Monday 25 November 2013

Book Week Scotland and the authorsdb 2013 book cover contest

How is everyone?

I hope you are all well, and I hope if you are in Scotland you are able to join in Book week Scotland in some way. Even if it's just picking up a book for the first time in ages, and sitting down to get lost in the imagination of your favourite author.

My Book week has started very well. This morning The Master's Revenge reached number 1 in the best seller list for norse on Amazon.co.uk. Thank you to everyone who has purchased a copy. I really appreciate it. I still can't believe how successful both books have been. This time last year I was still waiting on The Viking's Apprentice being published and now I am lucky enough to have had a number one best seller in Canada and the UK and number 2 in the US. It's amazing what you can achieve when you put your mind too it.

Back to book week. I feel I should point out this is my first Book Week Scotland as an author. This week I have a series of talks in local schools to talk about writing, reading and my own experiences as an author. Public speaking is something I'm getting used to, and hopefully better at, however I'm much more comfortable behind my laptop than in front of an audience.

The children I will be talking to are all in the age group that my books are aimed at. I am genuinely interested in seeing how many of them are regular readers and what they look for in their books. I will post again on Thursday night once I have completed my series of talks and I will let you all know how it went and what I gained from the experience.

If you would like to know more about Book Week Scotland please visit their website Scottish Book Trust.

AuthorsDB Book Cover Contest

You may be aware of a great website called www.authorsdb.com this is a website that shows 1000's of great book covers from every genre from new and old authors alike. Every year they hold a book cover contest and I'm delighted to say that The Master's Revenge has made it through to the semi finals. Voting for the semi finals ends on December 15th. I would love you all to please follow this link and vote for my book cover. Scroll down to where it shows you the star ratings and please cast your vote. You can vote once per day. I appreciate all your support. The link is underneath the book cover.

click here to vote

Thank you to everyone who votes. If you would like to contact me you can do so by any of the following means.

Facebook - www.facebook.com/thevikingsapprentice

twitter - @bannon1975

email - kevinmcleodauthor@gmail.com

website - www.kevinmcleodauthor.com


Tuesday 19 November 2013

Guest post from a reviewer

How is everyone today?

It's freezing in Scotland, and yesterday we had the first snowfall of the winter, and technically it's not even winter yet. My car is in the garage getting a winter service, while draining my bank account as the repairs get done.

I don't want to talk about my books today. In fact I don't want to say much at all. I am going to hand over to a reviewer to tell us a little bit about themselves. Quite often authors are invited to talk on reviewer and blogger sites and I thought it would be nice to reciprocate.

My very first guest on my blog is Rebecca Bennett of Rebbie reviews. Rebecca was the first reviewer to review The Viking's Apprentice so it seems only fair that she is the first reviewer to guest on my blog. Her reviews are excellently written, well structured and tell you enough about each book without giving too much away. That, in itself, is a skill.

Ok, over to Rebecca:

Reading has always been my passion, ever since I was little. I'd join book clubs at school and spend my free time exploring libraries or doing research online. I've always had far more books than bookshelves and that has never put me off buying new ones. Reading has actually got me through some really dark times and helped me to escape reality for a few hours, as I'd lapse into character after character. As you can imagine, having a kindle now it's more tempting than ever to buy every book I find since it all fits into one device!

I was reading that many books and verbally reviewing them to my boyfriend that he suggested reviewing the books on Amazon and similar websites. After a while I decided I needed a hobby so I created Rebbie Reviews, a simple blog on wordpress where I would publish my reviews and eventually when I got bored I could just shut it down. I never imagined anyone would actually read it! When I realised I was getting regular views I decided to make a Twitter page and the first person I met was an Indie Author named Kevin. I hadn't even realised that there was this whole online community of new and relatively unknown authors out there when I first decided to start my reviews, and it quickly changed from a hobby I could quit at any time to a way to promote these wonderful people and help move indie authors into the spotlight.


Of course I still review any book I read but I have found friends in the indie community and love reading their work and chatting to them about their works in progress. Another thing I like about reviewing is the ability to recommend books and encourage younger people to read more. All from my laptop! There are more and more kids out there who don't read and those kids are quickly becoming adults. If I can inspire just one person out there to read a book then I've done my job.

I want to thank Rebecca for taking the time to write her post. If you're an author looking for a review or a book lover looking for your next book then I encourage you all to visit Rebbie Reviews and have a look around. You can connect to her on twitter @rebbie_reviews

Would you like to guest post? If so drop me an email or leave a comment on this post and I will get back to you. Everyone is welcome (within reason). My contact details are at the end of this post. 

I am considering doing proof reading for other aspiring authors out there. I have had several requests and if you would like to make a request please get in touch. 

Ok, so just in case you don't know anything about my books here is a very short summary. 

The Viking's Apprentice has been an amazon best seller in America, Canada and the UK and can be viewed here - The Viking's Apprentice Highest chart positions: 2 in America, 1 in Canada and 5 in UK.

The Master's Revenge, which is book 2 in the series, has reached the Amazon best seller list in America and Canada (still working on the UK!) Highest chart positions 4 in America, 3 in Canada and 31 in the UK. It can be viewed here - The Master's Revenge

Both books are available in paperback and kindle. 

My contact details are: www.kevinmcleodauthor.com or kevinmcleodauthor@gmail.com

My twitter account is - @bannon1975


Have a great week everyone.

Kevin

The Viking's Apprentice

The Master's Revenge


Tuesday 8 October 2013

Grammar.... The word writers fear.

How is everyone today?

You're a writer, and you've just finished writing your book. It feels good doesn't it? You've probably read the book a thousand times cover to cover. You're convinced it's great, there's nothing to add, and nothing left to change. Wait though; how good is your grammar?

The first time I was asked that question I was taken aback. Hang on! Is someone questioning me? I'm an author, and I've written a great book. How dare they, but maybe I will look it over one more time just to be sure. Now that I read it again I'm not so sure those commas are all in the correct places. When do I use a semi colon instead of a comma? What's a hyphen? Oh my god do I even know how to use a full stop!! Ok the last one is a little dramatic, but you get the idea.

I wrote The Viking's Apprentice, and I was completely happy with it until I gave it to an editor to have a look at. I expected it back with a few corrections and suggestions. What I got back was the same story covered in red marks and suggestions for improving my grammar. Again. How very dare they!! Then I read it with their changes and without their changes. You'll never guess what; they were right. I was so caught up in the story I hadn't paid enough attention to the grammar.

I decided to take myself to grammar school. There are a lot of aides and websites out there that promise to check your work in an automated fashion. Do you trust those? I don't, and my reasons are simple. Isn't that what Word is supposed to do? Also an automated programme is only as good as the programmer who makes it. What if they don't know their stuff then how does the software they push out? 'Garbage in = Garbage out!' as my computer teacher used to say.

I went old school. I took the time to learn how to do it for myself.

I have visited 100's of sites and a lot of them just want to sell you something that will apparently make your life easier. What will actually make your life easier (as I have found out) is sitting down and reading. Learn how to use grammar correctly. Practice it daily, and become more confident in yourself. You won't get every line of your book right, but you will know that it is a lot closer than my first attempt.

Here are some of the links that helped me most.

Summary of commas

Semi colons

Comparing colons and semi colons

The Apostrophe

The Hyphen

All of these links will hopefully help you write a story which is structured correctly, which will add to the overall appeal to the reader. Also when you click on these links if you scroll around you will find links to more grammar help.

Oh, now here's something I'm going to admit. Should I.... OK I will. My second book The Master's Revenge which is book 2 in the Viking series was on it's final read through when I was asked this question. Is that the correct use of 'past'? What do you mean? I answered; suddenly doubting myself. Well, do you walk past something or do you walk passed something? There it was, I was stuck, suddenly completely useless in the world of English, a language I have spoken since I was about 2! 36 years later I am wondering if I have ever used the words past and passed correctly. I put on my learning head and went to the web for answers. I found a great site that helped me answer this question and some others.

Grammar monster past v passed

Just so we are clear, I am in no way affiliated with any websites, and I receive no money for offering up links. I just want to help you find the best sites out there quickly and easily to aid your writing.

Please don't waste your hard earned money buying up grammar checkers. Get the knowledge from the links I have suggested or others like them. Take the time to make your story even better.

I hope this has helped some of you. If you would like to contact me to talk about this post or anything else then here is how to do it.

kevinmcleodauthor@gmail.com or twitter @bannon1975 or www.kevinmcleodauthor.com or even my facebook fan page

Currently I am happy to say that both of my books are in the top 25 in their genre on Amazon.com. The Viking's Apprentice is a previous number 1 best seller in Canada and number 2 in America. If you would like to purchase either book or find out more about them please click on these links.

The Viking's Apprentice

The Viking's Apprentice II: The Master's Revenge


Friday 4 October 2013

Some writing tips when writing for children

I made a promise to blog more, and I also made a promise to give more back. Rather than tell you about me and my books I hope to give you some helpful tips a long the way.

I would like to start with a subject that is close to me as it is the genre I am currently writing in. My books are aimed at anyone 8 years and older, but in particular they are aimed at children between the ages of 8 and 14. When writing for this age group we have to take into consideration something that is maybe not that obvious at first glance. Children have amazing imaginations and they want to use them. Children do not want to be told exactly what every character in a book looks like. The trick is to give them enough details so that the description is sound, while leaving room for those amazing imaginations to flourish and take the reader where they want to go.

My good characters are described by height, eye colour, hair colour and by some of their traits. IE Peter is the sports champion whilst George is the cheeky, always getting a laugh, friend. This gives children the building blocks to build their imaginations into the characters I have created for them.

I'll give you another example of this, and then a story to back it up. In my first book, The Viking's Apprentice, the cover depicts two Vikings with horned helmets. History buffs may point out that very few Vikings actually wore these helmets (a point I discuss in my author notes at the end of the book) but if you ask a child to draw a Viking the horns are always there. Throughout the book there are various Viking characters and not once do I describe what they are wearing. If I was writing a book for adults I would have gone into much more detail, but for children it's not required and I don't advise doing it.

So how do I know that my Viking characters got children's imaginations going? I visited a school who had taken the book as their reading book for primary 5 - 7 (ages 8 to 11), and the children had put together three projects for me on the book. Some of the projects were of their drawings of the characters in the book. There were several drawings of my Vikings and all were different, but all had the horns. Each child gets the chance to fill in the characters how they want to see them. I urge you to read my books and judge for yourself. Do you see what I mean? The technique involves giving them enough starting points to set their imaginations free. It works!

The evil characters in my books were tougher to describe. I had to take myself back to being a child and remember what scared me. The dark scared me, what's lurking there? What is hiding in those shadows under my bed or in the closet. Do you remember that feeling? I tried to capture that feeling in creating some of the evil characters, in particular the Shadow walkers and their leader who I will let you meet for yourself if you read the book.

While I'm on the subject of children's books, and before I forget here is a tip for the cover of your book. Always have the hero facing away from the reader. Why?? The same reason as above. Children do not want to be told exactly what their hero looks like. How many times have you read a book and then the film comes out. They change the cover to the actor's face. What do we all say? 'That's not how I imagined him!'. Exactly the same for children. So if you have one of your main characters (good guys) on the cover have them facing away from the reader. See my cover for The Master's Revenge below.

The hero faces away from the reader, what does he look like to you? What face are you imagining? Your child or the child reader is doing exactly the same, and their imagination blows yours out of the water!

To sum up when writing a book for children of this age group allow them to use their imaginations to place their hero, how they picture them, in the world you have created for them.

1000's of you took the chance to download The Viking's Apprentice for free last weekend, and I thank each and every one of you. I hope you enjoy the book, and hopefully enjoy it enough to continue on to book 2 and beyond.

If you would like to buy my books you can do so at these links. The links will take you to the Amazon page for your country.

The Viking's Apprentice - Buy it here

The Master's Revenge - Buy it here

The Viking's Apprentice reached number 1 in Canada and number 2 in America. It is still in the top 20 in Canada and the top 10 in America.

I have recently started a pinterest board called 'Judge a book by it's Cover'. I would love you all to come and follow me there, and I will add you all to the board so you can pin your favourite covers with me. You can do that here - My pinterest

Contact me at www.kevinmcleodauthor.com or by email @ kevinmcleodauthor@gmail.com. You can reach me on twitter @bannon1975 or on facebook via www.facebook.com/thevikingsapprentice

Would you like to listen to my latest radio interview? If so click here - Interview with Janice Ross

I will write again early next week. Have a great weekend.

Kevin

Saturday 28 September 2013

Free kindle giveaway and book 2 release.

How is everyone this morning?

Today marks another step on the journey for me. Book 2 in the Viking series, The Master's Revenge is released on Amazon kindle. To celebrate this release and to say thank you to the 1000's of you that have read my blog I have decided to make book 1 free this weekend. You can get your copy of The Viking's Apprentice for free from today, Saturday 28th of September, until Monday the 30th.

Here is a shot of the cover art for The Master's Revenge.



I apologize for the lack of blogging over the past two months, but I have been busy writing The Master's Revenge and I hope you all love it as much as you appear to have loved The Viking's Apprentice. My blogs will start up again next week and I promise to blog more and I will talk about how I create my characters, and I will also share with you some useful sites etc for grammar.

If you would like a free copy of The Viking's Apprentice kindle version please follow these links.

US readers - The Viking's Apprentice

UK readers - The Viking's Apprentice

Everyone else - The Viking's Apprentice (this is a universal amazon link which will take you to the correct amazon page for your country )

If you want to purchase The Masters Revenge you can do so at these links.

US readers - The Master's Revenge

UK readers - The Master's Revenge

Everyone else - The Master's Revenge (universal link for all amazon sites)

Have a great weekend everyone.

Kevin

Saturday 20 July 2013

Radio interview, why I chose Vikings and writing tips

Today I had my first radio interview with host Janice Ross. If you would like to listen you can here. Radio Interview. As this was my first interview and it was being conducted with an American host I required to use Skype to do the interview.

HOT TIPS for people using Skype to do their radio interviews:

1. Make sure you are signed in and online! Yes I know how can someone not sign in and be online.. well I managed it. Fortunately I noticed with 3 minutes to go and finally clicked myself to 'online'.

2. Close the window with the radio station on it if you don't you will hear yourself about one sentence behind. Again a rookie error in my book, but I realised quite quickly and turned it off.

3. Have notes, just wee reminders about things you want to talk about. I had my notes and we covered everything in them through the natural flow of the conversation. Still it was useful to have them just in case.

I really enjoyed the experience and would love to do more. I am booked on to Janice's show again on September the 28th. If anyone else would like to interview me please drop me a line. My contact details are at the end of this blog.

Vikings

Something I am asked a lot is why I chose Vikings for my story. There are a couple of reasons. Growing up in Scotland every class at some point in primary school does a Viking project. This begins the interest in Vikings which never leaves us. These amazing people that traveled the seas, invaded and pillaged. Their fantastic ships cutting through the waves arriving on foreign shores.

The other reason is that there is a link between my clan, the clan McLeod, and Vikings. Olaf the 2nd of Iceland or Olaf the Black as he was known was a Viking king who had seven sons. One of these sons was Leod. Leod was a Viking who came to Scotland and never left the country. He married a Scottish woman and they had a son. That son became McLeod as Mc and Mac in Scotland mean 'son of''. The clan McLeod was born and Leod became the first chief. Leod lived from 1200 to 1280AD.

I hope that answers the question as to why I chose Vikings.

The role of the Vikings in my story is not that of the traditional pillaging invaders. They take on an almost heroic role. There are always two sides to every story after all, they can't always be the bad guys!

If anyone has any questions for me about the themes in my book I am always available to answer them. Feel free to contact me.

Writing tips

When I am talking to people about writing a comment I hear over and over goes along the lines of: 'I thought about writing a book, even started, then gave up on it.'
The first tip is you need to stick at it. If you are one of those people who has a story to tell then keep going until the story is told.

Set a deadline, in fact set several throughout the project. When will you have a chapter finished? When will you have the book finished? Setting deadlines gives you a goal to achieve, something to work too. Make the deadline realistic. If you have a day job, a family and other commitments you are not going to be able to devote hours a day to your writing. I set myself a deadline of two years for The Viking's Apprentice and completed the first draft with two weeks to spare.

Be prepared for your book to need work. No matter how good a writer you are an editor will find mistakes. Don't take the corrections to heart, each correction makes the story better for the reader.

I used a couple of editors for my book and a proof reader. I think this is a really important part of the process and one every writer cannot afford to skip. It is almost impossible to edit and proofread your own work. You are too close to it. You created the story so will miss small mistakes that an editor and proof reader will find.

Choose a title that makes sense to the story. Seems straight forward and obvious right? The Viking's Apprentice was originally called Campbell's Cove. I kept that title right through the first draft. It was feedback from the proof reader and my wife that convinced me to change the name. What did the title tell the reader about my book? The sum total of zero. So why was I convinced it was correct? I created the town of Campbell's Cove for my book so it meant a lot to me. I could connect too it, but readers wouldn't.

I read through my book three times before choosing the new title, The Viking's Apprentice. I love the title and readers seem to love it as well.

If you choose the path of trying to get an agent and/or publisher do not be disheartened by the word 'no'. Not everyone will share your vision of what a great book is. Harry Potter was passed on several times before someone took the chance on it. Every writer has rejection letters, go and ask any of them and I bet they all tell you they got rejections along the way. I remember a writer telling me they had enough rejection letters that they could redecorate their bathroom with them. They were a published author as they didn't give up and eventually got that yes.

In my next blog I will talk about character creation and development. A subject that is discussed in my radio interview.

If you are enjoying my blogs and would like to read The Viking's Apprentice please find the links below.

American and worldwide readers please click here: Viking Ebook

UK readers please click here: Viking Ebook

If you would like to contact me please do so through one of the following channels. I always respond personally to all emails, tweets etc.

Twitter: @bannon1975
email: kevinmcleodauthor@gmail.com
web: www.kevinmcleodauthor.com
Facebook: The Viking's Apprentice FB page
Goodreads: My author page




Wednesday 17 July 2013

The journey continues

I have now been a published author for a mere 4 months and this Saturday will see another first. I will do my first radio interview with an american based interviewer. I will be on Saturday Cocktails with Janice Ross. If you would like to listen in or indeed join in you can at this link. radio interview

The interview will last for an hour and is a chat about what inspires and motivates me as well as discussing The Viking's Apprentice.

When I agreed to do the interview it seemed a long way off, but now it has arrived and I will admit to being a little nervous. Janice was kind enough to do a skype test with me to ensure she could hear me and more importantly understand me! As a Scot it has been suggested that I may speak too fast and can at times be difficult to understand if you are not from here. Unfortunately radio cannot offer subtitles so I will have to be on my best behavior and speak slowly.

If you do have any questions please feel free to call in. The number is at the link above. The interview is at 1pm UK time.

Other news

What else has been happening? I have been busy writing book 2 in the Viking series. The first draft is almost complete which is the beginning of a nervous time for me. The book will go to my editors who will tear it apart and send it back with lots of red highlights. I will then go into a huff for a few hours before accepting that their changes make my story read a lot better. I have come to realise that although I can write a very good story that will entertain there are other people much more skilled at checking the grammar than me. The work of the editors has contributed to the first book getting 23 out of 23 5 star reviews across amazon and goodreads.com. I thank them all and appreciate their hard work and patience.

Book sale

To celebrate The Viking's Apprentice doing so well since it's release and reaching number 1 in Canada and number 2 in America I have decided to reduce the price until the 24th of July. The book is available for $0.99 in America and Canada as well as 99p in the UK. If you would like to buy it please follow the links below.

US readers and other Amazon.com readers get The Viking's Apprentice for $0.99 here The Viking's Apprentice
Canadian readers get The Viking's Apprentice for $0.99 here The Viking's Apprentice
UK readers get The Viking's Apprentice for £0.99 here The Viking's Apprentice

For those of you that have not seen it here is the updated cover for the kindle version. We changed the font so it was easier to read.



Contact info

If you would like to contact me you can do so through the following channels

email me @ kevinmcleodauthor@gmail.com

Tweet me @  @bannon1975

Facebook @ The Viking's Apprentice Facebook

Goodreads @ Kevin McLeod Goodreads

I will write another blog after my radio interview and will share any tips I pick up during the experience. Thank you to everyone who has been reading my blog. I appreciate your support.

Tuesday 25 June 2013

A Great birthday weekend.

I used Grammarly to grammar check this post, because I have the imagination to write captivating stories, and the common sense to let professionals check them for me.

A big weekend

What a weekend it has been. Firstly on Saturday we had our first meet the readers event at the Kirkmichael book festival. This was my chance to meet face to face with people who are interested in The Viking's Apprentice. I had lots of interesting chats with a varied range of people. From eight to eighty they sat down and chatted with me about my book, the genre and their own interests. I wasn't sure how many paperback books to take with me, but I clearly judged it correctly as I sold out with about ten minutes to go!

I was invited to the event by a local author who was launching his book on the day. Bruce Crichton's The Rage Within is available on Amazon now. I have just started to read it and can honestly say it is excellent. Very well written and an original story. You can follow Bruce on twitter @BRCrichton. Bruce and his family also laid on a lunch before hand which was greatly appreciated after a two and a half hour drive. They even fed us afterwards!

Also at the festival was Mark Price, another great Scottish author. He was there promoting his book Metallic Dreams. I have purchased the book and it is next on my list after Bruce's. The other reason I mention Mark comes under the category of 'it's a small world'. Keep in mind I drove over one hundred miles to the festival through torrential rain, over Scotland's unique country roads. Mark was standing two stalls away from me, and it turns out we live in the same town, Hamilton, and were at one point neighbours. Mark literally lived ten feet away from me. Strange then that our first meeting was in the small town of Kirkmichael. You can follow Mark on twitter - @Metallic_Dreams

It was a successful day for all three of us, and a first festival for myself and Bruce. 

School Visit

On Monday I spent most of the day at Furnace primary school with the Primary 5 -7's who have been reading my book during the term. I was both nervous and excited to learn what the children thought now they had finished the book. I had been in touch with them throughout the term through email, facebook and good old fashioned letters, but this was our first meeting. 

I am pleased to report the children loved The Viking's Apprentice and had done an amazing amount of work through the term. I was presented with three projects they had put together for me. One was a book of their artwork of characters. Some excellent interpretations especially of Tanis and Graff. I was also given a folder of their opinions of the book, and one that showed their predictions for how the book would go as they progressed through the chapters. 

We held a question and answer session where I was asked some wonderful questions and we had a great conversation about the book and where the children felt the next books would take the series. Hearing about my book from the age group it is aimed at was such a valuable experience. Children have imaginations that far outstrip adults, and it was great to know my book had got those imaginations going. 

I have said this before on Facebook @ The Vikings Apprentice Facebook page, but one of the proudest and best moments on my journey as an author so far is being told I have inspired a child to read. One of the children in the class had shown no interest in reading until they began reading my book. The child then spent every day at school looking forward to reading time and loved working on the projects concerning The Viking's Apprentice. That is something I will never forget. 

Ask the children what was their favourite part of the day and I guarantee you they all say the same thing, meeting Jake. Jake is the Jack Russell in The Viking's Apprentice who was based on my own Jack Russell, Megan. She was a big hit with the children even getting to play with them at playtime. Megan slept for ten hours after that!

Forward look

Over the next few weeks I am going to be working hard on book two, and hopefully getting it finished and put forward for editing where many authors would say the real work begins. The book is progressing well and I am very excited to see it out for sale and get the feedback from the readers. Keep following my blog, facebook, website and twitter for updates and release information. 

Contact info and amazon pages

If you would like to purchase the book (thank you in advance) here are the links you require. The EBook version is now exclusive to Amazon. 

UK and EU readers can purchase the kindle and paperback versions here:  The Viking's Apprentice UK

Canadian readers can purchase the kindle version only here: The Viking's Apprentice Canada

USA and the rest of the world readers can purchase the kindle and paperback versions here: The Viking's Apprentice USA

The Viking's Apprentice is published by createspace, and is now available from several outlets throughout America. Please check createspace and Amazon pages for more info. 

If you would like to contact me please do so at one of the following:

My website: www.kevinmcleodauthor.com

Twitter: @bannon1975

Facebook: facebook.com/thevikingsapprentice

Email @ kevinmcleodauthor@gmail.com

Goodreads: Author page

Thank you to everyone who has bought my book. I love hearing your feedback through reviews, emails or chats. I am very grateful for all the support and encouragement from all over the world. 





Tuesday 4 June 2013

Let's catch up featuring writing styles.

Sorry!

Firstly let me apologize for the break in blogging. I have been busy writing book 2 in The Viking's Apprentice series and doing other promotional work for book 1. The Viking's Apprentice has been out for just over two months now, and I am beginning to find my feet in the world of promoting, advertising and meeting 'fans'.

The fame game

I still find it hard to believe I have fans, but slowly getting used to it. People bringing their paperbacks up to be signed is something I love. I have found being a published author very nerve wracking, but I am starting to let myself enjoy it. My twitter account now has over 900 followers which is amazing. Before I had written my book I had had my twitter account @bannon1975 for 2 years and had amassed a huge 3 followers. One was my wife and I am pretty sure the other two were fake!

Authors and fans have started to link up with me at Facebook where The Viking's Apprentice page now has over 200 likes. It's great hearing from people who have read the book and getting their thoughts and reviews. I have been very lucky so far in that every review that has been written for my book has been 5 stars. These reviews can be read on my website here Book reviews.

My writing style

I recently had a conversation with another author who had read my book and commented on my writing style. Something I had never really considered before. I tell the story from several different view points at the same time. So chapters can sometimes have view points from 4 or 5 characters. The author had praised me for my use and delivery of this omnipotent point of view as it is a style that can be confusing for both reader and writer. So why did I choose this style and why does it work in  my books? The answer is this; my books are set over a short time period. A few days for each book so the action is fast and furious. This time constraint meant I had to write in a way that got the story across quickly without losing any of the flow. Switching to and from different characters points of view enables me to set a scene quickly, give it depth and allow the readers to see the full picture that some characters in the story can't see. Read The Viking's Apprentice and decide for yourself. Please come and chat to me about the book after you have read it.

Tell  me about your writing style, why did you choose it? Was it an actual choice or is it just your style? I am interested so let me know!

School report

I always remember my 2nd year school report in high school. We had to take home economics (no honestly we all did!) for the first two years. My teacher wrote in my report card that I was 'a very lickable boy'. That took some explaining when I got home. I hope she was trying to say likeable but you are never sure. That story is not the point of this section. The pupils at Furnace primary school have been reading my book this term and just finished it. They have been in contact with me through email, Facebook and good old fashioned letters. It has been a wonderful experience for me to see how they found the book and I am pleased to say they all gave it 5 stars. I am going to visit the school on the 24th of June and spend some time chatting with the children and apparently they have some very good ideas for the later books in the series. I look forward to hearing all of them.

Other news

What else has been happening? Thanks for asking, let me tell you. I have been asked to appear at two book festivals one of which is on my birthday, June 22nd, (don't feel pressured to buy me gifts). I will be in Kirkmichael that day then on to the Bookmark festival in October.

My competition that I ran in an earlier blog was won and the winners were contacted and have received their prizes. The answer was... Tanis has 2 sons. More competitions and giveaways will appear in my blog and website.

A few bits of fairly big book news now. I have decided to go exclusively with Amazon for the Ebook version of The Viking's Apprentice. 90% of my sales were coming from Amazon and I prefer their author platform. The good news is that Amazon Prime members can borrow the book for free from the Amazon lending library here The Viking's Apprentice.

The Viking's Apprentice went to number 1 in it's Genre for a week in Canada. I can now proudly state I have been an international best seller. I have not shouted 'YIPEE' so loud since I was six and Santa brought me a bike for Christmas.

We have listened to our fans and decided to change the writing on the cover of the Ebook. Here is the new cover. Let me know what you think of it.


On that note I am on the look out for a new cover artist for book 2 so if you are a cover artist, graphic artist or an ebook specialist please get in touch with a sample of your work/ link to your website at kevinmcleodauthor@gmail.com

And finally

As always I want to say a big thank you to everyone who has bought the book. I love that so many of you are enjoying it and that you take the time to write reviews and get in touch with me to discuss it. My email door is always open!
You can buy the Viking's Apprentice from amazon at this link for the UK Viking UK. This one for USA, India and Southern hemisphere Viking worldwide. My Canadian fans (Thank you so much for taking me to number 1) can purchase the book here Viking Canada

Please feel free to contact me for anything book related, for advice or to ask about doing a guest blog on here. Contact me on twitter at @bannon1975 and email kevinmcleodauthor@gmail.com or respond to my blog.

Tuesday 30 April 2013

Is it important to have a publisher anymore?

Is it important to have a publisher?

There was a time not so long ago when a writer was nothing without a publisher and an agent. There was no real way of getting your book out there to the public without their support.

The self publishing industry was small and those that did self publish did it to give copies to friends and family. The costs were restrictive and the avenues for distribution were small. This has all changed.

When I first wrote the The Viking's Apprentice I had no intention of releasing it in any form. It was a book for my daughters and that was that. When they were old enough they could read it and hopefully enjoy the fact their dad wrote it.

I then decided to take the chance to try and get an agent and/or a publisher. I sent the required synopsis and those important three chapters and began the waiting the process. Some responses can come in quickly, some take up to a year. Some will never appear. At the time of writing this, coming up for 9 months since those letters went out, I am still awaiting a response from roughly 50% of the publishers/agents I contacted.

I sent the first letters out in August 2012 and began to get a steady trickle of replies by email and the occasional postal response. Always polite, always encouraging, some positive and some not. Within two weeks I had my first definite offer of a contract. The publisher  (no agent involved) wanted a 6 year deal for an ebook version and I would get 50% of the money they received for the book. Being a new author I was delighted, a publisher wants the book, they like it enough to back it. Then my wife asked a very simple question 'What do they do that you can't do yourself?'

This got me thinking, what exactly would they do that I could not achieve myself. So I called them and I emailed them and we started a discussion about how going with them would be easier for me and take the hassle out of publishing.
They went through one by one each thing they would do for me.
They would set up the book on Amazon, Ibook, nook, Lulu, kobo etc etc. All something you can do yourself with a bit of effort. That effort equates to over 70% royalties coming direct to the author (amazon ebook figure). Let's think about that. If I went with the publisher I would get 50% of the 70% so half what I would get going it alone.

My next question, how would they advertise my book? Simple answer, they wouldn't, not really. The larger publishing houses would advertise for new authors, but smaller houses wouldn't do much. The advertising plan they showed me I could do myself. Twitter, facebook, blogs, postcards etc. It's not expensive and it's not difficult. It takes time and if you have taken the time to write something you love, you will take the time to tell other people about it.

My final question to them was simple. What about paperbacks, actual print copies? Not something they do, there is not enough money in it anymore. Think about that for a minute..... Paper books would not make this publisher enough money to make it worthwhile. I checked some of their other authors and true enough they all were in ebooks but not in print. Some were doing very well and there was still no sign of a paperback.

So I looked in to it. If you want paperback versions it can be done for no up front costs with reputable companies with a good percentage share coming back to the author.

You are probably guessing that I went for self publishing in the end and indeed I did. The Viking's Apprentice is doing very well in ebook format in both amazon.co.uk and amazon.com. Yesterday the paperback was released with the help of createspace and went straight into the top 100 in it's genre in under 10 hours.

As traditional book shops die out (something that saddens me) the roll of the publisher become less and less important.You can do everything they can do at no cost to yourself with some effort and some research.  I used to go into Glasgow and go to Borders, Waterstones, the few wee independent book shops and loved walking around seeing all the books. Now there's only a small Waterstones left.

There is a great article on self publishing that everyone should read Self publishing is the future

The future of books is changing and if publishers and agents remain stuck in the ways of the past they could get left behind. More and more authors are seeing a chance to go it alone, to not be restricted by the view of one person at one agency. As a result some excellent work that would otherwise of gone unpublished is out there being enjoyed by readers all over the world.

My story as an author is in it's infancy, but by deciding to go it alone at least that story has begun. My book has received rave reviews from all over the world. I am delighted to say that every one of those reviews has been 5 stars on amazon, goodreads, blogs and anywhere else you can think of.

If you are looking to self publish and would like any advice (free of charge!) then contact me through the blog or any of the other avenues listed below. If you would like to buy a copy of the book in ebook or paperback (thank you in advance) and the links are below.

For the UK and European paperback follow the link to buy The Viking's Apprentice paperback

For the UK and European Ebook version follow this link to buy The Viking's Apprentice Kindle version

For USA and the rest of the world paperback follow this link to buy The Viking's Apprentice paperback

For USA and the rest of the world Ebook follow this link The Viking's Apprentice kindle version

If you want to contact me you can use any of these channels.

my website www.kevinmcleodauthor.com

my email kevinmcleodauthor@gmail.com

facebook www.facebook.com/thevikingsapprentice

Twitter @bannon1975

Goodreads Kevin McLeod's author page

In the next few weeks I hope to have some guest posts by some excellent self published authors. watch this space.

Tuesday 16 April 2013

First chapter of The Viking's Apprentice for free

For those of you who didn't know you can read the first chapter of my book The Viking's Apprentice free on Amazon with their innovative look inside feature. You can, if you prefer, have a sample sent direct to your kindle. Click on the book page and look to the right hand side. Click on 'send sample now' and enjoy.

For those of you without Amazon or a kindle you can read the first chapter for free on Wattpad by following this link Free chapter which will take you straight too it. If you like what you read and would like to buy The Viking's Apprentice here is the info.

For UK and European customers - Buy The Viking's Apprentice on Amazon

For customers from the USA and India - Buy The Viking's Apprentice on Amazon

For Kobo owners - Buy The Viking's Apprentice on Kobo

For Ibook customers - Buy The Viking's Apprentice on Ibooks

For Lulu customers - Buy the Viking's Apprentice on Lulu

Thank you to everyone who has bought the book so far and thank you for all the amazing feedback. As always you can contact me through the following channels.

www.kevinmcleodauthor.com , email: kevinmcleodauthor@gmail.com twitter: @bannon1975 facebook The Viking's Apprentice, wattpad: wattpad author page, goodreads: author page, authorsDB author page on ADB


Sunday 14 April 2013

Book update featuring how to fall down the stairs (now with photo!)

It has been a busy weekend in the McLeod household. First of all The Viking's Apprentice landed on Ibooks. If you are one of the people who has been waiting on the IBook version please click here The Viking's Apprentice to download your copy.

I have had some communications from my followers in the USA (my stats tell me more people in the US read my blog than anywhere else) that the link I give for the book does not allow them to buy it. The link I have been giving out is for UK Amazon so let me fix that right now. If you are in the USA or India and want to purchase The Viking's Apprentice follow this link:

The Viking's Apprentice USA

For those of you who have already bought the book in America thank you for making it rise to Number 8 in it's genre. I appreciate every purchase and I am grateful to all of you. Enjoy reading :)

After the successful launch on IBook the first paperback copies of the book arrived. These are very special copies especially for Furnace primary school. For those of you who have read my earlier blogs you will know that the town of Furnace was the inspiration behind my story setting. A quiet sleepy village on the water, secluded and surrounded by hills and forests. The school ordered the copies after learning that I had used their town as my inspiration. These copies have been given to the school free of charge. They inspired me maybe I can inspire them. The book is to be used as their reading book for next term and beyond!


Here is a photo of the first signed book, just because really!


So, IBook go live done, paperback copies arrived and first book signing all achieved this weekend.

Now for my tip of the day!

Do not attempt to answer your tweets while walking down the stairs in your home. Especially if your two dogs are coming down the stairs with you. As I lost my footing and began to fall I was faced with a choice, do I use my arms to slow me down when I hit the stairs or my butt? I opted for arms and now have very attractive burns down my right arm. My HTC tumbled out of my hands hitting the stairs and then the hall floor quickly followed by me and my chocolate Lab Ted. My Jack Russell, Megan, had the sense to head up the stairs as I was falling down them.

Some of you have asked how badly I hurt my arm, well here is the proof! Ouch!!



Competition reminder:
I launched The Viking's Apprentice competition in my last blog and here is the question again.

How many sons does Tanis have? Answers by email to Email Kevin prizes, closing dates and rules were in my last blog so check it out and good luck.
As always here are my contact details for anyone wanting to get in touch.

website: www.kevinmcleodauthor.com twitter @bannon1975 email kevinmcleodauthor@gmail.com Facebook The Viking's Apprentice FB

Enjoy your Sunday and feel free to get in touch. I answer all emails, tweets, Fb's etc personally.

Wednesday 10 April 2013

Competition ideas and now competition question!

This is a blog post that I want to open up to all of you. I am thinking of running a competition where a lucky winner will receive either a signed poster of the cover art, a signed print edition of the book (out soon) or both!

So my questions for all of you are which prizes would you like? Should there be three prizes IE First prize is signed cover art and a signed book. Second Prize would be the signed book and third prize would be the signed cover art.

For the questions themselves would you like a single question, a single question with multiple choice or 3 questions?

Please email me your preferences @ kevinmcleodauthor@gmail.com and we will go with whatever most people decide. I will update this blog post in 24 hours with the most popular choice.

In order to enter you will have to know The Viking's Apprentice click on this link to take you to the amazon purchase page. The deadline for entries will be set to give people time to read the book if they haven't already!

Thank you to everyone who has purchased the book, followed the blog and been in touch. Your support is very much appreciated. Just to remind you here is the cover art you will win as part of the prize. It will be signed by myself and the artist. Good  luck and I look forward to receiving your suggestions.


Competition Vote results and question

The Votes are in and you all voted for 3 prizes. Top prize is a signed book and poster. 2nd prize is a signed copy of the book and 3rd prize is a signed poster.

Here is the question..... In the Viking's Apprentice how many sons does Tanis have?
Answers to my email address kevinmcleodauthor@gmail.com or by Direct message on twitter @bannon1975
 The winners will be selected at random by my daughters! The closing date is May 30th. Good luck.

Tuesday 9 April 2013

The book reviews

The Viking's Apprentice has been on sale for 10 days and is already attracting a lot of reviews. I can't tell you how happy I am to say that they are all 5 star reviews. One is from an independent reviewer from Worldpress and two are from teachers. The teaching reviews are important to me as my book is aimed at that age group from perhaps Primary 6 upwards. The others are from happy readers, which of course I greatly appreciate.

I am thankful for every reader who takes the time to write a review and I am glad that The Viking's Apprentice connected with them in a way that made them want to write a review.

You can purchase your copy of the book here for £2.99 UK and $2.99 USA Buy The Viking's Apprentice

Here are the reviews so far. Thank you to everyone who has written a review and to everyone who has purchased the book.


5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic31 Mar 2013
Amazon Verified Purchase(What is this?)
This review is from: The Viking's Apprentice (Kindle Edition)
I'll be honest. I wasn't expecting much from this book. It's really not my thing and not a genre I tend to read, the artwork on the cover is nice. I found this author when I opened up my Rebbie Reviews twitter account and thought I'd give it a whirl.

So, what did I think? Well it seemed a little strange, the book opens with vikings and then the next thing you know you're in a school at the end of term. I figured it'd be some little boy's wild imagination or a school project. Peter, our main character is going to spend the summer at his grandad's house in Campbell's Cove. Then the book really gets going! This is a story like none I've ever read, it's got everything from kids to vikings to witches, trolls and talking bears!

Aimed at older children and young adults, it's fun for a wide range of people including those who are fans of the genre, it's well written with good description but still allowing that bit of artistic license for the reader. It's easy to read and I could not put this book down, by mid way through I was completely hooked and excited to see what would happen next.

I'd definitely recommend this book to anyone but any of you guys with young teens? Get this book to them!

9/10

Kevin's next book is in the works now and I for one, cannot wait to read it!
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent read with plenty to get a kids imagination going,,8 April 2013
Amazon Verified Purchase(What is this?)
This review is from: The Viking's Apprentice (Kindle Edition)
Not my normal kind of read,however it turned out to be a real page turner.
It's without a doubt aimed at older children with active imaginations (8 onwards) with memorable characters you are taken to places with each chapter that just feeds to your excitement. Has left me guessing about the next book which is what a good book is all about.
It's a must buy when it's out on paper back for my house hold for my son and I can't wait for the next book to be released.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing!8 April 2013
Amazon Verified Purchase(What is this?)
This review is from: The Viking's Apprentice (Kindle Edition)
Everyone should download this book! The story is amazing and extremely well written. The characters are excellent and very believable. If you want to spend an enjoyable few hours of reading.This is the book for you!
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Fabulous7 April 2013
This review is from: The Viking's Apprentice (Kindle Edition)
I loved this book. I'm a primary teacher and am sure the pupils in my class would enjoy it too! It would really help ignite their imaginations, it is a true adventure story with the setting, characters and plot needed to keep you thoroughly engaged. It reminds me of the fun adventures I used to read and reenact when I was younger. The Viking's Apprentice is certainly more fast paced and thrilling than some of the more traditional adventure series. It does however give you the warm feeling of comradery which children relate to and often refer to when using their own imaginations. I feel this successful combination makes it suitable for both boys and girls to enjoy- oh and adults of course too!
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Definitely worth reading!4 April 2013
By 
Mrs. Karen Baird (Argyll, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
Amazon Verified Purchase(What is this?)
This review is from: The Viking's Apprentice (Kindle Edition)
This story is aimed at older children/young adults. It moved along at a good pace. The characters were engaging with the "goodies" appearing real and likeable and the "baddies" bad enough that you definitely wanted them sorted out. I felt a real sense of involvement in the plot and read it in 2 sittings - would have been one if I hadn't had a previous engagement! This will appeal to readers who enjoy books along the lines of Harry Potter or Artemis Fowl and could be enjoyed equally by boys or girls. Definitely one worth having on the bookshelf.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars.1 April 2013
This review is from: The Viking's Apprentice (Kindle Edition)
Absolutely fantastic. I can't wait to read the next instalment. This book will appeal to all age groups and I am looking forward to reading it to my youngest so I can immerse myself in the story once more. Well done Kevin.
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