My Blog
What does an editor do?
I've never been an editor. I've never been on a course on how to do it, or read a manual. But I've been on receiving end of a number of editors' work, and I think I'm beginning to understand what a good editor does. Here's what an editor does that works for me as a...
The latest ‘genre-fads’
As any regular reader of my blog will know, I've always been puzzled by the complexities of 'genre' and its effect on those in the book business whose role is to decide what gets published and what doesn't. Apparently in the latest edition of the 'Bookseller'...
Do I need a specialist crime fiction editor?
Two things have prompted this question. The first was a response from a well-known crime writer I asked to read 'Cruel Tide' a few weeks ago. I was pleased that he said some positive things about it, but he ended his note with words to the effect that I needed a...
Flogging the new book, but not a dead horse?
Well the books are here, 400 plump pages in each one, fresh from the printers in Cornwall, boxed and shrink-wrapped and fork-lifted into the storage space, ready to be sent out again as feverish demand mounts. I wish, but we did ship out six boxes straight away to...
Hopeful anticipation or more self-doubt?
I veer between positive and fearful anticipation from hour to hour in this final run-up to the publication of 'Cruel Tide'. Very occasionally I imagine what it would be like for it to be a runaway success, with sales off the scale and a rushed reprint. But most of the...
New book cover ‘Cruel Tide’: I think it’s pretty good
At last! I've worked out how to add an image to my blog - the front cover of the new book. I think it's an arresting image, and pertinent too. See what you think.. It'll be available from around the end of November 2015, from any good bookshop, from Amazon as a...