Instagramming

I've just joined Instagram. I tried a few months back, wasn't smitten, but trying again. It's like a cross between Pinterest and Twitter, but with none of the usefulness to authors that Twitter has. For example, you can't include links in your Instagram posts, so you can post a book cover but no seller information, which seems a little pointless. 

 Another thing I seriously dislike about Instagram is that it's set up so that you can only make posts from your phone, whereas, as a writer, I spend my life at my laptop. There is a hack around, but my goodness, it's convoluted.

So, all things considered, it's a long way down the list of useful for writers trying to share their work.

Instagram does have a larger following than Twitter, but an audience of people more image than word oriented. So, people willing to engage with Twitter are probably more an author's audience. It all boils down to my post on Sociela Media Marketing, is it Worth the Effort?  

I'd be interested to hear from other writers what you feel is most beneficial? I find the #WritingCommunity tag on Twitter very engaging. They recently ran #IndiApril, and I know I sold a few books through that. An inspired campaign. Anyway, whether Instagram is useful to authors or not, for the time being - pretty pictures. If you're on Instagram, drop me a line and connect: authormgw.

Before We Were Yours

I picked up a copy of Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate. 

Really impressive story, based on true events.

Memphis, 1939. Twelve-year-old Rill Foss and her four younger siblings live a magical life aboard their family’s Mississippi River shantyboat. But when their father must rush their mother to the hospital one stormy night, Rill is left in charge—until strangers arrive in force. Wrenched from all that is familiar and thrown into a Tennessee Children’s Home Society orphanage, the Foss children are assured that they will soon be returned to their parents—but they quickly realize the dark truth. At the mercy of the facility’s cruel director, Rill fights to keep her sisters and brother together in a world of danger and uncertainty.

Aiken, South Carolina, present day. Born into wealth and privilege, Avery Stafford seems to have it all: a successful career as a federal prosecutor, a handsome fiancé, and a lavish wedding on the horizon. But when Avery returns home to help her father weather a health crisis, a chance encounter leaves her with uncomfortable questions and compels her to take a journey through her family’s long-hidden history, on a path that will ultimately lead either to devastation or to redemption.

Based on one of America’s most notorious real-life scandals—in which Georgia Tann, director of a Memphis-based adoption organization, kidnapped and sold poor children to wealthy families all over the country—Lisa Wingate’s riveting, wrenching, and ultimately uplifting tale reminds us how, even though the paths we take can lead to many places, the heart never forgets where we belong.

Well narrated and very atmospheric. Something of Little Gods about some of the descriptive of the river. 

Nicely handled examination of a difficult period in history, and there's an excellent note from the author at the end of the book providing a bit more insight into the real events that inspired the story. I definitely enjoyed this one, and there was a nice romantic side story which pulled you along.  

I picked this book up without knowing what it was about, and glad I did. A worthwhile read and a long, winding journey to open waters.

#IndieApril

An independent author, shortened to indie author, is someone who self-publishes their work independently of a traditional publisher. It can also be applied to people who publish through indie publishers, who are publishers independent of the Big Five or other established publishing houses. 

There's currently a massive trend on Twitter at the moment called #IndieApril which celebrates independently published books and writers. Lots of people asking for recommendations and book links, so get in there and share the reads you love.

Amazon's Non-existent Contact Process

[UPDATE: Impressively, someone from Amazon customer services e-mailed me with a direct e-mail address. So, if, like me, you've been going round in circles trying to contact KDP, use this:   kdp-support@amazon.com ]

I know I have a go at Amazon quite a bit, but they really deserve it sometimes. 

Needed help with a problem on KDP. Logged in, clicked Help.

Scrolled down and clicked Contact Us. 

Which, instead of taking you to a contact form, takes you to a Q&A page. You also get there by Googling Contact KDP. It's the top search result: Contact Us - Amazon KDP, so it's rather disappointing to get the blank Q&A instead of actual contact details.

 

None of the answers were relevant to my needs, but by clicking enough of them, I eventually got this question:

No, of course it didn't. But telling it no just takes you to a feedback box.

Like me, you might have noticed the contact us link. Having exhausted all other options, you'd think it might just take you to a contact form. Instead...

 

Straight back to the Q&A.

Utterly, utterly useless.

Thanks Amazon.

Honeywitch

A shout out to my friend Claire Robson and her band Honeywitch (Facebook/Twitter). She's really looking forward to the release of The Children of Lir and reminded me that her band also has a song by that name. You can find the lyrics halfway down this page.

Cover Colours

Oh my goodness! What a few days.

A few years back, just after Rosy Hours came out, my publisher also took the manuscript for a retelling of The Children of Lir. This is a story I've wanted to tell since I was a kid. I first tried putting it down in script format, thanks to Celtx. After some years, and the realisation that scripts don't get you very far unless you know a lot of people, I decided to rewrite it as a novel. 

It got as far as a front cover before my publisher ran into difficulty and offered it back to me. I tried passing it around again but didn't get anywhere, so decided to self-publish this one. It's that or it's going to be in a bottom drawer forever, and I think - after so long - it deserves to see the light.

I thought that would be the hardest decision, whether to publish or not. Turns out, that's just the start of it. My lovely cover designer, Valdas Miskinis, had originally made the cover in blood red. Then he offered up sea blue and Irish green. And we haven't stopped talking about it since.
   

 

 

 

I've asked in a number of forums, and each gives a different answer. Very few are for red, and I wasn't at first, but you have to admit it's eye-catching and would stand out on a bookshelf. Plus, it matches the colour of my website. 

Everyone's really caught between the green and blue. Green was storming ahead in Pagan Writers Community, then blue started to catch up. It's now about neck and neck if you include responses in  Women Fiction Writers and on my own page. 

I've also learned that blue was more strongly associated with Ireland than green originally, with St. Patrick's blue being traditional before turning him green. Like Santa Claus was supposedly green before Coca-cola, and blue was the colour for boys, and red for girls, during the time of the crusades. But, green is very established as the colour for Ireland nowadays.

It's so, so hard to choose. Sometimes choice is overrated - I'm wishing I hadn't been given options.

Which cover do you prefer?

Kwibuka 25

Kwibuka means remember in Kinyarwanda.

Today marks 25 years since the Genocide Against the Tutsi.

As a 13-year-old, I watched the news of the genocide on the telly in my mother's front room. 13 years later, I moved to Rwanda as a sign language researcher.

It's incredible to see how far the country has come in that time.

Each year, I post a reminder about this reading list for those who want to learn more.