Finding That Perfect Read

by CP Lesley

One advantage of the current publishing climate is that a reader has no shortage of books from which to choose. Free and low-cost books are everywhere, including through subscription services like Amazon.com’s Kindle Unlimited.

But finding a good book is not so easy. Reviews offer some insight, but many good books fail to attract reviews for various reasons. Book bloggers soon acquire more titles than they can ever have time to read, never mind write about.

Readers too soon become overwhelmed by demands on their time. And not all reviews are what they seem: ethical writers, including myself, refuse to pay for book reviews, but some desperate souls give way to temptation.

So what’s a reader to do?

One approach, adopted by more than a few GoodReads friends I know, is to limit oneself to commercially published books. There readers can trust that books have gone through editing, typesetting, and proofreading, received professional covers—and, yes, that any reviews they receive reflect the honest opinion of the reviewer. But trade books are expensive, at $9.99–$12.99 or more even for an e-book. For the average voracious reader, they represent at best a partial solution, although public libraries can help.

But that approach also ignores the many good books published outside the commercial houses. And commercial publishing is just that: books have to sell millions of copies in today’s market to make a trade publisher’s investment worthwhile. If your taste runs to more unconventional fare, you’re out of luck.

That’s where small presses and coop publishers (a variant on small presses) come in. A coop like Triskele Books or my own Five Directions Press exerts the quality control of a traditional publishing house but can charge less, especially for e-books, because the coop authors can break even at a much lower number of copies sold. No one guarantees that if you love one author’s gritty historical fantasy, you will love another’s sparkling contemporary romance, but you can count on each book having received extensive critique and suggestions for improvement followed by professional editing, typesetting, proofreading, e-book production, and cover design. We guarantee one another’s work.

We also cooperate to get the word out, which means that we publish quarterly newsletters featuring other authors and news about our forthcoming titles, regular lists of book recommendations—Triskele’s BookMuse,  Five Directions Press’s Books We Loved posts—and blog posts, many of which feature writers and/or their books. I host an interview channel, New Books in Historical Fiction,  where I interview other authors and read excerpts from their books. Another Five Directions Press author, Gabrielle Mathieu, does the same for fantasy and adventure novels.

So you see, there are tools out there to help you navigate the independent publishing ocean. Take a chance! You never know what magical island may be hiding right over that cloudy horizon.

C. P. Lesley is the author of seven novels, including Legends of the Five Directions (The Golden Lynx, The Winged Horse, The Swan Princess, and The Vermilion Bird), a historical fiction series set in 1530s Russia, during the childhood of Ivan the Terrible.

 

Find out more about CP Lesley on her website

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Why Read Short Stories by Vanessa Couchman

I’ve always been an avid reader of novels, but I first became aware of the short story as a different but equally inspiring form when a teacher read E.M. Forster’s The Machine Stops to our class. The story is set in a far-off but credible future. People depend on the now failing Machine to survive, but they have discarded their humanity somewhere along the line.

I was hooked. I read more of Forster’s stories and then sought out other authors who had written them. The list is long and distinguished: Edgar Allen Poe, Franz Kafka, Ernest Hemingway, Katharine Mansfield, Alice Munro and Helen Dunmore, to name a few in no particular order.

What was it that captivated me? I didn’t analyse it then but, having now written short stories myself, I can offer some thoughts.

A good short story sucks you in immediately, absorbs you and engages your emotions. It presents the main character with a dilemma that must be resolved by the end and tells you something about the human condition. A story can be particularly effective if it finishes with an unexpected twist.

Okay, but a novel does that too. Isn’t a short story an easy option?

Not in the least. I find short stories more difficult to write than novels, although they don’t require as much stamina! In a short story, every single word and your overriding premise have to count; in a novel you can elaborate and introduce more characters and ideas. You can afford to have weaker bits in a novel; you can’t in a short story.

Think of a novel as a treasure chest in which some of the jewels sparkle more than others. A short story is like a single gem that is cut and polished to perfection. 

 For readers, an advantage of a short story is that you can read it, or listen to it, at one sitting. They are perfect for relieving a tedious commute, taking your mind off work during a coffee break or whiling away an hour on a rainy day.

You can also try out other genres you might not normally read. For example, I don’t generally read sci-fi, but I’ve enjoyed short stories by John Wyndham and Ray Bradbury.

So, while the teetering TBR pile on my bedside table is largely composed of novels, short stories are usually lurking in there somewhere.

Vanessa Couchman is a British novelist and short story writer who has lived in Southwest France since 1997. She has written two novels, The House at Zaronza and The Corsican Widow, and is working on a third. Her short stories have been placed in competitions and published in anthologies. French Collection, her collection of short stories set in France, was published on 9th November.
 

London Launch - Our photo album

We had a fabulous launch at The English Restaurant in Spitalfields, London on Saturday 28th November. We had fizz, books, fizz, food, fizz and actors reading from the new releases!

Full details of the event can be seen on our press release:
https://literallypublicrelations.wordpress.com/2015/12/01/international-author-publisher-collective-triskele-books-wraps-up-another-wonderful-year-with-hugely-successful-launch-party-in-london/

We'd like to share some of our favourite photographs of the day with you.




Relaxed and ready to party!

Rohan Quine reads from Human Rites

Amanda Hodgkinson reads from The Better of Two Men

Piers Alexander reads from False Lights

Jill and her family looking fab in Triskele colours

Don't they look fabulous!

Say Cheese!

Liza & hubby Jean-Yves!

Jessica Bell reads from Blood Rose Angel

Kat, Amanda, Sheila, Jane

Gillian & Amanda



Kat and Jane welcome Jane Davis & Sheila Bugler


We are also very proud to have made the weekly pictorial round-up in the Bookseller!

http://www.thebookseller.com/news/pictures-week-317917

Narrator Paul Hodgson talks ACX and Audiobooks

In the second part of our series looking into audiobook options now available for authors via ACX, we talk to narrator, Paul Hodgson, who has recently done a superb job narrating the first of JD Smith's epic historical fiction novels - The Rise of Zenobia.

Hi, welcome to Triskele Books blog. I’d like to ask first a little about your background and how you became a professional narrator?

I trained as an actor at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama – not that I’m Welsh, they were the only ones who’d have me – and worked professionally in theatre, TV and radio in London for a while before moving on to a writing career. On moving to the US (I married an American in the meantime) I returned to acting and founded a professional company, the Everyman Repertory Theatre, in Camden, on the coast of Maine in the far North East of the country, at the same time as holding down a full-time writing position. When I got fired from that – who needs journalists any more – the consequent drop in income precipitated me into doing what people have been telling me I should be doing for a long time – reading audiobooks. I started with a mammoth 22 hour commission of Alec Waugh’s The Balliols – a much better book than anything Evelyn ever wrote, and just continued from there.

What do you enjoy about narrating novels?

I love the preparation, research and character work. I’ve always spent a lot of time mastering accents – the Maine accent is a tough one and I’d only ever do it among friends or out of the state – and voices, especially when reading to my kids when they were growing up that it is that piece I enjoy the most. It’s like any performance, acting isn’t about pretending, it’s about making it real. Finding the emotion inside you that already exists and using it for the narration.

Obviously, with the creation of ACX there’s now more focus and opportunity for indie-authors to get involved in audiobooks, how do you see this change in the process affecting the market?

It seems to me that any change that opens up the market is a good change. The “mainstream” publishing business is a tough one, but people still really enjoy reading and listening to books so the demand is much wider than the mainstream business recognises.

When you’re searching for a new project, or considering author approaches, do you look at whether they are indie or traditionally published and would this affect your decision?

I’m just looking for a great story with cracking dialect.

What do you look for in a book to narrate?

 See above!

Do you think audiobooks will become more popular, and so more profitable with easier access to services like ACX?

I do. ACX is a great system for marrying authors with narrators. Most of my books so far have been direct commissions from Audible, but that’s a one-time fee, however successful the book is. I’d far rather share in the book’s success. That way I care more about how it’s doing.

What do you think makes a successful relationship between author and narrator?

Communication, communication, communication. Of course, if the author loves everything you’re doing, the communication piece is less important, but if there are issues then it is essential.

As an author, I’ve found the whole experience of working with yourself via ACX stress-free and enjoyable. How have you found working within the new service via ACX?

Without my studio and my proof/editor it would have been incredibly stressful, but fortunately they know what they are doing and I can just sit and read. Working with you has been a breeze and a pleasure. Don’t forget I’m an actor, a little praise goes a long way. As Laurence Olivier said in answer to Dustin Hoffman when he asked him why actors did what they did: “Look at me! Look at me! Look at me! Look at me! Look at me…!”

OK, we’re not that bad.


The Rise of Zenobia is available via Audible

ISIS at the gates of ancient Syrian city Palmyra - can Syria preserve the World Heritage site?

by JD Smith, author of The Rise of Zenobia

With the conflict in Syria, Palmyra is not a place I’ve ever managed to visit, despite having spent years writing about the city. Today, Jihadists from the Islamic State Militants are just over a mile from the Unesco World Heritage site at Palmyra and fears are mounting that they will destroy the monumental ruins.

Palmyra dates back to the first century AD, and is most famous for its infamous Queen Zenobia who in the third century led one of the greatest, most threatening rebellions the Roman Empire ever faced. This is the part of history which captured my imagination and led to years of writing the story of the rise and fall of the beautiful city and determined queen …

Buildings sparkled, towering and elegant, marble paved the streets and fountains threw up streams of water. Locals bustled about their business. Gowns draped women, embroidered and woven with threads of gold and silver, sewn with rare stones, and men wore colourful robes or leather armour, carrying shields and spears and swords. Deep scars marked olive skin, and on their arms warrior bands were found. The raucous noise of the busy city deafened. Not unpleasant, but an exciting, pounding rhythm of a prosperous city. I stepped cautiously, for everywhere seemed so fresh and clean and delicate.

Market traders pulled their wares from the path of elephants, camels and horses. Stalls packed every space. I thought many things a rarity, but found them now in abundance. Silks hung from racks: blues, greens, yellows, reds, golds; every colour in between. Bottles of coloured oils and potions swung from wooden pegs, clinking, swaying, jostling to the city rhythm. Ginger, poppy seeds, aniseed, coriander, cumin, fennel, pulse, cloves, bay leaf, Indian spikenard, costly saffron shouted as being for sale, their names spoken for all to hear, yet I smelled them, rich aromas and head-dulling scents of the east.

(The Rise of Zenobia)

Palmyra was a vital caravan city on the eastern trade route. It was taken under Roman control in the mid-first century but, despite this, its people were of mixed Aramaic and Arabic stock, and the language used a form of Palmyrene: a mixture of Middle Eastern Aramaic and Greek.

According to the BBC, ISIS are attacking the nearby town of Tadmur after making an advance across the Syrian desert. Syria's director of antiquities, Maamoun Abdul Karim said he believed Palmyra would end up destroyed, like other ancient sites in Northern Iraq.

He said: "If Daesh [ISIS] enters Palmyra, it will spell its destruction.

"If the ancient city falls, it will be an international catastrophe.

"It will be a repetition of the barbarism and savagery which we saw in Nimrud, Hatra and Mosul." 

In March, ISIS members in Iraq razed 3,000-year old Nimrud and bulldozed 2,000-year old Hatra - both UNESCO world heritage sites. 

The ISIS interpretation of Sharia law sees ancient sites as being idolatrous and sinful.

And this for me is the most ludicrous of views, quite clearly an excuse to cause more unrest, destroying what can never be remade. As if taking lives were not enough the past must also be extinguished. There was a time when Palmyra was at its greatest, an ancient city on a prosperous caravan route, the people living in harmony and many religions mixing happily with one another. Sadly religion seems so often to be an excuse for our actions, rather than a guide as to how to behave in order to live life to the full and in harmony with one another.

I am a preservationist at heart. I cannot bear to see the past slip and slide away from us in any medium. I want to hold it, treasure it and live in it. I am a member of the British National Trust, a restorer of an 18^th century English School House, a collector of the old and the wonderful, and a writer who aims to capture in words deeds and actions and places now eroded by time.

I only hope mine and the words of others, photographs and footage, are not the only remains of the desert city. I hope to one day visit the place I have spent so long imagining, and see it in the glory in which it stands at this very moment as I type. I want to see it as L. Double, author of Les Cesars de Palmyre (1877) once did …

When, after a wearisome day of marching across the Syrian desert, the long caravans descry, in the pale clarity of the stars, the uniform horizon become a serrated line of uneven colonnades, of broken walls, of half collapsed palace facades; when the sand seems at last to disappear, not beneath the verdure of an oasis but beneath an accumulation of marbles and worked stones, silence falls among the travellers, even the calling cameleers cease from their marching songs, and there is nothing to be heard but the sand which cries beneath our feet, and the wind which moans afar among the ruins, and the lugubrious plaint of a hungry jackal; it is then that a man, even the lease civilised, feels himself to be small and, despite himself, meditates on the presence of that mighty ruin as on a mighty sorrow.

In short, I want to stand in the beautiful ruins of Palmyra as I once stood in the Coliseum in Rome and remember Queen Zenobia and the times in which she lived.

JD Smith, is the author of Tristan and Iseult, The Rise of Zenobia and The Fate of an Emperor, editor of Words with JAM and Bookmuse, and the mother of three mischievous boys. 

The Rise of Zenobia is available in ebook, paperback and audio. For more information visit: www.jdsmith-author.co.uk/the-rise-of-zenobia

DIY LitFests

by Debbie Young

On World Book Night, Thursday 23rd April, a new kind of literature festival placed indie authors centre stage in an old Gloucestershire village inn. 

I founded the Hawkesbury Upton Literature Festival (http://www.hulitfest.com) for many reasons: to share my love of books and reading, to provide a literary festival accessible to a rural community, to benefit local businesses, to promote libraries and bookshops, and to showcase indie authors in a festival setting.

Guests at the first Hawkesbury Upton LitFest

Most important of all is to encourage adults to read books. Shockingly, an estimated 30% of adults never read books, despite proven benefits of regular leisure reading: greater academic and career success, stronger relationships, better social skills, and a greater sense of personal happiness.

To help erode that figure, for the last four years I’ve volunteered for World Book Night, giving free books to reluctant adult readers, but I wanted to do more. The place where I felt I could make the most difference was in the village where I’ve lived for nearly 25 years.

The festival originated from a low-key plan simply to raise the profile of World Book Night in the village. Encouraged by the staff of local bookshops and libraries, which I constantly promote on the “use ‘em or lose ‘em” principle, I aimed higher.

Weary of celebrity-focused litfests affordable only by the middle classes, I pledged that our event would be free, echoing World Book Night’s ethos. Consequently, I had no budget! Tentatively I invited indie author friends to take part without remuneration. Nearly 20 volunteered, eager for the opportunity to “cut their festival teeth”, as one of them put it. The Fox Inn’s landlords, recognising the potential business benefits of a festival bringing outside money to the village, were full of helpful ideas.

Orna Ross, Katie Fforde & Debbie Young

Sorting out secondhand books for the village shop, where we sell them to raise funds for the village school library, I chanced upon Katie Fforde’s Love Letters, a novel about a woman who starts a literary festival in a rural community. It was clearly meant to be that she would launch the event, and she generously accepted my invitation. My friend Caroline Sanderson of The Bookseller, an advocate of indie authors, also agreed to come, as did Orna Ross, ALLi’s founder.

This high-profile triumvirate adds credibility, but the event’s focus is on readers, not authors. Provocative themes should interest even reluctant readers, eg “How many words does a story really need?”, “How do you like your fiction - contemporary or historical?”, “Poetry - sublime or ridiculous?”

A sprinkling of other features will break the ice: an exhibition by local illustrators and literary calligraphy as a backdrop to informal readings in the bar. We’re now hoping to make it an annual event and a model for other communities. Already it’s inspired a village in Crete to start its own festival.

PS: After the event:

In the run-up to the Festival, I was oscillating from worrying that no-one would turn up to fearing we'd be inundated and no-one would be able to get in. On the day, we hit the perfect balance - over 100 guests, which meant standing room only in the Function Room where the discussion panels were running, plus plenty of people happy to attend the programme of readings. I was bowled over by how well it all seemed to go, and ever since, I haven't been able to venture out into the village without someone coming up to tell me how much they enjoyed the event. One particular interesting piece of feedback was this: "I really enjoyed discovering authors that I hadn't heard of before". The authors, too, who so generously gave their time free of charge, went away buzzing with enthusiasm, and I'm now starting to compile an anthology of their work, to continue to raise their profile before the local audience, and to sell to help us fund the 2016 Festival. Because, yes, by the end of the evening, we had already decided to turn it into an annual event, which will run on a Saturday, during the day, to enable us also to offer children's events. In the meantime, we've been given a free stall at the Hawkesbury Horticultural Show in August (the biggest social event of the village calendar) at which we'll hold a pop-up mini litfest, selling the anthology, promoting the 2016 event, and offering participating authors another opportunity to stage readings before a live and receptive audience. I couldn't be happier with the outcome, and am already dreaming up new events to make the 2016 HULitFest bigger and better.

Hawkesbury Show website: http://www.hawkesburyshow.org

Images courtesy of Clint Randall at www.pixelphotography.co.uk

Debbie Young writes short stories and flash fiction, as well as non-fiction on various topics. She is also the Commissioning editor for SelfPublishingAdvice.org, the blog for the Alliance of Independent Authors. She’s also the co-author of Opening up to Indie Authors http://authordebbieyoung.com/

IAF15 - Tips for Writing Romance

By Sandy Osborne

Fantasy v Reality: Following the demand for the ‘Vampire sagas’ of the last few years, publishers are now on the lookout for good women’s contemporary fiction and romance. Hurrah! There’s a fine line between fantasy and reality when it comes to writing romance fiction. Whilst we want to be transported into a perfect world, a reader still wants it to be achievable – and believe that it could happen to them! Being constantly plied with expensive gifts and holidays would be very acceptable in that perfect world where money is no obstacle but maybe being whisked away for a rare mini break in New York is something we could all see ourselves doing (well, I can dream too!).



Timelines: As readers ourselves we are critical of plot blunders so it is essential to adhere to timelines. Make a note of the month or at least season of each chapter so that your storyline flows naturally for your reader. When writing my Girl Cop romances I kept a calendar of the year or years the novels were set in, pinned up beside my desk so that I could see what days the weekends fell on as well other significant dates like Easter/bank holidays etc. Good old Google can tell you whether the date you chose for your protagonists wedding falls on the same date as a national event or an international disaster that might make your reader balk.

Atmosphere: In trying to create the right atmosphere for a romantic scene, I would recommend visiting the place (if it is a real location) or a similar place to the one you are describing and just take in the finer details so you can allow your reader to be there with you. Looking around you will notice so much you can add to make your writing more ‘visual’. Visiting at different times of the day or in different weathers can help to portray for example how the subdued lighting reflects off the pavement glazed with fresh rain. And back to my subject of reality, don’t necessarily make the rain add to the romance with your heroine’s make-up remaining perfect – allow your reader to identify with her and make her worry her hair will frizz!

Audible accompaniment: A romantic tale is tricky to tell without the assistance of the mention of music. But a few warnings here – check the copyright status. You can generally use titles but the use of lyrics is restricted. And of course make sure the song was released at the time of your tale. The song––especially as it is likely to be a romantic/love song––will mean something to someone out there who can date it in an instant. Though don’t get too hung up about it, as it is a work of romantic fiction after all.

Suspense: Just as with Bridget Jones’s Mr Darcy, it should be the romantic novelists’ goal to achieve that air of suspense of ‘will they won’t they’ and to share the heroine’s heartache and yearning to be with her love interest. The path to true love is never smooth and introducing a few barriers and stumbling blocks along the way can keep your readers turning the pages to see how it will all come full circle. Because we all love a happy ending!


Sandy Osborne is a serving Police Officer who has self published her two novels with SilverWood Books. Sandy’s writing started after an unflattering picture of her running a charity half marathon was printed in her local paper and she felt compelled to respond with an amusing account of her training programme. She now shares her knowledge and tips for self publishing success with a diary of speaker events at Literature Festivals and with writing groups. A percentage from the sales from Girl Cop the life and loves of an officer on the beat and Girl Cop in Trouble is donated to The Police Dependants’ Trust and St Peter’s Hospice.

http://sandyosborne.com/
Twitter @Girlcopnovel

IAF15: Genres Busting Out All Over

By Linda Gillard

Rave rejections. That’s what authors call them. Publishers say, “We all loved it, but it just won’t sell.” Translation: “We wouldn’t know how to market it.” Books that belong to no clear genre or to more than one, are (it’s said) difficult to market and for something to sell (it’s said), it has to be marketed. Publicity budgets and marketing departments are organised around this commercial fact of life.

Some years ago I parted company with my publisher over my fourth novel, HOUSE OF SILENCE. My editor claimed if I didn’t re-write it as a romance, they wouldn’t know how to market it. It was a country house mystery/gothic rom-com/psychological family drama, so I could see their point. But I thought it was a rattling good yarn as it stood, so I withdrew the manuscript, thereby committing professional suicide because every other editor delivered the same verdict: HOUSE OF SILENCE was unmarketable.

After two years of rave rejections, I published it myself in 2011. It became a Kindle bestseller. I’ve sold more than 56,000 downloads (it’s never been free) and over 800 paperbacks.

Marketing? I don’t have a clue. (Neither do publishers, as overflowing remainder bookshops will attest.) My marketing budget was spent on a professional cover. I actually promoted HOUSE OF SILENCE as a mixed-genre novel and my teaser blurb ended: “REBECCA meets COLD COMFORT FARM.” Possibly my smartest move was putting my backlist and two more new novels on Kindle and Smashwords as soon as HOUSE OF SILENCE began to sell.

I dealt with mixed-genre marketing problems by ignoring them, refusing to believe selling fiction is all about genre. It isn’t. It’s about story. Time and again, readers tell me they don’t care about genre. It’s all about the story, the characters and the authorial voice.

I had to promote my stories (and myself) because I don’t write genre fiction. It worked because readers are looking for authors to fall in love with and when they find one, they read everything s/he’s written. My novels range from psychological literary fiction to paranormal romance, but someone reviewed me on Amazon recently saying she’d read all seven books in two months. That’s someone buying a voice, not a genre.

Traditional publishers see themselves as gatekeepers, vetting the content and quality of what we read. What authors always knew (but readers didn’t) was that the gates were mostly kept shut. Only certain types of book got through - increasingly, the type supermarkets prefer to sell, with does-what-it-says-on-the-tin covers. Pioneering indie authors took creative risks and discovered readers are far more adventurous than publishers give them credit for. With the subsequent proliferation of genres, sub-genres and creative inter-breeding, boundaries have become gloriously blurred.

So it’s a brave new book world now. Whatever you want to read – gay nautical historical fiction, steampunk erotica, Roman romance with male or even female gladiators – someone is writing it and, thanks to indie authors, someone is publishing it. All kinds of books for all kinds of readers. Isn’t that just what we always wanted?



Linda Gillard lives in the Scottish Highlands. She is the author of seven novels, including STAR GAZING, short-listed in 2009 for Romantic Novel of the Year and HOUSE OF SILENCE, selected by Amazon UK as one of their Top Ten "Best of 2011" in the Indie Author category.

www.lindagillard.co.uk

IAF15 : Genre Bender

By Rohan Quine

The genre labels assigned to a novel reflect its content, but they are also perpetrations of marketing. Behind that front cover, complexity can be a rich asset; but in marketing, it is more of a liability, because this is a realm of clear, simple categories. Which must explain why I took the cunning step of writing what is best categorised as “Literary Fiction with a touch of Magical Realism and a dusting of Horror”. A smooth move, marketing-wise, I think you’ll agree…

The three categories in that phrase are intrinsic to the five tales of mine that are published so far, but their basic DNA is Literary Fiction. These categories were applied only after the books were completed, however: the writing of them was guided only from within, where they felt simply unified in themselves, sitting in the middle of their own coherent world. Each story just grew into itself, dragging me along, with overpowering visuals as well as powerful verbal rhythms throughout; then once it was written, it jumped into the brand-new business of being its finished self, and remained there. I once overheard someone ask “What is that plant there – or is it a weed?” as they peered at an unidentified green thing, and I imagined the plant piping up in reply, “What are you talking about? I’m just me, growing here happily, thank you!”

So what are they doing, then, these five little monsters? The only reply I can give is that I’m aiming to push imagination towards its extremes, as best I can, in order to explore and illuminate the beauty, horror and mirth of this predicament called life, where we seem to have been dropped without sufficient consultation ahead of time. All five were written as a celebration of the darkest and brightest possibilities of human personality and language, as far as I’m able to see down those avenues. They are often humorous, in the context of a lot of fucked-up darkness and complexity, because to me these ingredients taste like salient flavours in the dubious-looking cocktail that life will keep on pushing towards us across this cosmic cocktail-bar, whatever different drink we actually placed an order for. Though often focused on the darker aspects of our existence, all five also seek ways of our transcending those aspects with emotional and aesthetic honesty, love, and a healthy dose of mirth along the way.

I respect the reader’s sophisticated ability to take on the most subtle and complex fireworks this rich English language of ours wants to explode at us; but I’ve aimed to make all five as accessible and entertaining as possible too, provided they’re read with a degree of focus. And if they are read with that, I guarantee this investment by the reader will be repaid with double-digit interest, even in a tough economy.

Within the wider commercial marketplace I’m aware that a cross-genre LitFic endeavour like the above is a strangely non-commercial one for anybody to embark on; but those of us who are nonetheless barmy enough to embark seriously on such a thing are doing so, of course, out of a very deep love and respect for the endeavour. If the content or voice in those five tales had been guided by genre/marketing expectations, then I reckon the process would have felt wrong. For me there was a lot more joy to be found in being steered and challenged from within the tales themselves. After all, writing may as well be as joyful as possible, we hope! Otherwise, let’s face it, there are plenty more sensible things to be doing instead.




As an added extra, here's Rohan and Dan on protecting artistic diversity.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=20&v=mn-WGCy6pv8


Rohan Quine is an author of literary fiction with a touch of magical realism and a dusting of horror, celebrating the darkest and brightest possibilities of human imagination and personality: The Imagination Thief, The Platinum Raven, The Host in the Attic, Apricot Eyes and Hallucination in Hong Kong. www.rohanquine.com @RohanQuine

IAF15: Crime Writing – The Poor Man’s Literary Fiction?

By Gillian Hamer

Quote: "There are still people who look down on the crime novel. No crime writer has won the Man Booker Prize. For many, despite the example of PD James and Ruth Rendell, crime fiction is still seen as genre fiction, and therefore inferior to the straight novel."

I read the above quote recently, which as a lifelong devotee of crime fiction – reader as well as writer – sent me off into a red-misted tail spin.

Really? I mean, really?

In this day and age of political correctness, where even your average politician is scared to address his own shadow incorrectly … are there readers out there who think no matter how popular, how best-selling, how brilliant a novel may be … if it’s classed as genre then it’s deemed inferior?

Personally, I don’t think so. I’m not sure your average reader really cares. BUT there are, I believe, a whole generation of ‘experts’ and ‘reviewers’ who do hold those values.

I’ve never understood the whole genre -v-literary debate (but then I am a bit dim) so I have asked other writers’ opinions also. And it appears very few of them understand it either. So, I am going to take on the baton and defend the wonderful genre that is crime.

Crime writers have a distinct advantage over authors of straight or literary novels. Simply, we are not restricted by barriers. We can write about any level of society, any class, religion or creed without fear, whereas the modern literary novelist has tighter confines, tending to deal with only a single layer of society in order to maintain realism. But crime permeates society, from top to bottom, and winds a spiders’ web of connections between those layers. From MPs and Bishops, to illegal immigrants and prostitutes, crime novels introduce the writer (and reader) to a cross-section of lifestyles and experiences. It offers the opportunity to delve into dark pasts of even the grandest, most saintly of characters and discover the secrets and shadows of the present day.

Crime writing offers such freedom it’s no wonder authors from Dickens (because surely Oliver Twist can be classified as a crime novel) to JK Rowling (who swapped wizards for Private Investigators in her Robert Galbraith novels) turn to crime – in the literary sense!

And if you want to take a deeper look at crime fiction, take a look at writers like Ian Rankin and Val McDermid whose novels are both addictive and disturbing, but also pose difficult questions about law and order. ‘Who will guard the guards?’ they ask. Police, guardians of our society, are only human, susceptible to temptations presented to them, and who may have closer allegiances to the criminals then to those whose duty it is to protect.

So, if you are a reader who agrees with any part of my opening quotation, think again. Because crime is the new black … and it’s coming to get you!



Born in the industrial Midlands, Gillian's heart has always yearned for the wilds of North Wales and the pull of the ocean. The Charter, Closure, Complicit and Crimson Shore are all set around the dramatic coastline of Anglesey and North Wales. www.gillianhamer.com

IAF15: ALLi around the World - Indies in India

By Rasana Atreya


In 2012 the manuscript of my novel, Tell A Thousand Lies, was shortlisted for the Tibor-Jones South Asia prize. Subsequently, I declined a traditional publishing contract and self-published.

In February of 2014, when Amazon started operations in India, they flew me to New Delhi to be part of the launch. I’ve also been interviewed extensively by the mainstream media on self-publishing. But this same mainstream media will not review self-published novels.

I’m visible, but my books aren’t. Not in the mainstream media, anyway.

India has largely stayed away from dedicated e-readers. Affordability isn’t the issue here because iPhones and iPads very popular with the English-speaking middleclass.

All is not lost, however. We might not be buying e-readers, but we are buying e-books. On smartphones and tablets. Keep in mind that India is the second largest market in the world for smartphones. There are 250 million English speakers by some estimates, so the potential for e-books is huge.

Despite the popularity of iPads etc., Apple doesn’t have an iBook store for India. But, until six months ago, self-published authors could not get on Flipkart – India’s largest e-retailer – either. Then Smashwords came along and inked a distribution deal with Flipkart.

There still are problems, of course. There is no territorial pricing on smashwords, unlike on Amazon.
On Amazon.in Tell A Thousand Lies is priced a comfortable Rs. 99. But on Flipkart, the price is a ridiculous Rs. 313 ($4.99). Ridiculous, because homegrown best-selling authors are selling their paperbacks for as low as Rs. 149. Their books are priced to move, and they make their money on volume.

My biggest problem, as an Indie, has been access to brick-and-mortar bookstores. I do a lot of sessions on self-publishing but have never had paper books available for sale at the venue because my CreateSpace books (priced in dollars) are too expensive for the Indian market.

Which is why I am particularly excited that Read Out Loud (http://www.readoutloud.in), the audiobook producer for my novella, The Temple Is Not My Father, is offering now pan-India distribution to bookstores (including train stations and airports) in return for paperback distribution rights. The author will continue to own all other rights. They are also setting me up with a good quality, reasonably priced printer. I am considering signing up Tell A Thousand Lies.

In an effort to boost visibility for self-published books, I’m hosting the India Readathon (http://theindiareadathon.weebly.com) from April 15 to June 15. Readers and bloggers (from any part of the world) are invited to connect with authors of self-published books. I hope to make this an annual event. Feel free to signup if your book is set in the Indian subcontinent (which includes India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Burma and the Maldives). Your nationality will not be held against you!


Rasana Atreya is the author of the Amazon bestseller Tell A Thousand Lies and The Temple Is Not My Father (also available as an audiobook) and 28 Years A Bachelor. She’s mother to a girl and a boy who were respectively six and eleven years-old when they wrote and illustrated The Mosquito and the Teapot. She lives with her husband and children in Hyderabad, India, where a lot of her stories are set. She blogs at http://rasanaatreya.wordpress.com.

IAF15 - 7 Sword-Swirling Suggestions for Historical Fiction

By Liza Perrat

 

Fiction First, Historical Fiction Second

Very few historical fiction authors hold university degrees in history. Writers of historical fiction are, first and foremost, novelists who must master the craft of fiction, as any other novelist. Learning how to write a good story that hooks readers, then keeps them turning the pages is as vital as getting the historical details right. Yet if they are not spot on, the HF author risks drowning in his own moat.

Research

Old diaries, letters and public archives abound with authentic information, but these days, with its treasure chest of maps, images, videos, and historical documents, the internet is the researcher’s best buddy. Our friendly worldwide web, however, is also rife with errors.

Beware Flawed Information

Check “facts”, where possible, against other sources, but just because you’ve done your homework, don’t give your reader a history lesson, or put him to sleep with these interesting titbits.

Integrate Historical Facts

Action and dialogue can evoke historical facts, as can characters eating from bread trenchers, wrinkling their nose at a tallow candle, or waltzing off to the privy with a wad of moss for toilet paper. (Never believed that one!) Despite quadruple-checking your facts, hiring endless copy editors and critiquers, some mistakes are still bound to slip through. And Ms Diligent HF reader will spot them.

Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff

Readers might tell you the coin you mentioned in February was not actually minted till July of that year. They will point out that the word “miscarriage” was not used in 1348. Thank them kindly, and move on.

Build a Setting

I find nothing more inspiring than spending time in the place where my story is set, trying to imagine how it looked, felt and smelled, in the past. Even if your story takes place centuries ago, evoking the spirit of a place––the trees and flowers, the seasonal light, the scents –– pulls readers in.

A walk around my rural French village gave me the idea and setting for my novel, Spirit of Lost Angels. On the banks of the Garon River I came upon a stone cross engraved with a heart shape. Dated 1717, it commemorates two children who drowned in the river. Who were they? How did they drown? I had to write their story –– to give them an identity, and a village.

Historical monuments and buildings also evoke the past and I like to study them and take lots of photos (preferably minus tourists). For my novel, Wolfsangel, I visited the haunting memorial of Oradour-sur-Glane, on which the story is based.

The Rise of Historical Fiction

Historical fiction has become a hot genre in recent years, with many historical novels featuring on bestseller lists, and winning major literary awards. Margaret Atwood’s The Blind Assassin and Peter Carey’s True History of the Kelly Gang, won the 2000 and 2001 Booker Prize, respectively. The success of adaptations illustrates this rising interest – films such as Gladiator, Titanic and Braveheart, and TV series like The Tudors and Wolf Hall.



Liza Perrat grew up in Australia, working as a general nurse and midwife. She has now been living in France for twenty years, where she works as a part-time medical translator and a novelist. She is a co-founder and member of the author collective, Triskele Books and a book reviewer for Bookmuse. Liza is the author of the historical Spirit of Lost Angels set in 18th century revolutionary France, and Wolfsangel set during the WW2 Nazi Occupation of France. She is currently working on her third novel –– Midwife Héloïse – Blood Rose Angel –– set during the 14th century Black Plague years. Find out more: www.lizaperrat.com

IAF 15 - Self-Publishing and Marketing Children's Books

One self-published children’s author shares seven key tips for success. By Karen Inglis

“Know your audience – and be ready to go and meet them.”

Know what age group you’re targeting

Be clear what age group your book is aimed at. This affects not just the storyline and age of the main characters (kids prefer them to be at least their own age and ideally a bit older) but also the length and format – right down to font style and size! Visit your local bookshop or library to see what the latest books for your target age group look and feel like. Read as many as you can.

Use children’s editors and beta readers

Try to find a couple of bookworm children to give you feedback on your draft – ideally children you don’t know. Kids are notoriously honest! Once you’ve honed your manuscript, hire an experienced children’s editor. This is crucial if you want to produce a professional and marketable book. In the UK I would recommend the Writers’ Advice Centre for Children’s Books (writersadvice.co.uk) – otherwise ask other children’s authors, check ALLi’s database, or try SCBWI (Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators).

Understand your print options

Most of your sales will be face to face at school events or bookshop signings. I recommend combining CreateSpace (CS) with Ingram Spark (IS). CS will fulfill your Amazon orders and IS will fulfill all other online and bricks and mortar store orders, and your own orders for school events or local shops. Buy your own ISBN and use the same for CS and IS, but don’t opt for for CS’s Expanded Distribution Channel – this is covered by Ingram Spark. Bookshops don’t like to see CS as main distributor.

Create an author website

This will be your calling card – a place to refer bookshops, schools, journalists and children. It’s easy to set up a free Wordpress site. Build your brand over time eg adding posters, puzzles, lesson plans, blog posts and links to social media or YouTube readings. Be yourself!

Contact local bookshops

Call to identify the children’s buyer. Email with links to your website then take in a copy of your book. Offer to supply sale or return or through their usual systems (you will appear there if you’re with Ingram Spark). Offer to do a signing and/or a reading. Offer bookmarks if you can.

Promote your book locally

Create book cover flyers to post in newsagents, coffee shops or playgroups frequented by families. Say where your signed book is available locally.

Contact local press and email a follow-up press release. Highlight any local angle, such as the book’s inspiration, and/or any events planned locally and say where the book’s available to buy. Include your website URL.

Contact local schools and libraries

Offer to go in to do a reading and talk about your book and being a writer. For schools, offer to visit for free in return for them sending slips home – which you will draft for them – giving children the chance to buy personalised signed copies of your book.


Karen Inglis is ALLis Children’s Advisor. Her time travel adventure The Secret Lake has sold over 6,500 copies – around half in print, while her graphic novel Eeek! The Runaway Alien has sold over 1,200 copies and won praise as a great book for reluctant readers. Karen has also successfully self-published a colour picture book and interactive book app.

kareninglisauthor.com (for readers and book buyers) and selfpublishingadventures.com (for writers)

IAF 15 - Self-Publishing in Canada

By Patricia Sands

Self-publishing in Canada ~ A voice is needed!

Writing this turned out to be a most interesting experience.

When I began to research articles or websites or associations in Canada that might offer support and/or information to indie authors, I hit the proverbial brick wall. It was quite a shock.

The wall continued to block my efforts to find statistics on sales, trends, and anything else that might be related to author-publishers in Canada. It’s almost as if it does not exist in our vast country. Fortunately, I know that to be completely erroneous. But apparently there is a dearth of assistance for interested Canadian indie authors to find good information unless they go to Amazon or Kobo.

Having self-published three women’s fiction novels in the last five years, I was fortunate early on to become involved with serious writing groups who share information and links to all the important self-publishing websites, resource books and associations. I discovered The Creative Penn, an invaluable resource for all writers and particularly for those just getting started.

I know there is a wealth of information out there. However, a Canadian writer looking for information at the beginning of his or her journey may struggle before discovering these same resources. I knew, from emails I receive from authors just starting out, that they often did not know where to begin. When, for this article, I searched as if I knew nothing about self-publishing, I discovered why these writers were having difficulties.

It’s a situation that needs to be rectified. It shouldn’t be hard to do.

In spite of extensive efforts to search words in every possible combination, I came up empty. The only sites that appeared were vanity publishers, offering to “help you self-publish,” along with their price list. Also, selfpublishing.ca came up consistently, leading to one author who has published a book on the subject that is woefully lacking in updated information.

A major writers’ group in Canada recently changed their membership rules and now accept self-published authors. This national organization of professional writers of books was founded 40 years ago to work with governments, publishers, booksellers, and readers to improve the conditions of Canadian writers.

It was encouraging to see they were recognizing the self-publishing dynamic. One would assume there would be good information on their website. Here’s what I discovered:

“SHOULD I SELF-PUBLISH?

If you self-publish you add—to the difficult job of writing a book—all the additional work of a publisher. It is extremely difficult to get self-published books placed in bookstores, which makes it even more difficult to make money. There are a few success stories but the majority of self-published books may never see a bookstore. Self-publishing may be appropriate if you want to give copies of your book to your friends and family but if you want to make it a commercial success you have a lot of work ahead of you.”

Hello and welcome to 2015. May we introduce the subject of ebooks to you? Bookstores are not where most authors derive their living today. It is time to hear from the many indie authors in Canada who are making a decent income (and often more than most who are with traditional publishers) from selling ebooks as well as print copies.

However, checking with authors who attend many of the excellent writers’ conferences across the country, they confirmed that the focus is still very much on pitching with agents and publishers.

In an article in the Toronto Star in 2013 (the most recent I could find) praising self-publishing in Canada, negativity remained.

Still, not everyone is as enthusiastic about the trend to self-publishing. Carolyn Wood, executive director of the Association of Canadian Publishers, doesn’t think traditional publishers see it as an opportunity, despite forays into the field by Simon & Schuster and Penguin. “Our members — most traditional independent publishers — object to self-publishers co-opting that term,” she says. “They need to call it author publishing. They are not independent publishers.”

I guess Ms. Wood has unique definitions for these terms. To the rest of the now well-established community of indie authors, the terms self-publisher or author-publisher are interchangeable.

My entire publishing experience has revolved around self-publishing, and I learn something every day. I’ve heard from, and work with, many author-publishers who have access to every excellent resource out there.

Much of this comes from networking within online groups such as ALLi. Every essential topic is covered including the craft of writing, the most effective marketing and promotion opportunities, designers, editors, formatters, critique groups, tax info … all based on the experience of other members and experts called in to share their knowledge.

All of this information needs a voice in Canada. How we go about achieving that is the challenge.



Addendum: As a follow-up to this, I was so pleased to hear from a number of Canadian indie authors who wrote me after this article was published during IndieReCon. They shared stories of their own experiences and how many had gotten together to set up their own groups to share information and experiences for precisely the reason expressed here.

www.patriciasandsauthor.com

CJ Lyons IF I HAD A CRYSTAL BALL… IAF15

CJ Lyons

As a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of twenty-eight novels who has worked with major traditional publishers as well as indie publishing fourteen bestselling novels and selling over two million copies of my work, I’m frequently asked two questions:
What is my best advice for authors and what do I think the future holds for authors and publishers?

First, advice for writers seeking to create a career and make a living in this crazy business. No matter which publishing route you take for any individual project, you need to understand why that’s the best choice for you, for that title, and for your audience. Which is why I hate labels like “Traditionally published” v. “self-published” or the odious, lab-experiment gone awry, “Hybrid author.”

It’s not important HOW you publish any given work… what’s important it HOW WELL you publish. My best advice to any author, whether looking for a traditional contract or interested in indie publishing is to have one guiding principle to keep you focused. If you do this, every decision becomes easier. Simon Sinek calls this starting with your “why.”

My personal guiding principle is: How can I delight and excite readers so they’ll tell their friends about my books? It’s been quite successful for me and is based on advice Jeffery Deaver gave me after my first novel was published. He told me, “Never forget, the reader is god.” I’ve found that if I keep my readers happy, they keep my bottom line happy.

As for what the future holds for publishing, I believe this truly is a Renaissance for readers and writers. Thanks to ebooks revitalizing backlists, readers will be able to find any book they want.

Authors will take control of their careers and form selective publishing partnerships as they create their own, individual Global Media Empires, and they will have a wealth of opportunities to choose from for print, audio, translation, and ebook licensing.

I’m more worried about the future of corporate publishers in the next several years. Publishers who treat books and authors as if they were easily exchanged widgets on an assembly line and who have no concern or appreciation of readers will fail.

I think the ones who survive and thrive will be those who truly understand and love their readership.

Readers deserve great books—from all of us. Remember, there are ONLY two things that every successful book has in common: an author who created it and an audience who fall in love with that creation.

Everything else is just business and subject to change, whimsy, and the winds of fate. Take charge of your own destiny and career, know your why, know your story, know your readers and you’ll survive (and hopefully thrive!) on this rollercoaster ride known as publishing.

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of twenty-seven novels, former pediatric ER doctor CJ Lyons has lived the life she writes about in her cutting edge Thrillers with Heart.

Winner of the International Thriller Writers’ coveted Thriller Award, CJ has been called a "master within the genre" (Pittsburgh Magazine) and her work has been praised as "breathtakingly fast-paced" and "riveting" (Publishers Weekly) with "characters with beating hearts and three dimensions" (Newsday).

Learn more about CJ's Thrillers with Heart at www.CJLyons.net

Indie Author Fair Showcase Magazine - Foreword

Foreword by Philip Jones, Editor of The Bookseller 

 

Philip Jones

Publishing pundits spend a lot of time pontificating about what will come next in the book business. Roll back five years and it is difficult to imagine that any of them predicted the rise (and rise) in self-publishing. The London Book Fair Indie Author Fair shows how quickly things have changed, and I am delighted to have the opportunity of writing this foreword for the accompanying Indie Author Fair Catalogue.

There is no accurate measure of how big this market is now. Estimates suggest that in the UK in volume terms indie-published e-books now make up as much as 20% of the digital book market, and by value between 10 and 15%. That’s a market now worth perhaps £50m—equivalent in number to a small bookshop chain. In the US it is much bigger, where the Author Earnings reports suggest that 20% of all consumer dollars spent on e-books on Amazon.com are being spent on indie self-published e-books. But even these numbers underestimate the amount of publishing taking place independently, with the number of new self-published titles having accelerated as opportunities have developed.

Furthermore, focusing on the figures does not tell the full story. We are in the midst of a market shift, with the centre of ground within publishing moving towards authors. Last year in this slot Richard Mollet, chief executive of The Publishers Association, wrote that he saw the two approaches to publishing as “being complementary”. He is right, up to a point. The growth in self-publishing—its evolution from uncommercial vanity books into financially viable independent publishing—has also been a wake-up call for the traditional industry. When publishing chief executives talk of none of their big authors having “jumped ship” to self-publishing, one can almost see the bead of sweat as the word “yet” forms in their minds. The incontestable truth is that in the digital space, publishers are now not only in competition with other book publishers, but also with other authors.



Authors are now in charge of their destinies in ways that were impossible when the routes to market were marshalled by businesses operating only under the old rules. Some authors will continue to publish traditionally, others will mix-and-match, while there are those for whom traditional publishing no longer matches up to the opportunities of being independent. All of this now makes up the modern book business. At The Bookseller we have launched a monthly spotlight on independently-published titles: recognition of how much the market has moved, but also an opportunity for indie-authors to get their titles in front of publishers, agents, and (crucially) booksellers.
 
What comes next will be equally as interesting as what I have just described. Amazon has led this democratisation and should be applauded for spotting the need among authors, and the demand among readers. But it is now a movement that can flourish outside of Amazon, as other platforms such as Kobo and Nook establish themselves as viable alternative marketplaces, and opportunities around enhanced e-books and print-on-demand broaden what kind of books can be successfully self-produced. We will see more authors self-publish, but also more publishers adapt their businesses to the lessons learnt from successful indie authors. There is no greater compliment.

Good luck to all those featured in this catalogue and part of this year’s Independent Author Fair!


Philip Jones, editor, The Bookseller, March 2015