Category: The writer’s life

The key to strong literary prose

How to make your literary writing sing  Good literary fiction is built on beautiful prose and unique style. This newsletter delves into what makes prose…

Sarah 25 August 2020

1 Comment

Oh holy land of research

I’m a crime writer, a genre famous for its gritty realism. Raymond Chandler and his important predecessor, Dashiell Hammett, took the crime novel away from…

Harry 21 August 2020

7 Comments

KDP’s best kept secrets

It occurred to me today, as I’m preparing for our next publication (more on that soon!), how tricky the KDP dashboard is to navigate when…

Rachael 17 August 2020

3 Comments

Chasing monkeys

This week, I had a plan. I had an actual plan for what to write to you about – a plan inspired by a publishing…

Harry 14 August 2020

4 Comments

Looking for children’s book reviewers – children (8-12) or adults

Hi Everyone Who would like to download a free copy of a children’s adventure story for 8 – 12. year-olds?  It’s already published and selling…

gloria 9 August 2020

0 Comments

The three page novel

A friend of mine is a painter. He was in a grump the other day because he’d been working all morning on a new canvas,…

Harry 7 August 2020

3 Comments

The empty cover

Oh ye merry folk of writing, I have tidings to bring … but, in the best traditions of suspense, I’m not going to tell you…

Harry 31 July 2020

6 Comments

Infinite Shelf Space & the Gatekeeper’s Myth

An interesting thought this week, arising from my Summer Festival conversation with Jenny Geras, the CEO of Bookouture, on Tuesday this week. If you’re a…

Harry 24 July 2020

4 Comments

An arctic tale

I once saw a documentary about dog sledding in the Arctic. The show had (I think) three teams racing to the Pole using broadly the…

Harry 17 July 2020

14 Comments

We launched a book. Here’s what happened

On Friday 26 June, we released a book: Getting Published, authored by me, and a major update on a book I first wrote ten years…

Harry 10 July 2020

3 Comments