The Golden Age, social media and a Pre-order button

Well, it's sort of about the Golden Age of Detective Fiction. Recently on Facebook I commented on a post by another author. This developed, as they so often do, into a conversation, where the poor lady suddenly realised she'd been not only preaching to the converted, but teaching her grannie to suck eggs into the bargain. This had been about the Golden Age, about which I know Quite A Lot, and an American commentator on the subject of whom I'd never heard.

This is one of the problems of social media of all kinds. If one is not mega famous, most people will not have heard of you. But with the easy familiarity of "Friendship" on Facebook and "Followers" on Twitter they can be lulled into thinking that they know you inside out. (Blogger changed that to ionised. Interesting.)

This was amply demonstrated only the other day, when another friend of mine (a proper friend, this time) was complaining about the rejection of a novel which had actually been commissioned. I happen to know all about it, because, not only have I followed its progress over the last year, but I was immensely privileged to read it before it set out on its journey.

The flurry of comments was astonishing. Many were from brand new authors, aspiring authors, only self-published authors and even some established ones. All giving my friend advice. Now, this was all meant in a spirit of friendship and support, I don't deny that, and authors, in the main, are very good at that, but had any of these people actually looked at my friend's profile? Had any of them realised that she is actually a published novelist (by the Big Six) , a published poet and a successful self-publisher, she has written in several genres (including erotica under a false name, of course!) and is the daughter of one of the most successful romantic novelists of the last century.

Eventually, becoming quite angry with some of the commenters (commentators?) I took it upon myself to explain. The one which finally tipped the balance was someone who advised my friend to give up worrying about the money and just write for enjoyment. As my friend, like me, writes for a living and has a large family to support (I only support mine part time, thank goodness) this infuriated  me. So I explained. You could almost hear the humiliated silence over the airwaves. Or the ether. Or whatever it is.

So my advice is, before offering advice to someone on social media, please actually look at their profile. If there's a link to a website or a blog, look at it. Do not assume that you are in a position to offer advice unless you are sure you are.

And, in other news, here are the pre-order links for Murder In The Blood on Amazon UK and US. Release date is now June 18th
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Murder-Blood-Libby-Sarjeant-Mystery-ebook/dp/B00WJXX3F0/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1430132743&sr=1-2&keywords=Murder+In+The+Blood
Murder In The Blood

And the lovely picture at the top is by artist Susan Alison, who also created my map of Steeple Martin.

Publishers - a view

Has everyone seen this: http://gu.com/p/35n8m/tw ? It's Anthony Horowitz on publishers - do we need them or not. It's really funny, but serious, too. When it starts, you feel he's turned against traditional publishers, but as it goes on you realise he hasn't, and he points out the value of said trad publishers. He also quotes from a "bestselling" self pubbed ebook, changing the names of the characters - and the gender of one. And I recognised it. After having this title thrust under my nose everywhere (not by the author, who follows me on Twitter) but amazon and general buzz, I decided I'd try a sample. I'm glad I didn't buy it.

The piece he quotes isn't actually bad, but he points out what an editor would do with it and it's a lesson to us all.Not that I'm saying anything against those of us who self pub - Susan Alison does an excellent job, and so, I'm sure, do many others, and the backlists everyone puts up have already had a thorough going over - but it does raise a point.

Also, despite authors having to be fairly hands-on with marketing and promotion these days, publishers do take a lot of the responsibility and, in the case of print books, do all that complicated stuff of distribution.

As someone who hates editing (mainly because I hate reading my own stuff) I'm glad someone else does it for me and points out all the crap mistakes (although some still get through). On the other hand, increased percentages are tempting, as is control over pricing. And for someone who has missed out on a traditional deal because they don't fit the preconceived ideas for their genre, it's an excellent way to prove that sometimes, the industry isn't always right.

Meanwhile, back at the coalface, Murder by Magic is treacling on. Poor Libby, Fran and Ben are being forced into even more ridiculous scenarios, which will hopefully be resolved in time for you to buy it June!

The Launch of Murder At The Manor

Well, it finally escaped. Murder At The Manor is now available in a bookshop near you. Possibly. And on Amazon. Probably. Not that I have my author copies yet, but you can't have everything. Apparently there was a problem with the bar-code. Which makes me feel like a product rather than an author.

To launch it, I sent out hundreds of invitations on Facebook and Twitter, as I did for the last book, Murder To Music, and as I expect I shall for the next one, Murder By Magic. Lots of people popped in to say hello and congratulations, have a glass of virtual fizz and a piece of cake. The canapes went down well, too. Last Saturday, coincidentally, I was the guest of the Whitstable Book Club at their 25th Anniversary celebration, which fitted in nicely. I was given champagne, wine, lunch and a book token, just for burbling on about books for an hour. Also a cupcake, made by a friend of mine, Val Tilley, in home made cake cases made of that Penguin Titles wrapping paper, and surmounted by a tiny little book with the dates "1986 - 2011" on the front in gold. I have taken a picture, but can't manage to download it, technically challenged as I am.

I also did the infamous "Blog Tour", which means being guest blogger on other people's blogs or being interviewed on their blogs. My favourite is the Monty and Rosie Blog which is also going to appear permanently on my website. For some reason, Blogger is not publishing the link, although I have done it just as they ask! It's the blog home of my friend Susan Alison, who created the lovely map which now appears in the front of every book and on my website. I'd love you to take a look and tell Susan how much you like it.

And so, onwards and upwards. Next up, Murder By Magic, available next June. I am currently battling with it, having already discovered I'd made a mistake about the murder method. Good job I found out now - right at the beginning, rather than...shudder.

Guildford Book Festival and Cotswold Bookstore

Last week was notable for the mileage my little car got under its bonnet. On Tuesday, my daughter Phillipa (she who has just finished at the Royal Academy of Music. And is "resting") offered to get up at the crack of dawn - or before, actually - and drive me to the Guildford Book Festival, where I was on a panel with Linda Regan, my old Bad Babes buddy, Suzette Hill and chaired by Simon Brett. No photographs, unfortunately, but we had a good time and each received a bottle of wine for our trouble. Lovely to see Simon again, as we rarely cross paths, yet always come up together on Amazon.

Then on Saturday a friend offered to drive me to Moreton-in-Marsh, where the Cotswold Bookstore was hosting a launch/signing for my latest book, Murder Imperfect. Publisher Hazel Cushion, of Accent Press, was providing wine and nibbles. I am sad to say that the RAC route I downloaded before we left was - er - pants. We ended up in Cheltenham. Luckily, my son Miles telephoned to say good luck, and I was able to ask him to look up the book shop's number. They therefore knew we would be late.

When we arrived at this really lovely book shop, one window of which was full of my books surrounding a large version of the map Susan Alison created for them, I was greeted by a cheer and applause. The shop was packed, and I was set to signing straight away. I met so many lovely people (real ones, not authors) who all bought multiple copies of the books. However the treat for me was getting together with so many friends. In the photograph above, left to right, are Susan Alison (map creator, who signed books with me) Gilli Allan, Adrian Magson (crime writer and friend) Katie Fforde, her sister Jane Gordon-Cumming and publisher Hazel Cushion. This was taken by Tony, book shop co-owner, right at the end of the event after the wine had been packed away, and many friends had already left. Also there at some point were Anita Burgh, the writer who most encouraged me well before I became a novelist, Catherine Jones, some other RNA members and Maureen Vincent-Northam, another Accent Press author. I expect I've forgotten people, but it wa a bit of a blur, and Hazel kept me well supplied with red wine. (Surprise surprise.)

I was then presented with a beautiful bouquet and a copy of the new Justin Thyme book, and Hazel took me, my friend who drove, Adrian and his wife and Hazel's two daughters who had been helping with the event, to lunch in a lovely pub. We had a lovely, stress free drive home and I collapsed on the sofa. I felt like a star, and had the best time ever. So thank you to everyone who came, to Hazel for the wine, nibbles and lunch (and for being a fab publisher) and most of all, to the Cotswold Bookstore, Tony, David and Nina, for asking me.

This week, I'm off to The Write Place, Dartford, to do a guest spot. It's all go, you know.