10 thoughts on being an independent author

As it’s Indie Author Week this week, and I’ve now been self-publishing for just over 6 years, here are some thoughts on what it’s like to be an independent author. Before I start, two things: What follows is drawn from my own experience – I’m not saying it will be the same for everyone who

Here we are again: new year goals…

This year seems to have gone both quickly and slowly. Somehow, the whole family has managed to stay Covid-free (I ought to cross my fingers but it’s quite hard to type at the same time). The kids are back in school, I’m back tutoring (in just one school this time), but my husband is still

It’s that time again: new year goals…

Well, 2020 has been interesting, to say the least. What’s that saying about ‘may you live in interesting times’?  I reread last year’s ‘life goals’ post, and either I was unusually prescient, or I may be partly responsible for the mess that has been 2020. If so, I apologise. That said, I’m conscious that I’m

Have your say in my 2020 reader survey – and maybe win a paperback!

I did a reader survey last year and it was so helpful that I’m doing it again! I’ve put together a short (9-question) survey on SurveyMonkey. It’s mainly multiple-choice, and its purpose is to learn more about my readers and people who interact with me on my author social media. I’ll take the responses and use

New year, same goals…

At least I’m getting in with the new year’s goals post quicker than I did last year! I won’t get into whether it’s a new decade or not because people will start squabbling, so let’s move along. Here’s a recap of last year’s goals: Work smarter, not harder  Try some new things  Get fitter  2019

A late spring clean! Website updated

OK, May is a bit late for a spring clean…but overhauling my website is one of those jobs which I eye warily, hoping it might go away if I don’t look at it directly. The last time we moved house one of the things we found was that the house had 3 fuseboxes – as

It’s my 3-year self-publiversary today! 12 reflections…

I noticed about halfway through this morning, in the midst of running errands and nothing much to do with writing, that today is my 3-year self-publiversary. My first self-pubbed book launched on 1 April 2016 (I picked that date for a reason, honest!), and hey, here I still am. I published a post for my

Yes, it’s that new year post…

I bet you’ve read loads of these New Year posts already in 2019, but this is probably as much for me as it is for you, so here goes! You’ll notice that this post is a bit later than the majority of goal-setting posts. That’s partly because I’ve been surrounded by family until today. It’s

Happy self-publiversary to me!

I only noticed this about half an hour ago (it’s latish afternoon here in the UK), but today is my 30-month or 2.5-year self-publiversary! Yes, two and a half years ago I unleashed The Secret Notebook of Sherlock Holmes on an unsuspecting world, and then, well, I just kept going. 30 months feels like a long time

Run VT! Making a simple book trailer

It’s been ages since I wrote a how-to post – although this one is more of a how-I-did, and not necessarily a how-you-should post. So, I’d been thinking about making a fairly simple trailer to introduce The Case of the Black Tulips, the first book in the Caster & Fleet mystery series I’ve been co-writing with