New Release : Barbara's War Box set.

£3.99 Amazon

I'm delighted to have put out the box set version of Barbara's War which contains all three books.
it seems a long time ago that I wrote the first book in this series – in fact it was in 2008 – and originally the book was called "Stormy Weather". I had an agent then but she was unable to place the book, or maybe it didn't even get as far as that before I parted company with her.
However, the second two parts were only written last year and I was quite sad to say goodbye to the cast of characters.
If you haven't already read these books then they are also available to borrow for free if you're a member of KOL.

http://amzn.to/1U37ECY (UK)
http://amzn.to/1E9hLEr  (com)

Is it too soon to panic?

Last year when KOL was introduced by Amazon dozens of writers that I know said their sales had collapsed almost overnight. Nobody seemed to be able to give a sensible explanation for this sudden and catastrophic loss of revenue.
Some suggested that having part of your titles in the system and the rest out was the problem and there was a lot of moving backwards and forwards of titles in to Kindle Select and out again. Of course I was sympathetic, but as I wasn't effected by these changes, in fact my revenue doubled rather than halved, I thought I was immune.

Original Style

However, when they introduced the new 'pay per page' my sales which, up to this point had been no worse than they were last year, took a nosedive. In fact so poor are they now that I'm no longer bothering to check at the end of each week. I'm just looking at my sales dashboard and sighing sadly.
I don't know if this plummet is coincidental or a has been caused by this new loans system.

New Style

Any reduction in sales is always worrying. Actually I believe that there are now so many good books being published in my particular genre - Regency - that the competition has become even fiercer. The vast majority of  author-published books are now as good, if not better, than traditionally published books. They have professionally designed covers, had been properly edited and formatted and are sold at a fraction of the price of traditionally published books.
I no longer think that just being able to publish a new title every couple of months is enough to maintain my market share. Not only do I need to keep my existing readers, but I also need to attract new ones. I've tried advertising in a variety of places but this made absolutely no difference. I tinkered with my cover style, but this also made no difference.  I intend to stick with the original as at least this way my brand is easily identified. I love the new cover, but as it costs a lot more to have something as elaborate as this, and it made no difference to my sales, it doesn't seem sensible  to change.
I'm in the process of setting up an email list which I hope you will all sign up for when it's live. I'm also in the process of getting a permanently free book ready – one that hasn't been for sale for over a year - and I'm going to try Nick Stephenson's (First10Kreaders) suggestions and see if that works. I can have something free all time as long as I can manage to do the technical staff involved. All this is taking time away from my writing which is how I want to spend my time.
Is it too soon to panic that my career has taken a permanent dip? Has anyone else noticed their sales are continuing to go down instead of beginning to recover as they usually do  by the middle of August? I should be grateful for any suggestions.
Obviously I love having the royalties drop into my bank account every month, but it's not the loss of income that is causing me to panic, it's the thought that I'm losing readers that really worries me.
Hopefully there will be better news next time I talk to you.
Fenella J Miller.

How many books a year?

I don't know about you, but I like to plan ahead. I've already got my schedule for 2016 mapped out and this is what I plan to publish;
Two more of the six book series called, "The Duke's Alliance".(I'm writing the first one now and it will be released in January.'
Two shorter Regency titles.
A Christmas Regency
Two back list Regencies.
Also if the agent, who has the first book in my three book Victorian saga, fails to sell it to a major publisher then I shall publish that myself. I shall also write the second book sometime next year, but this won't be published until 2017.
There will also be three new Regency Quintet editions as well as three new box sets with my titles.
I know a lot of people throw up their hands in horror when I say how many books I write the year but three 50K books and three long books is not as much as it sounds.
I write a minimum of a thousand words every day – sometimes a lot more – which gives me plenty of spare days to go out and spend with family and friends. It only takes a couple of hours – sometimes a lot less – to write that much so it's hardly an arduous schedule.
I also spend a couple of hours on social media because I enjoy it rather than because it raises my write a profile or sells any more of my books.

I have a friend, Wendy Soliman, who also writes Regency as well as in three other genres, and she writes ten books a year. I know that Nora Roberts writes ten books a year and when I first heard that I thought she must have other people writing her books, but it's perfectly possible to write even more than that without too much trouble.
How many books do you write?
I also read about fifty books a year – mostly historical fiction and thrillers, but also some contemporary romance, some fantasy and a dozen or so reference books. I'm a very fast reader and if a book grabs my attention I read it in two evenings. I probably start, but abandon, another thirty books during the year. I don't spend time on books that I don't enjoy however popular they might be with other people. I didn't get more than a quarter of the way into Wolf Hall, and abandoned the latest CJ Samson – although when I get it back from my neighbour I might give it another go. It started with burning three people alive and that was just too much for me to stomach.

My favourite authors are Christian Cameron, Bernard Cornwall, P J Chisholm, Lee Child and Michael Connelly. I also love Jane Fullerton's books and Alison Morton's – especially her latest, which I think is the best, Aurelia.

 How many books do you read a year?

Fenella J Miller

Is 'pay per page' a good move by Amazon?

On 1 July Amazon changed the way they pay for any loans or borrows within the Kindle library system. Before this date whenever a book that is in Kindle Select was borrowed the writer received a payment of around $1.35 once the reader had read more than 10% of the book. By borrowing I'm referring to Prime Members, who can borrow one book at a time, and subscription members who can borrow up to ten books and keep them for as long as they want. When they want to borrow an  eleventh book they have to return one in order to do so.

This meant that the writer knew at a glance how many times a given title had been borrowed and could work out fairly accurately how much they would receive in payment at the end of each month. Whenever I borrowed a book I always flipped to the 10% mark so the writer got a payment even if I didn't want to read the rest of the book.
The new method of payment was introduced, so Amazon say, because a large number of unscrupulous writers put up items where the front matter itself was more than 10% so without even looking at the book/short story/rubbish these writers would get the same payment as someone who had a three hundred page book borrowed and read.
The new system records how many pages of any book is read in any month and the writer is paid accordingly. This would mean that for a very long book and a very slow reader the writer might be receiving payments spread over several months.
At the moment nobody seems to be very clear exactly how much is going to be paid per page – the current thinking is that it will be half a cent. This would mean that my books, the bulk of which are a hundred and fifty pages or less, would receive around seventy-five cents  instead of $1.35, so I stand to have my income  from KU reduced by a third. Obviously this is not good news as I've already taken a 20% hit on my sales in the UK because of the introduction of VAT a few months ago.
However, until the end of July no one really knows how it's going to work out. I'm hoping that my income doesn't suffer too greatly by these changes.
The other drawback as far as I'm concerned is that I will no longer be able to track exactly how many of each title is borrowed each month and this is something I like to do. Ten thousand page reads could equate to anything – I'm not sure if this system will continue as I don't think I'll be the only writer who suffers economically and is also frustrated by being unable to make accurate recordings for each book.
I'd be interested to hear other writers views on these changes. Am I alone in having reservations?
I really liked the system as it was and I think these radical changes might well be for Amazon's benefit rather than mine.
Fenella J Miller

Lady Emma's Revenge

Here is my latest Regency romantic adventure which this time features a man who is not a gentleman but a senior Bow Street Runner. Both Lady Emma and Sam look exactly as I imagined them – Jane Dixon-Smith has given me yet another brilliant cover.

I really enjoyed writing something a bit different this time. One review of Lord Ilchester’s Inheritance suggested there was not enough plot, so this time I’ve provided plenty of action as well as romance. I hope you enjoy reading it is much as I did writing it.

Blurb:

Lady Emma’s Revenge

Lady Emma Stanton is determined to discover who killed her husband even if it means enlisting the assistance of a Bow Street Runner. Sam Ross is not a gentleman, has rough manners and full time for etiquette, but he is brave and resourceful and Emma comes to rely on him – perhaps a little too much.

£1.25

  

Chapter One

Chelmsford, 1816

The crack of the pistol shot echoed through the house. Emma stumbled backwards almost losing her balance and crashing headlong down the staircase.

The sound had come from Richard’s study. Gathering up her skirts, she spun and raced down the stairs, across the vast expanse of chequered floor and along the spacious passageway that led to his sanctum.

His man of business, Stokes, barred her way as she tried to go in. ‘No, my lady, better not see. I was too late to stop him.’ He wiped his eyes on his sleeve but remained firmly in front of the closed door. ‘The master is dead. There’s nothing you can do for him.’

‘Dead? Are you telling me that he has killed himself? I don’t understand – we breakfasted together little more than an hour ago and he was perfectly well.’ Her head was spinning; she couldn’t take in this dreadful news.

The housekeeper, Smithson, appeared beside her. ‘You come along with me, my lady, let Mr Stokes take care of things. He’ll get Doctor Reynolds to deal with this.’

Emma allowed herself to be gently guided away from the study. She had believed her husband had been contented with their union despite his lack of interest in the marriage bed. How could he have taken his own life? It made no sense.

‘No, Smithson, I’ll not be removed so easily. Mr Stanton could not possibly have committed suicide. I must speak to Stokes and he must send for the magistrate and have him investigate the matter.’

Ignoring the anxious tutting and clucking from her housekeeper she hurried back to the study and turned the handle – but the door was locked. She banged on the door and demanded to be let in and she was certain she heard movement behind the door.

Stokes rushed to her side, his face pale. ‘I locked the door, my lady, the master wouldn’t want you to see him like that.’

‘There’s someone in there. Quickly, unlock the door, whoever it is will be getting away.’

His expression changed to one of concern and he fumbled in his pocket for the missing key. ‘There cannot be anyone inside, my lady, the door has been locked and the windows are closed.’

Eventually the door was open and Emma was first to enter. The room was indeed empty, but she was certain there had been somebody inside. Her attention turned to her husband who was slumped across the desk, his fair hair caked with blood, the discharged duelling pistol in his hand.

Her eyes filled and she swayed. She dug her nails into her palms, she would not faint, she must be strong. Richard had been murdered and she could think of only one person who would wish to do this. His younger half-brother, Benedict Stanton, had always coveted the estates and substantial income that went with them. The last time Richard had spoken to his brother had been more than a year ago and the meeting had ended with Benedict threatening to kill him.

‘I cannot go any closer. Stokes, could you check the desk and see if there is a note for me?’

After a cursory search amongst the papers he shook his head. ‘Nothing at all, my lady. The master would have left a note explaining, I don’t understand.’

‘I am feeling decidedly unwell, I must lie down. I shall leave you to speak to the doctor. Would you also send word to our lawyers, they must bring the will. Thank God the estates are not entailed, they will remain under my control and will not be passed on to Mr Stanton.’

‘The master had summoned me here on an urgent matter. I did not get the opportunity to speak to him, but he received two letters from London this morning and I believe it was in relation to those that he wished to speak to me.’ He bowed and stepped aside to allow her to exit.

Smithson was waiting in the passageway and Emma was glad of her support. The shock and anger at Richard’s demise had carried her through the first awful minutes, but now grief was overwhelming her. It was as if she had been shrouded in a heavy, wet cloak. Her feet were becoming more difficult to move and a welcome blackness took her away.

http://amzn.to/1f4Wnow (com)

http://amzn.to/1Nz2DjV (uk)

Indian or British? The journal that inspired Victoria's War.

Ahttp://amzn.to/1HFeMTQ (.com)
http://amzn.to/1GlQigd (.uk)

I was inspired to write Regency books because I read Georgette Heyer as a teenager and later read Jane Austen's wonderful books. In latter years I watched the many Jane Austen adaptations that appeared on television and this spurred me on to write my own Jane Austen variations, as well as over thirty Regency stories.

http://amzn.to/1HvkEP (.uk)
http://amzn.to/1KZdmCD (.com)

However, when I found my mother's journal about the time she spent in India with her father, my grandfather, I decided to write a historical family saga using her memoirs for authentic background and detail.
 The first part of Victoria's War, Shadows, uses a lot of my mother's actual descriptions of the India where she lived for two years between 1937 and 1939. I also made the decision to get her memoirs typed and transferred to my PC and then to publish them on Amazon.
The electronic version has been live since last week and I'm about to put up the paperback version with Create Space. I shall make a colossal loss on this project, but writers don't do everything in order to earn royalties – sometimes we write and publish books because they are important to us.
I wish I had known the woman who wrote this journal – maybe I would have liked her more. It was only when I discovered the manuscript, after my stepfather's death, that I also found a couple of other, more recently written, journals in which she had put that she had loved my brother and I.
I wish she'd been able to tell us how much she loved us when she was alive because, although she and my stepfather provided us with an interesting home, with no financial support whatsoever from my father, never once did she offer us any physical expression of her feelings.
I wonder what inspires other writers – is it an overheard conversation, a family photograph perhaps, or something else entirely?

Fenella J Miller

Alison Morton - Is social media any use?

Today I have the talented writer Alison Morton as guest on my blog. I asked for her view on social media as I know you seem to prefer this sort of post to just straight promotion. If you haven't read her first three books then you have missed a terrific read.

Over to you Alison:

Alison - looking rather scary.

Is social media any use?

Without the firm social media base built up over several years, I could not have launched my fourth book, AURELIA, last month. It’s that simple.

Dial back five years when I started mixing with book people – writers, editors, agents, publishers, literary consultants and commentators. I was still writing the first draft of my first book, INCEPTIO and quickly realised it would be a slog to make it known to readers. A website was obvious – I’d written and used them during my business career, but what else was there?

Although I had no published book to promote, I decided on World Book Day in 2010 to blog about my newbie journey as a writer. Shortly after, I plunged into Twitter then Facebook, both a little unwillingly.

But something unexpected happened - I fell in love with social media. Yes, it’s publicised my Roma Nova thriller series but more than that, I now enjoy talking to warm, witty, insightful and generous people on every continent. And many of these virtual friends and acquaintances have not only bought my books, but actively help me promote them to others.

What benefits do blogging, tweeting and posting bring?
Writing blog posts hones short-form writing skills like nothing else. Now, I have five years’ worth of posts on alternative history, writing life and craft and Roman life which readers can discover and hopefully enjoy; my post on the Antonine plague in the late second century is even used as a student resource! ;-)

Worth remembering:  your blog belongs to you, you control what goes on it and how information is presented.

Tweeting widens your reach, gives you the opportunity to connect instantly and discover useful articles that can help your career, find new books or just entertain you. Sophisticated tools like Tweetdeck allow you to reach people in other time zones with scheduled tweets. I like Twitter for building relationships and following trends and news as well as retweeting useful articles from other people and, very importantly, from my own blog. Other tweeters will retweet yours if you reciprocate; your book is then in front of their followers’ eyes.

Facebook allows you to contact people in specific interest groups and, in my case, to talk to my readers as well as to other authors and experts. Using an author page allows you to be more commercial and concentrate on your books and writing life without driving your non-author friends on your personal profile insane with book talk!

Amazon author sites are essential and simple to use; readers can find what other books their favourite author has written, watch trailers and check author events.

Goodreads, sometimes called ‘Facebook for readers’ runs an author programme where authors can promote their books. Most popular is the giveaways where authors can put their books before hundreds of readers and readers have the chance to win free signed paperbacks!

A few tips
Not a numbers game – Don’t count ‘scalps’ or pure numbers – all social media is a gradual business which accumulates and you should look for quality of your contacts, not quantity. Paid likes or followers aren’t worth it – they’re usually 14-year-olds in a bedroom doing it for pocket money.

Interact - You don’t have to follow everyone back, especially if you have no shared connection and they’ve popped up out of the blue. Have conversations as well as promoting your books; readers and authors are people first!

Have fun but be prudent – Once you’ve put something on social media, it’s in the public domain and can’t be withdrawn.

Facebook – If you receive a friend request from somebody you don’t know personally, check the subject matter on their page, their other friends, any mutual friends, the groups they belong to and their interests before accepting the connection. Just because your friends have accepted the request doesn’t mean the requester is abona fide person…

Content - Keep all posts specific, on message, entertaining and informative. Restrict promotional tweets to about 15% of your total tweets.

Bad master, good tool – Decide how much time you will spend on social media, and when, in the day and do not exceed it. It’s very alluring… I check each morning for posts in other time zones and to say good morning to fellow early risers, then allocate more time in the evening, which is when most of my contacts are about. 

Blogging – How often you blog is up to you, but once a week keeps readers’ attention. Posts of 600-800 words are best plus at least one picture. Regular blogging also gives you an opportunity to discuss research, host guests and highlight how your work is going – all interesting to readers.

Other social media are available, as they say – Pinterest, Google+, Tumblr, Instagram – but I’d start with the ones I’ve mentioned.

In brief, what do social media deliver?
For me, it’s been, and is, support, insider knowledge, interaction with readers, reviews, sales, endorsements, strategic and personal friendships. And my ability to write succinct prose quickly and to deadlines has improved no end!

Alison Morton bio (AURELIA)

Even before she pulled on her first set of combats, Alison Morton was fascinated by the idea of women soldiers. Brought up by a feminist mother and an ex-military father, it never occurred to her that women couldn’t serve their country in the armed forces. Everybody in her family had done time in uniform and in theatre – regular and reserve Army, RAF, WRNS, WRAF – all over the globe.

So busy in her day job, Alison joined the Territorial Army in a special communications regiment and left as a captain, having done all sorts of interesting and exciting things no civilian would ever know or see. Or that she can talk about, even now…

But something else fuels her writing… Fascinated by the mosaics at Ampurias (Spain), at their creation by the complex, power and value-driven Roman civilisation started her wondering what a modern Roman society would be like if run by strong women…

Now, she lives in France and writes Roman-themed alternate history thrillers with tough heroines.

INCEPTIO, the first in the Roma Nova series

– shortlisted for the 2013 International Rubery Book Award

– B.R.A.G. Medallion

– finalist in 2014 Writing Magazine Self-Published Book of the Year

PERFIDITAS, second in series

– B.R.A.G. Medallion

– finalist in 2014 Writing Magazine Self-Published Book of the Year

SUCCESSIO, third in series

– Historical Novel Society’s indie Editor’s Choice for Autumn 2014

– B.R.A.G. Medallion

– Editor’s choice, The Bookseller’s inaugural Indie Preview, December 2014

Fact file:

Education: BA French, German & Economics, MA History

Memberships: International Thriller Writers, Historical Novel Society, Alliance of Independent Authors, Society of Authors

Represented by Annette Crossland of A for Authors Literary Agency for subsidiary and foreign rights.

Links (Please adapt to your preferred format!)

Connect with Alison on her Roma Nova blog: http://alison-morton.com/blog/

Facebook author page  https://www.facebook.com/AlisonMortonAuthor

Twitter https://twitter.com/alison_morton @alison-morton

Goodreads  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5783095.Alison_Morton

Buying link (multiple retailers/formats):

AURELIA: http://alison-morton.com/books-2/aurelia/where-to-buy-aurelia/

AURELIA book trailer: https://youtu.be/K5_hXzg0JWA