Why do you buy the books you do?

Wouldn’t every publisher, agent and writer want to know the answer to that one?

I’ve been on the Goodreads site, rating the books I’ve read. Analysing my own behaviour as a reader, I’ve been surprised by what I’ve picked out: historical fiction, adventure, romance, thriller, literary, fantasy, young adult, psychological, crime, contemporary, epic, speculative/science fiction, […]

What do readers really want?

A fun thing around Twitter #thingsnottosaytoawriter recently had some wry and clever responses from writers, some tinged with irony, even bitterness. Some were made up, but some were things that had been said to them in true life: Does this sort of thing sell, then? Where can I download your book for free? Since you […]

A transgressive Roman

My last Roman post was in January this year, although I have sneaked in a few pictures here and there. I took this photo (right) in February this year in the courtyard of the Capitoline Museum – a near holy place for any ‘Roman nut’.

I was intrigued by the assured pose of the obviously […]

Why I started writing novels

I started writing novels all of a sudden in May 2009. Why? To tell a story, of course, a story that had been squatting in my head and slowly brewing for over ten years. It was sparked into life by a visit to the cinema.

I’d always fancied the second male lead in the film […]

Sharing hordes of information treasure

Dashing around visiting sites/blog/articles, I sometimes forget to tell others about the hordes of treasure I find, so here are two articles on promoting your book that I’ve found or visited recently.

50 Simple Ways to Build Your Platform Christina Katz writes:

“Writing rules. Self-promotion drools. Isn’t this how most writers think?

But as long […]