Thursday, 1 June 2017

New book and new directions.

Pre-order £1.99 $2.99
Today the third book in my Victorian, The Nightingale Chronicles series  – Better Bend Than Break – is available on preorder on Amazon. Hopefully from next week it will also be available on all the other platforms which means it isn't in Kindle Select. The other two books in the series will remain in this system until they come out in July and August.

Here is the blurb:
Better Bend Than Break is the third book in The Nightingale Chronicles, a series of four, Victorian family sagas. Sarah Nightingale marries Dan Cooper and becomes mother to his three boys. They move to a fine house of their own and Sarah has never been happier. Alfie Nightingale is obliged to do the right thing by Sarah's friend Betty, so now there will be two babies in the family. Then one disaster follows another and Sarah and Alfie have dreadful choices to make if they and their families are to survive.

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The final book in this series will be out next year. The title will be, All's Well That Ends Well. I shall start a second Victorian series sometime next year as these have been very successful for me.

I have decided, with some trepidation, to remove  my historical fiction from Kindle Select and put them on all available platforms. I was reluctant to do this before now as they were doing so well, but now things have changed it's time for me to change direction too.
I shall leave all my Regency books in Kindle Select and will give it a year or so and see if my decision was a wise one. The wonderful thing about being an indie publisher is that I have the choice and can take whatever direction I want. 
I wish I could follow the market the way some people do and write a book entitled "The Little Cupcake Club in Cornwall" but I write because it's what I am and I have to right the way I want to. I could also change the titles and covers of my Regency books – 85% of the top hundred books on Amazon have what used to be called "bodice ripper" covers. But again, the wonderful covers that JD Smith designs for me suit the style of my writing and I'm not going to change that either.
Seven years ago Amanda Grange and I started writing a book together. It was at her suggestion and I was happy to work with such a wonderful writer in whatever genre she suggested. The idea was that we wrote fifteen hundred words each and then passed it back. This was to be a young adult paranormal romance – something I would never have thought of attempting myself.
Unfortunately, Amanda wasn't comfortable writing this so handed the project to me. I then moved to my present address and it took me a further eighteen months to finish this book. I put it up and it sold nothing so I took it down again. It is the first in a five book series and as my Regency titles  were doing so well I didn't want to give up the time involved to write the other books.
However, things change, and so must I. I have just sent this re-edited book to a group of teenage beta readers and when I get there reports back I will do any necessary changes and write the second in the series. I want to have two books ready before I launch the first.
I'm also going to try an Amazon advertisement – everyone is telling me these are the way to go – but the other promotional things I've used have failed to produce satisfactory results so I was reluctant to start yet another "new" scheme. 
I am also joining in group promotions run by the talented and very helpful, Alexa Kang. I did an Instafreebie which gained me twenty new subscribers and I didn't even have the correct link. The next one is a massive book sale of Dunkirk-related books to coincide with the anniversary in July. I think one of the reasons that new younger writers are becoming the bestsellers on Amazon is because they are so much better at this marketing/media stuff.
I might even decide to send a title or two out to agents or publishers – something I vowed I would never become involved with again. 
The only way to remain visible in this overcrowded market is to be prepared to adapt and change. This becomes harder the older one gets – but I shall do my best.
I will be posting about this massive World War II historical fiction sale as soon as I get more details.
I can't believe it is June already – in three weeks time the nights will start drawing in. Just thought I'd mention that.
Fenella J Miller

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