Category: Being an author

Have you had a holiday this year? In the UK we haven’t had much of a summer, so if you wanted warmth you would’ve had to leave the country for a while. Travel is a big deal for our family. Not long after we first met, myself and my (now) wife took ourselves and our…

Cozy Mysteries are big right now, and I think my style, suitably modified, lends itself to a good mystery. So my next series will be called The Quadrangle Murders, and there will be four books (obvs). If you subscribe to my newsletter you will get the chance to be involved in the creation of the…

Out Of The Equation, the final book in this series begins… Killing the boss of a drug cartel is a big deal. A very big deal. Killing him accidentally is foolish to say the least. There’s a long list of consequences to go through in your head before you decide your next move. But Maria…

Out Of Their League, the follow up to OOHD, begins like this… The van pulled away down the drive, turned out onto the main road, and joined the flow of traffic. Inside a large basket on castors in the back of the van, the body with the cotton hood cable-tied over its head was cushioned…

Just to give you a taster of Out Of His Depth, here is the first chapter… I never expected to become a killer. But ever since that day, I knew that I could. After what they did. It’s not like I have a choice. It’s all I can think about. He’s brought them all together…

One thing that has surprised me as I’ve immersed myself in the author world is the number of fiction genres there are, and the variety of sub-genres within them. There are the obvious ones, like thrillers, romance, sci-fi etc., but others like post-apocalyptic (zombies), cozy mystery (Agatha Christie), and Fantasy (Harry Potter) are incredibly popular…

One great thing about being an Indie author is the support out there from other people in the same situation, and all the other circumstances along the author journey. Every year, roughly 2000 authors from all over the world, gather for a week in Las Vegas to learn from others who give their time freely…

As an avid reader, I’m sure you know the difference already: Traditional Publishing is where an author gets a contract with one of the big publishing houses, via an agent, and the publisher handles a lot of the editing, cover design, marketing etc. Prices for physical books can be lower because the publisher orders hundreds/thousands…

Gary Numan? No? Just me then. Fact is, with a day job to keep me busy for 40 hours a week I have to find time to write novels outside of that, which sounds easy but isn’t really. Yes, I have time in the evenings but there are other things to do and people to…

If you’re not from the north of England I’m referring to AI – the hottest of hot topics as I write. Apparently, it’s going to replace everybody and ruin everything. Maybe. It certainly will change the world in many ways but hopefully, we can use it for the better and do useful things with it.…

It’s another big decision for a new author to decide what name to use – stick to your own or make a new one up? It’s a bit of an existential crisis. I had no particular problem with using my real name but I thought it was a bit long and ‘clunky’ for a thriller…

Let’s face it, we all do, don’t we? If it doesn’t look interesting it’s unlikely to be something we pick up or click on to find out more. So when it came to launching my first book I knew I had to get the cover professionally designed. It’s quite an expense for a first-time author…