My Writing Life.

I've read a number of blog and facebook posts from other authors this week complaining about the struggle of maintaining a balance between their writing lives and their regular lives. I have to be honest, I'm normally someone who writes obsessively. I will literally snatch every moment I can in order to get a few words down. Sometimes I managed to get a thousand words written in one sitting, sometimes it will only be a hundred. However, those words quickly add up.

This past week I've had Easter to content with, along with my two daughters' birthdays and I've had family come to stay. With so many outside distractions, I've struggled to maintain my usual daily word count. Because I'm lucky enough to be able to write full time, I think I take for granted the guaranteed time I have to write. This week, with the kids off school, birthdays and families to attend to, I've probably only managed half of what I'd normally achieve.

It is frustrating and I sometimes find I become resentful. I'm a driven person and I like to be able to get a set goal achieved each day in order to feel as though I'm moving forward. But I do need to remind myself that time spent with my family and NOT writing, isn't time wasted. It's time well spent. Next to my family, my work is without a doubt the most important thing in my life, yet I never have to remind myself to work. What I do have to remind myself to do is spend quality time with my family and focus on that time. All too often, even when I'm out somewhere with my kids, I'll be daydreaming or scribbling things down in a notepad.

So, for me, while many are struggling to find time to write, I need to make sure I spend time with my family and that I'm mentally present in that time. While my writing will always been hugely important to me, my family always needs to come first.

'Captured', Book 3 in the 'Serenity' Series is Now Available to Buy!

Wow! What an exciting 24 hours it has been! Yesterday saw the release of the third novel in my dark vampire 'Serenity' series and within the day the book hit the top 100 for fantasy on Amazon in both the States and the UK.

On top of that, the first book in the series, 'Alone', is currently offered for free and is sitting firmly in the number one spot on Amazon for free contemporary fantasy!

This whole thing has just been such an adventure and I can hardly believe that this is just the start. Though I was first published in 2009, it was only when I began releasing books myself that anything started happening. I'm currently only a year into this 'indie author' course of my career and I can't wait to discover what the next year will bring. I'm literally hearing from readers every day now, telling me how much they love my books. Nothing feels better than that.

'Captured' is my fourth published novel, but I still have plenty more to come! I have three completed manuscripts waiting patiently in my laptop. One of which, 'Underlife' is my personal favourite and I hope to have out in August. I could get the book out sooner, but I want to take a break from the editing for a while. I'm planning on writing my Young Adult spin-off over the summer and then I'll start editing again!

I've also made the decision of employing the services of the lovely Danielle at Philia Book Tours to help me do the one thing I'm terrible at in this business - scheduling guest blogs! She is going to be setting up blog posts for me each month so I hope she'll keep me in line. If I've got a deadline for anything, I'll always get it done, but if it's a case of 'I can do some writing or I can start contacting people to see if they'll have me on their blog' you can bet I'll chose the writing every time! Danielle is an absolute necessity for me if I'm going to start having a presence in the blogging world.

So don't forget, if you have not tried the series yet, you can read book one, 'Alone', for free at many different book sites, including Amazon. And, for the first week only, 'Captured' will be offered at only $0.99, so if you're thinking of working your way through the books, now is a good time to buy. Just click here to go through to Amazon!

Catch you all later. I'm off to plan book four!

Has KDP Select Lost Its Impact? And Reasons I'm Not Giving Up Just Yet!

There have been a lot of vibes around the writer's social networking sites lately about how KDP Select isn't having the same sort of impact as it was three months ago. Really, this is only to be expected. When KDP was first introduced back in December, it was met with polar views. Some of us jumped right on the band wagon, while others held back. Many people thought Amazon's attempt to monopolize the market was unethical and thought having all your eggs in one basket was always going to be a bad idea (something I do agree with).

However, as the fist month or so passed, those waiting on the sidelines started to hear amazing stories of indie authors propelled from obscurity and onto the best-seller lists. Here was a platform where the indie author could reach hundreds, if not thousands of people, all in the click of a button. So the months went by and more and more authors jumped on the KDP bandwagon. The result? Thousands of free eBooks flooded Amazon's virtual shelves. Competition to get free downloads increased, so instead of getting thousands of downloads each time a book went free, many were now struggling to hit hundreds. On top of that, readers started to get bored of downloads. They already had loads of free books loaded on their kindles - many of which they'd probably never get around to reading - so why bother adding more?

With all that against KDP Select, why am I still in the program? Well, that decision is pretty simple for me. I believe every single reader reached through KDP Select is a reader I wouldn't have otherwise found. So what if I only give away 200 books in my next free period? If only a quarter of those people go on to read the book and only half of those people actually enjoy the book, well that's twenty-five readers I've gained. If I can reach those readers through other means as well - by getting them to like my facebook page or signing up to my mailing list - quite possibly they'll be one of my guaranteed buyers, a reader who will follow me from book to book, will leave reviews and tell their friends. Those types of readers are worth their weight in gold and are what an author's career can be built on.

On top of this, over the next month or so, as author's 90 day exclusive periods are up and people start to pull their books from KDP Select, the level of competition will reduce. Hopefully the result will be that the number of downloads and those all important post-freebie sales will therefore increase.

So for the moment I'm sticking with KDP Select. I'm going to take advantage of being able to reach those few readers who may then go on to become long term fans. Six months from now, Amazon may withdraw authors being able to put their books up for free and those who didn't take full advantage will be kicking themselves. After all, eBooks are still a relatively new market. Who knows what will change the game next?

Read an eBook Week! Get Your Free Copy of 'Alone'!

I'm going to keep this one brief as I'm both swamped and exhausted after my weekend away at a writer's conference (not a good combination!).

This week is 'read an ebook week' over at Smashwords. If you head on over to the site, you'll find a  whole heap of ebooks either with discount codes or that are being offered for free!

My own novel, Alone, is currently FREE so click on the link here and grab it while you can. This offer will only continue for another week!

Covers, covers, covers...

One of the first things I advise other writers to do if their book is not selling is change the cover. Today I've had to take my own advice. My novel, 'The Dark Road', simply hasn't been selling the way I hoped. Even with the book being offered in the KDP Select program and having well known authors posting about it, I've been lucky to get three or four sales a week.

I know my blurb is well-written, the formatting is good, and it's got great reviews, so I'm left with only one place to go, and that's to the cover.

First of all, let me just say that I really love the original cover. The artist captured exactly what I had in my head and I've had numerous compliments about it. However, in order for me to know if a different cover will make any difference to sales, I need to give something different a go.

I checked out some other horror/thriller titles and decided to go with something a little more traditional. So... here it is! *unveils new cover*

What do you think?

Epic Kindle Giveaway!

Some mornings you wake up with no idea of exciting things the day may hold.

Today has been one of those days for me as I've had the invitation to join the Epic Kindle Giveaway team with Scott Nicholson. I'm thrilled (and a little in awe that I'm being allowed to paddle in the pool with the big boys!) to be part of any team with these authors involved (click on their names to find out more about each of them):

Scott Nicholson, Russell Blake, Claude Bouchard, Jeff Bennington, Ian Woodhead, John O'Dowd, and John Hartness.

So what's the epic kindle giveaway all about? Well, it's all about giving away great thriller, horror, mystery and suspense titles for the kindle. So, if you enjoy any of those genres (and by the fact you're on my page, I'm going to guess that you do!) make sure you follow the blogsite or head on over to the facebook page where you can stay informed about all the brand new titles that are popping up for FREE every day!

And if you don't have a kindle yet, you can download the 'kindle for pc.' app which is also free. That way, you can still make the most of all these free ebooks and when you get a kindle (notice I said, 'when' rather than 'if') your brand new, shiny kindle will automatically update with all the books you've been collecting.

Have a fabulous weekend everyone!

May the Editing Commence!

I'm super excited today (and a little hung over, but that's a whole other story!). Today I've started on edits for the third book in my 'Serenity' series, 'Captured'. I'm hoping everything will go smoothly and no huge plot holes will leap up and bite me on the ass! I was really happy with how the book turned out in the end, so as long as nothing unexpected happens, I'm still on for the book to be released at the end of March.

Because I'm feeling motivated at the moment, I'm aiming to complete about two chapters a day. Of course, then the book will need another go over, and then will be sent to my editor, who will send it back, and I'll then send it back to her... You can see the pattern forming! As much as I'm enthusiastic about the book right now, I'm pretty sure I'll hate the sight of it by the end of March!

At the same time, I'm also working on my Young Adult novel, 'Enchanted', which is a spin off of the 'Serenity' series. Those of you who've read the books can probably guess which little lady I'm basing the new books around. I'm pretty sure her half-vampire genetics will lead to some interesting story-lines.