Today I'd like to talk about the things I have found most useful when trying to reach and engage with my audience.
My first book, The Viking's Apprentice was published just over a year ago. I'd written it, put it on all the usual sites and sat back waiting for the money to roll in. Tumble weed rolled in, but not money, and certainly not a following. What was I doing wrong? I'd written a good story, people that did read it seemed to like it and I appeared briefly in the top 10 on Amazon in my genre.
I checked my twitter account and I had gone from three followers to one! Twitter had removed to the two fake eggs that were following me. I needed a new approach, I needed to get active and engage with my readers.
I sat down and thought about it. Who are my readers? How can I reach them? How can this unknown author from a small town in Scotland reach the world. I made a list which looked something like this.
1. Colleagues in my day job
2. Schools
3. Libraries
4. Get more entries for my list.
The Day Job
Still three ideas is better than no ideas so I began with those. If you are a new author the chances are that you will have a day job. Who do you work with? Do they have children or grandchildren? I work in an office with around 500 employees and it's own internal news letter. I wrote an article for the newsletter and I got postcards printed from an online store to display in my work's cafe. This allowed the word to spread further than my team and my friends. I put out 50 postcards in the first week and when they all vanished I put out another 50, and so on. The cafe staff told me that there was a genuine interest and people seemed pleased that someone they were working with was doing something creative.
These postcards were simple, my book cover on the front and my website and contact details on the back.
Word was out amongst my work colleagues and soon I was getting stopped in the hallways and stairways to discuss my book. All good advertising and all for not very much money (about 15 pounds for the postcards). Never underestimate word of mouth. The more people talking about your book the better.
School Visits
Then I moved on to number two in my list, and this one has proved to be the most effective and the most fun. My book is aimed at children 8 and over so I approached primary schools, emailing details of my books to the school administrators. I told them about me and my work and asked if they would like a copy of the book and making it clear I was available for visits to talk to the children. I received several replies asking for copies which I dully sent. I then received an email from a school who would love to take the book as their reading book but the budget was the concern. I took a calculated risk and sent them ten copies free of charge. I wanted the children to read my work and if they liked the first book they might become fans of the series. The children at the school loved the book and invited me to visit which I did.
I've never done anything like this before so visiting a school where the children will tell you exactly what they think of your story was daunting. The children were brilliant though. They had completed projects on my book and drawn pictures and asked wonderful questions. I thought I would be there for about an hour and ended up staying all day. I took part in their story writing lesson and spoke to the children individually. It was a great experience.
The teachers at the school spoke about the visit to their colleagues in other schools and soon I was getting lots of requests to visit more schools all over Scotland. My last visit was a 300 mile round trip on country rounds which took about 6 hours of driving. The visit was excellent though and well worth the drive. It is so rewarding to hear children talk about your book and what they loved and which characters they liked.
I always leave a copy of each of my books for the school library and run some competition with the children. At my last visit I asked the children to draw something from my book and I gave away signed cover art.
You can see pictures of my latest visit at my facebook page www.facebook.com/thevikingsapprentice
If you're a teacher reading this please feel free to get in touch kevinmcleodauthor@gmail.com to talk about a visit.
To give an example of the impact of school visits the position of my book before my visit last Tuesday was that The Viking's Apprentice was sitting at number 6 in norse and the sequel, The Master's Revenge was at number 8. Two days after the visit The Viking's Apprentice was number 2 and The Master's Revenge was number 3. My books have not left the top ten in their genre in Amazon UK for over 6 months.
Libraries
I would advice all authors to approach libraries in their local areas and offer them a copy of your first book. This builds a relationship with the libraries and you will find that they are often more than willing to help local authors. They will take your advertising materials and might even set up events for you. When your subsequent works come out email the libraries to let them know. Building up a local following is important in all genres.
Book Fairs
Book fairs are a gold mine for authors of children's fiction. Everyone that walks by your stall is a potential customer. At my first book fair in June last year I had no idea what to expect. I took what I thought was a reasonable amount of books to see out the day and hoped for the best. I soon discovered that everyone who walked through the door was interested in my books. Why? Everyone knows a child who loves reading. Be it their own child, grandchild or family friend. I talked to everyone that came through the door and met some great people. My books sold out in 90 minutes. The lesson for the next book fair was take more books!
Radio Interviews
Do those words fill you with dread? A radio interview, a live interview with potentially 1000's of people listening. They shouldn't, they should fill you with optimism. I have done lots of radio interviews now and have mostly used this as a way of reaching out to people in America who I can't physically visit. My first interview was an hour long Q and A and although this might sound daunting the time flies by and when you love the subject you're talking about your passion will come through to the listeners. If radio stations aren't approaching you then approach them. Use Goodreads and twitter to find blog radio shows and offer yourself for interview. It's a great experience and well worth the effort. Be proud and confident of your work.
Well that's a lot to get you thinking and hopefully point you in the right direction. Since I started this proactive approach I have had my books go to number in their genre on Amazon in the USA, Canada and UK. Over 800 people have added my books on Goodreads and I have built a twitter following of 1500. Also 5000 people read my blog which is pretty amazing.
I'm giving away two signed copies of each of my books at Goodreads. If you would like the chance to win one then please follow this link. Book giveaway
If you would like to contact me then please do so at kevinmcleodauthor@gmail.com or leave a comment on the blog. If you would like to follow the blog please sign up by email.
If you would like to connect on twitter then please do so @ @bannon1975
If you're interested in buying either book in paperback or ebook format please visit my website where you will find a full list of where to buy. Where to buy the books.
Monday, 31 March 2014
Monday, 10 February 2014
Twitter, my tips.
Twitter is a great tool for social media, for building contacts and relationships. It's a great way to reach your audience, and a great way to make contacts with people in your chosen industry who can help you.
11 months ago my first book, The Viking's Apprentice , was published and it suddenly occurred to me that I might need to use Twitter to help get the word out. I had a grand total of three followers at the time. One was my wife and I'm pretty sure they other two were fakes. Now my Twitter account @bannon1975 has over 1327 followers and is increasing all the time.. oh I'm now at 1339, see it's going in the right direction.
I have taken some time to learn how to use Twitter, and taken advice from some very knowledgeable people. I've used different tools and programs to help me and recently I think I've finally got my head around what helps and what doesn't.
Quick do's and donts.
Do make your twitter interesting. Tell people about you, not just your books or products. Share links to information you have found useful. Talk to people, engage with people. Don't just blast out tweets trying to sell; that will switch people off.
Don't buy followers, ever. What use would that be? There are loads of links on twitter telling you that you can get 1000's of followers for a few pounds or dollars. Think about it though. Why flood your account with fake followers? Will they be interested in what you have to say? Will they buy what you have to offer? No they won't and ultimately they will ruin your account and dilute your message.
There are also lots of websites out there that offer tokens or coins to swap for followers. I don't understand why people would use them. Your twitter account, when used correctly will generate it's own followers. Just give it time and work hard at making it work.
Show yourself, get rid of the egg and upload your own profile pic. People want to see you, we relate to a face better than a graphic.
One Great Tip
I can't remember who told me this, but it works. It's called the six minute rule. When you are trying to build a follower base a good tip is to use the six minute rule. Go on twitter and start the clock. Search for other people that work in your field. Look at their followers and follow the ones you think are interesting and, importantly, that actually tweet. Do this for six minutes then stop. You're done for today. Do this consistently and your list of follows will grow. Human nature will kick in and lots of those that you follow will follow you back. This will build a high quality list of followers that you can engage with. Try it, it works!
Social Media Tools
There are loads of social media tools out there, some good and some awful. I'm going to concentrate on the ones I have used for twitter. Which makes sense as this is a blog about twitter.
I used Tweetdeck for a while, but to be honest I didn't like it. I didn't save the time or do what I wanted it to do. Yes you could load tweets but it was time consuming and clumsy. I looked around for other tools and I now use only two. I use Hootsuite and Commun.it. Why did I settle for these two? It's simple really. They both work, they both save time and they are both excellent social media tools. I sound like a sales pitch so I have deliberately not linked to either site so you know I'm not just trying to sell you click throughs to social media software. I want to help you, and hopefully I'm going to.
HOOTSUITE
Hootsuite is a tool which links to your twitter account. There is a basic free version which is good for saving tweets that you can then tell Hootsuite to 'auto schedule'. This means it will send the tweets out at certain intervals to ensure a wide coverage. I used this version for a while, but now I'm using the pro version. Again I'm not going to link to it as I don't want you to think I'm selling.
What are the advantages of the pro version? You can create spreadsheets of tweets to send out throughout the day or week that you can then save and edit as you need to. These spreadsheets can be bulk loaded into Hootsuite and the tweets will go out at your specified times. It takes a bit of time and tinkering but it's worth the effort as the results are excellent. I've been able to organise my time more efficiently and set my tweets to work in the best way to engage with my followers.
I should point out that Hootsuite can link to all your social media accounts. Mine is linked to my facebook, linkedin, Google+ and, of course, my Twitter.
My advice would be to get the free version then work from there. If the free version does all you need then don't upgrade. If you want to save time and have an excellent social media tool in your corner then upgrade to pro.
COMMUN.IT
Again I'm deliberately not providing a link as I don't want you thinking I'm getting paid for this post. I came across this tool through my website www.kevinmcleodauthor.com. This website is through wix.com and they offer a range of tools to help enhance your site. I began by using the free version and found it ok. What commun.it does is it organises things like who follows you, who unfollows you. It makes suggestions at who you should follow and unfollow. It's excellent for getting rid of people that never tweet or accounts that have gone dormant. If your follower list is full of people not using twitter then that's a pretty useless list. If you use the free version you need to work with it and twitter at the same time to unfollow and follow new people, and to do the other functions commun.it uses.
As I became more aware of the importance of twitter and other social media resources I decided to get the professional version of this software. I have to tell you all that I absolutely love it. It's by far the best tool I have used in my social media world. It even tops Hootsuite, which takes some doing.
What makes it so good? The pro version is just so simple to use, excellently laid out and gives you everything you need. So what does it tell you?
Your new follows and unfollows (those terrible people that ditch you without so much as goodbye). You can then engage with your new followers directly though commun.it and it will post to twitter for you.
It shows you who is retweeting your tweets and which people in your follower lists are the most active. You can then engage with these people which builds your twitter reputation.
If you have missed anyone that mentioned you it highlights it. Again you can then engage with these people.
The reports are brilliant, it shows you your activity for the week, month or day which ever you want to look at it. For example this week I have 117 new followers, 125 retweets and have reached 851,000 people. When you can see your figures it makes you work harder and smarter.
Another great report shows you which phrases that are relevant to you have been used in tweets. For example my twitter name @bannon1975 has turned up in 201 statuses and has been seen by a potential 1.4 million people.
My advice is to get it and go straight for pro, it's cheap and excellent.
I hope these tips help you work better with Twitter. It's a great tool and I believe it can help anyone who uses it correctly.
If you would like to connect with me you can in the following ways.
Twitter @bannon1975
Facebook TheVikingsApprentice
Email kevinmcleodauthor@gmail.com
Linkedin Kevin McLeod
If you would like to buy my books they are available from many online outlets. Follow this link Buy my books
11 months ago my first book, The Viking's Apprentice , was published and it suddenly occurred to me that I might need to use Twitter to help get the word out. I had a grand total of three followers at the time. One was my wife and I'm pretty sure they other two were fakes. Now my Twitter account @bannon1975 has over 1327 followers and is increasing all the time.. oh I'm now at 1339, see it's going in the right direction.
I have taken some time to learn how to use Twitter, and taken advice from some very knowledgeable people. I've used different tools and programs to help me and recently I think I've finally got my head around what helps and what doesn't.
Quick do's and donts.
Do make your twitter interesting. Tell people about you, not just your books or products. Share links to information you have found useful. Talk to people, engage with people. Don't just blast out tweets trying to sell; that will switch people off.
Don't buy followers, ever. What use would that be? There are loads of links on twitter telling you that you can get 1000's of followers for a few pounds or dollars. Think about it though. Why flood your account with fake followers? Will they be interested in what you have to say? Will they buy what you have to offer? No they won't and ultimately they will ruin your account and dilute your message.
There are also lots of websites out there that offer tokens or coins to swap for followers. I don't understand why people would use them. Your twitter account, when used correctly will generate it's own followers. Just give it time and work hard at making it work.
Show yourself, get rid of the egg and upload your own profile pic. People want to see you, we relate to a face better than a graphic.
One Great Tip
I can't remember who told me this, but it works. It's called the six minute rule. When you are trying to build a follower base a good tip is to use the six minute rule. Go on twitter and start the clock. Search for other people that work in your field. Look at their followers and follow the ones you think are interesting and, importantly, that actually tweet. Do this for six minutes then stop. You're done for today. Do this consistently and your list of follows will grow. Human nature will kick in and lots of those that you follow will follow you back. This will build a high quality list of followers that you can engage with. Try it, it works!
Social Media Tools
There are loads of social media tools out there, some good and some awful. I'm going to concentrate on the ones I have used for twitter. Which makes sense as this is a blog about twitter.
I used Tweetdeck for a while, but to be honest I didn't like it. I didn't save the time or do what I wanted it to do. Yes you could load tweets but it was time consuming and clumsy. I looked around for other tools and I now use only two. I use Hootsuite and Commun.it. Why did I settle for these two? It's simple really. They both work, they both save time and they are both excellent social media tools. I sound like a sales pitch so I have deliberately not linked to either site so you know I'm not just trying to sell you click throughs to social media software. I want to help you, and hopefully I'm going to.
HOOTSUITE
Hootsuite is a tool which links to your twitter account. There is a basic free version which is good for saving tweets that you can then tell Hootsuite to 'auto schedule'. This means it will send the tweets out at certain intervals to ensure a wide coverage. I used this version for a while, but now I'm using the pro version. Again I'm not going to link to it as I don't want you to think I'm selling.
What are the advantages of the pro version? You can create spreadsheets of tweets to send out throughout the day or week that you can then save and edit as you need to. These spreadsheets can be bulk loaded into Hootsuite and the tweets will go out at your specified times. It takes a bit of time and tinkering but it's worth the effort as the results are excellent. I've been able to organise my time more efficiently and set my tweets to work in the best way to engage with my followers.
I should point out that Hootsuite can link to all your social media accounts. Mine is linked to my facebook, linkedin, Google+ and, of course, my Twitter.
My advice would be to get the free version then work from there. If the free version does all you need then don't upgrade. If you want to save time and have an excellent social media tool in your corner then upgrade to pro.
COMMUN.IT
Again I'm deliberately not providing a link as I don't want you thinking I'm getting paid for this post. I came across this tool through my website www.kevinmcleodauthor.com. This website is through wix.com and they offer a range of tools to help enhance your site. I began by using the free version and found it ok. What commun.it does is it organises things like who follows you, who unfollows you. It makes suggestions at who you should follow and unfollow. It's excellent for getting rid of people that never tweet or accounts that have gone dormant. If your follower list is full of people not using twitter then that's a pretty useless list. If you use the free version you need to work with it and twitter at the same time to unfollow and follow new people, and to do the other functions commun.it uses.
As I became more aware of the importance of twitter and other social media resources I decided to get the professional version of this software. I have to tell you all that I absolutely love it. It's by far the best tool I have used in my social media world. It even tops Hootsuite, which takes some doing.
What makes it so good? The pro version is just so simple to use, excellently laid out and gives you everything you need. So what does it tell you?
Your new follows and unfollows (those terrible people that ditch you without so much as goodbye). You can then engage with your new followers directly though commun.it and it will post to twitter for you.
It shows you who is retweeting your tweets and which people in your follower lists are the most active. You can then engage with these people which builds your twitter reputation.
If you have missed anyone that mentioned you it highlights it. Again you can then engage with these people.
The reports are brilliant, it shows you your activity for the week, month or day which ever you want to look at it. For example this week I have 117 new followers, 125 retweets and have reached 851,000 people. When you can see your figures it makes you work harder and smarter.
Another great report shows you which phrases that are relevant to you have been used in tweets. For example my twitter name @bannon1975 has turned up in 201 statuses and has been seen by a potential 1.4 million people.
My advice is to get it and go straight for pro, it's cheap and excellent.
I hope these tips help you work better with Twitter. It's a great tool and I believe it can help anyone who uses it correctly.
If you would like to connect with me you can in the following ways.
Twitter @bannon1975
Facebook TheVikingsApprentice
Email kevinmcleodauthor@gmail.com
Linkedin Kevin McLeod
If you would like to buy my books they are available from many online outlets. Follow this link Buy my books
Monday, 13 January 2014
A new year and a break from the norm. Pericarditis - my story.
Happy new year to everyone. I hope you all enjoyed a nice Christmas and were able to get some time off your work to spend with friends and family.
Usually my blogs are about writing, my books and my experiences as an author. This blog is going to be a bit different. I'm going to talk about a disease called Pericarditis.
In 2001 (when I was 26) I was in my office going about my normal day when I started to get pains in my chest. The pain became more acute and would not go away. I struggled to the first aid room and lay down, which made the pain worse. I was terrified that I was having a heart attack and an ambulance was dully called.
I don't remember much about the ambulance trip but I do remember getting to the hospital just as the A&E was being evacuated due to an MRSA outbreak. It was a scene of chaos and turmoil. Eventually I was in my hospital bed with my mum and brother standing next to me. The doctor came in and told me that I had pericarditis; an inflammation of the pericardium which is the sack of fluid around your heart.
All I heard were the words inflammation and heart. Not understanding what the disease was or how it could be cured I was terrified. I remember my mum's face and my brother looking shocked. I was 26, 26 year olds shouldn't have heart problems. I decided to ignore the fact that at the time I was a smoker of 20 cigarettes per day. As it turned out smoking had nothing to do with my getting pericarditis. However I never smoked another cigarette again.
I spent some time in hospital and had a prelonged period off work to recover. A side effect of pericarditis was a condition called fibromyalgia which causes pain all over the body. I will talk about this in another blog soon.
The important thing is that with the correct medicines and care I made a full recovery and was even able to go back to playing football. I had 6 monthly tests done every year for several years after which showed a return to normal. The experience meant I gave up smoking and ended up a lot healthier.
Pericarditis is quite common in men and is usually caused by a viral or bacterial infection. It is fairly easily treated now and in most cases is not life threatening.
So you are probably asking yourself why am I telling you about a disease I had 13 years ago that some of you may not have heard of. Well just before Christmas I had a return of chest pains and some of the symptoms were very similar to 2001. Finally after several weeks I went to the doctor and this week I was in hospital at the cardiology unit getting all the tests run that I had back 2001. After a day of ECG's, ultrasounds, treadmill tests and chats with my cardiologist I am glad to say the pain is not being caused by any heart problems or a return of pericarditis. The cause of the pain is still unknown but ruling out the major cause of chest pain was a relief.
This return to hospital reminded me that I always said I would write about my experience and offer this simple message to anyone who is unlucky enough to suffer pericarditis. It can be cured and you can return to a normal life fairly soon afterwards. Maybe, you will gain something like giving up smoking as I did. I've included a link to the NHS site here in the UK that gives more details on pericarditis.
NHS Information
I hope some of you find this blog post useful and maybe it will reassure some of you if you are going through pericarditis just now.
Kevin
www.kevinmcleodauthor.com
twitter @bannon1975
email Kevin's email
Usually my blogs are about writing, my books and my experiences as an author. This blog is going to be a bit different. I'm going to talk about a disease called Pericarditis.
In 2001 (when I was 26) I was in my office going about my normal day when I started to get pains in my chest. The pain became more acute and would not go away. I struggled to the first aid room and lay down, which made the pain worse. I was terrified that I was having a heart attack and an ambulance was dully called.
I don't remember much about the ambulance trip but I do remember getting to the hospital just as the A&E was being evacuated due to an MRSA outbreak. It was a scene of chaos and turmoil. Eventually I was in my hospital bed with my mum and brother standing next to me. The doctor came in and told me that I had pericarditis; an inflammation of the pericardium which is the sack of fluid around your heart.
All I heard were the words inflammation and heart. Not understanding what the disease was or how it could be cured I was terrified. I remember my mum's face and my brother looking shocked. I was 26, 26 year olds shouldn't have heart problems. I decided to ignore the fact that at the time I was a smoker of 20 cigarettes per day. As it turned out smoking had nothing to do with my getting pericarditis. However I never smoked another cigarette again.
I spent some time in hospital and had a prelonged period off work to recover. A side effect of pericarditis was a condition called fibromyalgia which causes pain all over the body. I will talk about this in another blog soon.
The important thing is that with the correct medicines and care I made a full recovery and was even able to go back to playing football. I had 6 monthly tests done every year for several years after which showed a return to normal. The experience meant I gave up smoking and ended up a lot healthier.
Pericarditis is quite common in men and is usually caused by a viral or bacterial infection. It is fairly easily treated now and in most cases is not life threatening.
So you are probably asking yourself why am I telling you about a disease I had 13 years ago that some of you may not have heard of. Well just before Christmas I had a return of chest pains and some of the symptoms were very similar to 2001. Finally after several weeks I went to the doctor and this week I was in hospital at the cardiology unit getting all the tests run that I had back 2001. After a day of ECG's, ultrasounds, treadmill tests and chats with my cardiologist I am glad to say the pain is not being caused by any heart problems or a return of pericarditis. The cause of the pain is still unknown but ruling out the major cause of chest pain was a relief.
This return to hospital reminded me that I always said I would write about my experience and offer this simple message to anyone who is unlucky enough to suffer pericarditis. It can be cured and you can return to a normal life fairly soon afterwards. Maybe, you will gain something like giving up smoking as I did. I've included a link to the NHS site here in the UK that gives more details on pericarditis.
NHS Information
I hope some of you find this blog post useful and maybe it will reassure some of you if you are going through pericarditis just now.
Kevin
www.kevinmcleodauthor.com
twitter @bannon1975
email Kevin's email
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.
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
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 |
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:
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
facebook - The Viking's Apprentice
Have a great week everyone.
Kevin
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| The Viking's Apprentice |
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| 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
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.
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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
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.
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
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