There are two points of the year when authors sink into a funk, and that’s March and October when we’re paid. Did you know that writers receive approximately ten percent of the Recommended Retail Price of their book? After publishers take off the costs of production, printing, distribution and marketing and a bit of cream … More The Constant Hustle of Publishing
It’s hard writing a book and even harder marketing one. If you’ve got paperbacks or hard copies out there in bookshops or online, well done. You’ve probably been on a long slog to get to that point. It’s hard work selling books as well and you have to feel for bricks and mortar booksellers. They’re … More On the Shelf
I’ve been on Instagram for a couple of years and posted all sorts of stuff: pics from my farm, food I’ve eaten, and ‘Author Shots’ – a series in which I recreate shots of great writers using myself as… err… the model. But lately I’ve focused my account more on what I love – books … More How to do Instagram if you’re an author or writer
Just before she appeared in The Times and the Daily Mail, I asked best selling self-published author Nicola May if she’d do a Q&A for my blog – on what makes a best seller – both in the writing and the marketing of a book. Nicola is a lovely lady who can be found sharing … More Q&A with Nicola May – what makes a best seller
This post is mostly for authors – a look at that great and ongoing mystery, how the bloody hell you market a book. You’ve written it, you’ve had it published, held it in your hands and it’s real. Congratulations! But that was the easy bit. Now comes the real challenge – getting the bloody thing … More Marketing Your Book
Last year when my book was in the final stages of edit, three men in my writers’ group told me they would not buy it because it had the word ‘wife’ in the title. To put their remarks in context, we were having a discussion about the title, and whether I should change it. An old … More Do women and men choose books differently?
If I have one goal in life it’s to appear on the legendary BBC Radio 4 program Desert Island Discs. For fifty years, the Beeb has been casting celebs and other notables away to a hypothetical desert island, on a weekly basis. As aids to survival, they must choose the eight music tracks they will … More The Hot Seat on City Park Launceston
It’s been a turbulent week. Oliver, my Other Half, always says you have to take the rough with the smooth, or as he puts it, the “ultra-smoove”. Once an Essex boy, always an Essex boy. On the upside, Apple Island Wife, the book, the birth, the long-awaited tome, is designed, blurbed, raising its head above … More Up, up and away to publication day!
To mark the occasion of being fully funded for publication, author Fiona Stocker met with Martin Amis, literary genius and tennis player of some note, who joined her from a rooftop in Paris in 1980. Here’s what he had to say. FS: “Thanks for joining us, Martin. What are your thoughts on the status of … More Celebratory interview with Martin Amis
So next year, I’m publishing a travel writing memoir with independent UK publisher Unbound, the world’s first crowdfunding publisher. Here’s the latest update from my campaign page on the Unbound website, about how the crowdfunding is going. In a nutshell, almost there!! The book is 90% funded. I have a couple more conversations and … More Crowdfunding with Unbound
