What did I learn from preparing Book 2?

Last Thursday, I finished the edits on the second Roma Nova book, PERFIDITAS. SilverWood Books’ editor made some excellent recommendations and sparked off other ideas that I incorporated in the final, final edition. Good books go through many revisions and edits, but at last it was done.

So how was it for me?

1. Strange […]

Not all self-published work is grey in the night

Not all self-published work is crap.

Not all mainstream books are good.

Many self-published works are excellent.

Many mainstream books are dire.

All true. But the demarcation between the two is blurring. A reader doesn’t give a toss who produced a book they love. The things they do notice are rubbishy covers, unintelligible blurb, coarse, […]

Romans and steampunk?

Today, I don’t only have a guest, I’m actually swapping blogs with Daniel Ottalini, another ‘Roman nut’ but with a difference…

Daniel Ottalini is the author of The Steam Empire Series, a fantastical Roman and steampunk story brought to life in his debut novel, Brass Legionnaire. Daniel has been an avid reader all his […]

Telling people about your treasure

Having mixed with book people – writers, editors, agents, publishers, literary consultants and commentators – for three years before I published my first book, INCEPTIO, I knew it would be a slog to make it known to the reading public.

Amongst others, Catherine Ryan Howard’s excellent blog gave me wisdom, knowledge and tough love about […]

INCEPTIO at Oxford Circus

INCEPTIO is at Oxford Circus! You can’t get more central than that.

I wonder where its next stop will be travelling around the London Underground.

Books on the Underground is a fabulous scheme – books travelling around the London Underground network waiting to be read. Apart from some publicity for the author, the other benefit […]