Writer, Interrupted.

Sometimes life gets in the way, for good reasons and bad.  Thankfully my personal excuse for not blogging in recent weeks basically boils down to the kids being home 24-7 and summer holidays so I'm certainly not complaining; however it does mean I have been hugely distracted from my work.  In the bigger picture, the terrible recent events worldwide have made it seem horribly self-indulgent to bleat on about myself when there are obviously so many much bigger things for everyone to be concentrating on.

Still, it would be foolish to let things slide when we've come this far and since I do have a little bit of news to share here goes...

First off, we have a new cover for the ebook:

I struggled for a long time initially to find an appropriate copyright-free image but then discovered there are plenty of sites where you can pay for a permanent license to use an image quite cheaply. I quickly found something that I felt gave more of a hint to the storyline, messed about with it a bit on Photoshop and Gimp and hey presto!  I think it's a vast improvement and we'll see whether it has any real effect on sales.  In the meantime the blue paperback cover will stay the same.

I have also experimented with a book giveaway on Goodreads.  I'd read about authors doing this for a while but didn't fully understand the benefits until I joined in.  Seeing as I had a few paperbacks going spare at home I couldn't see the harm so offered five signed copies to the UK, USA and Canada.  I set the giveaway up to run for a couple of weeks and waited to see if anyone took the bait.  The results were fantastic.  Not only did 1,190 people enter but 180 added it to their 'to-read' shelves.  One of these readers has already read and rated it 5 stars so I couldn't be happier.  It never occurred to me quite how powerful a promotional tool this could prove to be and it's something I'll definitely be returning to in the future.

Finally, I was also delighted to see some reviews finally start to come in on the US Amazon site and even happier that, so far, they've all rated it 4 stars and above.  Cannot begin to tell you what a confidence boost this is and it has definitely spurred me on to keep writing the next book - just as soon as these kids are back in school..... :D

Have a wonderful rest of your Summer everyone x

Don't forget '25 Random Facts' is available as an e-book on Amazon https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0053IW40I and Smashwords http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/64099 .  

Paperback is available at Lulu.com http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/25-random-facts/16076061 

A sample can be read at my website, http://www.ejmack.co.uk , and I'd love for you to join me on my facebook page, http://www.facebook.com/ejmack.fb , or twitter http://www.twitter.com/@EJ_Mack