Book Trailers . . .

It's been a busy week or so.  I've had an interview for what sounds like the perfect job for me (fingers crossed I get it), I've been to Devon for a loooong weekend to see the folks, I've completed another book cover . . . AND . . . I've completed two book trailers for Starfish Publishing's up-coming books.

The first is 'Warrior Heart' by Belle Noire, and the second is for my work, 'A Bribe For The Ferryman'.

Take a glance and see what y'all think :)

Happy watching.

Pic of the Week . . . A Bribe For The Ferryman

Last week I published the front cover for an up and coming novel, 'Warrior Heart'.  This week I thought I'd go along the same lines and publish the cover for my own work, 'A Bribe For The Ferryman'.  It consists of 5 short tales of the macabre, the blood-thirsty, the terrifying and the down-right wrong.  More details of each individual tale will follow nearer the time. 

'A Bribe For The Ferryman' will be published at the end of November under StarfishPC, along with other titles such as 'Apollo the Thirteenth' by Willaby, 'Book 1 of the Mad Worlds Trilogy' by L Godsave, and not forgeting, 'Warrior Heart' by Belle Noire.  Check out my new 'Book Covers' page to see all the book covers I've done to date.

It's all happening and you heard it here first :)

Enjoy and have a grand weekend...

Pic of the Week . . . Book Covers

Something slightly different today...

For those who were around last year, you may remember that we, as in our Writers' Group, formed a small Publishing Cooperative - Starfish PC - and held a book launch.  We launched three novels out into the great wide yonder they call Amazon.  It's been a learning curve, but since then we've learnt a lot more and are now planning a second launch this coming November (weekend of the 24th).

So far we have three more novels that will be set loose, a possible forth, and a collection of short horror stories (by yours truly :D )  It's all very exciting, and now the ball has just starting to move in regards to preparation.  Some of the preparations include finding a venue to hold the launch - something that is a must - and then the fiddly bits that follow.  These include book marks, fliers, adverts, yada yada, etc etc, but none of these can really be done until we have the all important book covers ready. 

This task is down to me. 

So I've put my thinking cap on.  I have provisional ideas for most of the books that are due to be launched, and these will be finalised in due course.  However, on Wednesday, I completed the first cover.  It's been given the go ahead by the author, and now the marketing for this book can really begin - starting with the book trailer that is also down to yours truly :) .

So here it is, a little teaser to wet the appetite and to feed the hoards that will be waiting for the stampede to buy it.  This weeks Pic of the Week is the book cover for the up and coming novel, 'Warrior Heart', by Belle Noire, a historical romance set around the era of the Knights Templar.

Enjoy and have an awesome weekend.

Competition Time...Chance To Win Some Freebies!!

Allow me to bring to your attention a competition that is being held by Starfish Publishing via Martin Willoughby.

(snippet stolen from his blog)

I'm offering a choice of two ebooks from Starfish Publishing's current list for the three lucky winners. Anyone who enters will have their name hand-written by a handsome man (not me) or beautiful woman on a hand-cut piece of paper. The three winners will be drawn by two lovely ladies and one gorgeous man (still not me) who will stick their hands in a hat and rummage around to find you

It's easy to enter. Here's what you have to do:

To enter simply go to Martin Willoughby's blog and do any/all of the following:

1. Tell Martin Willoughby in the comments section of his blog that you want to enter.
2. Go over to Facebook and 'like' us, then tell him in the comments section.
3. Go to twitter and stalk...errrr...follow us, then tell him in the comments section.
4. Follow the Starfish Blog, then tell him in the comments section.

You get one entry for each of the above and the closing date is midnight, Monday 12th March, GMT.

Go enter...and good luck!

Trees? I See No Trees; That Forest Is In The Way...

Once upon a time there was a friendly little group of writers who got together once a week to share their writing experiences and to write little exercises in hopes that it would help them feel inspired and grow. They would also critique each others work, work that they hoped would one day make them millions, and gave each other the kind of support only other writers can give.

But making millions from your first novel is a tough job. It's difficult to even get one foot through the publishing door. So one member came up with the idea of putting Amazon's self publishing theory to the test.

Thus was created the wonderful cooperation known as Starfish Publishing. The works from within our group would be published under this cooperation and sold on Amazon Kindle. A website was designed and built and to date there are four titles listed as available - and a glorious banner was designed with our logo and the words Starfish Publishing. Being clever, we even replaced the 'A' in Starfish with an actual starfish. Things were looking good.

This website went live back in November. Only last week an 18 year old pointed out an error that none of us - an entire group of writers, I must add - ever saw.

There appeared to be no 'R' in Starfish. It would seem not only did the five legged picture replace the 'A' but also the 'R'.

I reiterate the fact that this error was missed and over-looked by an entire group of writers for about four months, but having laughed off our shocking embarrassment, we set about putting it right. Thus the tale of the Starfish Publishing website has a happy ending.


We all make errors like this. We're human. It even happens to professionals, and how many of you have picked up a book and noticed a spelling error within its sea of words?

Sometimes, no matter how hard we look for those trees, the forest just always gets in the way...

News Flash . . .

I interrupt this week's blogging schedule with an announcement that Starfish Publishing has finally got their blog off the ground.

Yay Starfish!!!

(*Reaches up to give an eight-handed Hi-Five - or can I just call it a Hi-Eight???)

Son of Jack Is Up . . .

Sunday 27th has been and gone.

The 27th saw our book launch and it was an interesting day. All in all it went okay but there are definitely things we can do better next time (June). Seeing as this launch was Starfish Publishing's first one, it was never expected to be a grand day. We never expected to see hoards of people - though it would have been nice - but it gave us experience and a better knowledge of what to expect, how to do things and improve next year.

But the most important thing to some out of Sunday was the knowledge that . . .

I AM NOW A PUBLISHED AUTHOR!!!

And so are two of my friends.

Going the Ebook route was never really my intention. To make a sound career out of writing, I still feel the need to be agented. I like the traditional route, and it's the way I still wish to pursue with my fantasy collection. But I'm okay to write other random pieces for ebooks. It gets me through the door, and it can it be a fun venture.

I have to say though, these last few weeks leading up to the launch have been so hectic, it's nice to be able to just sit back and relax for a bit before continuing with other projects, although I know I won't be sitting back for long. My fantasy, Lady of the Seas, the novel Ihad to put on hold for Son of Jack, is calling me once more, and so are a few short ghost stories. There's no rest for the wicked . . . ;)

So, here's the link for Son of Jack on Amazon. Go read the sample chapters and if you like it BUY!!! . . . no pressure . . . honestly :)