Category Archives: Self-publishing

‘Candle in the Dark’

It’s an odd feeling revisiting a novel you wrote many years ago. But that’s what a writer has to do when preparing a book for digital conversion. It can be a painful process, because all the book’s faults leap out … Continue reading

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On to the next…

Six down, fourteen (I think) to go… And now for the historical novels: the seven romances and the seven middle-brow historicals. That’s ‘all’ I have left to scan, format, edit and find covers for, so as to convert them into … Continue reading

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Endless editing?

Not so long ago there was an interview in a Sunday paper with the crime-writer Ian Rankin. Asked how he knew when he’d got to the end of a novel he was writing, he said, ‘When I get to the … Continue reading

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Do we need publishers?

Self-publishing puts the author in the driving seat – so we were told at a very upbeat recent meeting of fellow writers. It’s true too. We writers no longer have to wait for a publisher to consider our books for … Continue reading

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‘Family Business’ – update: see footnote

I called it ‘contemporary fiction’. The way I saw it, anything happening within my lifetime was contemporary. Historical novels are set in the past, in Victorian times or earlier. Then I came to edit ‘Family Business’ prior to launching it … Continue reading

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Cover story

‘Never design your own cover.’ That’s the advice all the ‘experts’ give to writers struggling to get their books in the Kindle store. You need a good eye-catching design, so an amateurish job just won’t do. Paying for a design … Continue reading

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Changing world

I’d only ever written historical fiction before. But in 1994 a lot was happening in the Church of England, of which, as a vicar’s daughter, I’ve been an active member nearly all my life. Above all, it was the year … Continue reading

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Time to kindle…

Well, I’ve been and gone and done it… Got my latest novel uploaded to the Kindle store, that is, where it is offered at an irresistible (I hope!) introductory price. What’s more, I did it All By Myself. I’d written … Continue reading

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