We’re moving…

October 09, 2015 in News & views

I’m in the process of changing this website to a mobile-friendly version. With any luck, this website won’t disappear in the meantime. If you do happen to get one of those horrible “Page not found” messages, please keep trying. Apparently it can take up to 72 hours for it all to come to life again.

Reflections on writing and technology

August 25, 2015 in News & views, Technology

Many of my articles on this blog are reflections on writing and technology. Although there are some writers who eschew the idea of technology, I believe that if you define “technology” widely enough, it becomes obvious that all writers use technology.

Even those who are fortunate enough to have an assistant to whom they can dictate their thoughts, and who will then type them up, are using technology – albeit at one remove

7 ways to tackle writing a book when you need to write articles too

August 11, 2015 in News & views, Professional writer

My aim is very simple: I should like to generate a passive income. I could do so by selling affiliate products or by having ads all over the place. But I prefer to do it, mainly at least, by writing.

But there’s a problem.

Thoughts on Amazon’s new royalties system

June 23, 2015 in News & views

Amazon very recently introduced a new way of calculating royalties for books borrowed in the Kindle Unlimited and Kindle Owners’ Lending Library schemes. Whereas previously royalties were based on the number of times a book has been borrowed, they will now be based on the number of pages read. Amazon will define what a page is according to font size and other parameters, so authors can’t pull a fast one by making the font huge!

Freelancing vs authoring Part 1

May 13, 2015 in News & views, Professional writer

If, like me, you enjoy writing and you would like to earn money from it, should you go down the freelance writing route or write books, or both?

From my experience, here are the pros and cons of freelancing.

Money, Money, Money

May 04, 2015 in News & views, Professional writer

This article is not about writing or related matters as such; it's more about my experience of attitudes to paying for work. It's worth reading, I think, if any of the following applies to you:

you're thinking of asking a writer to do some work
you have some students who are hoping to earn money from writing
you are thinking of writing yourself.

2000AD ditches DRM

April 28, 2015 in News & views, Self-publishing

A couple of weeks ago I asked: Is Digital Rights Management effective against piracy?

Reflections on the London Book Fair 2015

April 23, 2015 in News & views, Reviews, Self-publishing

Well, the London Book Fair has been and gone. Is it only a week ago that I was trudging home with publishers’ catalogues and notes from the various sessions I attended?

I found it really useful: three days’-worth of excellent talks and discussions, for the princely sum of £35.

What do writers earn?

April 22, 2015 in News & views, Professional writer, Reference, Self-publishing

A recent piece of research from the Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS) makes for some depressing reading – unless you are extremely optimistic.

The figures relate to 2013, and are not as good as their equivalents of ten years ago, in 2005. Well, not for the most part anyway. Here are some of them:

More notes from the London Book Fair 2015

April 15, 2015 in News & views, Self-publishing

LBF 2015 Discussion before the discussion

I spent another day at the London Book Fair today. This time, I had earmarked just two talks to go to, the rest of my time being given over to wandering around and seeing what looked interesting.

Notes from the London Book Fair 2015

April 15, 2015 in News & views, Self-publishing

I always look forward to the London Book Fair – I think it’s the thrill of being surrounded by so many books! Today was the first of three, and I used it to attend seminars for the most part.

A self-publishing journey: book covers and current “conventional” wisdom

March 29, 2015 in News & views, Self-publishing

After quite a long gap, I’ve decided to self-publish a few books. I thought it might be interesting to write up my journey, because perhaps the research I undertake will be beneficial to others.

Antivirus Blues

March 23, 2015 in Handy hints, News & views

One of the things I’ve learnt over the years is that if my antivirus program tells me there is a new version that I need to install, I always create a system restore point (I’m using a PC). Why? Because on almost every occasion something doesn’t work afterwards.

A Self-publishing journey: Is Digital Rights Management effective against piracy?

March 19, 2015 in News & views, Self-publishing

After quite a long gap, I’ve decided to self-publish a few books. I thought it might be interesting to write up my journey, because perhaps the research I undertake will be beneficial to others.

Today I’m looking at whether or not you should choose Digital Rights Management, or DRM, as a way of preventing your ebooks being illegally copied.

A Self-publishing journey: Why self-publishing?

March 18, 2015 in News & views, Professional writer, Self-publishing

After quite a long gap, I’ve decided to self-publish a few books. I thought it might be interesting to write up my journey, because perhaps the research I undertake will be beneficial to others.

Today I’m looking at why have I chosen self-publishing rather than traditional publishing.

A self-publishing journey: what IS self-publishing?

March 16, 2015 in News & views, Professional writer, Self-publishing

After quite a long gap, I’ve decided to self-publish a few books. I thought it might be interesting to write up my journey, because perhaps the research I undertake will be beneficial to others.

Today, I’m clarifying what the term self-publishing means because, unfortunately, it’s not as obvious as you might think.

A Self-publishing journey

March 15, 2015 in News & views, Professional writer, Self-publishing

Starting tomorrow, a new series of occasional posts about my research into self-publishing.

The first two articles are:

The hidden costs of EU VAT law to readers

February 23, 2015 in News & views

Like many people I suppose, when I have written about the effects of the new rule on value-added tax, I’ve done so from the point of view of myself, as a seller of ebooks. But what of the costs to readers?

The get-rich-quick itch

January 04, 2015 in Creative Writing, News & views

I would love to be able to write blog posts or conduct my social media affairs in such a way that I became an overnight sensation, as verified by an astronomical rise in my bank balance.

That’s why I tend to read a lot of adverts that say things like “How I turned my blog into a licence to print money in just three months!”

Victorian Humour

November 04, 2014 in Bits & bobs, News & views, Technology

Victorian humour? A contradiction in terms, surely? Not according to Bob Nicholson, a lecturer in history who is on a mission to make Victorian jokes funny again (which presupposes they were funny in the first place, of course, but one assumes they were!).

Now, you may think this has nothing to do with writing, but it has. Bob is using a computing technique known as “text mining” to trawl through loads of Victorian publications held by the British Library, and extract jokes.