Someone has asked for a couple of copies of 'The White Rajah' to give to friends at Christmas. (What a wonderful person! Are there more of you out there?) I asked if they wanted them signed and, if so, how. "I wouldn't know about signing," he said. "What do you usually do?"
What a good question. I've already blogged that I find signing a bit embarrassing. And when I do, I just sign my name or my name with a generic 'Best Wishes'. But I've had people say they would like something more personal. 'With love,' perhaps? Or 'To John Smith with every best wish'? I quite like the idea of 'I hope you enjoy this book,' though I've never actually put that.
Does anyone else have any ideas?
Thursday, 15 December 2011
Thursday, 17 November 2011
Autumn
Having blogged some winter photos from years ago, I thought I'd share some pictures of the leaves as they are now. All these were taken in St Margarets. I'm very lucky to live there.
Wednesday, 12 October 2011
Yet another way to read for free
Public libraries!
Public libraries are a Good Thing.
Why not borrow 'The White Rajah' (other titles are also available) from your local public library? If your library does not stock 'The White Rajah', why not ask them to add it to their shelves? Most libraries have request forms to ask for specific books to be stocked. That way, you get to read it for free and other people get to see it too.
Public libraries are a Good Thing.
Why not borrow 'The White Rajah' (other titles are also available) from your local public library? If your library does not stock 'The White Rajah', why not ask them to add it to their shelves? Most libraries have request forms to ask for specific books to be stocked. That way, you get to read it for free and other people get to see it too.
Friday, 30 September 2011
Sign here please
All authors sell their books themselves. Even John Grisham started out that way. My experience is that if you sell your book directly to someone, they often ask if you will sign it.
I will, of course. But it does seem a bit weird. I mean, it's very flattering but why on earth does someone want me to sign their copy? I guess if you bought a book from John Grisham back in the day and he signed it, it might be worth something. But he must have been to hundreds of book signings since then and signed thousands of copies, so it can't be worth a lot.
One thing, I suppose, is that it gives the reader a direct physical link to the writer, not mediated through print. Which is nice. But you get a direct link by commenting on any of these blog posts. I read all the comments people make and I reply to them if people ask for a response (and often if they don't). That gives a really direct link, but not many people use it.
So I genuinely don't understand it. Being British, I find it mildly embarrassing, but it's flattering too, so I'm happy to do it.
In the St Margarets magazine, it does say that you can buy signed copies through this blog. That's easy for me to do, because I live in St Margarets and can drop copies off locally. I'd love to sign them for anyone who wants. Someone did pay the postage so that I could mail them a signed copy but generally it's only really possible to sign for people who buy it directly from me in person. If you do, I'll sign it and, more practically, I'll sell it for £7.50, instead of the £9.10 Amazon asks for. (Why £9.10? I think it was a translation of a dollar price and it always drives me nuts but it's out of my hands, I'm afraid.)
If you want a signed copy and you live in St Margarets, please just comment on this blog or message 'James Brooke' on Facebook with your contact details.
I will, of course. But it does seem a bit weird. I mean, it's very flattering but why on earth does someone want me to sign their copy? I guess if you bought a book from John Grisham back in the day and he signed it, it might be worth something. But he must have been to hundreds of book signings since then and signed thousands of copies, so it can't be worth a lot.
One thing, I suppose, is that it gives the reader a direct physical link to the writer, not mediated through print. Which is nice. But you get a direct link by commenting on any of these blog posts. I read all the comments people make and I reply to them if people ask for a response (and often if they don't). That gives a really direct link, but not many people use it.
So I genuinely don't understand it. Being British, I find it mildly embarrassing, but it's flattering too, so I'm happy to do it.
In the St Margarets magazine, it does say that you can buy signed copies through this blog. That's easy for me to do, because I live in St Margarets and can drop copies off locally. I'd love to sign them for anyone who wants. Someone did pay the postage so that I could mail them a signed copy but generally it's only really possible to sign for people who buy it directly from me in person. If you do, I'll sign it and, more practically, I'll sell it for £7.50, instead of the £9.10 Amazon asks for. (Why £9.10? I think it was a translation of a dollar price and it always drives me nuts but it's out of my hands, I'm afraid.)
If you want a signed copy and you live in St Margarets, please just comment on this blog or message 'James Brooke' on Facebook with your contact details.
Wednesday, 28 September 2011
St Margarets
I live in St Margarets. It's one of the little 'villages' that make up London. We have our own butcher, a new baker is taking over since the old one shut down and, if we don't have a candlestick-maker, there's certainly a gift shop that sells a nice line in candles. The village even has its own quarterly magazine, My St Margarets, a glossy production with news of local businesses and things that might interest the people who live here. Which, fortunately for me, includes the efforts of local authors.
The picture above is clickable and enlarges, if you want to read it. Anyone interested in flicking through the whole magazine online will find The White Rajah covered on page 12.
I like living in St Margarets. It's a nice place. And it's full of people who think books are cool. I specially like that.
I like living in St Margarets. It's a nice place. And it's full of people who think books are cool. I specially like that.
Friday, 2 September 2011
It's all about ME!!
A little while ago, 1PlaceForRomance did an author spotlight on me. Here it is for those of you who missed it:
Tell us about your current release. It’s a historical novel based on the life of James Brooke. In the middle of the 19th century he went Borneo where, in exchange for some help that he gave to the native ruler, he was given his own small country. It was called Sarawak and he and his family continued to rule it for around 100 years. The story concentrates on some of the conflicts in the early years of his rule. It’s principally a romantic adventure but it does also touch on some serious issues about the nature of colonialism and what happens when people become militarily involved in the affairs of other countries. I tried to keep it short and relatively light with lots of romance and excitement compared to the more serious bits.
Tell us about your next release. I’m working on a novel based on the Indian Mutiny. It should be ready to be published this year but it won’t be if I don’t put my head down and write more.
Where do you research for your books? I used to spend a lot of time in quite specialist libraries but, thanks to the wonder of the internet, I’m now able to do most of my research from home. My first book is based in Sarawak and I did visit there, though the idea of the book came after the visit, so it hardly counts as research. I’m working on a book set in Argentina and I did spend some time specifically researching there. I’m also writing about India and I’d love to get there too but I don’t think I’m going to make it.
Do you have any suggestions for beginning writers? If so, what are they? Start writing. There’s no preparation like putting those words on paper. Write anything. Then be critical, tear it up and write something else. Keep on until you’re happy with it, then show it to other people, take their comments on board, tear it up and write something else. Repeat until you have something you can submit to an agent. Take their comments on board… You know where this is going by now, don’t you?
Do you hear from your readers? What kinds of questions do they ask? Yes, occasionally, which is nice. They ask about whether Brooke really was gay, which seems much more of an issue than I would ever have expected. And I get questions about the history of Sarawak which have me desperately running for my notes. When Anthony Brooke died recently, a few people picked up on this and asked me about him. I had never heard of him before he died. He lived long after the time I was writing about and he was never technically the Rajah but I read up about his life and he does seem to have been a very interesting character. I blogged about him if anyone wants to know more. (http://thewhiterajah.blogspot.com/2011/03/rip-anthony-brooke.html)
What are you passionate about these days? Dancing the tango. It’s a passionate dance.
What hobbies do you actively pursue? I dance tango, I ski and I spend a lot of time rollerblading.
What would we find under your bed? Lots and lots of tango shoes. (There’s a theme developing here, isn’t there?)
What do you do to unwind and relax? I go to a small place in the country miles away from anywhere with no phone or TV. While I’m there I read a lot and go for long walks. It’s lovely.
Tell us about your current release. It’s a historical novel based on the life of James Brooke. In the middle of the 19th century he went Borneo where, in exchange for some help that he gave to the native ruler, he was given his own small country. It was called Sarawak and he and his family continued to rule it for around 100 years. The story concentrates on some of the conflicts in the early years of his rule. It’s principally a romantic adventure but it does also touch on some serious issues about the nature of colonialism and what happens when people become militarily involved in the affairs of other countries. I tried to keep it short and relatively light with lots of romance and excitement compared to the more serious bits.
Tell us about your next release. I’m working on a novel based on the Indian Mutiny. It should be ready to be published this year but it won’t be if I don’t put my head down and write more.
Where do you research for your books? I used to spend a lot of time in quite specialist libraries but, thanks to the wonder of the internet, I’m now able to do most of my research from home. My first book is based in Sarawak and I did visit there, though the idea of the book came after the visit, so it hardly counts as research. I’m working on a book set in Argentina and I did spend some time specifically researching there. I’m also writing about India and I’d love to get there too but I don’t think I’m going to make it.
Do you have any suggestions for beginning writers? If so, what are they? Start writing. There’s no preparation like putting those words on paper. Write anything. Then be critical, tear it up and write something else. Keep on until you’re happy with it, then show it to other people, take their comments on board, tear it up and write something else. Repeat until you have something you can submit to an agent. Take their comments on board… You know where this is going by now, don’t you?
Do you hear from your readers? What kinds of questions do they ask? Yes, occasionally, which is nice. They ask about whether Brooke really was gay, which seems much more of an issue than I would ever have expected. And I get questions about the history of Sarawak which have me desperately running for my notes. When Anthony Brooke died recently, a few people picked up on this and asked me about him. I had never heard of him before he died. He lived long after the time I was writing about and he was never technically the Rajah but I read up about his life and he does seem to have been a very interesting character. I blogged about him if anyone wants to know more. (http://thewhiterajah.blogspot.com/2011/03/rip-anthony-brooke.html)
What are you passionate about these days? Dancing the tango. It’s a passionate dance.
What hobbies do you actively pursue? I dance tango, I ski and I spend a lot of time rollerblading.
What would we find under your bed? Lots and lots of tango shoes. (There’s a theme developing here, isn’t there?)
What do you do to unwind and relax? I go to a small place in the country miles away from anywhere with no phone or TV. While I’m there I read a lot and go for long walks. It’s lovely.
Friday, 19 August 2011
'The Bloomsbury Review' revisited
Sorry for going on about this but it's a huge deal for me. Apparently 'The Bloomsbury Review' claims a circulation of 50,000 - 10,000 paid and the rest given away in book shops. They reckon a total of 125,000 people see each issue and these are, practically by definition, the sort of people who buy books. TBR concentrates on books from smaller publishers that would not otherwise get reviewed, which gets a big thumbs up from me, but it is selective in its reviews so getting covered by them says I am being taken seriously as a writer. TBR is widely respected in the USA with best-selling author Tony Hillerman describing it as “the best book magazine in America.”
What did they say? Well, it's a reasonably chunky review and I think there's copyright in that but I obviously wouldn't be getting this excited if they didn't like it. My favourite line is, "An interesting tale, well told."
Is it helping sales? It's too early to say but I hope it does. Amazon sales don't seem to account for many of the copies my publisher says are sold but the indications are that they might be going up a bit. So fingers crossed for next quarter's figures.
If you are in the USA and know someone who runs a bookstore, you can getup to 100 copies of your first issue of The Bloomsbury Review free. After that, you pay for the shipping and handling of the issues—the issues themselves are free. The review you need to highlight starts on page 11 of the current issue.
What did they say? Well, it's a reasonably chunky review and I think there's copyright in that but I obviously wouldn't be getting this excited if they didn't like it. My favourite line is, "An interesting tale, well told."
Is it helping sales? It's too early to say but I hope it does. Amazon sales don't seem to account for many of the copies my publisher says are sold but the indications are that they might be going up a bit. So fingers crossed for next quarter's figures.
If you are in the USA and know someone who runs a bookstore, you can getup to 100 copies of your first issue of The Bloomsbury Review free. After that, you pay for the shipping and handling of the issues—the issues themselves are free. The review you need to highlight starts on page 11 of the current issue.
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