Michael's Blog (195)

It’s April Fool’s day today and the beginning of a month where I have high hopes of getting my title, SHADOW OF THE WOLF into the spotlight. I intend putting it on the Kindle Select promotion for three days: 18/19/20. It will be free of course and I’m hoping to pick up some good reviews and, naturally, some sales after the promotion. It’s always a risk, giving away your books for free. If you get a high number, it means that readers have picked up your book for nothing and may not even…

It’s been quite a week, one way or another. It began with my birthday, which is always nice and seemed to get busier from then on. I’ve had little opportunity to write and find myself wondering if and when it will happen. The new jacket design for my novel, HELL’S GATE was submitted to Amazon and hopefully this will help to draw potential readers to the book. I have tried to attract book reviewers for my latest Amazon publication, SHDOW OF THE WOLF, but it is proving to be extremely…

It’s a special day today because it’s my birthday: 72 years old and (hopefully) still going strong. Birthdays are special to youngsters but the wonder disappears as you get older. Then as you reach the autumn of your years they become important again. Perhaps it means I’m like a kid because it’s my day today. We have some friends coming round this afternoon for a chat, a drink and to bring me a little gift. When we were younger our friends would probably have met me down the pub and we would…

Today is Monday and because it’s the beginning of the week it means different things to different people. In our household today it is a sad day because we are waiting for the vet to come to the house to put our lovely dog, Lucy, to sleep. Lucy is thirteen years old, an Alsatian Cross and a dearly loved pet. We found her in the garden of a holiday home where she had been dumped as a puppy. I brought her to the house and gave her a bath. I can remember how she looked, how she smelt and how…

It’s been quite a week since last Monday. We had four enquiries about the house. Two of those resulted in viewings: one lady from Hong Kong, and an English couple from Switzerland. The other two enquiries were by phone. The first viewing came fifteen minutes after the agent turned up at the gate asking if we would agree to his client having a look there and then. The second viewing was planned for Thursday, but while we were out shopping on the Wednesday, the agent rang to say he was at our…

The latest addition to my Amazon titles is SHADOW OF THE WOLF. This went on sale six days ago and should be available as a paperback within a few days. This is a World War Two story set off the north coast of Scotland on a small island called Cape Wrath. The island folk find themselves under the heel of the Nazi jackboot as Admiral Dönitz's naval storm troopers search for a missing U-boat captain and the secrets to Britain's centimetric radar. Learn more at…

Just had a weekend away from broadband, PC’s et al. We visited friends in Andalucia and had a pleasant time travelling around, looking in at the markets and visiting a delightful little spot called Villaricos on the coast. Even though I was nowhere near a PC, I still continued to write in my head. Do all writers do that? When my wife catches me daydreaming, she insists I am writing my next novel. She’s not far wrong; I’m usually sorting something out that I can use in my books.…

What makes a good, book reviewer? And why can some of them be so wantonly damaging? As a writer I know I should listen to the advice about book reviews: don’t read them! From time to time I sneak a look, and sometimes I am delighted with what I read, and sometimes I am disappointed. It serves me right for looking. But I believe that a book review can say more about the reviewer than the book itself. A professional reviewer (one hopes) will give an opinion about style, quality of the writing,…

Daily Deal at http//www.thebookawards.com HELL’S GATE. $0.99 & £0.77 Today only. Also on Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008N3MT6E/?tag. Historical Novel about British & German colonialism in British East Africa 1898. Political intrigue, slavery, romance and building a railway line across the Rift Valley.

My historical novel, set in British East Africa in 1898 will be on sale at $0.99 in USA and £0.75 in UK for one day only on February 15th. This is being promoted by http://www.thebookawards.com and is available through their store or on Amazon. Fans of Wilbur Smith would probably like this tale, which is about British & German colonialism, slavery, political intrigue, romance and a railway line. You can learn more…

My historical novel, HELL'S GATE will be the daily deal on www.thebookawards on February 15th. at a giveaway price of $0.99. This will be for one day only. It will be available on Amazon at the same price. For those of you who read authors like Wilbur Smith, you will find this is written in a similar style. You can learn more about the book at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008N3MT6E/?tag It is…

How did I miss posting last week? Perhaps I’m running out of things to say on my blog posts. But if I did that, then there would be no hope for me as a writer trying to contact his readers and anyone else who likes my work. So what have I been up to? Well, I finally completed my final read through of SHADOW OF THE WOLF. I increased the word length from 55,000 to a little over 60,000. This just scrapes in then as a novel. The final read through was done prior to copying it to a Createspace…

On the 15th. February my historical novel, HELL'S GATE will be a daily deal on www.thebookawards.com and will be available on Amazon.com and .co.uk at the low price of $0.99. The story is set in British East Africa in 1898, and is inspired by events that took place in that protectorate where British colonialism vied with Imperial Germany in the neighbouring protectorate to establish a foothold in Uganda. The story includes everything: romance,…

There was a link on Facebook yesterday to an article written by the best-selling, crime writer, Sue Grafton. She had caused a stir by accusing indie writers of being lazy. It seems she had to withdraw the accusation because of the reaction from the public. It made me wonder what must have been going through her mind when she said that, and would she have said that before she became a published writer. The old saying “struggling in a garret” comes to mind when I think of people like myself…

A good many indie writers like myself are struggling to sell their books and consequently build up a readership, which I believe is the key to establishing yourself as a writer. I received my public library statement last week, and it tells me that my books were loaned out about 4500 times. Some may say that this not a lot, but the previous year my loans figure was 6000. I know a large number of public libraries have closed in UK, which I think is so sad, but it’s an inevitable sign of the…