Shameless self-promotion

Because I'm afraid, that's what I'm doing. If anyone's interested in Roman military fiction a-la Simon Scarrow, check out my new book Marius' Mules (ISBN 1849238901). If you don't like it, I'll eat my hat. (I had one made of marzipan for this very occasion.)

What a good idea! I tell you what SJATurney, I'll buy Marius' Mules (I love Roman-era fiction) if you buy my book Outlaw, a bloody, authentic retelling of the Robin Hood legends. It's being published mid-July and I'm working on the second one in the series. You can find out more at my website www.angus-donald.com.

Can I suggest something - all 3 of us are authors and we have all written about periods of warfare or dispute (My own is set during the year that led to the English Civil War)

I was told at the outset that my book's main target audience was males, but so far, it is most females that have bought it. Can we share this topic/thought on the main fiction page and see what readers think?
We could ask everyone to view our websites and let us know whether their interest is aroused, and this would help set the whole male/female thing straight.....I'm interested to see whether the main responses are men or women.
I am going to start a thread, so feel free to join in if you wish.....

Mark Turnbull
http://www.decisionmostdeadly.com

I would suggest perhaps that we put a link to each other's work on our own websites too, since historical fiction readers might check the others out. Mine's www.sjaturney.co.uk

Good idea!

I'm up for that. I'll recommend your books on my blog, if you'll do the same for me. Mine is coming out next week; check it out on www.angus-donald.com. By the way, I'm about a quarter the way into your book SJA Turner and really enjoying it, only one criticism, the layout is a bit odd: massive indents for each paragraph and **** for breaks between, "ok" lower case, etc. Did you publish it yourself? If you did, good bit of initiative. It doesn't affect the storytelling, it just gives it a slightly unusual feel. Still, good stuff.
I'll order your book, Mark, when I've finished SJA's.

Funny thing is, I was on your site yesterday Angus, and saying I'll have to buy Outlaw without connecting the fact that it was you I'd been in contact with on here. Damn all this social networking. I shall be buying both of yours once I hit payday. Until then I'm scrimping as usual. I shall be doing web updates on my site this weekend. Soooo busy during the week. In fact, if either of you want to put an advert/page/guest blog on either my website or my blog, feel free to contact me. Best to do that through the website rather than on here, I guess. I'll put a sales link to the books on the store page, but quite happy to put more on than that.

Si

So far I've put a link to both of your books on the store page on my website. Anything you want to put on? An advert, some blurb etc?

Mark,
Just out of interest, have you considered that women buying your books could be for the males that may be in their lives? My missus once wandered home from a car boot sale with a middle-of-the-series Bernard Cornwell Sharpe book (Sharpe's Trafalgar for 20p). It was the most expensive cheap thing she bought me as I went on to buy every other Sharpe book by Cornwell (actually, the missus bought ones she knew I didn't have on at least one occasion out of every two) and regularly buys me the upcoming Cornwell novels (Azincourt was the last) for Xmas/Birthdays, etc...

Hi everybody I thought I would just check out Amazon.uk and I was surprised and delighted to see that someone had started discussions in relation to books they have written - they are a way ahead of us across the Pond and the discussions flow on a very regular basis. First Angus I saw your book in the shops the other day and actually had my hand on it to put it in the trolly when I became distracted my the sister-in-law, however when I go shopping tomorrow I think I shall just have to sneak it into the trolly as it sounds interesting and while I have probably watched every film or series about Robin Hood (how sad is that) I have never read anything about him.
I also have written a book (surprise, surprise) entitled Red Shadow on the Moon which is set in 1866 and covers the last couple of months leading up to the Fetterman Massacre which had as profound effect on the US populace at the time as Custer getting it in the neck 10 years later did. However the book has a twist so check it out on my website (www.pruewestbrook.com).
I wish everyone good luck with their respective creations and in the meantime I shall wake the moths from the purse and tell them I am going out spending money.
Regards to you all Prue

Room for another one? I'll be looking at these books today and adding to the wishlist (Amazon postage to Spain requires its own budget heading) and briefly mention that mine is Libertas based around the last battle in Caesar's civil war, the one that Iggulden left out in his Emperor series. Scarrow/Cornwell with added extras. There, done the shameless self promotion.
Prue is right, the Americans know a thing or two about working together to help each other. I'd be interested to know what you think about tagging (see http://tagmybookonamazon.wordpress.com ), now available for UK authors.
Cheers all, Alistair, www.alistairforrest.com

I hope you like the book, Prue. It's not your usual Robin Hood tale and it's pretty violent and dark. If you want to read an extract before you buy it, to make sure it's your kind of thing, go to my website angus-donald.com. I'm going to check out your website now, your Fetterman Massacre book sounds really intriguing!
Angus Donald

Hi Angus have already bought the book and yes I did visit your website although I had already made up my mind to spend the moths. In fact I have nearly finished one of the books I am reading so I shall jump it up the queue. Honestly Angus how can you not write a book about Robin Hood and leave out the violence, as lets face it the Medieval times were not exactly rosie and light and I feel if you are going to pitch your book in any like setting then you have to be honest to the times that you are writing about. I have written a second book (which is currently being looked at so fingers crossed) and one of my characters is taken by some Kiowa Indians and it is not pleasant but then it is not suppose to be. Having read more than effort accounts of survivors, some of the detail makes you cringe and it's a definite cross your legs moment.
I am looking forward to reading Outlaw as I have no preconceived ideas about Robin Hood despite the likes of Richard Green, Errol Flynn, Kevin Costner, Sean Connery, Jason Connery or Michael Praed trying to presuade me otherwise. How sad is that, and I could name a few more. Prue

On Angel Mountain (Angel Mountain Saga 1)

Hello guys! I'm up for some shameless self-promotion too. My own Angel Mountain Saga (six novels so far, and counting.....) has a nice following from all over the world. Once the novels had become best-sellers in Wales, Transworld picked up the first three, and published Corgi editions. But sadly, promotion work and effective marketing did not figure in their plans, and they told me in the end that there had been NO publicity budget for the books at all. Ah, the joys of being a mid-list author! So I have now recovered the rights, and continue to publish my own editions. Sales of "On Angel Mountain" (all editions) are now up to 15,000, which is something I'm pretty chuffed about. The point of this contribution is to point out that self-publishing can be highly effective, if you know your market and are prepared to work at selling. More info here: http://www.brianjohn.f2s.com/angelmountain1.html. My first novel has an Amazon sales rank of 190,763, which is crazy for a book with my level of sales. But that sales rank is based upon EPOS records -- and the great majority of my sales come from non-trade outlets -- cafes, garages, tourist info centres, post offices, and newsagents etc. So the "sales rank" can be hugely misleading. My own advice, for what it is worth, is not to have high expectations of the big publishers, and to accept that small publishers and "alternative marketing" can sometimes be more effective.

Attention to all those fellow authors that were not aware of the following:- did you know that you can claim Public Lending Rights everytime your book is borrowed through a library. It works the same way as royalties on music i.e. everytime someone borrows your book from the library you get paid. Check out the website www.plr.uk.com its quick and easy and takes about four days to register a title as you have to send them some form of I.D. like a bill.
As the meerkat says - it's simple. Oh I forgot you'll have to do your own silly noise.
Prue

My books are not yet in book shops, but they are available on amazon (mostly on www.amazon.com) but I do notice one is here on amazon.co.uk Casca: Halls of Montezuma albeit at a hugely inflated price! For more realistic prices best either look on amazon.com or on my website www.casca.net where all 6 of my novels so far published can be found.

Briefly, the series concerns the Roman soldier who speared Jesus on the cross and is cursed to immortality for his actions. His story is told down throughout the ages, where he partakes in many campaigns and battles.

Okay, I seem to be the exception here.
I am not an author, I have no manuscript pending, no book deal, and only half-finished ideas in all of your historical areas.
Good luck to you all in your writing - and in all this social networking and self-promotion. You've done a lot of hard work, so now get out there and market market market.
But, as a consumer of historical fiction products, I grow increasingly wary of many reviews I read in papers and that I see on bok covers. Author A is quoted on Author B's book saying "this the best thing since sliced bread", and vice versa. I am sure that this is often now part of writers' contracts with their publishers that they will help cross promote each other's work. It does make commercial sense.

But for us readers, we have to discount a lot of this. Because I have read novels, enthusiatically reviewed by emminent academics, that are not up to much critically - and that if that academic were peer-reviewing an other academics ACADEMIC work - such a gushing review would never have been written at all. Indeed, let's face it, in academe it's a dog it dog world and some of the most vicious attacks are by one don going after another....

All of which is not me wishing any of you ill. I really don't. It's just.... regretfully, experience has taught me to be very wary of much promotion.

Can I please join in? Being with a small publisher I have to 'prostitute' myself by self-promotion. My debut novel 'Blood on their Petticoats' is about a young lady who goes out to Scutari with Florence Nightingale to nurse the sick and wounded from the Crimean War. It is not predominately a woman's book, many men have read it and given me some good feeback. I've tried to show how difficult conditions were. My next novel is about the women who went out to the Crimea with their soldier husbands. In both cases, I have researched extensively. I wish all self-promoting authors much luck, as we desperately need it!

[Deleted by the author on 4 Nov 2009 12:35:06 GMT]

Just thought I would let you know the comments I got when I posted ' would you read a self published novel'.
As you can guess, I got a mixed bag of comments. What became clear was that a lot of readers would like to read a chapter of a book when the novel is self published, before committing to it.

Therefore get a chapter of your book available. I have just done this with my first novel, Blood Money, which is set in 1641 and follows an assasssination atempt on Charles 1st. To view the chapter, please visit anovelexperience.co.uk.

Good luck and stick with it.

Hi Brian
That's a pretty disappointing tale about Transworld (but par for the course, it would seem) but a mighty impressive sales figure for self promotion. You can't keep a good Welshman down, eh?
And since I'm pretty rubbish at blowing my own trumpet, I'll just mention that my first action-adventure novel 'Walls of Jericho' is the story of two unlikely friends, set at the very beginning of the Peninsular war. You can read the first 3 chapters at www.cavalrytales.co.uk.
Good luck to all the other authors posting here - what we really need is a dedicated Self Published Historical Fiction Author's site. Dream on.
Jonathan

Merry Christmas, and thank-you for allowing me to mention my book to you!

I am so pleased to announce that The Gaslight Journal is now live on Amazon Kindle for £2.21.

This from the back cover:

A secret hidden in a dead man's journal will tear his family apart, unless his widow and daughter cannot learn how to overcome it.

The year is 1881. In spite of being in America, how you appear to Victorian high-society determines your future.

Isabella Audley is on Christmas break from Radcliffe, returning home for the first time in 3 years to Fairtown, NY. Grieving the loss of her father, who died of pneumonia a month before leaving for school, she is excited to finally spend holiday with her mother, Lilly, see cherished friends, and step back into the life of privilege she's always known.

But her bliss is cut short with rumors of a tragedy that's befallen her mother. While rummaging for decorations one afternoon, "Izzy" discovers her father's journal and reference to his hidden secret, and confronts Lilly. Soon, it's evident that their relationship may not stand against Lilly's deception at having prior knowledge of the situation (a dark truth that's already set the course for their family's destruction), and it will tear them apart unless they cannot learn how to overcome it.

Only Thomas, a childhood friend, whom she soon discovers has a secret of his own, has it in his power to pull them from ruin. As Izzy finds herself falling for him, it's apparent that their difference in class, now caused by her slip in status, thanks to the repercussions of her father's secret, may prevent them from finding the happiness they were meant to have.

It has also received the following accolades so far:

*Featured book of the day on the NightReading UK web-site for 10/25/10
*Nominated for book-of-the-month by NightReading Publishing for September, 2010
*Voted #1 on the HarperCollins web-site for the week of 8/17/10

Here is one recent five-star review by author/journalist Tom Dulaney:

What a delight to sink into the life and times of Isabella Audley, a young Victorian woman ensconced in the rituals of the English gentry, the constraints of social class, the expectations of propriety. From the opening sentences of The Gaslight Journal, the reader immerses in the formal language of those long-ago days when bustles adorned the ladies, servants joyfully attended their needs, and society's taut structure challenged a thoughtful woman's quest for romance and fulfillment. Fans of Jane Austen will enjoy Carla Rene's atmospheric novel.

It is well worth spending time with the author's Introduction, as well. Where Isabella, the character, copes with the nature of her Victorian times, Rene has coped with the nature of her times, pushed to lowest reaches of America's economic social strata by the hard economy. A woman forced to live in her car out of economic necessity is to be pitied. A woman who slept in a car with her cats and still had the courage to write this fine novel is to be admired. Courage, in the book, wore a corset. Courage, in Meltdown America, wears jeans.

Also included as bonus content, but available now as a stand-alone story, my historical fiction short-story:

A Sleep To Startle Us --Charles Dickens is having a bad day. After visiting the Field Lane ragged school in Saffron Hill, he's so despondent he decides to give up writing long before he pens his famous "A Christmas Carol".

Then one night while napping in his favourite armchair, his soon-to-be-written fictional ghost decides to visit and take him on a journey that not only changes his life, but inspires him to write A Christmas Carol, which then changes forever the way the Church of England allows its congregants to celebrate Christmas.

This story, entitled after an actual Dickens essay, also contains elements of fact.

What does fiction-writer Andrew Callihan say about it? "WOW! I am IMPRESSED. I really LOVED this story. This is historical fiction at its best. This works wonderfully as a children's story also. I'm going to print it off and read it to my children this season after we've watched a video of Charles Dickens "A Christmas Carol."

Enjoy!

Carla
Guns Don't Kill People...My Uncle Does (A Varied Collection of Short-Stories Geared for a Man)
Zen in the Art of Absurdity (Comedic short-stories and essays that will make you shove forks through your eyes)
A Sleep To Startle Us
We All Need Traditions
Blood Alley

I just thought I would drop in quickly and say to angus that I just finished Holy Warrior and loved it I thought it was much better than outlaw which I did enjoy. You have gotten past some of the stumbling that was in outlaw were the main character was telling the story. Also SJA I have put Marius Mules in my checkout box and as soon as my christmas money goes in the bank this week I will buy it there are some realy good reviews for it.

I'm new to the historical fiction forum. I generally don't post my books that way, but class them as historical fiction/romance. It seems the opinion is equally divided.

Ariana's Pride £1.94 is an historical romance set during the Wars of the Roses. The story commences shortly after the Battle of Barnet where Warwick The Kingmaker was killed and Edward IV has just taken his throne back from the mad king, Henry VI. This one decisive battle affected the lives and attitudes of Ariana and Jeremy who set out on a dark and dangerous journey toward a destiny they couldn't have foreseen.

Book trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QA_rpNyKYv0

Catherine and the Captain £1.94 is set during the controversial and turbulent reign of Richard III. Tied to the royal family by blood and by choice, Catherine is caught in a web of personal and political intrigue that threatens to consume her. Will she find the courage to break free from the destiny of a king or will she choose duty and honor over love?

Book Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbnXJT-hzjQ

A big thank-you to everyone looking for little-known authors here! A friendly place to self-promote is much appreciated. My Regency romance (think Jane Austen), The Artful Miss Irvine, is newly available on Kindle this month, at £2.21. Here's a brief description:

A flirtatious first encounter leaves an American artist and an English aristocrat intrigued with one another. Then Maeve Irvine learns that Adrian, Duke of Ashton, is her late cousin's widower and, apparently, was a neglectful husband. As for Adrian, he is under the impression that Maeve is after her aunt's money, which is currently willed to his daughter. Each is hiding something - but the memory of their first meeting tempts them toward baring all.

In the same price range, I have two other romances set in Regency England, plus a time-travel with a modern heroine and a Regency hero, and a contemporary with a Victorian ghost. For info and sample chapters, please stop by my blog at www.jenmalin.com.

Have a happy, healthy new year!
Jen