A Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, let's hope it's a good one without any fear

Well here we are, it's almost Christmas and the end of another year.
2008 has been probably the most stressful year of my life. I've become a one woman publishing house; had terrible work worries and took (and failed) my driving test, have bought a car and am now looking forward to failing my test again in January next year.

This time last year I honestly didn't think people would be getting my novels as Christmas presents, but at the sale last week a couple of people bought my books as gifts for other people. It's a nice feeling to imagine someone unwrapping their present to find Summerset or Mad About the Boy in it. I've had a couple of negative comments about the books but that's to be expected. Just look on Amazon at the most popular books and you'll always find negative things written about them. If you're going to put yourself out there as any sort of artist you've got to expect criticism. Look at the whole x-factor thing, many people think Alexandra Burke's version of Hallelujah is the greatest thing since sliced bread but many others (me included) think Jeff Buckley's is the definitive version and therefore he's got to number 2. You can't please all the people all of the time as the old saying goes.

I'm already looking forward to 2009 and the release of Two Become One after Christmas. I'm also taking on my most ambitious project yet, a novel called Liverpool. Anyone who knows me knows I'm a complete plastic Scouser and in my opinion not enough books are written about the city. So far it's going to be an epic love story starting just before the first world war, which means I'm going to have to do a lot of research including a trip up to Liverpool to look in the libraries and museums. The book won't be out until 2010 as I've TBO and Winner Takes All coming out in 2009.

I can't say I'm sorry to see the back of this year and I'm wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Peaceful 2009.

If I can drag myself away from mountains of food and Christmas TV. I will be writing my end of year blog next week.

Merry Christmas

A strange sequence of events

This is a general tip for my author friends everywhere. It pays to get your name everywhere. Even if it's just commenting on someone's video or book or play or whatever because the internet really does lead to some strange things.

A case in point happened to me the other night. After watching Eastenders (dire UK soap) I did an IMDB search on one of the actors in it, as you casually do. At the end of his page on IMDB, someone had commented and asked if he was the bloke in the Candie Payne's One More Chance video. I had no idea who this was so went onto Youtube and watched said video. I realised I absolutely loved the Candie Payne song and so downloaded some more of her songs (she's a more credible Duffy) so I then downloaded her album via Napster and saw she did a live Napster session, one of the songs she did was Tomorrow from Bugsy Malone, which was the first stage musical I ever saw and so I decided to buy the DVD off Amazon.

So, just by looking up one actor, I discovered a girl singer, bought her album and bought a DVD. Just shows that people can find you through the strangest routes. So if you want to get noticed, it's probably a good idea to blitz the internet with comments on other people's work and blogs and God knows what else because it really is a case of from tiny acorns.


Oh and check out 'I wish I could have loved you more' by Candie Payne, it's ace!

Thank you Lulu for your grand cock up

The strangest thing happened. I spent the best part of a boring weekend sticking my rather Heath Robinson labels onto my stupid mis-printed books that arrived via Lulu last week (the rest of the weekend was spent worrying about Reggie the car and the fact he conked out). My intention was to take the books to work and stick them in a box in the staff room and say that people could help themselves. I also stuck an ad on Gumtree advertising free books, thinking only a couple of people would respond.

Wow! What an understatement. I went into my zeias account last night and almost fell over to find about 15 emails from people wanting my books. As the evening went on more and more people were mailing wanting me to send them freebies (some cheeky buggers wanted both books – hello am I married to Mr Royal Mail!). I have had to turn people down now because there aren’t enough books left but I’ve kept their names and am adding them to my mailing list as they have obviously shown an interest in my work.

It’s amazing how people respond when there’s the word ‘free’ in the title of an ad, but at the end of the day they were 16 books that were unsaleable so who am I to complain. Okay I’ve had to spend money on stamps but it’s only money I’ve re-invested from previous book sales.

So thank you for your cock up Lulu. It’s introduced me to a much bigger audience and for every person who gets send a copy of Summerset or Mad About the Boy there are all the other people they might lend it to and spread the word to. So I’m chuffed to little mintballs!

Ciao for now x

They're Playing Our Tune by the Pale Moon

What a bloody week it has been. Lulu have royally stuffed up. I thought it suspicious when the 16 books I ordered last Thursday were dispatched on Friday (given that it normally takes a week to print one book). When they arrived on Monday, I opened the box to discover all the Summersets had Mad about the Boy covers and vice versa. After contacting Lulu (they don’t do phones, had to all be done by email) I had to take photographs of the books to prove they’d stuffed up, even though I’d asked them just to take the dodgy books back and reprint proper ones. Thankfully they believed me and said they’ll re-order the books to be properly done and I can keep the sixteen dodgy ones. At first I thought I could make a bonfire in the garden. Then it came to me that there are such things as labels. So I’m going to make a plain cover for both books and stick labels with the right titles over the top of the dodgy covers and give them away.

So, if you would like a free copy of Summerset or Mad About the Boy, let me know and I’ll send you one (limited obviously as I only have sixteen).

I’ve nearly finished The Pioneers. It’s been great fun writing the book basing fictional characters on real people. I wonder if anyone will guess who they’re supposed to be. Two people are reading it as I’m writing it – my mum and my mate Kelly. My mum has passed no comment on it so I get the feeling she hates it, whereas Kelly loves it so I presume that it appeals to a younger audience. Funny seeing as it’s set in my mum’s era.

As well as this, I’ve found another cover for 2b1. It’s not as appropriate as the other one, but the woman never got back to me so I had no choice but to look elsewhere. I just hope Lulu don’t stuff up on that one or I will seriously consider going elsewhere.

One great thing that’s come out of writing The Pioneers is that I’ve had to absorb myself in the music of the 1970s to get a feel for the era and I’ve so discovered Roxy Music. Because I was only wee when they were at their biggest, up until now, my only knowledge of the Eno era Roxy was Virginia Plain. I was always more aware of later stuff like Avalon, Angel Eyes etc. Eno era Roxy is bloody astounding and even the period just after he left still felt his influence. Songs like In Every Dreamhome A Heartache and Do the Strand rock. I also want to know why Bryan Ferry who is a bit of a pretentious prat who at times looks like Hitler and can’t dance, can still be sexy. I can definitely see why ladies loved him back in the day but he is still a bit weird and at times sinister – weird.

I’d finally like to give a shout out to my friend Angela’s Book Big Brother’s Big Blubber. It’s a bloody hilarious take on the world of Big Brother and Celebrity in general with interesting cameos from everyone from the Queen to George W Bush!
You can buy it right here

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Big-Brothers-Blubber-2008/dp/1438924143/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1227879059&sr=8-1

Ciao for now x

Le Grand Sale!

In the spirit of Christmas and the fact we're in the middle of a Credit Crunch, I am holding a sale of my books. Visit my website http://sites.google.com/site/authorkarenmason/ to find out just how cheap my books are!

Softly Softly Gently Does It

This week I was quite astounded to read that Ofcom are investigating complaints from the Great British unwashed about the supposed bullying of John Sergeant on Strictly Come Dancing. For readers not in the UK, JS is an elderly political reporter who has entered our version of Dancing with the Stars (the original version!) and his dancing ability is limited to say the least. For some reason he is still in the competition at the expense of much better dancers. Now, this of course is the nature of reality TV but people are only voting for him because he is the underdog and has cultivated the image of the cuddly old gentleman doing his best (when in reality when interviewed he is actually quite arrogant and shows very little compassion or empathy towards the better contestants who have been forced to leave because of this public campaign). Anyway, the whys and wherefores to this are not important – everyone has their own opinion on John and that’s fine. What worries me is that the judges on the show are being accused of bullying him because they are expressing valid opinions. They are there to judge technical ability and quite frankly John has none whatsoever.

I find this astounding in a week when the news has been dominated by the tragic and horrendous death of a beautiful 17-month-old baby at the hands of his mother, step-father and the lodger. I’m not even going to repeat what was done to this poor child (who was overlooked by social services and all the people who should be looking after him) because it breaks my heart to even think about it. But I can’t help but wonder if that same teenage mother is a product of the same society that is up in arms moaning about the alleged bullying of a rather pompous old man.

Suddenly, bullying is the sexiest word on the planet. The line between constructive criticism and bullying has become blurry and for several years now teachers have been encouraged not to criticise children, to encourage them and overlook the more odious traits in their nature. In an ideal world this would work but let’s take a look at the society it has produced – feral teenagers who think the world owes them a living because they’ve spent most of their time in an education system that is too frightened to criticise because they will be accused of bullying. There is nothing wrong with being brought down a peg or two. No one is advocating bringing back the birch or making children stand in corners but we’ve got to lose this obsession with bullying.

So even though John Sergeant is an insignificant contestant on an equally insignificant TV show, this whole furore about bullying is a reflection on how we now look on society. On a similar vein, switch on any TV channel during the day and every advert is about how to claim compensation because you’ve had an accident (which may have occurred because you weren’t looking where you were going in the first place). It’s all about blaming someone else and not taking responsibility for your own actions. I find it all quite scary.

Do you remember the first time?

My books sales have stalled a little - maybe it's the credit crunch, maybe it's because Mills & Boon are 100 years old and every flipping programme (especially on the BBC) is dedicated to them and everyone and their mother are buying M&B books instead of 'proper' ones - I don't know. I personally think it's because my marketing isn't working.

So, I am conducting a major study into what made you choose your first book by your favourite author? If I can find out why people bought what they did and where, maybe I can target my audience. So, in the comments section can you please answer the following questions;

Who is your favourite author?

Where did you first discover them? (ie picked up randomly in a book shop, bought in a second hand shop, did a friend lend you the book etc.)

What attracted you to the book? (ie the cover, the blurb, friend's recommendation, author's reputation, media advertising)

Thanks for taking the time to do this

Karen