This post is about my experience of using Amazon and facebook advertising for my two self-published novels. Disclaimer: this is not a guide to them in any way – I’m fumbling in the dark here, guessing as I go. It’s just a summary of my own experiences of using them. I’ve been using facebook adverts…
Glasdrum: one town, five women, dark events… Do you want to try a new Highland author for FREE (15-19 June 2017 only)? I’m running a free promotion for my thriller set in a fictional west-coast Highland town. It has received 31 top reviews since it was published in April 2017 and I’m hoping to expand its…
I had my doubts about doing an ebook giveaway. Do people value something that’s free? Even if they downloaded it, would they get around to reading it? There are some free or very cheap books out there that are amateurish… books that have never been within ten paces of an editor or proof-reader. Would people…
I must, must, must get on with writing Book 3. I must. But first I’ll write a blog about how much I’m dreading it. Then I’ll probably post the blog on facebook and twitter and keep checking to see if anyone has read it. *SIGH* I’ve had fairly good reasons for my lack of progress –…
DAUGHTER, DISAPPEARED has a fabulous new cover! My designer, Mark Thomas, (https://reedsy.com/mark-thomas) has re-done it to more closely brand it with GLASDRUM. As a debut self-published author I was pleasantly surprised by the success of the Daughter, Disappeared, the sales of which have been mostly generated via facebook – and I would credit this to…
The locations of Glasdrum are close to my heart. As a child, whenever there was a hint of sun during the summer (rare on the west coast of Scotland) we went to Camusdarroch beach near Morar. The sea was cold but we swam, and there were sand dunes to play on. I often imagined what…
One of the (many) previous title ideas for Glasdrum was Bones in the Garden – because two women discover a skeleton in the back garden in Chapter One. That scene is one of my earliest ‘seeds of a story’ ideas. I still had handwritten notes I’d made in 1993, when I was twenty-two, and spent…
Ben MacDui, Britain’s second highest peak, was shrouded in mist when my fourteen year old daughter and I set off to climb it. Neither of us were hill walkers – this was a new activity. We had been drifting apart, as mothers and teenage daughters do, and when we weren’t apart, we had been mostly…
I was excited and hopeful to be one of six authors picked to pitch my second novel to a panel of literary agents at the London Book Fair. It started badly. My flight was delayed by three hours (initially due to fog, then a medical emergency that required an ill passenger and his luggage to…
Novelist Fiona MacBain shares how “write what you know” can help authors sell their book by presenting them with a ready-made target market. Source: How “Write What You Know” Helps You Find a Target Market
fionamacbain.com 