Wednesday 27 November 2013

Lady Charlotte's Deception

Available now on Amazon
Price 99 p and $1.61
Lady Charlotte's Deception, previously called Lady Charlotte's Secret, is now available on Amazon Kindle.
This is the second in my six book series called, Lords & Ladies Series, and they are linked just by their titles.The first book in the series is called, Lord Rivenhall Returns, and this was released last month. The third book entitled, Lord Denver's Inheritance, will be out after Christmas. Then I shall put them in a box set.
Here is the blurb:

Determined to fulfil her promise to a friend, Charlotte defies her brother and sets out on a journey in secret. But the person most at risk is herself, as circumstances conspire to leave her helpless in the care of a stranger. Doctor James Hunter is a modern man, with no love for the aristocracy. When he discovers Charlotte's deception will it destroy their love?

These are the links for the book. The first is for the UK the other for America.
http://amzn.to/1d4q6uX
http://amzn.to/1cNNkRd

I hope you enjoy it. I think it's a really good story and the hero is a little different from my usual military style protagonists.

Fenella J Miller

Monday 25 November 2013

Amazon anomalies!

Available on Kindle next week.
Amazon sales are a mystery to me and to many other writers. I think we all agree that free promotion is no longer working, certainly the algorithm Amazon uses no longer influences sales ranking.
They have replaced it with a promotion which certainly increased sales on my Regency Boxset Two and I'm going to try it again with another book in the middle of December. The good thing about this new promotion idea is you still get 70% royalties and the book is never free, just reduced.
Another writer friend told me that when her sales fall away she puts the price of the books up rather than reducing it. This might sound an extraordinary thing to do, but her take on this is that people are quite prepared to pay £1.99 for a book they really want to read. She is assuming, correctly I think, that after a few months only people who really want to buy the book are still looking at it.
I have had all my Regency titles priced under a pound whether they were short  (30,000 words) longer novellas (50,000 words) or full-length books of 70,000+. I have now increased the price of all full-length books to £1.99 and unbelievably I am selling more at that price then I was at the lower price.
Is this because some people think books priced below a pound can't be very good? Whatever the reason, I'm absolutely delighted to have made the correct decision for once and in future none of my full length books will be less than £1.99.
I also put up the price of three of my box sets – the fourth contains three short novellas and I left this at £1.99. This has not proved as successful an experiment and  I'm pretty sure I'm not selling as many as I was before. If this particular change doesn't work it's incredibly simple to reduce the price to what it was previously.

I have included the cover for my next novella, the second in my lords and ladies series, "Lady Charlotte Deception".This should be available on Kindle at the weekend.

Fenella J Miller

Saturday 9 November 2013

Pre-Christmas Meanderings.

I had hoped to put up a cover for my next book, Lady Charlotte's Deception, but I haven't had time to send a JPEG to Jane so I will post that as soon as it is done.
This time last year I was housebound with a broken ankle and therefore forced to do all my Christmas shopping online. I found the experience so much more enjoyable than fighting my way around overheated, overcrowded shops that I have done the same this year. Therefore, apart from my daughter and oldest grandson I have no more presents to buy.
However, I  have begun to wonder whether I'm contributing to the demise of the high street by using the Internet for everything. Someone locally set up a campaign last year called, "One in Five", which was asking everyone to purchase one thing in five in a local shop. I think this an excellent idea and make sure that I do shop in the village (Wivenhoe is really a small town now) as often as possible even if it costs more.
Maybe I should do the same thing for Colchester – what do you think? Is using the Internet (and particularly Amazon) for the majority of our shopping a bad thing? It's not always cheaper than the high street, but it's so much easier and doesn't involve carrying large parcels back to the car.
On another tack completely, this year for the first time ever, we're going to eat Christmas lunch at a restaurant. When we had a restaurant of our own, many years ago, Christmas day was always fully bookedand I think there are still a lot of people who prefer to eat out. As we've been invited to lunch on Christmas Eve, and we're taking the family out in December, I won't actually need to buy any Christmas food at all. so my house will be over decorated Christmas paraphernalia at my cupboards will be empty of mince pies et cetera.
I shall continue to write over the festive season as if it were a normal week – as I'm no longer a churchgoer I won't even have that as a reminder of why we celebrate.
I'm on my usual pre-Christmas diet – not lost anything this week – but I'm wondering if this is something I might abandon in future. If I'm not going to fill the house with Christmas goodies then I'm unlikely to put on the extra weight I usually do.
When I mentioned Christmas to several of my writer friends they looked at me blankly – despite the over decorated shops and constant Christmas adverts on the television none of them seemed aware that they should be planning ahead.
Enough of my waffle – have a good week.