Read an e-book week - free books

Download free e-books from smashwords for 'Read an e-book week' 

FROM March 4th -10th

If you visit smashwords and enter the Coupon Code RE100 for any of the books below,

 in the format of your choice, you get the book free, instead of the usual $2.99 or $3.99

  Enjoy reading!

Book reviews are always appreciated by me and other authors, on amazon, goodreads or smashwords - or all of them.

Someone to look up to - dog story, based on true life

4.5 years - WW2 POW memoir

From Bedtime On - poetry

Song at Dawn - medieval historical novel

On the Other Hand - teen fiction/faction about left-hander

How blue is my valley - travel/autobiography in France and Wales

Snake on Saturdays - saga/romance

Be happy with your dog - the Dogmasters' Credo

amazon.com

Hot off the press; bestselling author and dog-trainer Michel Hasbrouck, and his dogmasters, have just published their credo and it might shock dog-owners who have suffered the 'Don't do this' and 'Don't do that' school of modern dog-training. This is our philosophy and believe me, if you've trained with Michel or his dogmasters, this is all true.

dogmasters


The French version

Meet B.A.Morton, Yeovil prize winner, a British crime and romance writer

Big thanks to B.A.Morton for taking the time to appear as a guest on my Blog to tell us about her prize-winning novel 'Mrs Jones' and about her writing in general.

A new writer with no literary training or background, just a passion for reading and scribbling, B.A. can't ride a bike or drive a car, and computers are a mystery to her, but she can tell a story. She says 'Imagination is a marvellous thing ... sharing it with others is even better'.

'Mrs Jones' by B.A.Morton (Night Publishing) available  amazon.com   amazon.uk

A British girl with a secret. A New York cop with a past. And a mob that wants revenge In the slickest, sneakiest twistiest-turniest hard-boiled crime noir novel to come out in a long time, ruggedly pragmatic but honest cop Detective Tommy Connell picks up an English girl, Mrs Jones, who claims to be the witness to a murder, and promptly falls in love with her. Well, Mrs Jones, whoever she is, must be very attractive because an awful lot of people seem to want to get their hands on her if they can prise her from Connell's determined grasp, including some prominent representatives of organised crime and the Feds. Detective Connell definitely has his work cut out here if he wants to end up with the body of Mrs Jones, dead or alive, that's for sure. All-in-all it's probably safe to say he hasn't a clue what is going on. It is probably equally safe to guess that Mrs Jones does. Not that 'safe' is quite the right word to use here or, there again, maybe it is. 

amazon uk

Interview with B.A.Morton

 Good morning, B.A.

In French, B.A. is what we call a German Shepherd dog, a Berger Allemand, so the name suits a crime writer. Why did you decide on the gender-neutral author's name?

 Initially I felt it would avoid any gender stereotyping…women can’t write crime can they? I quickly realized that there is no protecting your real identity, if you’re to successfully promote your work.

You're described as a 'crime and romance' writer. Tell us about the romance.

Romance is part of life, in varying degrees. Sometimes it will take centre stage, most often it  simmers quietly. I find it difficult to create a character without showing how they might respond to a variety of challenges, love being just one of them. I like the “will they won’t they” scenario as a side dish rather than the main course.

There's a lot of talk about 'genre writing'. What does this mean to you? Do you think you've found your genres?

I’m not convinced that you can write in one genre only. Life encompasses many things. Most writing reflects this. I write what I like to read, which is primarily character-driven crime thrillers and historical fiction/fantasy with a dash of romance and humour thrown in for good measure. I think genre labeling is useful for marketing and helpful for readers to find what they enjoy amidst an overwhelming mass of available books.

So now we know you're a woman, what other secrets are you willing to share about your life?

 I’m a Geordie girl. In my time I’ve been a civil servant, nursery nurse and even did a stint at a greyhound track. I like creative hobbies, the outdoors and medieval history. I can be bribed with chocolate J 4yrs ago my hubby and I sold up and escaped the rat race to live in the beautiful Northumberland National Park. Our home, which is built on the foundations of a medieval chapel, features in my historical fantasy book 'Wildewood'. I’ve been a scribbler most of my life, but only began writing seriously after our move to the country.

'Mrs Jones' was published on Createspace and Kindle at the same time by your publisher, Night. How has this worked for you? What if anything will you do differently with your next book?

'Mrs Jones' is published through Tim Roux at Night Publishing, an Indie Publishing Company which produce e-books, and use Createspace and more recently Lightening Source for paperback production. This has worked well for me as a new author. Night provides a strong support group via fellow Night authors along with promotion and advice. Night edit, publish and provide e-book promotion. The only downside so far, is the delay in getting paperbacks onto Amazon UK. Independent publishers don't have the overheads of larger publishers so they are definitely more willing to take a risk on writing that's not genre-specific. Night now has almost 120 books to its name, but is still a small press compared with the big publishers.

Is 'Mrs Jones' part of Kindle's exclusive publishing? What are your views on KDP?

Yes Mrs Jones is currently enrolled in KDP. The book achieved 15,000 downloads during the five day free promotion and went on to reach number 87 in the paid kindle chart. KDP provides the boost to take your book where it will be seen. The higher the rank achieved, the more chance of browser sales. 'Mrs Jones' will also receive payment from Amazon for any loans made to their premium customers during the promotional period. There is of course a 90 day tie-in which prevents the book from being loaded onto other e-book sites. I would say my experience to date of KDP has been a positive one.

Are you worried about other booksellers not stocking amazon titles?

To be honest, bookshops in general are wary of POD and anything that's not backed by a big publisher. Amazon is the biggest market place so I'm not worried at the moment. Ask me again in six months when my paperbacks have had a chance to sell...or not. In the first two days of the promo, 'Mrs Jones' was borrowed 70 times. I won't know until the end of the 90 days what the total
amount of borrowing was or indeed how much that is worth in real terms. Looking at the numbers that have taken up the KDP offer, I suspect the $500,000 cake has been reduced to mere crumbs. 

The value of KDP as I see it, is getting your book high enough in the ranking, even if for a matter of days, to publicise and promote it. The more folk who download, whether for free or paid, the more folk are introduced to my writing. Which is particularly useful with the next book being mentioned in the back:) 'Mrs Jones' will be withdrawn at the end of the 90 day period to allow it to be sold through all the other outlets via smashwords.

You mix British and American characters and cultures in 'Mrs Jones'. How did you manage to find the voices for people from such different backgrounds? Were there any difficulties?

Good question. It has proved extremely difficult, not only with Brit/American language, but remember…I’m a Geordie…I don’t even speak EnglishJ It has been an education, which I may master, then again I may die trying, but I’ll certainly give it my best shot. To be honest the hardest part is culling the Geordie-isms which come so naturally, they remain unseen to me. A good reason for that extra pair of eyes.

At one time 'Mrs Jones' was posted on Harper Collins authonomy site. What were your experiences with authonomy? Would you recommend other authors to use the authonomy site?

Authonomy introduced me to the world of writing. Prior to me joining, no one had read my work. 'Mrs Jones' benefited immensely from constructive critique and I made some good friends. But as a means to publication by Harper Collins, it remains a pipe dream and in my opinion a waste of valuable time which could be better spent writing and honing the craft. It can be harsh, but the real world is harsher, so in that respect it is a good place to learn and develop resilience.

What are your writing habits?

I work part-time so I tend to write in the evening, often into the early hours. I don’t write a set amount, I write when the muse takes me and stop when I run out of steam. I have at least four manuscripts on the go at any one time. When I reach an impasse with one I’ll refresh myself with another. I enjoy research and gather extensive details and chronologies to ensure any facts used are accurate.

What are your top tips for other writers?

 Don’t try to write what you think publishers want. By the time you’ve finished it, publishers will be on to the next best selling craze. Write about things you know, or would enjoy reading about. Get it down in whatever garbled state it comes out of your head, warts and all. It’s your story, your voice. Then go through it so many times, that you know each line, each expression, every mood or preference of your characters. You’ll get to the point where you change things because you know in your heart that your character wouldn’t do or say that. I’ve changed whole plot lines to accommodate a developing character. When you think it’s complete let someone else read it. They will undoubtedly see things you’ve missed.

What have been your best moments as a writer? Why do you do it?

Having success in the 2011 Yeovil Literary Prize was a huge confidence boost. For the first time my work had been judged by professionals in the industry, who'd read 15,000 words of the novel to which they awarded 2nd prize. Being published, of course, was a wonderful moment. But possibly the best moment of all, was holding a copy of 'Mrs Jones', my first book, in my hands…wow! I write because I have stories leeching out of my pores. I like to share them and hope others might enjoy reading them as much as I’ve enjoyed writing them.

You've promised a sequel to 'Mrs Jones'. Can you give us a hint of what will be in 'Molly Brown'.

'Molly Brown' takes the characters from 'Mrs Jones' forward by about 18 months. Connell’s on the trail of crooked cops and a serial killer. A vulnerable child with an obsession for the Wizard of Oz throws in a curve ball and Connell risks his life and his relationship with Lizzie as he seeks to save the child and the day. There are delicate plot threads which link this to the first story, and indeed to the third book, but all can be read as stand-alones.

What’s next?

I’ve already begun the third Connell book and 'Wildewood', which is due to be published this year, is the first of a trilogy, so, plenty to keep me busy. In addition I have two darker crime thrillers which I’m currently working on. One of which is set in the north-east of England, my own stomping ground.

Congratulations again on the Yeovil Prize - a really great achievement. The judges' comments can be read  here

I believe people can meet you in the flesh at the Yeovil Festival?

Yes, I’ll be at the Yeovil book festival in Brympton, on 20^th April 2012, reading from my books and chatting about the highs and lows of the new author.

Thanks, B.A.! Hope you get plenty of readers coming to meet you at Yeovil.

My review of 'Mrs Jones' will be on the blog shortly.

  

The Dog Booker Prize for Fiction

There's a category for 'Best Supporting Role' in the Oscars and I think there ought to be a similar category for all those canine characters whose presence enlivens a novel - not the main characters but the ones who steal the show when they get the chance. So forget the Man Booker, with its prima donnas and petty controversies, and welcome to the Dog Booker, where the winners are all boot lickers and tail wagglers.


You're welcome to post nominations and I'll add them to this blog during 2012.

Drum roll. This award is dedicated to all the dogs who were badly written, especially those who died as mere plot devices, intended to jerk a tear and show the threat to the main human characters, who usually forgot about their dead dog within 30 seconds of car chase.

This year's award is especially dedicated to the red setter in the Janet and John books* by which I was punished at school in the name of learning to read (despite the fact that I already could).Younger people will have suffered the Peter and Jane version*. All of us will remember forever that symbol of the perfect family; a Mummy, a Daddy, a brother and sister, and that red setter in the garden, playing with a ball. Yes, the ball was red too (red being a monosyllable composed of three graphs, and therefore appropriate vocabulary for a six year old child, who in another century would have been allowed to learn to read in three languages - or not at all).

Who can forget the immortal lines:-
'Look Peter.
Look Jane.
See the dog.
See the dog run.
See the ball.
See the dog run with the ball.'

I will never know your name, red setter, but I know you deserved better and I apologise, on behalf of all writers.

The nominations so far for 'Best Supporting Canine Role in Fiction' are:-

Timmy in 'The Famous Five' by Enid Blyton - as Timmy is actually one of the famous five, it's a moot point whether he's a minor character but as I'm the one who makes up the rules, he's nominated. A brown mongrel with a very long tail and loving brown eyes, Timmy sorted the numerous criminals of Dorset by tying them up, stealing their plans or reporting them to the CID, and then he'd be back for a cuddle in the cove, while his loving owner George (short for Georgina) cracked open a (ginger) beer. In those days criminals always had written plans, without which they were lost. As lovable hero dogs go, Timmy is right up there with Lassie - nostalgic idealism. 5/5 barks from me for being one of the dogs you meet as a child and never forget. Incidentally, why were interesting girls, like George, always 'tomboys'? Conversely, being 'girlish' was not really complimentary about a boy.

Bouncer in 'The Reluctant Widow' by Georgette Heyer - I love this dog! A large English 18th century hound, he is all youthful exuberance, misdirected (from a human viewpoint) into all activities dirty and destructive, chasing game away instead of to hunters, disappearing for his own pleasures when required on guard duty and more dangerous when obeying orders than when ignoring them. We first meet Bouncer when the young man who owns him carelessly orders him to 'guard' without clarifying what or whom is to be guarded, and Bouncer dutifully prevents our heroine from stirring one dainty ankle's length from her chair throughout the day until Bouncer's master returns. Bouncer excels at night watch, when his mere presence is enough to deter intruders - and of course anyone in the house who wishes to move from one room to another. Gets 5/5 barks from me - a real dog.

Nighteyes in the fantasy 'Assassin' series by Robin Hobb - although a wolf, Nighteyes deserves his place here because seeing through his nighteyes is very much an imaginative leap into the canine world by the human, Fitz. The boy training to be an assassin is unable to hold back bonding with the wolf despite the laws against this old magic, and despite the risks of entering too far into a wolf's way of life. Nighteyes is a raw force of nature, fierce and loyal, unequivocal. If you want to lope deeper into twilight, the time 'entre chien et loup' as the French say, 'between the dog and the wolf', and start to wonder why you would want another human in your life at all, when you could be part of the pack, you'll love this canine character. 5/5 barks for this dog-ancestor. You're not sure whether he's turning you savage more than you're taming him.

Jiggs in 'Bravo's Veil' by Michael Croucher - It's WW1 and Paul is an evacuee in Cornwall, far from his family in London, and attacked by the same bullies who came on the train with him.  This time, however, the gutsy little dog of his host family is there as back-up and every child's dream dog comes to life. Jiggs is best friend, protector and confidante. He keeps the nightmares at bay just by being there. When I heard these lines sung by Francis Cabrel, I thought they were about my dog 'Je suis le guardien du sommeil des ses nuits/Je l'aime a mourir' (I am the guardian of her night's sleep/ I love her and I'd die for her). 5/5 barks for Jiggs, for being best friend for a lonely child.

Nici in 'Song at Dawn' by Jean Gill - yes, I'm nominating my own character. If this was a real award I'd get a friend to nominate my book but I thought I'd take a short-cut. This dog was the catalyst tow riting the novel at all. I was reading an American book about troubadours and found this; 'It is rumoured that there was a female troubadour travelling in the south of France with a big white dog'. How could I not write this story? Nici is a Pyrenean mountain dog, too fond of people to be any use guarding sheep, and his name means 'Stupid' in Occitan. He hooks up with a runaway girl and mostly does his own doggy thing, but turns up for food and night duty in her doorway. He ignores insults and orders alike, makes his own mind up about what's best and he is just there, a presence. A reader said to me, 'It's a pity you didn't do more with the dog.' I am writing Book 2 at this very moment and Nici is alive and well, living in Die with his troubadour mistress. 5/5 barks for being a big white dog and behaving like a big white dog.


You've noticed that they all get 5/5 barks. Well, I nominated them, didn't I? If you're barking too, post your nominations. The prize is the prospect of international fame. (My lawyers cautioned me against offering international fame itself rather than the prospect, which is sufficiently intangible and more than enough for most writers to live on, never mind their fictional characters.)

French Language Nominations
Thanks to the readers who suggested
Idéfix/Dogmatix in the Asterix books by René  Goscinny and Albert Uderzo - the punning pooch belonging to Obelix in the cartoon series. A little black and white mongrel with rabbit ears and a happy face, Idéfix (Dogmatix in the English translation) first makes his appearance as a literal running joke. He is also the first canine ecologist, defending his  beloved trees with tooth and claw, in true Celtic druid manner. Possessively close to his master, he is won over by Obelix's adored Panacea when she kisses him.

Bill in Boule et Bill by Jean Roba and Maurice Rosy- a cocker spaniel whose actions speak for him. Bill is the sort of dog who likes sleeping on sofas and hates baths. Bill would do anything for his boy master - except get in a bath. He even has his picture on an album cover - Pink and Blue's Night Slave. As a title character, Bill isn't minor, but I'll allow him in as a foreigner.

Milou/Snowy in the Tintin books by Hergé - as the English translation 'Snowy' prosaically suggests, Milou is white, a fox terrier, who is yet another master-loving boy-saving hero. However, as well as the endearing cartoons, his weakness for alcohol and fear of spiders distinguish him from the run-of-the-mill, as does his tendency to think in sardonic thought-bubbles. 

News flash - in the film world it looks like Martin Scorsese has won his case to nominate Blackie, the snarling doberman from 'Hugo' for the Golden Collar Award. Scorsese thought it unfair that the cute Jack Russell from the silent film 'The Artist' should be an automatic choice and Blackie should have to fight to be appreciated. Uggie is still front-runner but if they both turn up at the Awards Ceremony, I know who I'd put my money on.

*If you haven't read it before, this poem by Wendy Cope is the funniest take on Peter and Jane ever. Wendy Cope was lucky enough to meet me once was a primary school teacher who suffered these books even more often than her pupils.

Reading Scheme
Here is Peter. Here is Jane. They like fun.
Jane has a big doll. Peter has a ball.
Look, Jane, look! Look at the dog! See him run!
Here is Mummy. She has baked a bun.
Here is the milkman. He has come to call.
Here is Peter.Here is Jane. They like fun
Go Peter! Go Jane! Come, milkman, come!
The milkman likes Mummy. She likes them all
Look, Jane, look! Look at the dog! See him run!
Here are the curtains. They shut out the sun.
Let us peep! On tiptoe Jane! You are small!
Here is Peter. Here is Jane. They like fun.
I hear a car, Jane. The milkman looks glum.
Here is Daddy in his car. Daddy is tall.
Look, Jane, look! Look at the dog! See him run!
Daddy looks very cross. has he a gun?
Up milkman! Up milkman! Over the wall!
Here is Jane. They like fun.
Look, Jane, look! Look at the dog! See him run!

Nostalgia - 5 huge changes in my lifetime

One of the big questions for a writer of historical fiction is how far it is possible to get into the mind of someone who lived x centuries ago. Researching facts is not enough; you have to make that imaginative leap into a different way of thought. I am now well into Chapter 3 of the follow-up to 'Song at Dawn' and I feel like I'm dancing across twenty tightropes, skipping from one thread to another and testing that they will hold while I turn somersaults and land on my feet. One of those tests is 'Would someone living in that time have behaved in that way?' which adds complications to the usual test questions 'Would this individual have behaved that way or said that?'

While I was testing my threads, I thought about how much has changed in my own lifetime, making it difficult if not impossible for my children to understand people of an older generation. If you're over thirty I'm sure you already have a notion of the huge changes to ways of life that we have experienced and at fifty-six, I can add some years to that.

My arbitrary choice of cultural changes in my life-time (and my white British female cultural background) followed by a very general 12th century take on them:-

1) children's loss of freedom.
People my age had more freedom as children. We had no parental supervision in the parks, in the streets, roaming the countryside, walking (or cycling or taking buses) wherever we chose. Nowadays my parents would be reported to the NSPCC but they were considered normal, caring parents in their time. Between the ages of 8 and 11, I met up with friends at dusk and we ran go-carts, chased each other, played gang and spy games, climbed onto roofs, rode each other's bicycles. We went swimming, either as a group of children or as individuals. I often walked down to the shore alone and swam in the sea. I even remember the sign that said 'No swimming today - sharks' (We were an army family and living in Hong Kong at the time). I caught tadpoles in jamjars by remote waterfalls, I caught buses with my friend to go stationery shopping in the city or village markets. My parents had absolutely no idea where I was and apparently didn't worry. I ran wild and am so grateful for the barefoot richness of my childhood.

12th century (in what are now France and Britain) - Childhood ended young and a child followed in his/her parent's footsteps, heavily gender stereotyped. If you were training to be an archer, you had to start at about 8 years old or you'd never be any good. If you were in the landed classes, betrothal at 11 and marriage at 14 were normal. The age of majority was 15.

2) sex before marriage or - worse still - living in sin doomed a woman forever in this world and the next. Any children resulting were evil.

This was changing in 1970s Britain but my generation grew up with our parents believing this to be true. They would have been horrified by couples deliberately living together and having children without marrying but this is normal in modern Britain. To be born out of wedlock was a shame that never lifted from my parents' generation. Their peers were locked up in mental asylums for unmarried pregnancy and it was not only the girls who suffered. I know of one eighteen year old boy who committed suicide from shame at getting his girlfriend pregnant. These values still hold in other cultures but not in mainstream white Britain. When people complain about the breakdown of marriage as an institution, and the impact on children, it's worth remembering some of the costs of believing that marriage is all and a woman's virginity is social currency. No, I don't want to go back to the days when 'living in sin' meant social ostracisation.

Part of the same set of values was the attitude to homosexuality, which was illegal between men and unmentionable regardless of gender. There might be a long way still to go but the very existence of civil partnership shows a huge shift in attitude.

12th century - varied according to class but virginity (for women) and (arranged) marriage were paramount amongst the nobility. Homosexuality was always condemned in Christian society but a more open feature of men's lives in the middle east. Classical literature shows a more open attitude at times in the past.

3) global communication meant writing a letter

Using the telephone cost money so I was allowed to give urgent factual messages that way and nothing else. 'Chatting' on the phone was unthinkable. No computers, no mobiles, no texting. We didn't even have one of the newfangled televisions in our house. Photos were expensive, rare and processed in darkrooms, then placed in one or two albums, covering a lifetime with a hundred images. I still remember the excitement when at fourteen I was given a trannie - a transistor radio. It was about the size of a bag of sugar and I couldn't believe that something that small could work. I used to play Radio Luxemburgh late at night when I was supposed to be sleeping, holding this wonderful invention up to my ear.

12th century - the idea of pigeon post was brought back to Europe after seeing this speedy form of communication widely in use in the Holy Land in the middle of the 12th century

4) Begging on the streets in Britain was rare and confined to a few big cities. We were proud of our social support and our national health care. British people were offended and embarrassed by the dirty foreign habit of begging, that they encountered when travelling.

It is a complete mystery to me as to why there was no-one sleeping rough in the many small towns and villages of Britain that I lived in or passed through when I was growing up. I don't even remember there being people sleeping in doorways and subways in cities, and I was the sort of child who would have noticed. I just don't believe people are poorer today because I remember how poor people were then. Perhaps they just had roofs over their heads, squatting in shed or barns. Perhaps people lived in intolerable situations with each other and had no ideas of  escape or living alone. I would really like someone to tell me why this has changed so much. I get the feeling it has changed in Canada too but I don't know about the USA or other countries.

12th century  - begging was commonplace, a way of life for many, and there was no provision for the handicapped, the sick or the mentally ill. Beggars were taken for granted and rich people gave alms to beggars as part as their charitable duty. There was no stigma in being a beggar - it was a role in society, albeit at the bottom of the hierarchy.

5) no central heating and little privacy - when the weather became cold, one room in the house was kept warm by an electric/gas/coal fire (the living room), the kitchen was warm from cooking and the rest of the house was brass monkeys freezing. Washing and bathing in an unheated bathroom in winter in Scotland was the best deterrent to hygiene I've ever known. The hot water bottle was a lifesaver but your nose still turned blue. You could forget going to your bedroom for adolescent sulks; the choice was the warm living room watching your parents' choice of TV programme, or listening to their Mantovani vinyl LPs, or under-age drinking in the local pub as often as you could manage to escape. Of course if one of your friends had a more teen-friendly house (i.e. their parents were out) you went there. Families were larger and bedrooms were shared so even when the weather was warm, being inside a house meant living too close to your parents, by their rules and preferences.

Nowadays everyone thinks it's his/her right to live alone, which more and more people do. Living with someone else is a huge decision, rather than what used to be considered the natural process whereby you lived with your parents, then you married (and often still lived with your parents)

Central heating allows all the rooms in a house to be used, changing completely family relations. Children and especially teenagers now have a right to privacy, and usually one bedroom per person. Parents and children can avoid seeing each other, even when living in the same house. You can't freeze your kid into being with you any more. And if you don't have shared mealtimes as a routine, which is true of many modern families, you can't starve them into being with you either. Given the choice these days, people spend more time alone - or online with the people they choose to be with, instead of ones in the same house or street.

12th century - Hearth equalled home, whether a cottage with a smoky peat fire and one room to live in or a castle with a fire-place the size of the cottage and a Solar, the chamber catching the sunlight to add one more warm room. The castles and palaces we love to imagine living in, thinking how grand we would have felt, were actually complete communities housing hundreds of people. It was usual to sleep several in a bed (if you had a bed) and dozens would have slept in the Great Hall. Privacy for procreation was dependent on whether you had the luxury of a curtain between you and your children (or your neighbours). If you were very rich, you would have lived in such a community with a separate bedchamber to yourself, and apart from your spouse, but with servants coming and going all day. Privacy was not a medieval concept. Wanting to be alone would have been considered downright weird and as for the need to 'find yourself' - about as likely as in 1960s USSR. 


In a way, every novel is a historical novel. The time period can never be 'now' as so much is changing technologically, politically and culturally over the time it takes to write and publish 100,000 words. Even fantasy novels or sc-fi novels have a period feel, based on our current knowledge and technology. Fantasy novels are usually vaguely medieval, with magic added, and follow past conventions about magic. Sci-fi novels  imagine the future from the possibilities currently envisioned. You only have to look at sci-fi novels written fifty years ago to see how rooted in their own time they were. So how far we can get into the mind of someone who lived x centuries ago seems to me to depend on the usual skills of a writer.

I'd love to hear from other people as to what you think has changed most in your lifetime. If you're under ten, leave it a bit before posting, then get back to me.

love-hate amazon

I'm emerging briefly from the 12th century to contemplate the real world. I'm pleased with myself as I've written the first two chapters of the follow-up to 'Song at Dawn' and I want to keep writing. When I work, I write roughly 1,000 words a morning. When I don't work, I can hear the characters speaking and working out what they're going to do. I can see a hundred characters waiting in the wings and I'm not sure yet which of them are coming on stage. Research carries on but now it's focused on exactly what I need to know. So far this has included making opium tea and forging Damascus steel.

Back in the real world, there are mergers and takeovers for stock photography companies, so I took refuge in publishing news - yes, I'm joking. Anyone who doesn't like change would do well to stay in the 12th century and well away from publishing news. However, it is always a good time to take stock (pun intended) so I've managed to come to some conclusions about what might be the most important relationship in my creative life - me and amazon.

If you read or write books, you have a relationship with amazon. Like me, you're probably thinking about how  far you want to go with amazon and what the consequences will be. As with any relationship, short term pleasure might mean long term suffering, for you and for other people.

The two big questions for me as a writer


 - should I try to get amazon as a conventional publisher? Confession time. I did submit 'Song at Dawn' to their imprint and have heard nothing back whatsoever. It was already self-published (with lulu not amazon's self-publishing service) so I have only lost the time it took to write a submission but either their email submission route didn't work or they're just one more publisher too rude to reply/too bogged down to reply yet. I don't know anyone published this way but I shall be keeping an eye on the amazon imprints to see how they do.


- should I go exclusive with amazon's KDP select on an e-book to profit from their 500,000 dollar 'new author' promotion program? How far into bed with amazon am I willing to go?

These are my thoughts at present.

As a reader


LOVE
I've been buying books from amazon for many years. They offer an incredibly wide selection of books, cheap prices, cheap postage (even from the USA or UK to France, where I live), fast delivery - wonderful! With kindle books I have the ebook option and can even have a selection of newly published kindle books free - wonderful!

HATE
Obviously, I've killed the bookshops where I used to browse shelves, read reviews by shop assistants, have a coffee, enjoy bookshop atmosphere and sometimes go to signings or readings by other writers. As a little girl I spent all my pocket-money on books and when I was lonely (because I wasn't allowed a dog) I'd hang out in a bookshop or library and read.

LOVE
Nostalgia doesn't create the future and nowadays even lonely little girls living in the wilds can chat on amazon forums or join online booklovers' sites like goodreads , read, review and talk books all day (while skipping school because they get bored there) Someone's publishing prediction for 2012 was that amazon will buy goodreads.

HATE
I live in France. When I decided to buy an ereader, I could ONLY buy a kindle from amazon.com, not uk, and pay import tax for the privilege. Now I can buy a kindle from amazon.fr and pay far more for kindle books than from .com or .uk, where I am not even allowed to see the price. The relationship between the different countries' amazon sites is complicated and however much I am told 'it is to do with national laws' I remain sceptical. I can buy a print book from amazon.com or amazon.co.uk but not an ebook. I can buy ebooks from US based smashwords but not from amazon.com or Barnes & Noble.

I am not happy with my access to ebooks, nor with the prices I'm charged. This is not just an amazon hate, as I cannot even buy ebooks from Waterstone's or Blackwell's UK. Amazon does however charge me more because I live in France and limits my choices as a customer, wherever I live, by selling only a link to an ebook, not the book itself, and by restricting the format of books to kindle only. I believe this to be illegal but no-one yet has taken on amazon and those who wish to do so can find ways around this. Whether it is illegal to hack into an ebook which you have paid for and are keeping for your own use, is another question I have yet to see taken to the courts. The last straw for me was when I found I had to pay 2euros on amazon.fr for a kindle book on special free offer on .com


AS A WRITER


PRINT books
LOVE
If I self-publish with ISBNs, my books can sell via amazon's wonderful online bookshop, be reviewed, be packaged and posted, all without me lifting a finger. Amazon distribution is first class and international. The site is user friendly and is visited by millions of readers. Amazon is efficient!

Amazon is offering more and more feedback to authors, with demographic stats on sales, author pages, questionnaires and comparisons. I've had a couple of problems to deal with and amazon staff have replied promptly with practical solutions.

HATE

Some of my books were not self-published. I negotiated a wonderful 40% off cover price to buy my own books direct from the publisher and guess what? I could get them cheaper from amazon. It is not only the bookshops that lose out from amazon prices.

the bully

Amazon has such a huge profit margin that it can sell products below cost price. No-one can compete with this. It kills the competition so in the future there will be competition. Without competition, there are no checks and balances. Amazon is deliberately turning publishing into a totalitarian state.

As a self-publisher, I cannot offer buyers enough discount for me to make money by them buying direct from me. I have to tell them, they will get the books cheaper from amazon. Guess who amazon puts the squeeze on, demanding bigger discounts for them to purchase books, as they cut prices more and more? The publisher. And who does the publisher squeeze? The author. That's me, both publisher and author, screwed twice over.

EBOOKs


LOVE
I hated the fact that .com had kindles three years ago and welcomed self-publishing from US based writers only. I spent two years desperate to get in at the beginning but without an American bank account and address, no dice. I still resent missing those two years, when I had books ready to roll.

However, the love returned with kindle uk and amazon has enable me to self-publish 12 kindle titles, sell them via amazon's amazing online bookshop, in all the different amazon countries, with instant feedback on sales, and the option to control pricing.


HATE
You need a degree in discounts, pricing and royalties to understand and compare anything on one amazon site, never mind in three currencies on six international sites. My books are available in more currencies on more sites but my brain overloads after six permutations - and that's just on amazon. I suppose you thought you'd set a price in sterling and amazon would happily convert that into dollars/euros or whatever? Bitter laughter. No indeed! Hence my real grievance about amazon not allowing me to even see the price of my ebooks on amazon sites where, as a French resident, I'm not allowed to buy the books.

Add to that the fact that my royalties are halved for purchases outside the UK and the USA and I am not happy about these complicated international amazon relationships. I do understand that different countries have different laws, different taxes on books, and different 'norm' pricing for books. Print books cost far more  in France than in the UK or USA, protecting publisher and author, so one price doesn't suit all. I don't see why amazon.fr should take a different cut on my royalties to amazon.com though.

That puts my decision into context. Now back to the question

- should I go exclusive with amazon on an e-book to profit from their 500,000 dollar 'new author' promotion program?


I now know a couple of writers who've done this and I intend to track their progress and interview them on my blog as they progress. I rate them both highly as writers and at the moment they've launched their books with free giveaways, taken up by hundreds of readers - nice start.

They're both pricing their books at 99cents - the conventional low price 'starting point' for unknown writers.

I've decided NO, not for me.
It would be a lot of hassle to remove any of my ebooks from their other distributors -  smashwords, lulu and goodreads, where they're building up steam nicely.

If the offer's still there when I finish the follow-up to 'Song at Dawn', I could publish that exclusively to kindle. Why wouldn't I?

For the same reason I don't price my ebooks at 99cents. I agonised over pricing, caught between 'conventionally published authors demand and get high prices for ebooks' and 'unknown authors get thousands of readers via cheap ebooks'. My current theory is that there is a huge readership for books which are free or 99cents but that those readers will have no loyalty to an author. They will always be looking for - and able to find - books that are free or 99cents - and their priority will be the price. As a writer, I am looking for readers who value what I write and who will come back to read more of my books because they think they're good, not because they're free. I am prepared to sell books more slowly at what I've decided is a fair price - definitely less than print books but above the '99cents mass of new and unknown writers'. I will get more money per book and I am hoping to reach 'my' readers. Time will tell.

I am also unhappy at the idea of signing that amazon contract, not just because I've had bad experiences with a recent publishing contract, but also because there are clauses along the lines that you don't talk about your contract. What was I saying earlier about totalitarian?

Maybe freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose, maybe freedom ain't worth nothing, but it is definitely free. I want to keep my sense of these two words, 'value' and 'free' separate from amazon.

In future blogs I will be following the progress of writers who've made different choices for their books so that I can relate our experiences in conventional publishing, self-publishing, print books, ebooks, kindle exclusive.

Now I need to go back to the 12th century, where the Crusader armies taunted the Saracens before attacking by miming the act of writing. It showed what a wimp you were to be literate. Plus ca change. Long live us wimps.

Journal Review of 'Song at Dawn'

Lela Michael's review of 'Song at Dawn' for 'Self-Publishing Review'


About the reviewer:- Lela Michael has been a freelance copy editor and writer’s assistant since 2007. She currently serves as editor of the website Beneficent Bards. You’ll find her on Twitter as @TheBookMotel.

Historical thriller/love story set in Narbonne just after the Second Crusade. 1150 in Provence, where love and marriage are as divided as Christian and Muslim. On the run from abuse, Estela’s musical talent finds a patron in Alienor of Aquitaine and more than a music tutor in the finest troubadour of the age, Alienor’s Commander of the Guard. Weary of war, Dragonetz los Pros uses Jewish money and Moorish expertise to build that most modern of inventions, a papermill,drawing the wrath of the Church down on his head. Their enemies gather, ready to light the political and religious powder-keg of medieval Narbonne.


Jean Gill’s extensive, caring research for her book Song of Dawn places this novel appropriately into the classification of Historical Novel. The front and back matter provide us with a period map, a list of historical figures appearing in the book, and an impressive list of research sources consulted. That the author is a highly-skilled and respectful researcher is all well and good, but the next question is,
can she write fiction? In a word, yes.

Our protagonist’s personality, chief motivations, and obstacles are outlined within the first two pages; two other major characters are outlined and the plot foreshadowed by the end of the first chapter; and the remaining 22 chapters, with the author’s deft one-two punch of complex characters and an even more complex plot, prove this novel a decided “page-turner.”
The plot yields plentiful fodder on the politics of power, both personal and societal; the consequences of religious and ethnic bigotry are explored in depth; we learn that it was once a crime punishable by death to manufacture paper; we receive more than a glimpse of what it might have been like to live in another time period. The mentions of natural remedies and how they were used in the 12th century spice things up, so to speak, and the presence of a big white dog in the lengthy cast of characters doesn’t hurt, either. At 354 pages, a lack of plot is not a concern whatsoever.

It is by way of this intricate plot that Jean Gill extracts payback for time spent on her meticulous research by demanding that her reader pay attention. There isn’t one sentence in this book that doesn’t move the story forward.

Space doesn’t permit commentary on all of the numerous characters in Song at Dawn, but a brief word on the main character, Estela de Matin. Gill inserts into the story something that sets Estela apart from other fictional female characters such as Jane Eyre, i.e., young women who find themselves cast alone into a world controlled by men and stifling social institutions: Estela wants to be a musical performer. Estela’s desire to develop her talent is arguably her greatest motivation, or at the least equal to, her desire for “true” love and a natural curiosity about sex. In fact, it is in Chapter 1 that Estela must pass an audition in order to literally keep from getting killed. Her beautiful voice saves her.

With its detailed historical setting, a believable, page-turning plot, and memorable characters, Song at Dawn is an enjoyable, interesting read. These elements of successful craftsmanship in place, Jean Gill goes the extra literary mile by using an authentic, consistent narrative voice—a voice I not only trust, but am left wanting to hear again.

I reluctantly give Song at Dawn a rating of 4 of 5 stars. The paperback copy I read contained several commas that should have been periods, a couple of minor typos, a few formatting problems (all at the bottom of the page), and one obvious use of a cliché. If these things have since been fixed, please consider my rating 5-star.