Greetings folks, today I’m giving you the opportunity to help me with some research I’m undertaking for future reference. As a new author, I have a vested interest in knowing what makes a reader decide to purchase and read a book by an author they haven’t heard of. That being the case, I have set up a poll so you can let me know which of the following five factors is most responsible for persuading you to risk reading a book by an author previously unknown to you.
As much as I hate asking for help with anything, sometimes it’s just unavoidable, so I have a minor request for whomever reads this post. If any of you guys are Facebook users, would you mind liking my author page the next time you log in. Apparently, it’s necessary for 25 people to like my page before I am are eligible for a custom URL. Under normal circumstances I would just wait for it to happen of its own accord, but I suspect I’d be waiting for Godot if I don’t issue this call for assistance.
It’s time for another update on my current work in progress. Unsurprisingly, last week was not as productive as the previous week, though surprisingly it wasn’t due to any of the usual suspects negatively impacting my freedom to write. The time I was able to devote my WIP wasn’t significantly less, but I only have a single chapter to show for it. What hindered my progress in the end were two time-consuming bumps in the road; the first was minor, therefore easy to resolve, while the second proved to be a major problem that took much longer for me to figure out.
Earlier this year something rather unusual happened to me; I had a 150,000 word unpublished story on my hands. Certain facets of this manuscript were different from every other story I had ever written in my life before, the most notable difference being that it was a finished novel. Prior to its completion, the only stories I had ever successfully completed were short stories and the occasional novella; all previous attempts at novel writing resulted in abandonment, usually because I unceremoniously tore up or deleted the offending work. It was also different in that it was the first story I had written with the explicit intention of having it read by persons other than myself. And perhaps the most unusual thing about the manuscript was fact the that I was actually happy with it, which shouldn’t have been possible; I am never satisfied with my own writing.
Last week was a surprisingly productive week for me with regard to my current work in progress. That being the case, I feel it is worth my while to provide an update of where I am, so far; even if only a handful of my (soon-to-be) legion of rabid fanboys and fangirls notice. For those of you now scratching your head wondering what I’m working on, you obviously missed (or didn’t pay attention to) my announcement in late June, in which I mentioned my decision to focus on writing a follow up to my debut novel, The Exercise Of Vital Powers, even though it was originally written as a stand-alone tale. While at this early stage of writing I hesitate to claim that significant progress was made on my “untitled sequel” last week, I certainly feel like I’m finally on a roll now, to the extent where I hope to have the first draft completed a full month sooner than expected.
Greetings folks, today it’s time for something a little different. No veiled attempts to get you to buy my book; no complaints about how much my life sucks; no insights into the craft of writing. Instead, having recently had the opportunity to conduct an interview with fellow indie author, Rebecca Howie, who is a mystery writer from Scotland, I am posting that interview below for your reading pleasure.
Rebecca self-published her debut novel, The Game Begins, last year, which made enough of a splash to make it up to 16th place on Amazon’s Teen and Young Adult Detective category within three months. She is currently preparing her second book, A Woman Scorned, for publication in the not too distant future.
Credit: Laura M. Hughes
I may have mentioned, once or twice, that my novel The Exercise Of Vital Powers is one of the 300 entrants in this year’s #SPFBO contest. For those of you who haven’t been paying attention, the contest officially got under way on the first of this month, with the initial round to be concluded in December. Now that we are more or less two weeks into the competition, I thought I’d give a little update on the progress so far.
After five consecutive days of intermittent hardware trouble and operating system problems, on top of the usual broadband connection issues with my ISP, I’ve decided to just take the hint. All the time I spend online could, frankly, be better utilised doing something much more productive; and as luck would have it, I’ve recently started working on my second novel in earnest, so it obviously makes sense to focus my energy on completing the first draft ASAP, rather than stressing about not being able to get online.
For those of you who are still undecided about taking a chance on my debut novel, The Exercise Of Vital Powers, this is advanced notice to let you know that the Kindle edition will be free to purchase from Amazon on Monday 26th June, so you will no longer have any excuse to continue to holding off getting your copy. If you are a Kindle Unlimited subscriber you can read it for free, right now, until 16th August 2017.
Having now made the commitment to fully pursue my nascent writing ambitions, I have recently been pondering what it is I most want to accomplish as an author. Following on from this, the one thought that has repeatedly come to the forefront of my mind is whether critical acclaim or commercial success is more important to me. I’m sure this thought crosses the mind of every aspiring author at some point before being published; maybe it is something even published authors think about, also. Ultimately, it is difficult to favour one over the other if you come to the conclusion that both options are equally desirable.
