no doubt that there are advantages in having a good agent in your corner. The agent can act as a buffer between you and your publisher, so that problems can be resolved without anyone taking it personally. It’s better to have a moan at your agent and let him or her negotiate with your publisher rather than you letting off steam yourself! And it’s definitely true that an agent is better placed to negotiate the financial arrangements – there’s more to a book deal than the advance, and often it’s in the small print that a good agent can really earn his commission. The trick is to find an agent who believes in you and who believes in your work. </div><div><br /></div><div>The worst agents by far are those that I have come across in the States. Awful people. I had one who told me he didn’t think he could represent me ‘because I don’t think I would walk through walls for the book’. It was a stupid thing to say – a good agent is a salesman and a good salesman should be able to sell anything. I had another agent from a large agency grinning with pleasure when he told me that he wasn’t going to take me on. They seem to take pleasure in belittling writers, an attitude I’ve always been unable to understand. So, my advice would be to get an agent if you can. Once you have a deal and the big money starts rolling in, watch your agent like a hawk and if they start to take you for granted, sack them and get another. Once you have a revenue stream on offer, you will suddenly find that they will reply to your emails! Most writers I’ve been are unhappy with their agents but few ever move. It’s like banks. People are reluctant to change banks but they should do so at the first sign of a problem. There are plenty of banks out there and there are plenty of agents.Stephen Leatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08179238880325952527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877088608610895252.post-86602556284212911692019-07-18T21:02:00.001-07:002019-07-18T21:02:31.064-07:00Book Promotion With Sockpuppets<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Is it ethical for a writer to promote their work with sockpuppets? Personally I don't see anything wrong with it and this video definitely works for me. Stephen Leatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08179238880325952527noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877088608610895252.post-42735960870847907052017-05-23T21:04:00.000-07:002017-05-23T22:50:20.207-07:00I've Been Buying More Covers!A lot of writers talk about writer's block as if it was an illness, something that strikes out of the blue and prevents them from getting words down on the page.<br />
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With me it's about inspiration. Usually the words come tumbling out, but on the rare occasions they don't I always have fallback work ready to get my teeth into. Often if I find I am stalling on my main book, switching over to a short story can get the creative juices flowing again.<br />
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But where do you get the ideas for the short stories, you may ask?<br />
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Well, here's what I do. Every few months I pop over to the website of The Cover Collection. You can <a href="http://www.thecovercollection.com/" target="_blank">VISIT THE COVER COLLECTION HERE</a>.<br />
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They have an awesome collection of pre-made covers for just £50, with many in a sale for just £30.<br />
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I buy a few, often using the titles that they have come up with, and I put them in a folder marked 'SHORT STORIES TO WRITE'.<br />
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Then when I find myself in a lull, I pick up one of the covers and write a short story to go with it!<br />
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I just bought another five. See what you think? It's hard not to be inspired, right?<br />
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<br />Stephen Leatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08179238880325952527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877088608610895252.post-14725807799530387872017-01-22T07:43:00.003-08:002017-01-22T07:53:39.095-08:00What Books Are Best Suited for Self-Publishing?<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8877088608610895252" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8877088608610895252" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8877088608610895252" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a>This is a guest post from the awesome Faith MacAnas, a technology blogger for<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"> </span></i><span lang="EN-US"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"><a href="https://securethoughts.com/">Secure Thoughts</a> </span></i></span>- Enjoy!<br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Self-publishing isn’t for every book. There are
some genres that significantly outperform others, and it is important that
authors in pursuit of self-publishing their books using tools like </span><span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://stephenleatherpublishingebooks.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/the-power-of-amazon.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Kindle
Direct Publishing</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> are well-aware of the types of
books that sell well as self-published titles.</span><br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Romance</span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Romance novels are the best-selling books by
self-publishing authors. Books in this genre that have been published
independently make up </span><span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://authorearnings.com/report/july-2014-author-earnings-report/"><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">66
percent of the market share</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">. In fact, Big Five
publishers earn just 18 percent of the profits generated by romance books. For
reference, the Big Five publishers are <span class="tgc">Hachette, HarperCollins,
Macmillan, Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="tgc"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Meredith Wild is one of the best-selling
romance novelists. She self-published her debut novel, “Hardwired” in 2013, and
eventually became stocked in brick-and-mortar bookstore chains across the
country. By 2014, she was listed on the Bestsellers lists of the “New York
Times” and “Wall Street Journal”. She has sold millions of books worldwide and
her novels have been translated into 20 languages. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="tgc"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Science
Fiction and Fantasy </span></b></span><span class="tgc"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></b></span><span class="tgc"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In the self-publishing market,
Science Fiction and Fantasy are a close second behind Romance with 56 percent
of all sales in these genres coming from self-published authors. Some of </span></span><span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://io9.gizmodo.com/5911634/the-most-successful-self-published-sci-fi-and-fantasy-authors"><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">the
most successful self-published Fantasy and Science Fiction authors</span></a></span><span class="tgc"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> include J.R. Rain (400,000 copies sold), B.V. Larson (250,000
copies sold) and David Daglish (175,000 copies sold). </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="tgc"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Mystery,
Thriller & Suspense </span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Earning 26 percent of its sales from
self-published authors are the Mystery, <span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">Thriller</span>
and Suspense genres. One of the most successful self-published authors in this
genre is Adam Croft. He used Kindle Direct Publishing to distribute his 2011
debut novel “Too Close for Comfort”, which saw huge success on the platform.
Over the course of the next five years, he has self-published a further eight
books and has sold over 350,000 copies. In 2016, his novels generated $1.4
million in sales. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Non-Fiction<br />
</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Self-publishing is the perfect outlet for
non-fiction writers, with 26% of all sales in this genre coming from
self-published outlets. There are a number of advantages to publishing
non-fiction books yourself, and it is ideal if your topic is a niche one.
Previously, you would have to sell your idea to agents and publishing houses,
who may not see the need to publish a book on a subject that they <span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">deem</span> too specialized to sell well. However,
self-publishing allows you to directly reach out to those who are interested in
that particular niche. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">One of the </span><span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://selfpublishingadvice.org/the-advantages-of-indie-publishing-for-non-fiction/"><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">major
benefits of self-publishing</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> non-fiction e-books is
that you can make updates and revisions as necessary. When new information on
your subject becomes available, you can update your book’s digital file to
include it and keep readers in the know about the latest developments. With
print books, you would have to wait for sales to dictate if a new edition is
necessary before you make any changes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
Bestselling Self-Published Authors </span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 19px;"><br /></span>
</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Some of the most successful writers in recent
history are self-published authors who specialize in the above genres. They
knew their readers and were able to forge successful careers with
self-published novels that were eventually printed by Big Five houses and
optioned for movies. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The most popular example is E.L. James who wrote
the “Fifty Shades of Grey” erotic romance trilogy. Before becoming one of the
bestselling print novels ever, it was originally published on fan fiction sites
since it was based on the “Twilight” series. Her stories eventually went viral
and James was eventually offered a contract worth over $10 million by Vintage Books.
By the end of that year, the trilogy had sold 70 million copies around the
world. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Hugh Howie, author of “Wool” went a more
traditional route for self-published authors. In July 2011, he published the
opening chapters of his dystopian sci-fi trilogy as an e-book novella using
Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing tool. Over the course of the next few months,
he released four more installments, which put his name at the top of the Amazon
Bestsellers list. Eventually, Howie was selling up to 30,000 copies of “Wool”
every month. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">After negotiating with plenty of publishing
houses, he was offered a six-figure advance by Simon &Schuster to finish
his trilogy. The rights for the “Wool” have been purchased by 20<sup>th</sup>
Century Fox, and several big names have signed on to produce the film. Nicole
Perlman, who wrote the screenplay for “Guardians of the Galaxy”, will write the
film, </span><span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://www.thewrap.com/guardians-of-the-galaxys-nicole-perlman-to-rewrite-sci-fi-movie-wool-for-20th-century-fox-exclusive/"><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">while
Ridley Scott and Steve <span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">Zallian</span> are
producers</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">If you’re writing a Romance, Science Fiction or
Mystery book, you can look forward to tapping into a great market for
self-published authors. These are just a few of the success stories out there,
and you can certainly follow their examples in forging a fruitful career as a
writer. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Are you working on self-publishing your next
book? Leave a comment. We’d love to hear more about your project! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Author
Bio: Faith is a technology blogger for </span></i><span lang="EN-US"><a href="https://securethoughts.com/"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Secure
Thoughts</span></i></a></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">,
a leading <span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">cybersecurity</span> resource, and her
content aims to help creatives keep their work safe online. She also has a
passion for reading novel thrillers. As a huge fan of authors like Stephen
Leather, Hugh <span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">Howie</span> and Adam Croft, she
is fascinated with their success in self-publishing. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
Stephen Leatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08179238880325952527noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877088608610895252.post-43508367197901000092016-05-04T04:41:00.001-07:002016-05-04T04:58:48.588-07:00Getting A Boost From AmazonThe wonderful folks at Amazon have decided to slash the prices of most of my self-published paperbacks for UK readers for the month of May.<br />
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It's a terrific promotion for those readers who want to hold a real paperback in their hands.<br />
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I've written before about the advantages of having Amazon promote a writer's books. You can read that <a href="http://stephenleatherpublishingebooks.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/the-power-of-amazon.html" target="_blank">HERE</a> Amazon have run several promotions for my eBooks over the years, and they have always boosted sales. But this is the first time they have offered to promote my self-published paperbacks.<br />
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This is what they said to me late last month.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJEXtCv7sPyjYz1kEHFCBG2uFT7xc_IgY90odW9cfBv_qhD0NSY5DiO3iX2xxNT4Z5rArB1YXYuCvZgBsn3hAAR-ne9g2PhHt-GSzdrgy0x2P3DqtD837iakDP_OecdbLLwHYRjZmoc8M/s1600/amazon+email.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="130" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJEXtCv7sPyjYz1kEHFCBG2uFT7xc_IgY90odW9cfBv_qhD0NSY5DiO3iX2xxNT4Z5rArB1YXYuCvZgBsn3hAAR-ne9g2PhHt-GSzdrgy0x2P3DqtD837iakDP_OecdbLLwHYRjZmoc8M/s640/amazon+email.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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It's a great promotion, and a chance for readers to get paperbacks at a really cheap price.<br />
I have self-published the books through Createspace, which is an awesome print-on-demand system which most self-publishers use. The promotional Amazon price is less than I pay when I buy copies from Createspace!<br />
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Authors don't make as much money from the POD paperbacks as they do from eBooks but it's worth doing as so many readers do prefer paperbacks to eBooks.<br />
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Amazon have chosen six Stephen Leather paperbacks as part of the May promotion.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfnSTD8iluC4wTV8-rWw7Zr87t5e6498May9Ckeg1IUFQxKXhJlrfxi_1gM4McSEeC4QTcVYr8XqAm_ClV229umJHmcdExyCsWBrjjmqnUQNBmovJMd4NmNIQGEbP6FVzJEBOPn194O25v/s1600/new+york+night.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="457" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfnSTD8iluC4wTV8-rWw7Zr87t5e6498May9Ckeg1IUFQxKXhJlrfxi_1gM4McSEeC4QTcVYr8XqAm_ClV229umJHmcdExyCsWBrjjmqnUQNBmovJMd4NmNIQGEbP6FVzJEBOPn194O25v/s640/new+york+night.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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New York Night is just £5.99 for the month of May - You can buy it - <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/New-York-Night-Nightingale-Supernatural/dp/095662037X/" target="_blank">HERE</a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2RO595chjRh63isEJbwDPhk579y__rh5s73wBqtlZqZGxLETeGF7kXTWLi3rTox8GZNTTQTy15N0Sq755S2zrc1rFwPr-NJxAsZQNvRzFa2NVTysZ483sTK9P16qqFYky57dXo-dQakKm/s1600/San+Francisco+Cover+FINAL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="449" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2RO595chjRh63isEJbwDPhk579y__rh5s73wBqtlZqZGxLETeGF7kXTWLi3rTox8GZNTTQTy15N0Sq755S2zrc1rFwPr-NJxAsZQNvRzFa2NVTysZ483sTK9P16qqFYky57dXo-dQakKm/s640/San+Francisco+Cover+FINAL.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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San Francisco Night is also just £5.99 - You can buy it <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/San-Francisco-Night-Nightingale-Supernatural/dp/0956620396/" target="_blank">HERE</a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjN_m1LF1lI_wKvLskGnmOTwYgyG2i8OQg7iIKiNSf-mGQ4-wQ2KGmeeG3vw2k51ojQi-7SgYMaSQK4LYcb4myttx6ImAD-GBRsHRXNgcSSlvhFC0wcFpVI5SJA5DwF9NWxSsytp3vsBXV/s1600/Vol+i.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="464" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjN_m1LF1lI_wKvLskGnmOTwYgyG2i8OQg7iIKiNSf-mGQ4-wQ2KGmeeG3vw2k51ojQi-7SgYMaSQK4LYcb4myttx6ImAD-GBRsHRXNgcSSlvhFC0wcFpVI5SJA5DwF9NWxSsytp3vsBXV/s640/Vol+i.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Spider Shepherd: SAS Volume 1 is now £5.39 now, down from £8.99 - You can buy it <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Spider-Shepherd-SAS-Stephen-Leather/dp/1511708573/" target="_blank">HERE</a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWC6QQ5kMTWAFdHfeD1euVJWDO04F0AgqeZZZ7UDYCDiOchkIgw5avXb-6HDdUCAoEXbhsxE3MOcfbNsowWyjMuWen6tzWRZM_4ciQQRkvIse1uulUlD8VLi6s6CzbBsEkeWH3JfaxfJfi/s1600/VOLUME+2+.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="460" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWC6QQ5kMTWAFdHfeD1euVJWDO04F0AgqeZZZ7UDYCDiOchkIgw5avXb-6HDdUCAoEXbhsxE3MOcfbNsowWyjMuWen6tzWRZM_4ciQQRkvIse1uulUlD8VLi6s6CzbBsEkeWH3JfaxfJfi/s640/VOLUME+2+.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Spider Shepherd: SAS Volume 2 is also £5.39, down from £8.99 - You can buy it <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Spider-Shepherd-SAS-Stephen-Leather/dp/1511708492/" target="_blank">HERE</a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaKO0LIgmZTLH5tGhEY3H9Zt1loK1cHBNcm7jxl8PtwdVSG1eNicvkT0ea0ZTVy5nLpNu-f-oC4kx9y4UDgqF1ggqt92UfDDteEIHvxSrBzO6svEIgVg6dFIKIIB0_mQtjEH0_-zp1fMgg/s1600/Take+Two.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="452" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaKO0LIgmZTLH5tGhEY3H9Zt1loK1cHBNcm7jxl8PtwdVSG1eNicvkT0ea0ZTVy5nLpNu-f-oC4kx9y4UDgqF1ggqt92UfDDteEIHvxSrBzO6svEIgVg6dFIKIIB0_mQtjEH0_-zp1fMgg/s640/Take+Two.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Take Two is also down from £8.99 to £5.39 - You can buy it <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Take-Two-Stephen-Leather/dp/0956620337/" target="_blank">HERE</a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh69OjPRnlCrRBuyiHg5bcF3FRFUM3xwNps6MYbtBS8x7iOMOpK4lyI2E2kmwE7UrNHyhyphenhyphenABMiiX35NnUbBGF3HYu4r7B6IK9sSRJ_gd1TX34vBr-SYmabop3vNJ7TMWM0XQFjSxSPTQqYU/s1600/Bestseller+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="467" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh69OjPRnlCrRBuyiHg5bcF3FRFUM3xwNps6MYbtBS8x7iOMOpK4lyI2E2kmwE7UrNHyhyphenhyphenABMiiX35NnUbBGF3HYu4r7B6IK9sSRJ_gd1TX34vBr-SYmabop3vNJ7TMWM0XQFjSxSPTQqYU/s640/Bestseller+cover.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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The Bestseller is slashed from £7.99 to £4.79 - You can buy it <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bestseller-Stephen-Leather/dp/0956620353/" target="_blank">HERE</a><br />
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Stephen Leatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08179238880325952527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877088608610895252.post-46024919875754180172016-03-21T01:14:00.000-07:002016-03-21T03:31:04.153-07:00Createspace - Another Way Of Self-PublishingI was one of the first writers to crack the eBook market with self-published books. At one point back in 2010 I had four of the five top positions in the UK Kindle bestellers chart, something no other writer has managed.<br />
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But it took me some time to try selling self-published paperbacks. I was never convinced that the time and cost was worthwhile. But I had a lot of people telling me they wanted to see my self-published books as Stephen Leather paperbacks.<br />
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I was a bit nervous about making the jump to self-publishing paperbacks but I've been pleasantly surprised at how well my paperbacks - published through Amazon's Createspace platform - have sold.<br />
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The two Jack Nightingale stories I have put on Createspace - New York Night and San Francisco Night - sell in greater numbers than the five Jack Nightingale books published by Hodder and Stoughton. And my copies are selling at £9.99 each!<br />
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Here are the covers of my two self-published Nightingale books.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXxPG2Q0it0ZX0BkFrxvyoWfxWSNKyfehp3VzxkubnFp4qD4t55zRJ0_m5Q-6TRLeRyZs3Jsvvtbf_jfl0xet4_YzRHYl5UZD5Pao_ocPXF1MadI-jOH3anPDMx-1A1SJhgPkMVLFzdNE/s1600/SF+Night.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="456" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXxPG2Q0it0ZX0BkFrxvyoWfxWSNKyfehp3VzxkubnFp4qD4t55zRJ0_m5Q-6TRLeRyZs3Jsvvtbf_jfl0xet4_YzRHYl5UZD5Pao_ocPXF1MadI-jOH3anPDMx-1A1SJhgPkMVLFzdNE/s640/SF+Night.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwD9mfVeQXGuSXz9AtUlyPxDoJ3e2Z5Aqd98OOljKd8g9194CgL7N57-wwC-snDzG1PG8u_2ntt_c38rQt93g43STyEPbBjmmiCnezLmGEB879d_jXgTqjTSQ5n65L89QAcJJA5GW0ZG0/s1600/NY+Night.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="458" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwD9mfVeQXGuSXz9AtUlyPxDoJ3e2Z5Aqd98OOljKd8g9194CgL7N57-wwC-snDzG1PG8u_2ntt_c38rQt93g43STyEPbBjmmiCnezLmGEB879d_jXgTqjTSQ5n65L89QAcJJA5GW0ZG0/s640/NY+Night.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Anyway, here's me talking about Createspace on a blog - <a href="https://nerdychampagne.wordpress.com/2016/02/06/stop-look-read-on-new-york-night-by-stephen-leather/" target="_blank">CLICK HERE</a>Stephen Leatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08179238880325952527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877088608610895252.post-14953754123891208532016-02-24T01:25:00.002-08:002017-01-23T20:29:22.383-08:00Awful 'Journalism' From Ian Johnston Of The Soon-To-Close IndependentA truly awful piece of journalism appeared in the Independent this week under the byline of Ian Johnston, describing Amazon as Darth Vadar and accusing it of closing down small publishers.<br />
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Strong stuff. Totally wrong, of course. No one has done more to help independent publishers than Amazon. Any book published by anyone anywhere can be bought through Amazon. How does that not help small publishers?<br />
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So what is the source of this attack on Amazon?<br />
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Well, the headline says it all - AMAZON. THE 'DARTH VADER OF THE LITERARY WORLD' IS CRUSHING SMALL PUBLISHERS, FORMER DOWNING ST ADVISER CLAIMS<br />
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Ah. So the source is a political spin doctor? Hmmmm. We all know how reliable they are, right?<br />
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The adviser is Rohan Silver, who is launching his own book shop.<br />
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Ah. So the source is a spin doctor who plans to go into competition with Amazon. Obviously a man with an axe to grind. And what better way to get publicity for his new venture than to attack Amazon in public?<br />
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Silver even describes his new shop as 'an Amazon-killer'. Now I know that spin doctors do tend to tell porkies, but seriously? His shop has as much chance of killing Amazon as I have of walking on the moon.<br />
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Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan - and supporter - of book shops (and libraries). I shop at book shops and I do signings when asked. And I agree that Amazon's discounting and superb customer service has hurt book shops. But the Amazon marketplace is available to all sellers, and offers opportunities for small publishers to sell their wares around the world.<br />
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If small publishers are hurting, then let's hear from them. But let's also hear from all the new publishers that have been formed to take advantage of the Amazon marketplace.<br />
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I function as a small publisher. I sell thousands of eBooks a month and 90 per cent of them are sold through Amazon. I am not alone. Thousands of other authors are publishing their own work and most sell their work through Amazon. Small publishing operations like ours would not be possible without Amazon. And hundreds of small publishing companies have been set up to help authors sell their eBooks - that would never have happened without Amazon.<br />
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This article by Ian Johnston is one-sided partisan nonsense. And it's not even his own work!<br />
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You can read Ian Johnston's article in The Independent <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/amazon-the-darth-vader-of-the-literary-world-is-crushing-small-publishers-former-downing-st-adviser-a6888531.html" target="_blank">HERE</a><br />
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As you can see <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/shopping-and-consumer-news/12167545/Government-must-help-end-heartbreaking-Amazon-dominance-former-Number-10-adviser-says.html" target="_blank">HERE</a> it's a rewrite of an article that appeared in The Daily Telegraph. That's all he did. He didn't speak to anyone, and he didn't add anything. He just rewrote what the Telegraph had published.<br />
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What would a decent journalist have done? Spoken to Amazon, for a start. Or spoken to small publishers. Or spoken to someone with a different point of view. Or perhaps realise that the 'story' was a nonsense and should be ignored.<br />
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Ian Johnston didn't do any of that. He just rewrote the Telegraph article and the Independent published it. Shame on the Independent, but then it's a pretty awful newspaper these days. Readership has slumped to just 40,000 and it will shut for good next month.<br />
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Good riddance, I say. It's a pity, because I was a Fleet Street Journalist when The Independent was launched in 1986 and back then it was a terrific paper and I like most journalists admired it for what it was trying to do. Friends of mine worked for it and they were all enthused by The Independent's commitment to fine journalism. But those days are long gone. Now it's staffed by ill-trained youngsters in the main, wannabe journalists who would never have been hired back in the Eighties.<br />
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The Independent will continue as an on-line edition, but I'm fairly sure it won't succeed in that form either. Not with journalists like Ian Johnston, anyway.<br />
<br />Stephen Leatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08179238880325952527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877088608610895252.post-71960517945276753492016-02-06T02:43:00.001-08:002016-02-06T02:46:00.266-08:00The Power Of AmazonWhat's the best way of boosting sales of your eBooks? You'll hear people tell you that social media is the key, or blogging, or sending out free copies for reviews. But the best way by far is to have Amazon promote your work.<br />
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My Spider Shepherd books were selected for a blitz promotion on Amazon on Friday, where ten of the books in the series were offered for the bargain basement price of 99p for 24 hours.<br />
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The first book in the series - Hard Landing - was already selling for 99p. The final book - Black Ops - stayed at £4.99.<br />
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Did it work? Heck, yeah! Amazon must have worked their promotional magic because within hours all the books in the blitz were in the UK Amazon Top 50 list.<br />
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And two - White Lies and Soft Target - were in the Top 20! White Lies reached number 16 and Soft Target was at number 19.<br />
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All the books dominated the Crime Action Fiction category, nailing pretty much all the top slots!<br />
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So an Amazon promotion definitely works. The problem is that it's not generally an option open to self-published writers. The Spider Shepherd books are published by Hodder and Stoughton and while Amazon have occasionally offered promotions for my self-published books, generally they prefer to promote books they publish themselves (through Thomas and Mercer etc) or books that are published by the main publishers. There is a downside too, with prices that low, and with the Government (VAT), the publisher, and Amazon, taking their cut, there isn't much left for the writer when a book is sold for 99p! Not that I'm complaining, it's a great way of getting new readers and the promotion had a knock-on effect with Black Ops, which soared up the charts even though it was at £4.99!<br />
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<br />Stephen Leatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08179238880325952527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877088608610895252.post-56293407806594824712015-12-28T20:49:00.001-08:002016-01-20T22:15:00.020-08:00Can You Judge A Book By Its Cover? Absolutely!The saying that you can't judge a book by its cover really doesn't stand up to scrutiny. Yes you can, you absolutely can, which is why publishers spend so much time and money producing covers for their bestsellers.<br />
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The cover is often the first thing that attracts a potential reader - either on the shelves of a traditional bookstore or on the virtual shelves of an eBook shop.<br />
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My new thriller First Response is being published in the UK by Hodder and Stoughton on February 26. Here's the blurb -<br />
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<div style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 14px; padding: 0px;">
London is under siege. </div>
<div style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 14px; margin-top: -4px; padding: 0px;">
Nine men in suicide vests primed to explode hold hostages in nine different locations around the city, and are ready to die for their cause.</div>
<div style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 14px; margin-top: -4px; padding: 0px;">
Their mission: to force the government to release jihadist prisoners from Belmarsh Prison.<br />
Their deadline: 6 p.m. Today. </div>
<div style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 14px; margin-top: -4px; padding: 0px;">
But the bombers are cleanskins, terrorists with no obvious link to any group, and who do not appear on any anti-terror watch list. What has brought them together on this one day to act in this way? </div>
<div style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 14px; margin-top: -4px; padding: 0px;">
Mo Kamran is the Superintendent in charge of the Special Crime and Operations branch of the Met. As the disaster unfolds and the SAS, armed police, and other emergency services rush to the scenes, he is tasked with preventing the biggest terrorist outrage the capital has ever known.</div>
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But nothing is what it seems. And only Kamran has the big picture. Will anyone believe him?</div>
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And here's the cover that Hodder and Stoughton are going with.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyaIZp4huZwlcX3otOxudW9rCFCdfNbE9d0kbmHCgHMaGRhP02ynWmgqBKE_rllWXkMYegGeBu-h5H1v6fyh2Wh2-qvCmJdgxc-TtydRP0Ud8URiGoqK5qE-mBKmA7n2mUtYWZzJ7Ewoc/s1600/20151201_first33.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyaIZp4huZwlcX3otOxudW9rCFCdfNbE9d0kbmHCgHMaGRhP02ynWmgqBKE_rllWXkMYegGeBu-h5H1v6fyh2Wh2-qvCmJdgxc-TtydRP0Ud8URiGoqK5qE-mBKmA7n2mUtYWZzJ7Ewoc/s640/20151201_first33.jpg" width="404" /></a></div>
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It's a traditional thriller cover with a Lee Child/Jack Reacher feel to it. It's a nice clean cover and the typeface for STEPHEN LEATHER echoes the Spider Shepherd books. I like the London skyline and the way the light (an explosion?) comes out from his right side. The figure could be the enemy, or the hero. It's left vague.<br />
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You see a lot of thrillers these days with the lone figure, staring or running into the distance.<br />
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The publishers of Vince Flynn, for instance, have just rejacketed his books and every single one has solitary figure on it.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOVf4O2UY3I6iHmJLRf0BCwCLlawboenJ5jUOiYP4SFZHJJZPpRTgm6iOBkynyUUEQutLeJJJBNorRQaFXNQdMgDlouKys_ybcAFm-s-Wq3RoNLMzRSZ0ZZig1Qewu-2LNZiVZct87U8w/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-12-03+at+03.51.02.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="352" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOVf4O2UY3I6iHmJLRf0BCwCLlawboenJ5jUOiYP4SFZHJJZPpRTgm6iOBkynyUUEQutLeJJJBNorRQaFXNQdMgDlouKys_ybcAFm-s-Wq3RoNLMzRSZ0ZZig1Qewu-2LNZiVZct87U8w/s640/Screen+Shot+2015-12-03+at+03.51.02.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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The concept is so popular with traditional publishers that often you see the same figure being used, for instance here British writers such as <a href="https://jeremydunsjournalist.wordpress.com/2014/10/25/is-jeremy-duns-a-bully/" target="_blank">JEREMY DUNS</a> and <a href="http://www.matthiltonbooks.com/" target="_blank">MATT HILTON</a> with identical running men!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1fi7hmKOhuSLf686ae3eKh3u_rAWXvbIoYm1GsP05iYaZiGan99zoVirTE8V6a-AaCmqSGwFy-isUxcGQ2sGBzR1PaGeQIImruTeR4SOAPgT7T1cyN9JAtiiT9n23-yCHidjp9ro_V4g/s1600/Running+Man+covers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1fi7hmKOhuSLf686ae3eKh3u_rAWXvbIoYm1GsP05iYaZiGan99zoVirTE8V6a-AaCmqSGwFy-isUxcGQ2sGBzR1PaGeQIImruTeR4SOAPgT7T1cyN9JAtiiT9n23-yCHidjp9ro_V4g/s640/Running+Man+covers.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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I have to say that I think the lone figure has become something of a cliche and it wouldn't personally attract me to a book. I prefer something that stands out from the crowd.<br />
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I got a chance to try out my own design for First Response because Hodder and Stoughton decided they didn't want the US rights to the book, which means that in the US it could be a Stephen Leather self-published book.<br />
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I got in touch with the wonderful Debbie at <a href="http://www.thecovercollection.com/" target="_blank">THE COVER COLLECTION</a> and we started throwing around some ideas.<br />
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Here are some initial thoughts -<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFktRCgmVq5Qro9w0DhXXY3uCBWmwzv5Y9ogrnzL5_Zo4N5mhhS7glc2-Lq8SKQSQB4g2IUJTiINklpyvJQtRoLGgvoSVB51tmaMTrjeM3kxZqJi3K7up1Jl9V4YgehJMKiC5GsueK9F4/s1600/initial+thoughts.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="328" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFktRCgmVq5Qro9w0DhXXY3uCBWmwzv5Y9ogrnzL5_Zo4N5mhhS7glc2-Lq8SKQSQB4g2IUJTiINklpyvJQtRoLGgvoSVB51tmaMTrjeM3kxZqJi3K7up1Jl9V4YgehJMKiC5GsueK9F4/s640/initial+thoughts.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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We decided that a suicide vest would be a better image but we loved the Big Ben background, so we came up with these.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5UI9In5DS7_NuKoi7POZkLPxqaDpftLUiol26zEjrE9QkCAOHlgQ9-LRhFvgsArtVuTA7kUaWup9VD7Yia-VZnQ75KjlyOezH5_6H4-44GOcCOkXgGCINNoYQ4iCf0pxPyJkMpddUTLI/s1600/12374851_953688934698766_1789192980240111737_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="478" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5UI9In5DS7_NuKoi7POZkLPxqaDpftLUiol26zEjrE9QkCAOHlgQ9-LRhFvgsArtVuTA7kUaWup9VD7Yia-VZnQ75KjlyOezH5_6H4-44GOcCOkXgGCINNoYQ4iCf0pxPyJkMpddUTLI/s640/12374851_953688934698766_1789192980240111737_o.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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After more discussions we decided to drop the gun completely and to change the wording of the heading at the top.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZL3ddIZOsY1NfwHeT35IzDwZQI1_HSmDckyZBCTJMTViHl3c1xJkX14vxdbxz-jigQRepvcZIgr832NTbu0lrDFDtLsYWFVfhCcbb8wp-UIGfQnKeTWJ7W1GmTOKDEY8UTVuukIY7xLc/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-12-21+at+03.00.13.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZL3ddIZOsY1NfwHeT35IzDwZQI1_HSmDckyZBCTJMTViHl3c1xJkX14vxdbxz-jigQRepvcZIgr832NTbu0lrDFDtLsYWFVfhCcbb8wp-UIGfQnKeTWJ7W1GmTOKDEY8UTVuukIY7xLc/s640/Screen+Shot+2015-12-21+at+03.00.13.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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We then had chat about the colours (I preferred the orange) and whether or not the trigger was a good idea. I also thought the explosives were a bit too orange and glossy. So this is the final result -<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG5MKDsVzS7ITyljxK0-KCRnx6IHBDPoGyj4J9gdoQ0SWg1ykK53WXwxwdmFQj8jaY6tOGMYGG3pMX3PXO2HyP1zzUAP-OojaPE31gCV0hgTe-R2syYmyX09zX9BBbp94G8htKqETNk_Y/s1600/First+Response+JPEG.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG5MKDsVzS7ITyljxK0-KCRnx6IHBDPoGyj4J9gdoQ0SWg1ykK53WXwxwdmFQj8jaY6tOGMYGG3pMX3PXO2HyP1zzUAP-OojaPE31gCV0hgTe-R2syYmyX09zX9BBbp94G8htKqETNk_Y/s640/First+Response+JPEG.jpg" width="426" /></a></div>
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I love it. I think it's more dramatic than the UK cover, and tells more of the story. I also like the typefaces, again I think they are more dramatic, more thrilling, if you like! It's less subtle than the UK cover, that's for sure, but I don't think that's a bad thing. It seems to me that US thriller covers have a more 'in your face' feel, a baseball bat compared with a scalpel if you like. Anyway, that's the US cover done and dusted, I'll be putting the US edition up for advance purchase sometime in January. Watch this space!Stephen Leatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08179238880325952527noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877088608610895252.post-80357132899430914432015-09-19T20:58:00.002-07:002016-01-20T22:15:00.022-08:00Great Advice From The MasterPublishing guru Joe Konrath recently posted some great advice on his website - <a href="http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2015/09/a-gentle-reminder.html" target="_blank">HERE</a> - and I make no apology for reprinting it. Words of wisdom, truly.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDERrVrWfukEeYa3KiZ1mRhiBhaB5MrKkls82nqj6QUfQ2yXZRnXY1swKiuQPKUECjhdWCT8q2tft6r7t2kQzT4_2OCv9_OkV8NrlMi-c9n7K3yYq0RfFb6QxOWoYh3NSFWf7DJBkDypM/s1600/Advice+from+Joe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="458" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDERrVrWfukEeYa3KiZ1mRhiBhaB5MrKkls82nqj6QUfQ2yXZRnXY1swKiuQPKUECjhdWCT8q2tft6r7t2kQzT4_2OCv9_OkV8NrlMi-c9n7K3yYq0RfFb6QxOWoYh3NSFWf7DJBkDypM/s640/Advice+from+Joe.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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I thought I'd add my thoughts...<br />
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<br style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;" />
<b style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">1. Nobody owes you a living. </b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">I'm old school, and I busted my ass to get where I am. But I don't feel any sense of entitlement. Yeah, I worked hard. Maybe I've got talent. But I don't deserve readers, and neither do you.</span><br />
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<b>Couldn't agree more. You get readers by providing stories they want to read. You're not entitled to readers, you have to earn them.</b><br />
<br style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;" />
<b style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">2. Success is mostly due to luck.</b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;"> You can do everything right, and still not be satisfied with the state of your career. That's life. No one ever said this would be fair, fun, or easy.</span><br />
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<b>You hope that this isn't so, but it is. Some writers see their sales take off for no apparent reason, It just happens. You can work as hard as you want, you can produce great books, but at the end of the day what separates a bestseller from a guy who sells just a few books is often luck. Though like most people I have noticed that the harder I work, the luckier I get!</b><br />
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<b style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">3. Stop whining.</b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;"> The internet is forever. No one likes a person who constantly complains. Even if you feel that bemoaning (insert whatever here) is justified, it will always be linked to you if someone Googles your name.</span><br />
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<b>Never complain, never explain, as Benjamin Disraeili (and Kate Moss) say. Moaning really doesn't get you anywhere. The trick is to work to overcome obstacles, not complain about them.</b><br />
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<b style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">4. Don't Google your name.</b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;"> What people think of you is their business, not yours. Remember, one of life's greatest journeys is overcoming insecurity and learning to truly not give a shit.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><b>Best advice ever. Hard to do, but it pays off. Don't Google your name and don't look for your name on Twitter. In my experience, the fewer books a writer sells, the more tweets they send. Or vice versa. Either way, Twitter is a waste of a writer's valuable time. Of anyone's time, actually!</b></span><br />
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<b style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">5. Never respond to criticism.</b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;"> It will make things worse. And if you apologize, it will get even more worser. Keep out of any discussion about you and your work. You may think you know better, but you don't.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><b>Never complain, never explain! A good writer friend of mine was recently roasted on Twitter for four horrible days by people who misunderstood what he'd said in a national newspaper. He apologised - on Twitter - when I, like a lot of others, thought he had nothing to apologise for. Twitter storms are best ignored. Bad reviews are also best ignored, though I do find it hard not to respond when someone reviews the wrong book, for instance, or awards one star because Amazon messed up a delivery. But you have to let it go. The trick is to getting more positive reviews, and that's down to writing great books.</b></span></span><br />
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<b style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">6. Remember your Serenity Prayer.</b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;"> Fix what you can change, accept what you can't fix, and learn to know the difference between the two. If it is beyond your control, drink a beer, do yoga, go for a run, or bitch to a close friend where it can't be seen online. And if you can't stop dwelling on your bad fortune.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><b>Don't worry, be happy. You know what old people regret most? Worrying too much! That's right. Read it <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/karl-a-pillemer-phd/how-to-stop-worrying-reduce-stress_b_2989589.html" target="_blank">HERE</a>. There's no point in worrying most of the time. Writing is a much more productive way of spending your time.</b></span><br />
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<b style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">7. Quit. </b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">The world will keep turning without your work. If writing and publishing is so traumatic, go use your time doing something else you can derive some pleasure from. Life is too short.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;"><b>Agreed. If you're not happy being a writer, stop writing. End of.</b></span>Stephen Leatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08179238880325952527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877088608610895252.post-49879750748055821132015-09-13T22:50:00.001-07:002016-01-20T22:15:00.017-08:00The Basement - An All-Time Kindle Bestseller Amazon recently announced that a book of mine - The Basement - was one of the Top 10 independently published eBooks of all time. You can read about it by clicking <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/aug/05/kindle-turns-five-independent-women-thrive-in-ebook-bestseller-charts" target="_blank">HERE</a> (the Guardian) and <a href="http://www.lifehacker.co.uk/2015/08/07/the-top-10-independent-kindle-books-of-all-time" target="_blank">HERE</a> if like me you're not a fan of the Guardian.<br />
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Amazon also announced that I am the sixth top-selling UK independent author over the past five years!<br />
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That's pretty impressive as most of my books are still traditionally published, by Hodder and Stoughton!<br />
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These days The Basement is published by Amazon Encore. But I first published it myself, back in 2010, when self-publishing was in its infancy.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPKOHybkeMa2Ch1CJ_9bgkCvwXe12IehH6PjG7SG8YLmsxUsbV2GMF4pS4CItcLfz6yeFfkyQzUJSKeUGaedqE8hyuoOMxTHrN-jkzhCzHm0KNhs9JcIfDIUjDty3UhZzUm3vyoidBnGo/s1600/Amazon+Basement+COver.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="460" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPKOHybkeMa2Ch1CJ_9bgkCvwXe12IehH6PjG7SG8YLmsxUsbV2GMF4pS4CItcLfz6yeFfkyQzUJSKeUGaedqE8hyuoOMxTHrN-jkzhCzHm0KNhs9JcIfDIUjDty3UhZzUm3vyoidBnGo/s640/Amazon+Basement+COver.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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I was one of the first - if not the first - writers to realise that cutting prices was a great way of boosting eBook sales and I sold The Basement for the minimum Amazon price of 99 cents, equivalent to just 75p in the UK. I sold hundreds of thousands of copies and it stayed in the Kindle UK Top 5 for months. It was one of three self-published books I put on line in 2010 - the others were Once Bitten and Dreamer's Cat. They were equally successful and at one point I had the top 3 places on the UK Kindle bestseller list. I'm pretty sure I'm the only British writer to have achieved that honour! This is what The Basement looked like back then.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeME_Jrl3kmAgmKWvmouhpLtPeMtqIYIpyyu65L6P3GYybNB-HtI-XfUAsqbve7dqXofEIt83sYGdiXSisraN-FW-uMBqoDQcnVZYglOtraqmTxFWOEel2XrZapT_GJLBzPzvtPcKEn_Y/s1600/TheBasement.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeME_Jrl3kmAgmKWvmouhpLtPeMtqIYIpyyu65L6P3GYybNB-HtI-XfUAsqbve7dqXofEIt83sYGdiXSisraN-FW-uMBqoDQcnVZYglOtraqmTxFWOEel2XrZapT_GJLBzPzvtPcKEn_Y/s640/TheBasement.jpg" width="418" /></a></div>
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Amazon Encore went to to publish Once Bitten - a vampire story set in Los Angeles - and it has been a regular bestseller for them over the years.<br />
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It's worth taking a look at the all-time independently published eBook bestseller list. It makes for interesting reading. Here's the list -<br />
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The top two books are both by Rachel Abbott, a relative newcomer to self-publishing, which goes to show that it is still possible to start from nowhere and sell an awful lot of books! She gives hope to all independent writers and shows that it's not necessary to have a regular publishing deal. She also has a book at Number 7.<br />
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I have to say that if Amazon Encore hadn't taken over The Basement it would probably have been much higher in this chart. It was only self-published for two years and after Amazon Encore published it the book went onto top the US Kindle chart. The Basement is one of very books that have been Number 1 in the Kindle list in the UK and the US.<br />
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There are some other interesting authors in the Top 10. Nick Spalding is at Number 5, He went on to sign a publishing deal with Hodder and Stoughton but he has since gone back to self-publishing.<br />
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A book by former journalist Kerry Wilkinson is Number 6 on the list. He started some time after me but did really well, later switching to a traditional publisher, Pan MacMillan. His books have continued to sell well. You can read about Kerry's success <a href="http://www.thebookseller.com/news/kerry-wilkinson-traditional-publishing-adds-legitimacy" target="_blank">HERE</a><br />
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At Number 9, just below The Basement, is Mark Edwards, who had amazing success as a self-published writer. Mark signed a six-figure deal with Harper Collins but in his own words it all went "horribly wrong" and he is now back self-publishing. You can read about that <a href="http://www.expressandstar.com/comment-and-opinion/weekend/2014/04/08/lifes-all-write-now-for-mark/" target="_blank">HERE</a><br />
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I saw both Mark and Kerry - on separate occasions - at the Crime Writers Festival in Harrogate. They were there as spectators rather than speakers and they were both clearly nervous and feeling out of place, and it occurred to me at the time that they had no reason to be over-awed by the writers on display. Between them they sold more in one week than a lot of writers there had sold in their entire career.<br />
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All three writers did amazingly well as self-published writers. I think that's because they wrote fast-paced stories, but more importantly they were writing for readers rather than editors. All three were also terrific at dealing with their readers, on social media and in person.<br />
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Why did it go wrong for Mark and Nick, but worked out so well for Kerry? That is one of life's mysteries. No pun intended. I would say that they are all terrific writers, and they are all great at interacting with their readers. I'm not sure it's fair to blame the publishers, there is something else at work, I think. I'm moving towards the view that some types of writing are better suited to eBooks. Maybe it's the technology, the fact that all you do is click to turn a page so people read faster. Maybe faster-paced books with fewer descriptions and lots of dialogue sell well as eBooks but not so well as paperbacks. And maybe it is price sensitive. Maybe people will pay 99p for a frothy rollicking eBook romance but won't pay £6.99 for a paperback. Maybe it's the fault of booksellers who are unwilling to promote a former self-published writer.<br />
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I'm still giving it a lot of thought, and have yet to reach any firm conclusions, I'm afraid. I'm lucky in that I'm in both worlds. I'm still one of the most successful UK self-published writers, but I am also regularly in the Sunday Times Top 10 hardback fiction list. I know I spend more time writing my Hodder hardbacks, but that's because they are generally longer - my Hodder novels tend to be 120,000 plus words while my self-published books are generally below 100,000. I would say that the quality is the same, but I have to leave that to my readers to decide!</div>
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Stephen Leatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08179238880325952527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877088608610895252.post-453573540555337122015-09-13T01:31:00.002-07:002016-01-20T22:15:00.015-08:00Michael Kozlowski - A "Journalist" Who Doesn't Check His Facts<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;">When self-publishing first started to take off in 2010, it was hard to get information on what to do and how best to do it. It was a bit like the Klondike, where thousands of amateurs picked up their shovels and headed to the hills</span></span><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> in search of fortunes. </span><br />
<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;"><br /></span></span><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;">Because I was doing so well self-publishing (I had the top three places in the UK Kindle bestseller list at the time) I was constantly getting emails asking for advice, and I was happy to help wherever I could.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;"><br /></span></span><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;">Back then cover designers were few and far </span><span style="font-size: 15px;">between, and there were very few people out there who could format quickly and cheaply for Smashwords and I would pass on the names of those that I could recommend. I was often asked for tips on pricing and marketing, and again I was happy to oblige and tell writers what had worked for me.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;"><br /></span></span><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;">Since those heady days, self-publishing has become a global industry, yet I get far fewer requests for help. That's mainly because there are now</span> </span><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;">hundreds of 'experts' offering advice on self-publishing. There is a huge support industry offering editing services, formatting and covers. It's far easier to get advice on what to do to make a success of self-publishing.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;"><br /></span></span><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;">One of the best sources of information is the amazing Joe Konrath, who is very much a self-publishing evangelist and one of the most successful self-publishers out there. You can read his self-publishing blog <a href="http://www.jakonrath.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">HERE</a> and I suggest you do, because it's a mine of information!</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;"><br /></span></span><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;">But for every Joe Konrath there are hundreds of people who describe themselves as experts but who in fact know little or nothing about the industry. There are hundreds of self-published books charging for the same information that Joe Konrath offers for free. And there are hundreds of so-called journalists who are scrambling to make a living from the self-publishing industry.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;"><br /></span></span><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;">One of those so-called journalists is a Canadian by the name of</span></span><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;"> Michael Kozlowski. I had never heard of him until he wrote about me on his website. Well, lied about me would be more accurate. This is what he wrote on his Good Ereader blog -</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHeMIWWmwCb58rT1KfnV8xsNzRiDpsxJvy29E8LZPyD3lK7NhsN35PBiis031-qIG6cZaFrndwpa4ZEH8G4Jvf6o2STwtaBSnhrslgGbeZQsOn2VWdosGR3OM8wDOjyd-6pVoBpkR05nc/s1600/Lie+from+tha+Canadian+prick.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="176" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHeMIWWmwCb58rT1KfnV8xsNzRiDpsxJvy29E8LZPyD3lK7NhsN35PBiis031-qIG6cZaFrndwpa4ZEH8G4Jvf6o2STwtaBSnhrslgGbeZQsOn2VWdosGR3OM8wDOjyd-6pVoBpkR05nc/s640/Lie+from+tha+Canadian+prick.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;"><br /></span></span><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;">I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Michael Kozlowski, who I have never heard of and who has never made any attempt to contact me, had published two outright and unequivocal lies about me.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;"><br /></span></span><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;">I have never, ever paid people to leave positive reviews. Leaving aside the legality/morality of paying for reviews, I have never done so because I get plenty of 5-star reviews anyway. All my books get all the positive reviews I need, I don't need to pay for reviews.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;"><br /></span></span><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;">And I have never left fake reviews. I don't review many books but when I do I use my own name. Saying I leave fake reviews is an absolute lie.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;"><br /></span></span><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;">Michael Kozlowski didn't provide any evidence to back up his allegations. And frankly I didn't understand where the allegations had come from.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;"><br /></span></span><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;">I sent him a polite email pointing out that he was in error and that the unsubstantiated allegations he made on his Good eReader blog were false.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;"><br /></span></span><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;">I didn't get a reply, let alone an apology. But some time later he amended his copy and republished the following -</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje1bB3Bb5KETaMuD4BUPl1rq4mYVZvu-d6s0ddFaROxLAcfbj5VmwdFg3VMMHfFf-8WehkSfo5erTnnwW6_RLxC_1I2bhdzYQ3uFDwNnmNUKs3uVBZOtcUhGp20w6PEqMlpXs1UB7GweU/s1600/Crap+from+Canadian+Troll.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="122" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje1bB3Bb5KETaMuD4BUPl1rq4mYVZvu-d6s0ddFaROxLAcfbj5VmwdFg3VMMHfFf-8WehkSfo5erTnnwW6_RLxC_1I2bhdzYQ3uFDwNnmNUKs3uVBZOtcUhGp20w6PEqMlpXs1UB7GweU/s640/Crap+from+Canadian+Troll.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;">He was now accusing me of creating multiple accounts to generate buzz on forums and to leave reviews on his own books.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;"><br /></span></span><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;">The first allegation is complicated. I have never denied that I have sometimes been on forums and not used my real name. Most people on discussion forums use a pseudonym or pen name, especially on forums frequented by trolls. But his second allegation, that I left reviews on my own books is an outright lie. As I said earlier, I get all the reviews I need, I don't have to pay for reviews or review my own books.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;"><br /></span></span><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;">I wrote back to Michael Kozlowski at Good eReader pointing out that his article was still making unsubstantiated false accusations about me.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;"><br /></span></span><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;">This time I did receive an email from him. No apology, in fact nothing other than two links which I assume were to the websites he had taken his lies from.</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaJQZWXwhpCI_i9GGRggZr3x1ffpo7aC5qt56O1bDrzU8zHcF9x4cxAmyvMtN5oBgEFfCuFPgSei8hUohj-_fBrkJ52T7L2sz57F958b5H38p46ulCNITRqtlvx2f3TDJkFyk5A39ZBgI/s1600/Kozlowski+email.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="196" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaJQZWXwhpCI_i9GGRggZr3x1ffpo7aC5qt56O1bDrzU8zHcF9x4cxAmyvMtN5oBgEFfCuFPgSei8hUohj-_fBrkJ52T7L2sz57F958b5H38p46ulCNITRqtlvx2f3TDJkFyk5A39ZBgI/s640/Kozlowski+email.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;"><br /></span></span><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;">It turns out he had taken his information from two 'journalists' who are as unreliable as he is.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;"><br /></span></span><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;">The first one, Suw Charman-Anderson made allegations that are simply untrue in her Forbes blog. She corrected some of the mistakes she made but not all, and I have complained several times to Forbes management. She no longer writes for Forbes. In fact she never really did, she just had a blog that ran under the Forbes banner.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">The second link is to another website where another journalist wrote that I confessed to reviewing my own books. That is not true. I asked for a correction but as with Michael Kozlowski I didn't get it and the lie remains up there.</span><br />
<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;"><br /></span></span><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;">That's the problem with these so-called journalists. It's almost impossible to get them to correct their mistakes and they never seem to apologise. If Michael Kozlowski had contacted me before writing his piece I could have given him the truth. But he didn't want the truth. All he wanted to do was to knock out a quick article using work stolen from other writers.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;">So, I can safely say that Michael Kozlowski is a liar and a </span></span><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;">plagiarist. He claims to be a journalist, but to me a journalist is a professional who gathers facts and then assembles a readable article. From what I've seen of Michael Kozlowski's work, he seems to think it's journalism when you take another reporter's work and repost it. That's not journalism. That's theft. And what makes it worse is that Michael Kozlowski doesn't even check the material he </span><span style="font-size: 15px;">steals, which means he publishes lies and rumour.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;">There are also doubts about his impartiality. He accused me of paying for reviews - which is an absolute lie. But he quite happily tells manufacturers that they can buy reviews in his column. That's worth repeating. If you pay money to Michael Kozlowski, he will review your products. The man is a liar and a plagiarist and a hypocrite.</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXbpzExUla_uVwhCHx-kWsc0io2Tnuc-aWl8_FkLGW864QNk803cwCVSHLvfyMU7jxAtgDrf3jvQ_wYmfzDw8t9Rew1mzihx4PLQajEL4Pe-KUJ8JKf6UOZhB5WE2NZNHPWGtY5ETpDkA/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-09-30+at+11.38.08.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="348" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXbpzExUla_uVwhCHx-kWsc0io2Tnuc-aWl8_FkLGW864QNk803cwCVSHLvfyMU7jxAtgDrf3jvQ_wYmfzDw8t9Rew1mzihx4PLQajEL4Pe-KUJ8JKf6UOZhB5WE2NZNHPWGtY5ETpDkA/s640/Screen+Shot+2015-09-30+at+11.38.08.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;"><br /></span></span><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;">You can read his Good Ereader blog <a href="http://goodereader.com/blog/" target="_blank">HERE</a> - but I wouldn't bother. It's rubbish. And pretty much all the material is lifted from elsewhere.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;"><br /></span></span><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;">For instance, he doesn't think that self-published writers should call themselves authors. You can read that nonsense <a href="http://goodereader.com/blog/commentary/self-publishers-should-not-be-called-authors" target="_blank">HERE</a>. But I wouldn't bother. The man's an idiot.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;"><br /></span></span><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;">He also thinks that self-published authors are destroying literature. You can read that nonsense <a href="http://goodereader.com/blog/commentary/self-published-authors-are-destroying-literature" target="_blank">HERE</a>, but again I wouldn't bother, really.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;">I'm not the only one who thinks that Michael Kozlowski is an idiot - you can read more <a href="http://morgenrich.com/?p=764" target="_blank">HERE</a></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;"><br /></span></span><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;">I'm guessing that he makes outrageous statements on his website to get people to click on his links, and I assume that's so he earns money from </span><span style="font-size: 15px;">advertising. That doesn't excuse him plagiarising the work of other writers or from printing lies.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;"><br /></span></span><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">This is how Michael Kozlowski of Good eReader describes himself on his Twitter account -</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge9FQMp9ppFk4N3t9rVn_Th9O2WQjhm3A34xRBIbMX2BzJfK2DVcZC9gvuh1SASXvCbxxRW08-BwF2mXTVS334aJdFLQrW3RZB8mPo8qxBIUa1EW50QfP0xuJQdoZWPmU9_TQTJ6jBznu4/s1600/Plagiarist+troll.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge9FQMp9ppFk4N3t9rVn_Th9O2WQjhm3A34xRBIbMX2BzJfK2DVcZC9gvuh1SASXvCbxxRW08-BwF2mXTVS334aJdFLQrW3RZB8mPo8qxBIUa1EW50QfP0xuJQdoZWPmU9_TQTJ6jBznu4/s640/Plagiarist+troll.jpg" width="617" /></a></div>
<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;"><br /></span></span><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;"><br /></span></span><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;">He says he's editor-in-chief but I get the impression he's a one-man band. He describes himself as a 'young hero' but he's not that young and he's no hero.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;"><br /></span></span><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;">I'm not the only one who thinks that Michael Kozlowski shouldn't be describing himself as an editor in chief. And he often gets accused of blogging nonsense to get traffic to his blog. He's a blogger, and not a very good </span><span style="font-size: 15px;">one, and not a journalist.</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNfUUVAwrLjFwjSD507tNEg7_Lp6P-_MpTVcOU_PhJDQ6LKuRZ9DnE9sc0o6AfKWkDJwFvwu9GeeYLH8wedisf3jRV0TrdINOwOwr_YhuD1a0LGhpsktz5J5HKEqeMR2vOMUaCb0xr9jit/s1600/Canadia+troll+is+a+fake.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="489" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNfUUVAwrLjFwjSD507tNEg7_Lp6P-_MpTVcOU_PhJDQ6LKuRZ9DnE9sc0o6AfKWkDJwFvwu9GeeYLH8wedisf3jRV0TrdINOwOwr_YhuD1a0LGhpsktz5J5HKEqeMR2vOMUaCb0xr9jit/s640/Canadia+troll+is+a+fake.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;"><br /></span></span><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;"><br /></span></span><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;">Eric is right to question Michael Kozlowski's journalist credentials. A look at Michael Kozlowski's CV shows that he has had no journalist training. He is not a journalist.</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjScoKKsKAneeghtYTnyj4HEqKk6husqMmNxPdVOoaDHKWhln2t-i9X3q1V82mr5kxAf5azZjGLa_N0Ogt4tZdFl3fvDyfvY3J1VNZUAHcdOtr7PvFb_z46P-rwLT3LpuX1-FnGJ3xOPnh-/s1600/Michael%2527s+CV.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="161" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjScoKKsKAneeghtYTnyj4HEqKk6husqMmNxPdVOoaDHKWhln2t-i9X3q1V82mr5kxAf5azZjGLa_N0Ogt4tZdFl3fvDyfvY3J1VNZUAHcdOtr7PvFb_z46P-rwLT3LpuX1-FnGJ3xOPnh-/s640/Michael%2527s+CV.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: Times; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;"><br /></span></span><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;">Professional journalists, when confronted with their mistakes, apologise and print a correction. Not </span></span><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;">Michael Kozlowski. I know this from experience because he published lies about me. He didn't apologise when I pointed out his errors, he just rewrote the article so that it contained even more lies. And he justified his lies by showing me the articles he'd stolen his copy from. I pointed out that those articles were inaccurate, but he didn't care. I doubt that Michael Kozlowski's career will prosper. We'll see.</span></span></div>
Stephen Leatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08179238880325952527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877088608610895252.post-69850001504116480662015-09-09T21:37:00.002-07:002015-09-10T02:41:06.876-07:00Great Affordable Covers On SaleMy pal Debbie at The Cover Collection is having a £30 sale at the moment, with a load of terrific pre-made covers on offer at a bargain price.<br />
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Here are just a few of the covers she is now selling for £30.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7TXqd_nAtM-B5fhotN2kDrdOqUOJybXojADJfWm1NRYj9FeWs5wgSIRTyavoHGhfwz6Mi1gyqGUdaFmEnGBwvBxtTliMrxrArOzsOTAiBw-IJ6JFreOuFlJ_LYZtqcwyFolTjVnE8NJ8/s1600/%25C2%25A330+covers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="561" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7TXqd_nAtM-B5fhotN2kDrdOqUOJybXojADJfWm1NRYj9FeWs5wgSIRTyavoHGhfwz6Mi1gyqGUdaFmEnGBwvBxtTliMrxrArOzsOTAiBw-IJ6JFreOuFlJ_LYZtqcwyFolTjVnE8NJ8/s640/%25C2%25A330+covers.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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I've used Debbie at lot in the past and IMHO she's one of the best book cover designers in the business. I used her for San Francisco Night and she has done the cover for New York Night, which I hope to publish in October.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeKkcnsG0oV5esB87OMyc_kZ3TS4eK0P2z9qtSRhBMF3O8wPqvsvQk2q62VXGte841P8U-fUTCejEtEVUBwDTEd8svEvnvHgY4FGQxNrCPvdOMTesfAq0Cf8X7f7bP8Yw1iOh0Gtkmy6o/s1600/nightingale+covers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="478" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeKkcnsG0oV5esB87OMyc_kZ3TS4eK0P2z9qtSRhBMF3O8wPqvsvQk2q62VXGte841P8U-fUTCejEtEVUBwDTEd8svEvnvHgY4FGQxNrCPvdOMTesfAq0Cf8X7f7bP8Yw1iOh0Gtkmy6o/s640/nightingale+covers.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Here are some of the many covers Debbie has done for me - and others - in the past.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVcizO_wzWOtDGRMEn3Hsqk11Y0TB2z3ApS1JKiE6mqR41wcXH5s8TqADxIEFcGVyAOXWoMu_73vOJfkVDwtVgfd4-OPi2Rd7bbnA5BZUn6ZV5mZMa5kpclkBcNU95PSFcu90B3JLomv0/s1600/DEbbie+covers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="612" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVcizO_wzWOtDGRMEn3Hsqk11Y0TB2z3ApS1JKiE6mqR41wcXH5s8TqADxIEFcGVyAOXWoMu_73vOJfkVDwtVgfd4-OPi2Rd7bbnA5BZUn6ZV5mZMa5kpclkBcNU95PSFcu90B3JLomv0/s640/DEbbie+covers.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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You can visit Debbie's pre-made cover sale by <a href="http://www.thecovercollection.com/premade-ebook-covers/sale" target="_blank">CLICKING HERE</a><br />
<br />Stephen Leatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08179238880325952527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877088608610895252.post-8237480578515083722015-03-26T01:19:00.000-07:002015-03-26T21:09:11.567-07:00Once Bitten On Sale for Just £1Amazon have slashed the price of my vampire book Once Bitten to just £1 for the Kindle. I'm not sure why or how long the promotion will last but that's the price at the moment!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHwpaDJjd4j7JPwVJDtdnQ8eEBiM_ljo0hPABtSxCIzeZ5aFpnDrnFuajS3dUppvIiiDBoeHkFrEG3WkBaZnOaZ9EXw0LwakfHAYzr2CRExuT2FGwBoT1f4ce-7e3Zv2OlhrvpKXcZgLg/s1600/Amazon+Once+Bitten+Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHwpaDJjd4j7JPwVJDtdnQ8eEBiM_ljo0hPABtSxCIzeZ5aFpnDrnFuajS3dUppvIiiDBoeHkFrEG3WkBaZnOaZ9EXw0LwakfHAYzr2CRExuT2FGwBoT1f4ce-7e3Zv2OlhrvpKXcZgLg/s1600/Amazon+Once+Bitten+Cover.jpg" height="460" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Once-Bitten-Stephen-Leather-ebook/dp/B005CKBEYY/%20%20Amazon%20have%20cut%20the%20price%20of%20Once%20Bitten,%20my%20vampire%20novel,%20to%20just%20%C2%A31.%20%20A%20bargain!" target="_blank">YOU CAN BUY ONCE BITTEN FOR THE KINDLE BY CLICKING HERE</a><br />
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In just a couple of days the promotion has made Once Bitten the top-selling Kindle book in the Zombies, Werewolves and Vampires category! (The number two is the Zombies Survival Manual, which is a fun book that I bought myself a few months ago. I love it!)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkfHGVTx9nJBsos9xsm-Eg6-gh0OB68L32NlkGB8Pup54YJ_HzP36sZAbfGqvW-GS8VUCCtqs3qEBPG5oopRmKoU2SkW06kxYY76PNqhTzkjLRwNOIXrQ4B0FDKuCxH8RXKIQrhyphenhyphenO9r3I/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-03-27+at+10.56.36.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkfHGVTx9nJBsos9xsm-Eg6-gh0OB68L32NlkGB8Pup54YJ_HzP36sZAbfGqvW-GS8VUCCtqs3qEBPG5oopRmKoU2SkW06kxYY76PNqhTzkjLRwNOIXrQ4B0FDKuCxH8RXKIQrhyphenhyphenO9r3I/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-03-27+at+10.56.36.png" height="290" width="640" /></a></div>
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Amazon recently did another price promotion for my New York thriller, The Basement. I'm never quite sure what it is they do to promote the price cuts but it always seems to work - The Basement shot up into the UK Top 100 despite the fact that it was first published as an eBook more than four years ago!<br />
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The Once Bitten promotion came out of the blue, but I am currently in the middle of another one-month long Amazon promotion that I was expecting. They contacted me a few weeks ago to see if I wanted to take part in a cut-price Kindle promotion featuring my book Spider Shepherd SAS - Volume 1.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTdn78WNukk79ATPFmNyKSF-NWkhcPRapeJijkz-MO-7DQ7aCNKl3dbx5KHv9amZZ5pCow75ZWHAPNFZ8IbvOtwYeJklS7Lu6uNLkpf_UjLLkiJQxxKapnzcoO-BflWMKWCBrMW9tSMIY/s1600/SASVol1Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTdn78WNukk79ATPFmNyKSF-NWkhcPRapeJijkz-MO-7DQ7aCNKl3dbx5KHv9amZZ5pCow75ZWHAPNFZ8IbvOtwYeJklS7Lu6uNLkpf_UjLLkiJQxxKapnzcoO-BflWMKWCBrMW9tSMIY/s1600/SASVol1Cover.jpg" height="640" width="426" /></a></div>
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The book is a collection of six of my Spider Shepherd SAS short stories, set back in the days when he was still a special forces trooper. <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Spider-Shepherd-SAS-Stephen-Leather-ebook/dp/B00QWGVDY8/" target="_blank">YOU CAN BUY IT BY CLICKING HERE</a><br />
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In my opinion you'd be crazy to turn down any offer Amazon makes to promote your work so I jumped at the chance. The book has been selling at £2.99 (which I think is a very fair price for 80,000 or so words). Under the Amazon deal, they cut the price to 99p. Now, the downside is I only get paid based on the 99p price rather than the regular price, but the upside is that Amazon will promote the book. They have now started doing that and I'm already seeing an upsurge in sales.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqXd5VhU1WKUKh0Y4HhJ_-dDz4b_-jKIjXQbEfNE8AaHzpWJuvqtRxWOrA5SZFnRoi7h7vXa073jfh1i7B87EdyGhUdQETv4mkW0b38m5CvdBFTVwDtjkF3AJgvpz9pKyAlgfewgGJ_CQ/s1600/spider+sas+sales.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqXd5VhU1WKUKh0Y4HhJ_-dDz4b_-jKIjXQbEfNE8AaHzpWJuvqtRxWOrA5SZFnRoi7h7vXa073jfh1i7B87EdyGhUdQETv4mkW0b38m5CvdBFTVwDtjkF3AJgvpz9pKyAlgfewgGJ_CQ/s1600/spider+sas+sales.jpg" height="362" width="640" /></a></div>
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Where I hope it will really help me is that there is a second volume of Spider Shepherd SAS short stories. If the promotion works, hopefully a lot of people who buy the first volume at 99p will return to buy the second at £2.99. I shall keep you posted!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV-EUP5t1vEVrReblKMPhyphenhyphen40a79egqGBnuK_FD49NfC_hGpP_l4b4XaLTmlFqDrScNRnRjN2ekYAKptQq26gvVJ2kiRn3HGedO1THV-SAt5kjL_oOpHu_jVsZq-V5TUQJTIDKQkPsmFyI/s1600/SASVol2Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV-EUP5t1vEVrReblKMPhyphenhyphen40a79egqGBnuK_FD49NfC_hGpP_l4b4XaLTmlFqDrScNRnRjN2ekYAKptQq26gvVJ2kiRn3HGedO1THV-SAt5kjL_oOpHu_jVsZq-V5TUQJTIDKQkPsmFyI/s1600/SASVol2Cover.jpg" height="640" width="426" /></a></div>
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Anyway, go Amazon. I'm a big fan. Obviously! But not everyone is, unfortunately. In fact some writers go out of their way not to publish with Amazon, which I really don't understand. Take Suw Charman-Anderson, for example. She touts herself as a self-publishing and social media guru but I find that most of what she says is absolute tosh.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEihyWsTWxSj5HNLb91FA8yzOmUIc3WHspvpXiZ2hwnCLlXnpfoYhaL9w44KdtiJM3yrmLVQlWUGuhJF5X7DJUtLvH0jvt5MMBaaVBf8kE0rg8Ohik5whujtOw1jOmmRwHG9YiwRyZy6c/s1600/images.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEihyWsTWxSj5HNLb91FA8yzOmUIc3WHspvpXiZ2hwnCLlXnpfoYhaL9w44KdtiJM3yrmLVQlWUGuhJF5X7DJUtLvH0jvt5MMBaaVBf8kE0rg8Ohik5whujtOw1jOmmRwHG9YiwRyZy6c/s1600/images.jpeg" height="640" width="637" /></a></div>
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She refuses to do business with Amazon, the biggest outlet for self-published books in the world. I sell more than 90 per cent of my self-published eBooks through Amazon. But Suw Charman-Anderson won't let them sell her work. That's nonsense and anyone who follows her lead would find their self-publishing career stalling before it even started to take off. This is what she said recently, and it's nonsense.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR1uR8mPcL5jxyaXcl-QQBg26CW2g8QGaI94I-BrzeRlodEVmCjd_LyQXNa-tmCc1mwws7RrReWSnxkvRkn_CCeRy8dihBQLzUJNdRKQyBYleV3zHnZl6NhvO_ppuGG5NxnKpS4bzLCg4/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-01-14+at+23.35.23.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR1uR8mPcL5jxyaXcl-QQBg26CW2g8QGaI94I-BrzeRlodEVmCjd_LyQXNa-tmCc1mwws7RrReWSnxkvRkn_CCeRy8dihBQLzUJNdRKQyBYleV3zHnZl6NhvO_ppuGG5NxnKpS4bzLCg4/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-01-14+at+23.35.23.png" height="154" width="640" /></a></div>
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In fact Suw Charman-Anderson's foray into self-publishing has been so disastrous she recently announced that she was giving up selling her books. You can read about that <a href="http://chocolateandvodka.com/2014/12/12/why-im-stopping-self-publishing/" target="_blank">BY CLICKING HERE</a>.<br />
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I'm not the only one who thinks that Suw Charman-Anderson's advice isn't up to scratch - <a href="http://www.bidinotto.com/2013/02/dumb-advice-from-forbes-to-indie-authors/" target="_blank">YOU CAN READ MORE ABOUT THAT HERE.</a><br />
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The simple fact is that anyone who is serious about self-publishing has to work with Amazon. You'd be crazy not to!<br />
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<br />Stephen Leatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08179238880325952527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877088608610895252.post-49355980435154256772015-03-24T05:12:00.000-07:002015-10-05T08:28:17.763-07:00Getting It Right The First TimeI'm about 50,000 words into a stand-alone terrorism thriller, set in London. I've just sent the first 40,000 words to my agent for a look-see.<br />
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If all goes to plan I'll have done another 40,000 words by the end of April and it'll be done. It's at this point a lot of writers would say - "and now the hard work begins."<br />
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Well, not me. Those 90,000 words will be pretty much as good as it gets. I might catch a few typos and grammatical slips and there are always a few errors of fact no matter how much effort I put into the research. But the story itself will be pretty much ready to go to the printers.<br />
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My 12th Spider Shepherd book - Black Ops - was four months in the writing. It's a complicated book with several major plot lines. I gave it to my editor and the notes he gave back to me were sorted in less than two days. I probably put in a total of eight hours work. It then went to a line editor and it took me a day - a good solid eight hours - to approve those changes, mainly grammatical. Then it was ready to go. You can buy it on pre-order <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1444736639/stephenleather/" target="_blank">BY CLICKING HERE</a><br />
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Don't get me wrong. It wasn't easy. It was hard work, though I enjoyed every moment. But I approached it professionally. I made every paragraph count. I planned out the plot twists. I was continually giving it to friends to read and comment. That's why that first draft was pretty much the way I wanted it. And that's how it's been for my last twenty books. I deliver a first draft that is very very close to the version that appears in print. And I'll let you into a secret - most successful writers work that way, at least the ones I know. Professional writers work hard to make sure that the first draft is as close to perfection as possible.<br />
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But more and more I'm seeing advice being given which is contrary to what I and every other professional writer knows. Just get it down on paper (even though they mean laptop most of the time) and deal with any problems later, they say. You should spend more time rewriting than you do writing, they say. It's a long, slow process turning that first draft into a publishable book, they say. Me, I don't agree. I don't think you can turn a sow's ear into a silk purse. Or to be slightly cruder - no matter how much you polish a turd, it's still going to be a turd.<br />
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Actually, the guys on Mythbusters did show that you can polish a turd, but I stand by my argument that it doesn't work for novels! <br />
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My view is that you need to work hard on that first draft and make it as close to perfect as you can. Other writers disagree. One writer who believes in rushing the first draft is a guy called <a href="http://www.tombale.net/" target="_blank">Tom Bale</a>. Actually that's not his real name, his real name is David Harrison. Not to be confused with DJ Harrison who is a successful self-publisher with titles such as Due Diligence, Proceeds Of Crime and Limited Liability featuring Detective Jenny Parker. <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/D.J.-Harrison/e/B00C0V1DZS/" target="_blank">YOU CAN SEE THOSE BOOKS HERE</a><br />
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David Harrison's first novel was published under this own name and it didn't do well at all so he tried under the name Tom Bale instead. Unfortunately things haven't gone much better under Tom Bale and he was recently dropped by his publisher, Random House. Why? Putting it bluntly, Tom Bale's books just didn't sell, And these days publishers aren't prepared to build an author, they're not prepared to invest the time or money in a writer who isn't making them a decent profit. Instead they cut their losses, which is what happened to Tom Bale and is also happening to an awful lot of mid-list authors.<br />
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Why didn't Tom Bale's books sell? I think it's a lot to do with the way he writes. He gave a recent interview where he explained how he goes about creating his books. <a href="https://victorialagnehag.wordpress.com/2015/03/10/author-interview-tom-bale/" target="_blank">YOU CAN READ THE TOM BALE INTERVIEW HERE</a><br />
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Tom Bale says he tries to write his first draft as quickly as possible -<br />
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That to me sounds like a rookie mistake. So does the fact that the rewriting takes longer than the original draft. Yes, blank screens can be daunting. But there's no point in filling it with rubbish. It's worth investing the time up front so that the first draft is almost as good as it gets. It doesn't have to be perfect, but the closer to perfection the better.<br />
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And it might well be less daunting to pull something apart and put it together again, but that's not how they build Rolls Royces, is it? Or skyscrapers. You make sure that the chassis or the foundations are perfect because if you build on a weak chassis or dodgy foundations, you're just storing up trouble for later. Use dentistry as an analogy. You need to cap a tooth and the first thing you do is deal with the root canal. If you don't do that properly and you put the cap over the dodgy root canal, you are heading for toothache down the line. You can't throw together a book on the basis that you'll fix it later. That's not how it works in industry and it's not how it works in the arts. DaVinci didn't finish the Mona Lisa and say to himself - that's a first draft I think I'll make her a blonde. And sculptors don't hack off a chunk of marble and then try to stick it back on. Professional writers edit as they write. If they write a paragraph that doesn't work, they rewrite it or delete it. I've often deleted half a day's work because I knew it wasn't right. If it's not right fix it then and there - don't leave it to be dealt with in a second or third draft.<br />
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In the same interview, Tom Bale says this -<br />
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Writing without any real outline is another rookie mistake. As is trusting your gut. Yes, you can trust your instincts when you are on your twentieth or thirtieth novel. But not when you are starting out. You might think your instincts won't let you down, but trust me, they will. To say that the unfolding of the plot is as exciting or you as the reader is a nice soundbite, but it's a recipe for disaster. And that's what's happened to Tom Bale - at the moment he has no publishing deal and he has had to find himself a new agent.<br />
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Tom Bale's lack of success doesn't stop him attacking other writers, though. Have a look at this where Tom Bale attacks bestseller Tony Parsons.<br />
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I've never understood writers who attack other writers in public - no one benefits. In Tom Bale's case it makes no sense because Tony Parsons has no idea who he is!<br />
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Writers who try to wing it are rarely successful. I've worked alongside a couple of authors who've told me that they prefer to make it up as they go along and that the book's plot will develop along the way. They talked the talk but really, they failed to walk the walk. Both would constantly write themselves into dead ends or write scenes that would meander and end up going nowhere. And they would end up writing lots of scenes of people arriving and leaving when really all they needed was the conversation that happened after they arrived and before they left.<br />
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Making it up as you go along doesn't work - unless you are totally confident in your craft. I can do it - just about - but I've written close to forty novels.<br />
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That doesn't mean you need to know every single thing that will happen before you sit down to write. But you need to have a good idea of the plot, and the characters. I always jot down details of the characters on individual cards. Then when I am writing a scene with several characters I keep their cards close at hand to remind me who is who. I don't work with full treatments, but most writers find them helpful, and some even go as far as writing out a chapter breakdown. That's a much safer way than sitting down and winging it. And don't listen to anyone who tells you that characters write themselves. They don't. They are your characters, you create them and they do what you tell them to. It's your book. You're the author.<br />
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It seems to me that the best guide to the quality of the advice you will get comes from the number of books the person has sold. Not the number of books they have written because there are plenty of awful authors who are churning out rubbish books in huge numbers. Look to see how many books they have sold. So look instead for advice from writers like Stephen King, Lee Child, Val McDermid and Jefferey Deaver, who sell in their millions. <br />
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If I was offering advice to a young writer, yes I would tell them to write every day. And to read the greats. Read and learn. Write and practise. Work on your craft, because that's what it is, a craft. But once you are writing books that you plan to sell, then you have to change the way you work. It's not good enough to write on the hoof, to let the characters go where they want, to sit down at the keyboard and just write whatever comes into your head. That's not how professionals work. And what you must never, ever, do is to get to the end of a first draft and say to yourself - and others - that now the hard work begins. You should have done all the hard work before you write THE END. Anyone who tells you otherwise is giving you bad advice.<br />
<br />Stephen Leatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08179238880325952527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877088608610895252.post-73698468396955132442015-02-21T21:00:00.002-08:002015-02-21T21:00:45.444-08:00How To Kickstart Your WritingYou hear a lot about writer's block and how it can stop a writer in his or her tracks. Me, I've never really been blocked. I've had problems getting the energy and enthusiasm to finish a book sometimes, but more often than not that's because the story just isn't working and subconsciously I know it. When that happens, the best thing to do, I find, is to start writing something else, even if it's just for a day or two.<br />
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What I find helpful is to have ideas on the back burner, stories that I am constantly thinking about but don't do any real work on. But when I find myself losing enthusiasm for the project in hand (which admittedly doesn't happen very often) then I have something to fall back on.<br />
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And a great way of keeping those fallback ideas in play is to get a cover and title lined up, ready to go. At any point in time I have a dozen or so titles and covers that will provide me with inspiration. Here's a few I have lined up for my Jack Nightingale supernatural detective series. Most of them cost very little, but I'm pretty sure any half-decent writer would be inspired by any or even all of them. Certainly if I got bogged down in my current project - a stand alone terrorism thriller set in London - then it's the easiest thing in the world to sit down and write a story to go with one of the following covers.<br />
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<br />Stephen Leatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08179238880325952527noreply@blogger.com0