I haven’t advertised my books for a while, kinda horrified at the amount of money I was spending. But sales stagnate when I stop – that’s business I guess. At least the monthly payments from Amazon are staying marginally ahead of advertising spend. So I’ve set up a few campaigns this morning, mostly for Glasdrum,…
I gave up many precious book-writing hours a week ago to submit my two published novels to various vetted book review sites. According to Author advice, this is what I should be doing. It was on my To Do list for a long time, and now it’s underway. But it’s left an unpleasant taste in my…
I started writing this at 5.30am, having spent the previous hour working through my ‘writer’s’ To Do list. It’s quite long – and writing another book isn’t even on it. One of the tasks is finishing a script for an Xpo North promo clip, which I’ve promised to do for a long time to thank them for the support they’ve…
I have started a new writing technique which is working well: instead of trying to sit at my laptop for hours and hours because ‘writing only’ days are rare, I am doing alternate timed hours of writing/something else. Yesterday the ‘something else’ was gardening because my recently acquired home is surrounded by mature, beautiful shrubs that…
I am having a fabulous visit home to Glasdrum country (Lochaber on the west coast of Scotland), the highlight of which is getting stocked in the new Highland Bookshop on Fort William High Street (http://www.highlandbookshop.com/). It’s so nice to see a new independent bookshop, and what a fabulous selection they have; I’m honoured to be…
The other day an amazing thing happened. I gave a talk about my books at Belladrum Music Festival – and several strangers came up afterwards to buy them! It made me feel incredibly happy. Tearful, even. I think it’s because of something all writers (and other artists I’m sure) face on a regular basis: rejection. To experience…
I wrote about my self-publishing journey for the Reedsy blog: https://reedsy.com/stories/debut-authors/fiona-macbain
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…
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…
fionamacbain.com 