Joy Mutter’s blog

Also, the audiobook edition of book 2, Holiday for The Hostile, narrated by Alexander Doddy, was recently published on Audible, Amazon, and iTunes. It’s currently only £2.99 on Audible and Amazon. 6 hours 37 minutes of pure entertainment.

The audiobook edition of book 3, The Hostile Game, narrated by Alexander Doddy, was published on Audible, Amazon, and iTunes on 19th July. 

The Kindle of THE HOSTILE GAME is FREE on Amazon today, 13th July and on 14th July

In THE HOSTILE GAME, Manchester-based Serena, now eighteen and pregnant, finally discovers the reason why Tile X befriended her seven years before. She doesn’t like what she hears. Mayhem ensues, with a retired Irish police superintendent becoming more involved than perhaps he should have.

The Hostile Game, the third book in The Hostile series, is a gripping contemporary paranormal crime thriller. It was published on Amazon in Kindle and paperback editions in April 2017 and can be read as a standalone like the other books in this unusual series. An audiobook edition will be available by the end of July, wonderfully narrated by Alexander Doddy. I’m currently writing book four, Confronting The Hostile.

“Joy Mutter delivers another wonderfully offbeat, paranormal thriller, mellowed with a delicious dark humour.” “An original premise, using original characters who you will quickly love and hate, and a clever twist at the conclusion.” “Delightfully different.” “A crazy, fascinating journey.”

Link to the Kindle edition on Amazon in U.S.A. http://amzn.to/2p2ktbQ
Link to the Kindle edition on Amazon in U.K. http://amzn.to/2oYlsqC
Link to the paperback edition on Amazon in U.S.A. http://amzn.to/2ryEQv7
Link to the paperback edition on Amazon in U.K. http://amzn.to/2rkHdW0 http://amzn.to/2rkHdW0

Each of my ten Kindle editions is £0.99 or equivalent currencies on Amazon and is always free to Kindle Unlimited subscribers. The paperback versions won’t break the bank either. The Hostile, Holiday for The Hostile, and Her demonic Angel, are available on Amazon, Audible, and iTunes as audiobooks. An audiobook edition of The Hostile Game will be available on the same sites in a couple of weeks.

An extract from The Hostile Game http://amzn.to/2pKDBfe

Audiobooks of The Hostile series

I’m proud to announce the publication of the first three audiobook editions in my paranormal crime thriller series, The Hostile. I narrated the first book and Alexander Doddy brilliantly narrated books two and three. You really should hear Alexander’s amazing performance. I hope he’ll be free to narrate book four, Confronting The Hostile. I’m currently writing Chapter 28 of book four and aim to publish the Kindle and paperback of Confronting The Hostile by the end of 2017.

All three audiobooks are available on Audible, Amazon, and iTunes. If you buy, or have bought, the Kindle of The Hostile, you can download its much reduced priced audiobook on Amazon. The same will eventually be true of the other two Hostile series audiobooks on Amazon. They say it takes about a month after publication before Amazon offers an audiobook discount when the Kindle has been bought. As Holiday for The Hostile only went live on Audible on 26th June, the discount on Amazon should appear around the end of July. The Hostile Game audiobook should go live on Audible, Amazon and iTunes in a couple of weeks, so the Amazon discount should come into being by the end of August.

Authors using ACX have no say in the pricing of their audiobooks. I would have priced my audiobooks on Audible and Amazon at the lower price iTunes charge. I’ve often complained to them about the high prices of my audiobooks on Audible. This is why I welcome the offer of my audiobooks at a discounted price on Amazon when a Kindle is bought.

Here is the link for The Hostile on Audible.co.uk http://adbl.co/2tDHDp4

Here is the link for Holiday for The Hostile on Audible.co.uk http://adbl.co/2sELKis

The Kindle of HER DEMONIC ANGEL is FREE on Amazon today, 7th July until 9th July

Her demonic Angel is my baker’s dozen of short stories. I wrote them in a variety of genres, so there should be something for everyone. Some tales are stranger than others, but all are different shades of dark. Despite its slightly suggestive title, Her demonic Angel is not erotica. To whet your appetite, here are the titles of some of my short stories: Mirror, mirror; The boy they called Dragon; The day nobody gave a damn; An email from Jane; Stuff; Getting rid of the enemy; Skin; Too beautiful; Philately will get you nowhere; In memoriam.

http://amzn.to/295kGjn for the U.K. Kindle edition.
http://amzn.to/29dSEpd for the U.S.A. Kindle edition.
http://amzn.to/295uZbl for the U.K. paperback edition.
http://amzn.to/29ii97E for the U.S.A. paperback edition.

Each of my 10 Kindle editions is £0.99 or equivalent currencies on Amazon and is always free to Kindle Unlimited subscribers. The paperback versions won’t break the bank either. The Hostile, Holiday for The Hostile, and Her demonic Angel, are available on Amazon, Audible, and iTunes as audiobooks. An audiobook edition of The Hostile Game will be available on the same sites in a few weeks.

Here’s an extract from Her demonic Angel http://amzn.to/2bMiO4c

Big News

Thrilled to report the release of the audiobook edition of Holiday for The Hostile, narrated by the highly talented Alexander Doddy. I couldn’t be more pleased with his performance. He put his heart and soul into it. He even tackled the Irish and Scottish accents brilliantly when they cropped up in the story. Book 1, The Hostile, is already on Audible, Amazon and iTunes. As it was released before I’d heard of Alexander Doddy, I narrated it myself.

The Kindle of A SLICE OF THE SEVENTIES is FREE on Amazon today, 26th June until the 28th June

A Slice of the Seventies is the first book in the Mug trilogy. It tells the story of Jersey-born Mug, a troubled girl from a recently broken home. It covers her experiences as a teenager at the Isle of Wight Music Festival in 1970, the same year she follows a guru. The book tracks her tumultuous four years as an art student in Coventry, where vegetarian Mug finds herself living next door to an abattoir and a railway shunting yard with David, a fellow art student. Dramatic events follow on from the evening they first meet at a party, where David is attempting to commit an extremely public suicide.

Whether you were around in that decade or not, you’re bound to enjoy this nostalgic Slice of the Seventies. This loosely autobiographical book can be read as a standalone, without having to read the other two books in the trilogy, The Lying Scotsman, and Straws.

http://amzn.to/2tIIV1s for the UK Kindle edition.
http://amzn.to/297MAdY for the USA Kindle edition.
http://amzn.to/29osS0l for the UK paperback edition.
http://amzn.to/297Mdjm for the USA paperback edition.

All ten of my Kindle editions are £0.99 or equivalent currencies on Amazon and are always free to Kindle Unlimited subscribers. The paperback versions won’t break the bank either. If you enjoy audiobooks, two of my books, The Hostile and Her demonic Angel, are available on Amazon, Audible, and iTunes as audiobooks. Audiobook editions of Holiday for The Hostile, and The Hostile Game will be available on the same sites in the next few weeks.

The Kindle of THE HOSTILE is FREE on Amazon today, 12th June, until the 14th of June

In a rundown area of Manchester, inside the bathroom of a terraced house overflowing with children and dysfunctional parents, a powerful entity befriends young Serena with disastrous results. This unlikely enigmatic force not only dramatically affects introverted Serena’s life but also threatens the well-being of everyone she knows, especially those people who’ve earned the strange girl’s displeasure. It soon becomes clear that nobody should ever upset Serena … if they know what’s good for them. After reading The Hostile, you’ll never look at D.I.Y. in the same way again.

The Hostile is a “refreshingly original” contemporary paranormal crime thriller. “A bizarrely captivating” read. It’s book one of The Hostile series. Each book in the series can be read as a standalone. Book two, Holiday for The Hostile, was published in December 2016. The third book in this unusual series, The Hostile Game, was published on Amazon in Kindle and paperback in April 2017. I’m currently writing book four, Confronting The Hostile.

All ten of my Kindle editions on Amazon are £0.99 each, or equivalent currencies, and are always free to Kindle Unlimited subscribers. The paperback versions won’t break the bank either. If you enjoy audiobooks, two of my books, The Hostile, and Her demonic Angel, are also available on Amazon, Audible, and iTunes as audiobooks. Audiobooks of Holiday for The Hostile will be available in July, and The Hostile Game will follow in August 2017.

Kindle edition of The Hostile on Amazon.co.uk http://amzn.to/2pAHALo
Kindle edition of The Hostile on Amazon.com http://amzn.to/29dk5Qw
Paperback edition of The Hostile on Amazon.co.uk http://amzn.to/29dkOkS
Paperback edition of The Hostile on Amazon.com http://amzn.to/299CVUw

The audiobook of The Hostile is available on iTunes, Amazon, and Audible.

Here is an extract from The Hostile http://amzn.to/2blBo12.

The Kindle of POTHOLES AND MAGIC CARPETS is FREE on Amazon today, 4th June until 6th June

Potholes and Magic Carpets is a contemporary character-driven novel. It looks at the dramatic incidents, challenges, and temptations in the lives of four couples of varying ages, professions and sexual persuasions, all linked by blood or friendship. The negative, selfish, sometimes violent natures of several characters in the book wreak havoc on the innocent. A tale of not so simple folk. The page-turning action in Potholes and Magic Carpets takes place in rural Kent and London. It’s published on Amazon in paperback and Kindle editions.

Random Bullets will be free on Amazon from 25th-27th May

The Kindle edition of my paranormal crime thriller, Random Bullets, will be free on Amazon tomorrow, 25th May until 27th May.

After shooting and killing his nephew, a gunman runs amok in a London park. What drives Edward to commit such atrocities? Who will survive yet another of his moments of madness? Set in Jersey, Cornwall, London, Manchester and places not of this world, Random Bullets is a contemporary crime thriller with a paranormal twist.

‘Action-packed, thought-provoking, a real ride. I couldn’t put it down,’ ‘crime with a twist,’ ‘An insightful look behind the many faces we wear, and how burning resentments can take you into madness and murder,’ ‘This is a very well thought-out book.’ ‘Kinetic — really zips along at a pace. I was really drawn in.’ These are just a few of the reviews Random Bullets has received; 23 5-star reviews across all Amazon sites so far. Your review would also be much appreciated.

I was interviewed in February 2016 by two BBC Radio 4 producers as part of their Analysis programme on Inheritance. They’d heard that Random Bullets deals with the divisive subject of disinheritance and its aftermath, something I’ve experienced personally. Published in November 2015, Random Bullets is available on Amazon in both paperback and Kindle editions. An audiobook edition of this favourite book of mine is in production. Audiobook versions of two of my other books are already available on Audible, Amazon, and iTunes.

http://amzn.to/1R5OpGw for the UK Kindle edition.

http://amzn.to/29eOAnl for the USA Kindle edition.

http://amzn.to/1Y2NmyC for the UK paperback edition.

http://amzn.to/2906R56 for the USA paperback edition.

All ten of my Kindle editions on Amazon are £0.99 each, or equivalent currencies, and are always free to Kindle Unlimited subscribers. The paperback versions won’t break the bank either. If you enjoy audiobooks, two of my books, The Hostile and Her demonic Angel, are available on Amazon, Audible, and iTunes as audiobooks. Two more books in The Hostile series are currently being made into audiobooks.

An excerpt from RANDOM BULLETS http://amzn.to/2btTrAC.

Book Buzz

They all said I should create a buzz around my books, so I did.

In The Hostile Game, Manchester-based Serena, now eighteen and pregnant, finally discovers the reason why Tile X befriended her seven years before. She doesn’t like what she hears. Mayhem ensues, with a retired Irish police superintendent becoming more involved than perhaps he should have.

The Hostile Game, the third book in The Hostile series, is a gripping contemporary paranormal crime thriller. It was published on Amazon in Kindle and paperback editions in April 2017 and can be read as a standalone like the other books in this unusual series.

Readers tell me The Hostile Game is even better than the first two books, The Hostile, and Holiday for The Hostile. I’m currently writing book four of the series, Confronting The Hostile.
Link to the Kindle edition on Amazon http://amzn.to/2p2ktbQ
Each of my ten Kindle editions is £0.99, or equivalent currencies, on Amazon and always free to Kindle Unlimited subscribers. The paperback versions won’t break the bank either. If you enjoy audiobooks, two of my books, The Hostile, and Her demonic Angel, are also available on Amazon, Audible, and iTunes as audiobooks.

The Kindle of Random Bullets is FREE on Amazon today, 20th March

“Action-packed, thought-provoking, a real ride. I couldn’t put it down,” “crime with a twist,” “An insightful look behind the many faces we wear, and how burning resentments can take you into madness and murder,” “This is a very well thought-out book.” “Kinetic — really zips along at a pace. I was really drawn in.” These are just a few of the reviews Random Bullets has received; 22 5-star reviews on all Amazon sites so far. Your review would also be much appreciated. Feel free to tell me and the world what you think of Random Bullets, a book that means so much to me.

 

After shooting and killing his nephew, a gunman runs amok in a London park. What drives Edward to commit such atrocities? Who will survive yet another of his moments of madness? Set in Jersey, Cornwall, London, Manchester and places not of this world, Random Bullets is a contemporary crime thriller with a paranormal twist.

 

I was interviewed in February 2016 by two BBC Radio 4 producers as part of their Analysis programme on Inheritance. They’d heard that Random Bullets deals with the divisive subject of disinheritance and its aftermath, something I’ve experienced personally. Published in November 2015, Random Bullets is available on Amazon in both paperback and Kindle editions. An audiobook edition of this favourite book of mine is in production. Audiobook versions of two of my other books are already available on Audible, Amazon, and iTunes.

 

http://amzn.to/1R5OpGw for the UK Kindle edition.

http://amzn.to/29eOAnl for the USA Kindle edition.

http://amzn.to/1Y2NmyC for the UK paperback edition.

http://amzn.to/2906R56 for the USA paperback edition.

 

All nine of my Kindle editions on Amazon are only £0.99 each, or equivalent currencies, and are always free to Kindle Unlimited subscribers. The paperback versions won’t break the bank either. If you enjoy audiobooks, two of my books, The Hostile and Her demonic Angel, are available on Amazon, Audible, and iTunes as audiobooks.

 

Please feel free to read a sample of RANDOM BULLETS here http://amzn.to/2btTrAC.

A fun Friday evening in Manchester

I had a wonderful time at HOME in Manchester on Friday evening. My daughter and I enjoyed the Q and A with author Paul Auster, trying out the intriguing Virtual Reality stand, then watching the innovative theatrical performance of Auster’s City of Glass. The production values were excellent, even though Zoe and I emerged scratching our heads over the story itself. I also had my copy of his new 900-page book, 4321, signed by the author. And there was I worrying my book, The Lying Scotsman, might be too long at 400 pages.

I also had my copy of his new 900-page book, 4321, signed by the author. And there was I worrying my book, The Lying Scotsman, might be too long at 400 pages.

 

Good news! All my Kindles are now £0.99

I’ve lowered all my kindle prices to £0.99 from £2.25 on Amazon, so that’s a piece of good news to brighten up your day.

Another piece of good news is that I’ve almost finished the first draft of book ten. The Hostile Game is book three in The Hostile series. I’m aiming to publish it on Amazon in Kindle and paperback by the end of April or early May this year.

I’ve had more free time to write my new book over the past few weeks now my paid proofreading work has been given to a larger proofreading company by the independent crime and thriller publisher. The publisher concerned puts out so many books a month that they need a bigger company to handle them all. I’ve said I’ll be glad to work on any work overflow they might have in the future, as we had a great working relationship. Still, I enjoyed proofreading the four books they gave me to work on since January and still have a couple of authors who want me to edit their books. Primarily, I’m an author. The proofreading and editing work came about by accident. Now to finish writing chapter 32 of my paranormal thriller, The Hostile Game. I’m delighted by how the book is turning out. I can’t wait for you to read it.

The Kindle edition of The Hostile is FREE on Amazon today, 7th March and also on 8th March.

THE HOSTILE is a “refreshingly original” contemporary paranormal thriller. “A bizarrely captivating” read. It’s book one of The Hostile series. Book two, Holiday for The Hostile, was published in December 2016. Each book in the series can be read as a standalone. I’m currently writing the third book in The Hostile series.

In a rundown area of Manchester, inside the bathroom of a terraced house overflowing with children and dysfunctional parents, a powerful entity befriends young Serena with disastrous results. This unlikely enigmatic force not only dramatically affects introverted Serena’s life but also threatens the well-being of everyone she knows, especially those people who’ve earned the strange girl’s displeasure. It soon becomes clear that nobody should ever upset Serena if they know what’s good for them. After reading The Hostile, you’ll never look at D.I.Y. in the same way again.

All nine of my Kindle editions on Amazon are £2.25 each or equivalent currencies and always free to Kindle Unlimited subscribers. The paperback versions won’t break the bank either. If you enjoy audiobooks, two of my books, The Hostile and Her demonic Angel, are also available on Amazon, Audible, and iTunes as audiobooks.

Kindle edition of The Hostile on Amazon.co.uk http://amzn.to/22hiRFD
Kindle edition of The Hostile on Amazon.com http://amzn.to/29dk5Qw
Paperback edition of The Hostile on Amazon.co.uk http://amzn.to/29dkOkS
Paperback edition of The Hostile on Amazon.com http://amzn.to/299CVUw

The audiobook of The Hostile is available on iTunes, Amazon, and Audible.

Please feel free to read a sample of The Hostile here http://amzn.to/2blBo12.

Here are the details of the paperback versions of my nine books on Amazon.

Random Bullets is a contemporary crime thriller with a paranormal twist. Set mainly in Jersey, Manchester, Cornwall, London and places not of this world.  £5.95 http://amzn.to/2bpCpqy

The Hostile is an unusual paranormal thriller set in Manchester. Book one of The Hostile series. It’s also available as an audiobook.  £5.50 http://amzn.to/2lby23W

Holiday for The Hostile is book two in The Hostile series.  £5.95 http://amzn.to/2kPBlRY

Potholes and Magic Carpets is a contemporary novel set in rural Kent and London. A tale of not so simple folk.  £6.45 http://amzn.to/2lyqqJv

Her demonic Angel is a baker’s dozen of short stories in various genres. It’s also available as an audiobook.  £4.75 http://amzn.to/2cr4Jec

The Mug trilogy is loosely autobiographical. A Slice of the Seventies is book one of the Mug trilogy.  £5.80 http://amzn.to/2fcdc5V

The Lying Scotsman is book two of the Mug trilogy.  £8.25 http://amzn.to/2mfqDRK

Straws is book three of the Mug trilogy.  £5.95 http://amzn.to/2boabci

Living with Postcards is a perfect present from the past. Non-fiction and colour-illustrated throughout.  £11.85 is a perfect present from the past. Non-fiction and colour-illustrated throughout.  £11.85 http://amzn.to/2dlbw3Q

All Kindle editions of my books on Amazon are £2.25 each or equivalent currencies. If you enjoy audiobooks, two of my books, The Hostile and Her demonic Angel, are available on Amazon, Audible, and iTunes as audiobooks.

Here’s the link to my Amazon author page http://amzn.to/2b96qaj. To find out more about my books or if you fancy reading my blog, book reviews, and book excerpts, this is the link to my website http://joymutter.com. My Facebook author page is https://www.facebook.com/JoyMutterAuthor/

 

The Kindle edition of my paranormal crime thriller, RANDOM BULLETS, is FREE on Amazon today, 21st February and also on 22nd.

 

“Action-packed, thought-provoking, a real ride. I couldn’t put it down,” “crime with a twist,” “An insightful look behind the many faces we wear, and how burning resentments can take you into madness and murder,” “This is a very well thought-out book.” “Kinetic — really zips along at a pace. I was really drawn in.” These are just a few of the reviews Random Bullets has received; 21 5-star reviews on all Amazon sites so far. Your review would also be much appreciated. Feel free to tell me and the world what you think of Random Bullets, a book that means so much to me.

After shooting and killing his nephew, a gunman runs amok in a London park. What drives Edward to commit such atrocities? Who will survive yet another of his moments of madness? Set in Jersey, Cornwall, London, Manchester and places not of this world, Random Bullets is a contemporary crime thriller with a paranormal twist.

I was interviewed in February 2016 by two BBC Radio 4 producers as part of their Analysis programme on Inheritance. They’d heard that Random Bullets deals with the divisive subject of disinheritance and its aftermath, something I’ve experienced personally. Published in November 2015, Random Bullets is available on Amazon in both paperback and Kindle editions. An audiobook edition of this favourite book of mine is in production. Audiobook versions of two of my other books are already available on Audible, Amazon, and iTunes.

http://amzn.to/1R5OpGw  for the UK Kindle edition.
http://amzn.to/29eOAnl for the USA Kindle edition.
http://amzn.to/1Y2NmyC for the UK paperback edition.
http://amzn.to/2906R56 for the USA paperback edition.

All nine of my Kindle editions on Amazon are £2.25 each, or equivalent currencies, and are always free to Kindle Unlimited subscribers. The paperback versions won’t break the bank either. If you enjoy audiobooks, two of my books, The Hostile and Her demonic Angel, are available on Amazon, Audible, and iTunes as audiobooks.

Please feel free to read a sample of RANDOM BULLETS here http://amzn.to/2btTrAC.

The Kindle edition of Her demonic Angel is FREE on Amazon today, 10th – 12th February.

Her demonic Angel is my baker’s dozen of short stories. I wrote them in a variety of genres, so there should be something for everyone. Some tales are stranger than others, but all are different shades of dark. Despite its slightly suggestive title, Her demonic Angel is not erotica. To whet your appetite, here are the titles of some of my short stories: The boy they called Dragon, The day nobody gave a damn, An email from Jane, Stuff, Getting rid of the enemy, Skin, Too beautiful, Philately will get you nowhere, Mirror, mirror, and In memoriam.

http://amzn.to/295kGjn for the U.K. Kindle edition.

http://amzn.to/29dSEpd for the U.S.A. Kindle edition.

http://amzn.to/295uZbl for the U.K. paperback edition.

http://amzn.to/29ii97E for the U.S.A. paperback edition.

 

All nine of my Kindle editions are £2.25 or equivalent currencies on Amazon and are always free to Kindle Unlimited subscribers. The paperback versions won’t break the bank either. If you enjoy audiobooks, two of my books, The Hostile and Her demonic Angel, are available on Amazon, Audible, and iTunes as audiobooks.

Please feel free to sneak a peek at a sample of Her demonic Angel here http://amzn.to/2bMiO4c

Kindle of Holiday for The Hostile is FREE on 5th and 6th February

The Kindle edition of HOLIDAY FOR THE HOSTILE is FREE on Amazon today, 5^th February and on 6^th February. Holiday for The Hostile, second book in The Hostile series, is a gripping contemporary paranormal thriller with a splash of horror. It was published on Amazon in Kindle and paperback editions in December 2016 and can be read as a standalone. Serena, plus her unusual friend and partner in crime, Tile X, reluctantly find themselves suffering a family holiday at her eccentric grandfather’s hovel in Ireland. Who will manage to escape intact from their dramatic holiday from Hell?

Readers tell me Holiday for The Hostile is even better than book one, The Hostile, the paranormal thriller I published 8 months before its sequel. My current mission is to ensure book three in The Hostile series is even more exciting than the first two. No pressure. Here’s a snapshot of what a few of the readers say about Holiday for The Hostile: “Ms Mutter has carved out a new niche for herself. And from where I’m standing, she’s way out in front … With some books, you get an idea where things are going and where they’re likely to end. Not this one. Every chapter was a surprise with new characters and situations and a bunch of wonderfully inventive deaths.” “It has plenty of scary bits … can’t wait until book three is out.” “The end is a total surprise. Was expecting a skeleton in the family closet, but it turns in a completely different direction, keeping you on your toes and guessing.” “Excellent. Really looking forward to more. Joy tells a good tale.”

Link to the Kindle edition on Amazon.co.uk http://amzn.to/2fJTSg0.
Link to the Kindle edition on Amazon.com http://amzn.to/2gDui9f.
Link to the paperback edition on Amazon.co.uk http://amzn.to/2fUQIoc
Link to the paperback edition on Amazon.com http://amzn.to/2fPS28B

My nine Kindle editions on Amazon are always free to Kindle Unlimited subscribers. The paperback versions won’t break the bank either. If you enjoy audiobooks, two of my books, The Hostile and Her demonic Angel, are available on Amazon, Audible and iTunes as audiobooks.

Feel free to read a sample of Holiday for The Hostile here http://amzn.to/2fNXVrU

Better than expected

My meet-the-author event at Oldham Coliseum on 24th January went even better than I’d hoped. There were about fifteen Full Circle members in the audience, which was a perfect number, as I wanted my talk to be informal. I was less nervous than I’d expected to be, probably because I’m passionate about writing and talk about books every chance I get. Selling a few of my signed books was a bonus.

Most of the photographs were taken by Jenny, one of the organisers, shortly after my hour-long talk. I gave my talk next to the small table but sat with the audience for the group photos. I notice I’m wearing the same outfit I wore for another meet-the-author event at Oldham Library in November. I really must wear something different if I’m ever asked to give another talk about my books. People will think I only own one set of clothes, which is far from the truth.

Thanks to Rose Sergent at Oldham Coliseum for organising today’s event. I really enjoyed myself and would happily have talked for two hours, not just the one hour I’d been allocated. It’s now back to writing book ten for me, the third book in The Hostile series.The Hostile series.

Tomorrow’s meet-the-author event

Looking forward to speaking for an hour or so at my meet-the-author event at Oldham Coliseum tomorrow. I hope my voice holds out for that long, as I don’t use it very often. I’ve thoroughly prepared my speech and am not too nervous … yet. I’ll be the only author talking at tomorrow’s event, as far as I’m aware.

My talk will be about my nine books and life as a full-time indie author, although I’ll be concentrating on my non-fiction book, Living with Postcards, as the organiser requested. I’m bringing about 50 of my 2,000 postcards along to illustrate the talk. I could have put together a powerpoint presentation, but I reckon holding the actual postcards will be more satisfying for the audience, and feel less formal. I’ll be handing out my own book promotion postcards too, whether the audience wants them or not, ha! They can turn them into paper airplanes and launch them at me if they get bored.

This’ll be the second meet-the-author event I’ve spoken at in the past six months. Maybe that’s why I’m not too nervous, although my first talk was only 15 minutes long, and there were four other authors speaking then. Wish me luck.

An interesting turn of events

Not wishing to tempt fate, but 2017 has kicked off encouragingly for me. In early January, I was contacted on social media by a publisher of crime thrillers who asked me if I’d be interested in proofreading three books a month for them. They publish six books a month. I’ve already read and proofread three edited books for them over the past two weeks. I found many errors in the three edited books, and have been swiftly paid for my work. I am now free to write my own books for the next two weeks before I receive three more books in February to proofread. I’m currently writing the third book of The Hostile series. I’m looking forward to enjoying the three crime thrillers a month that the publisher will hopefully be sending me to proofread. They seem happy with my work.

The books the publisher has recently sent me to proofread are all on the brink of publication and were all five-star reads. I would have happily purchased them, as I enjoy reading crime thrillers more than any other genre. This new dream job as proofreader came about because of my recent habit of marking typos on my kindle while reading books I’ve purchased on Amazon. If I know the author on social media, I’ve sent them a list of the errors, so they can make their books as perfect as possible. I don’t set out to find errors but can’t ignore them if they spring out at me. Each author I’ve approached has been grateful I sent them the list of errors the editor had missed. One author happened to be the publisher of crime thrillers who now uses my services.

Only one book out of the scores of books I’ve read in 2016 had no typos. Most had well over a dozen errors, several had over a hundred and one had more than 450! All had been ‘professionally’ edited, which makes my blood boil. Aren’t editors supposed to eliminate typos? I suspect some editors had merely run a spellcheck through the document. There is no excuse for such negligence. Yes, I’m sure there are meticulous editors out there, but they seem to be few and far between. It’s one reason I am happy to continue self-editing my books. I no longer trust editors to do a perfect job.

This new dream job came about because of my habit of marking typos on my Kindle while reading books I have purchased. If I know the author on social media, I send them a list of the errors, so they can make their books as perfect as possible. I know hundreds of authors on social media, some in the real world, so I have spent a great deal of time sending free lists of typos in books that have been professionally edited. Two of the books had hundreds of errors in them, even though the authors had paid hundreds of pounds to the editor. One editor apologised and reimbursed the author after my list of errors was sent to them by the author. I ended up editing his book, despite never having edited a book for payment before, and despite being busy with my own writing and marketing. I didn’t set out to be an editor or paid proofreader as well as being an author; it was a happy accident.

I’m not saying I’m perfect, far from it. As I’ve self-edited my own nine books, I dare say there may be the odd typo in one or two of them. If there is an error, I would hope that some kind reader would tell me about it, as I can easily rectify the problem. As an indie author, I can swiftly amend and republish on Amazon.

In other news. In two weeks, I’ll be at Oldham Coliseum talking about my books, particularly my non-fiction Living with Postcards, in front of an over-fifties group. I will be the only author talking at this event, unlike my talk at Oldham Library a few months ago where I shared the platform with four other local authors. I am not too nervous because I have prepared my speech. What’s the worst that could happen? Don’t answer that.

A very happy 2017 to everyone!

A very Happy New Year to everyone from me and my books. All nine books are available on Amazon in Kindle and paperback editions. Two are also on Audible, Amazon and iTunes as audiobooks. I’m currently busy writing book three in The Hostile series. Here is the link to my Amazon author page on Amazon.co.uk http://amzn.to/2iDC3wV and on Amazon.com http://amzn.to/2hCTv2V.

My surprise gift

The first thing I noticed after logging onto my laptop this morning was this wonderful banner collage that Renata de Castro from Brazil has made for my latest book, Holiday for The Hostile, book 2 of The Hostile series. Those of you who have already read Holiday for The Hostile will know that Renata is one of the characters in my unusual paranormal thriller (only taller) along with Jimmy Poodle (with the eyepatch). Thank you, Renata. I love your work, particularly the skull tree. I really appreciate the effort you’ve put into producing this magnificent collage. You’re such a talented lady.

 

Link to the Kindle edition on Amazon.co.uk http://amzn.to/2fJTSg0.
Link to the Kindle edition on Amazon.com http://amzn.to/2gDui9f.
Link to the paperback edition on Amazon.co.uk http://amzn.to/2fUQIoc.
Link to the paperback edition on Amazon.com http://amzn.to/2fPS28B.

Feel free to read a sample of Holiday for The Hostile here http://amzn.to/2fNXVrU.

Merry Christmas from me and my books

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all from me and my books. http://amzn.to/2hWdfmm.

The Kindle edition of my non-fiction book, Living with Postcards is FREE on Amazon today, 22nd until 26th December. My Christmas gift from me to you all. Merry Christmas. All of my Kindles are only £0.99 or equivalent currencies until 31st January. All my nine books are available in paperback. The Hostile and Her demonic Angel are also on Audible, Amazon and iTunes as audiobooks.

A Christmas gift from me to you

The Kindle edition of Living with Postcards will be FREE on Amazon from tomorrow, 22nd to 26th December. My Christmas gift from me to you all. Merry Christmas.

Living with Postcards is a colour-illustrated non-fiction book that describes my close relationship with old postcards, mostly pre-1924. I’ve collected them since the 1970s and now own over 2,000 of these charming, quirky historic items. Living with Postcards is available on Amazon in paperback and Kindle editions. A beautiful present from the past.

“The author shares her impressive knowledge of vintage postcards in an entertaining and informative style. Brimming with lovely reproductions, it is never dull. A book to read from cover to cover or to dip into. Certainly, a book to revisit. Living with Postcards makes an imaginative present, even to someone like me who has no particular interest in postcard collecting. I can thoroughly recommend it.”

I started enthusiastically collecting postcards whilst writing my main thesis on Fantasy in Postcards at Art College whilst studying for my graphic design degree. My thesis won me a first with distinction, whereas my graphic art annoyingly gained me only a 2:2. My art history tutor suggested I lecture on fantasy in postcards. As I was only twenty-one at the time, I didn’t feel ready to become a lecturer and declined his kind offer. I decided to write this book instead. All the cards in Living with Postcards are from my own large collection. I’m giving a talk at Oldham Coliseum about Living with Postcards in January.

http://amzn.to/22qrcH1 for the UK paperback edition
http://amzn.to/299Jg2c for the USA paperback edition
http://amzn.to/29d6k5T for the UK Kindle edition
http://amzn.to/29gEV0B for the USA Kindle edition

Until 31st January 2017, Kindle editions of all my fiction books are reduced to £0.99 or equivalent currencies on Amazon. They are always free to Kindle Unlimited subscribers. The paperback versions of my nine books won’t break the bank either. On 1st February 2017, my Kindles prices will return to £2.25. If you enjoy audiobooks, two of my books, The Hostile and Her demonic Angel, are available on Amazon, Audible and iTunes as audiobooks.

Please feel free to sneak a peek at the Kindle edition of Living with Postcards here http://amzn.to/2bCIbmY.

In the words of Roger Daltrey, giving it all away

The Kindle edition of Potholes and Magic Carpets is FREE on Amazon today, 19th December and also on the 20th.

The main action in Potholes and Magic Carpets takes place in rural Kent and London. Published on Amazon in paperback and Kindle editions in 2015, my contemporary, character-driven novel looks at the dramatic incidents, challenges and temptations in the lives of four couples of varying ages, professions and sexual persuasions, all linked by either blood or friendship. The negative, selfish, sometimes violent natures of several characters in Potholes and Magic Carpets wreak havoc on the innocent. A tale of not so simple folk.

Here’s a review of Potholes and Magic Carpets on Amazon. Thank you to whoever wrote it. I think they’re American because of the way they spell humour.
“I absolutely LOVE Ms. Mutter’s writing style. Her descriptions are captivating to me, as a lifelong fan of all things “British”, I enjoy her humor and the clarity with which she delivers her characters. I feel like I know them well by the time I’m well into each chapter. This title is on my Christmas list for myself! MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ME! Thanks for sharing your wonderful talents!”

The Kindle edition on Amazon.co.uk: http://amzn.to/29gA3bE
The Kindle edition on Amazon.com: http://amzn.to/29Bawbi
The paperback edition on Amazon.co.uk: http://amzn.to/299FSV3
The paperback edition on Amazon.com: http://amzn.to/29dnSxj

Until 31st January 2017, Kindle editions of all my books are reduced to £0.99 or equivalent currencies on Amazon. They are always free to Kindle Unlimited subscribers. The paperback versions of my nine books won’t break the bank either. On 1st February 2017, my Kindles prices will return to £2.25. If you enjoy audiobooks, two of my books, The Hostile and Her demonic Angel, are available on Amazon, Audible and iTunes as audiobooks. The audiobook of Potholes and Magic Carpets is in production.

Please feel free to sneak a peek at Potholes and Magic Carpets here http://amzn.to/2bHkrQI

In other news, I changed the cover of The Lying Scotsman today and have spent the last week shortening the book, although it still is 400 pages long. My writing style has naturally evolved since I started writing The Lying Scotsman, my first book despite being book 2 of The Mug trilogy. It’s the book that first made me want to concentrate full-time on writing.

I wanted to revise the entire book, so I did; one of the benefits of self-publishing. I also used a greyscale image of the original cover, without the text, inside the book, as it would be a shame to waste it. The changes I’ve made will probably go live on Amazon in a few days. It took a while before my improved cover of Random Bullets showed on Amazon, but today I noticed the new cover is up there. I’ve also revised the cover and text of the paperback version of The Lying Scotsman and hopefully the new version will also soon be on Amazon.

I have to put the finishing touches to my hour-long talk about my books that I’m giving on 24th January at Oldham Coliseum.  My daughter is arriving for Christmas on 21st December before she and her husband fly off to New York on Boxing Day to relive when he proposed to her two years ago on the lake in Central Park. Who says romance is dead? Her husband could teach The Lying Scotsman a thing or two, ha!

Merry Christmas and a Happy 2017 to everyone!

A Christmas pressie from me to you

As the festive season is approaching like a bat out of Hell, I’m feeling even more generous than usual. Until 31^st January 2017, Kindle editions of all my books are reduced to £0.99 or equivalent currencies on Amazon. They are always free to Kindle Unlimited subscribers. The paperback versions of my nine books won’t break the bank either. On 1^st February 2017, my Kindles prices will return to £2.25. If you enjoy audiobooks, two of my books, The Hostile and Her demonic Angel, are available on Amazon, Audible and iTunes as audiobooks.

Here’s the link to my Amazon author page: http://amzn.to/2b96qaj.

To find out more about me and my books or if you fancy reading my blog, reviews and book excerpts, here’s my website’s link: http://joymutter.com.

Look at what’s laying under the Christmas tree for you! You lucky people.

The REAL Jimmy Poodle, in all his glory

I just HAD to show you this photo that Irish Jimmy Poodle himself posted on Twitter yesterday. He’d ordered the paperback edition of Holiday for The Hostile as he wanted to see his name in print. I won’t add any spoilers here except to say that Jimmy Poodle plays a big part in the storyline of Holiday for The Hostile. The real-life Jimmy asked to be in the book as a joke because he’s always joked with me for years in the most irreverent ways (I apologise for his behaviour in advance if you ever stumble across him on social media, ha!).

So, I obliged with his request to be a character in the book, although I’ve never met him, only sparred with him for years online. I may live to regret it. Holiday for The Hostile, second book of The Hostile series, is mainly set in Ireland, because of Jimmy Poodle. The real Jimmy Poodle is a likable, rebellious Oirish divil, but I took his character many stages further in the book. I’m dreading what else he’ll say to me on Twitter once he’s read it. It could get messy. He says he jumped to the bit with him in it and is asking me daft questions on Twitter. He’s bound to have questions if he doesn’t read the whole thing.

Renata de Castro, a flamboyant Brazilian film-maker who I know online, also asked to be in Holiday for The Hostile. It would have been rude not to add her as she was so excited by the thought of being in the book, so I worked her seamlessly into the plot. As I mentioned earlier, the Kindle of book one, The Hostile is free on Amazon today.

Kindle edition of The Hostile on Amazon.co.uk  http://amzn.to/22hiRFD

Kindle edition of The Hostile on Amazon.com  http://amzn.to/29dk5Qw

Book two, Holiday for The Hostile, is only £0.99, like all my other Kindles.

Book one of The Hostile series is FREE today.

The Kindle edition of The Hostile, first book of The Hostile series is free on Amazon today, 8th December, for only one day. Although each book can be read without reading the other, it’s a great opportunity to read the prequel for anyone who downloaded the free kindle of book two, Holiday for The Hostile, two days ago.

Kindle edition of The Hostile on Amazon.co.uk  http://amzn.to/22hiRFD

Kindle edition of The Hostile on Amazon.com  http://amzn.to/29dk5Qw

To echo this festive season’s spirit of giving, I’ve reduced the price of all my nine kindle editions on Amazon from £2.25 to £0.99 or equivalent currencies until January 31st.

If you are in Great Britain, all of my books on my Amazon author page in both paperback and Kindle editions can be found here.

If you are in America, all of my books on my Amazon author page in both paperback and Kindle editions can be found here.

Another freebie from me.

The Kindle edition of my brand new thriller, Holiday for The Hostile, is FREE on Amazon today, 6th December.

Holiday for The Hostile, second book in The Hostile series, is a gripping contemporary paranormal thriller with a splash of horror. It was published on Amazon in Kindle and paperback editions on 1st December 2016. Serena, plus her unusual friend and partner in crime, Tile X, reluctantly find themselves suffering a family holiday at her eccentric grandfather’s hovel in Ireland. Who will manage to escape intact from their dramatic holiday from Hell?

Readers tell me they think Holiday for The Hostile is superior to book one, The Hostile, the paranormal thriller I published 8 months before its sequel. My mission, should I choose to accept it, is to ensure book three in The Hostile series is even more exciting than the first two. No pressure.

Here’s a snapshot of what a few of the readers who’ve read it say about Holiday for The Hostile:
“Ms Mutter has carved out a new niche for herself. And from where I’m standing, she’s way out in front … With some books, you get an idea where things are going and where they’re likely to end. Not this one. Every chapter was a surprise with new characters and situations and a bunch of wonderfully inventive deaths.”

“It has plenty of scary bits so if you don’t like scary bits then maybe it’s not the book for you but I personally can’t wait until book three is out.”

“The action moves to Ireland this time with lots of unforeseen consequences. With two guardian ghosts looking out for Serena, acting almost like Bill and Ben at times, there really are some light-hearted moments. The end is a total surprise. Was expecting a skeleton in the family closet, but it turns in a completely different direction, keeping you on your toes and guessing.”

“Excellent. The story got deeper & you get to know more about Serena and Tile X drops a deep hint! Really looking forward to more. Joy tells a good tale.”

Link to the Kindle edition on Amazon.co.ukhttp://amzn.to/2fJTSg0.
Link to the Kindle edition on Amazon.comhttp://amzn.to/2gDui9f.
Link to the paperback edition on Amazon.co.ukhttp://amzn.to/2fUQIoc
Link to the paperback edition on Amazon.comhttp://amzn.to/2fPS28B

Feel free to read a sample of Holiday for The Hostile here http://amzn.to/2fNXVrU

Kindle editions of all my nine books in different genres are only £2.25 or equivalent currencies on Amazon and FREE to Kindle Unlimited subscribers. Each Kindle in The Hostile series are £0.99, or relevant currencies. The paperback editions of my nine books, all on Amazon, are also reasonably priced. The Holiday for The Hostile paperback is 218 pages long and costs £5.95, or equivalent currencies.

Big day for Holiday for The Hostile

The Kindle edition of my brand new book, Holiday for The Hostile is FREE on Amaztoday, 3rd December.

 

It’s a gripping contemporary paranormal thriller with a splash of horror. It’s currently #11 in its category on Amazon in its first two days, which is encouraging.

Serena, plus her unusual friend and partner in crime, Tile X, reluctantly find themselves suffering a family holiday at her eccentric grandfather’s hovel in Ireland. Who will escape intact from their dramatic holiday from Hell?

 

Readers tell me they think Holiday for The Hostile, that was published on 1st December 2016, is more thrilling than book one, The Hostile. My mission, should I choose to accept it, is to ensure book three in The Hostile series is even more exciting than the first two. No pressure.

 

Link to the Kindle edition on Amazon.co.uk http://amzn.to/2fJTSg0.

Link to the Kindle edition on Amazon.com http://amzn.to/2gDui9f.

Link to the paperback edition on Amazon.co.uk http://amzn.to/2fUQIoc

Link to the paperback edition on Amazon.com http://amzn.to/2fPS28B

 

Kindle editions of all my nine books in different genres are only £2.25 or equivalent currencies on Amazon and FREE to Kindle Unlimited subscribers. The Hostile is reduced to £0.99 now that Holiday for The Hostile is published. The paperback editions of all my books on Amazon are also reasonably priced. The paperback of Holiday for The Hostile is 218 pages long and costs £5.95 or equivalent currencies. It even has a few relevant pictures inside.

 

Feel free to read a sample of Holiday for The Hostile here http://amzn.to/2fNXVrU

This photo depicts me rummaging in my handbag for change whilst talking the hind legs off the lady buying Random Bullets from me. She also took a copy of Her demonic Angel as she told me that she enjoys reading short stories.

The photo on the left is of me being forced to hold a prop fan by the library admin, but at least it was marginally more sensible than the pink cardboard hat author Helen Durrant ended up with.

In a rundown area of Manchester, inside a bathroom in a small terraced house overflowing with children and dysfunctional parents, an unfathomable, powerful entity befriends young Serena with disastrous effect. The enigmatic force not only dramatically affects introverted Serena’s life, but threatens the well-being of everyone she knows, especially those people who earn the strange girl’s displeasure. It soon becomes clear that nobody should ever upset Serena if they know what’s good for them. After reading The Hostile, you’ll never look at D.I.Y. in the same way again.

Today’s free kindle is … wait for it … wait for it

Feeling nostalgic? The Kindle edition of A SLICE OF THE SEVENTIES, is FREE on Amazon today, Wednesday 5th October, for one day only.

A Slice of the Seventies is the first book in the Mug Trilogy. It tells the story of Jersey-born Mug, a troubled girl from a recently broken home. It covers her experiences as a teenager at the Isle of Wight Music Festival in 1970, the same year she follows a guru. The book tracks her tumultuous four years as an art student in Coventry, where vegetarian Mug finds herself living next to an abattoir and railway shunting yard with David, a fellow art student. Dramatic events follow on from the evening they first meet at a party where David is attempting to commit a very public suicide. Whether you were around in that decade or not, you’re bound to enjoy this nostalgic slice of the Seventies.

To sum up

The Kindle editions of my one non-fiction and seven fiction books in various genres are currently £2.25 or equivalent currencies on Amazon. Kindle editions of my books are free to Kindle Unlimited subscribers. I regularly advertise free Kindle offers for each of my books, plus run Goodreads Giveaways of paperback editions. My eight books are available worldwide on Amazon in paperback at reasonable prices. Her demonic Angel and The Hostile also have audiobook versions on Audible, Amazon and iTunes. I’m currently writing the sequel to The Hostile and bursting with ideas for future books. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on my publications. Here’s the link to my Amazon author page: http://amzn.to/2b96qaj

To find out more about me and my books or if you fancy reading my blog, reviews and book excerpts, here’s my website’s link: http://joymutter.com.

The Kindle edition of Her demonic Angel and other short stories is FREE today on Amazon

1st October 2016

Published in 2016, Her demonic Angel is my baker’s dozen of short stories. As I wrote them in a variety of genres, there should be something for everyone. Some tales are stranger than others, but all are different shades of dark. Despite its slightly suggestive title, Her demonic Angel is not erotica. To whet your appetite, here are the titles of some of my short stories: ‘The boy they called Dragon’ ‘The day nobody gave a damn’ ‘An email from Jane’ ‘Stuff’ ‘Getting rid of the enemy’ ‘Skin’ ‘Too beautiful’ ‘Philately will get you nowhere’ ‘Mirror, mirror’ and ‘In memoriam.’

Limbering up

I’m doing my usual limbering up exercises for tomorrow’s one day free Kindle promotion on Amazon of Living with Postcards. It is my only non-fiction book and a true labour of love. With eight books all published within a year of each other, I have many free Kindle promotions to organise. I’m entitled to five every three months for each book. I made this dinky little banner to celebrate. Now to make banners for all of my other books. I loved the surprise banner author Colin Garrow kindly made for my paranormal thriller The Hostile, and the also the eye-catching ones he produces for all of his books, so I thought I’d also make some. Right, back to the star jumps and push-ups. Here is the link to the Kindle of Living with Postcards on Amazon, ready for tomorrow when you will naturally be downloading the free Kindle, unless you already have the Kindle or paperback version http://amzn.to/29d6k5T

A fun lunch at the library with fellow author, Helen Durrant

After we were both justifiably told off for talking by a lady at a writing group meeting last week, author Helen Durrant and I decided to meet  up for lunch so we could catch up properly. I should really call her Helen H Durrant, but I usually leave out the H. Helen is a traditionally published author with  seven crime novels under her belt. She wrote the Calladine and Bayliss series of crime novels. I recently finished reading the second of her DI Greco books, Dark Houses and thoroughly enjoyed the ride. Helen hasn’t always been traditionally published. She started off as an indie author like me before being signed to Joffe Books.

Helen’s lived in the Oldham area for far longer than I have, yet I still classify myself as an Oldham author, despite having lived in Jersey for eighteen years and over thirty years in Kent. I’m proudly claiming my Oldham author rights, because I wrote and published all eight books since selling my home in Kent and moving to Oldham in 2012 after my back permanently gave out. In 2012, probably high on pain-killing drugs, I spontaneously opted to sell my house in Kent and buy a cheaper one in Oldham in order to write. I did this rather than claim disability benefits, which I’d have been perfectly entitled to claim. The jury is still out over whether this was a wise decision or not. It all hangs on whether I can survive or not as a writer with no other income or anybody else to rely on. It’s not looking good, ha! Whatever happens, I’m enjoying the indie author experience, despite never having worked so hard in my life.

Helen and I met yesterday inside the spacious cafe inside Oldham Library where we ate a simple lunch and talked mostly about anything related to books. She ordered her usual soup but I panicked and randomly ordered Welsh rarebit. There was much to talk about, as we’d not met for over six months. I don’t tend to talk to many people face to face as I’m so involved with my books, so chatting to Helen was a tonic. We could have chatted much longer, but hopefully we’ll meet for lunch again in the near future.

Helen and I are actually scheduled to meet again on 5th November back at Oldham Library, but this time it won’t be for a fun lunch. Helen Durrant, Carol Talbot, possibly another female local author and I, are all giving a talk at Oldham library at 11 a.m. about our books and our lives as authors. This’ll be my first shot at formal public speaking, but I usually have no problem telling taxi drivers, shop assistants, Tesco delivery drivers etc about my books. I’m planning to wing it, which could be dangerous. I might say something unintentionally controversial, because I’m prone to putting my foot in it. I’m too honest for my own good, which you’ll know if you’ve ever read my autobiographical Mug Trilogy.

My daughter, Zoe, will be travelling hundreds of miles from her home in Croydon to my house in Oldham to help carry the books I’ve designated for the book signing afterwards. I suffer from a permanent slipped disc, so carrying anything heavy, like a box of paperbacks, would prove problematic. My birthday is two days before the library event, so Zoe was planning to visit me anyway around this time, so I don’t feel too guilty. The photo is of Zoe, her husband Chris, my magnolia tree and me. Sorry for cropping off half of your head, Chris.

I’ve a feeling there mightn’t be many people showing up to listen to the four of us on a Saturday morning in Oldham, especially as it’s Bonfire night that evening, but I could be wrong. Hopefully the woman who scolded Helen and me won’t be in the audience. I’d probably succumb to a fit of the giggles if I saw her sitting glaring at me. Above all, I must try my best not to embarrass my daughter when I stand up to speak, but it’s pretty much guaranteed.

The Kindle edition of my 2015 novel, Potholes and Magic Carpets, is FREE on Amazon today, 26th September.

The main action in Potholes and Magic Carpets takes place in rural Kent and London. My contemporary, character-driven novel looks at the dramatic incidents, challenges and temptations in the lives of four couples of varying ages, professions and sexual persuasions, all linked by either blood or friendship. The negative, selfish, sometimes violent natures of several characters in Potholes and Magic Carpets wreak havoc on the innocent. A tale of not so simple folk.

Thank goodness for Goodreads readers

The Kindle edition of my 2016 paranormal thriller, THE HOSTILE, is FREE on Amazon today, 22nd September.

In a rundown area of Manchester, inside a bathroom in a small terraced house overflowing with children and dysfunctional parents, an unfathomable, powerful entity befriends young Serena with disastrous effect. The enigmatic force not only dramatically affects introverted Serena’s life, but threatens the well-being of everyone she knows, especially those people who for some reason have earned the strange girl’s displeasure. It soon becomes clear that nobody should ever upset Serena if they know what’s good for them. After reading The Hostile, you’ll never look at D.I.Y. in the same way again.

I’ve redesigned my book promotion postcards

I redesigned my book promotion postcards the other day. 1000 have just been delivered and they’re not too bad, even though I say so myself. It’s often easier to hand out a postcard when people ask what I do. They were delivered just in time, because today I discovered a new place to meet other writers. There’s a meeting in a pub not too far from me tomorrow night. I’ll be able to dish out a few of these bad boys.

An interesting phone call

I’m still smiling following a longer than expected phone call with a stranger, now almost a friend, called Alex. He answered my call to a private pension company. I won’t bore you with all of the tedious pension side of the conversation. Partway through, I casually mentioned that I’m an author.

‘I thought your name was familiar,’ said Alex. ‘I think my girlfriend has a book of yours on our bookshelf.’

‘Are you sure?’ I replied, stunned and unable to believe this could be possible, because I’m a virtually unknown author. ‘Which book is it? Random Bullets? The Hostile? Her demonic Angel? Potholes and Magic Carpets?’

‘Yes, that’s the one, Potholes and Magic Carpets. The cover has a glass jar with two paintbrushes in water, yes?’

Flabbergasted, I replied in a fit of giggles, ‘It certainly has. How wonderful.’

I was conscious the charming young man might be sacked by the pension company for spending too long on a call, but Alex seemed unconcerned. Times must have changed since I worked in a call centre for five years after giving up my long graphic design career. We were under the cosh from the second we shoved on the headset each day.

‘My girlfriend and I are always on the lookout for unusual books to read,’ he said.

‘In that case, you might be interested in today’s free kindle offer for my book, Random Bullets. It’s a paranormal crime thriller and is dear to my heart. I reckon it’s my best book and readers seem to agree, judging by the ratings,’ I said, always primed to promote, given half a chance.

‘We’re not really keen on kindles. Much prefer paperbacks, so I’ll definitely buy the paperback version of Random Bullets,‘ he said.

Warming to my subject, I said, ‘If you enjoy reading extremely strange books, then you should try my paranormal thriller, The Hostile. One reader said it was the strangest book he’s ever read. I won’t tell you much about it, as it’ll spoil the surprise.’

‘Sounds fascinating. I’ll investigate The Hostile tonight,’ said Alex.

We carried on talking about books for a while, then rounded up the call with more boring pension chat. I haven’t stopped smiling since putting down the phone. Young Alex deserves a promotion for making an old author extremely happy. What were the chances that the girlfriend of the man answering the pension company phone would have bought one of my paperbacks?  Damn! I forgot to tell him that The Hostile is also available as an audiobook.

The Kindle edition of my paranormal crime thriller RANDOM BULLETS is FREE on Amazon today, 14th September, for just one day

After shooting and killing his nephew, a gunman runs amok in a London park. What drives Edward to commit such atrocities? Who will survive yet another of his moments of madness? Set in Jersey, Cornwall, London and Manchester, Random Bullets is a contemporary crime thriller with a paranormal twist.

Like Edward, I was disinherited by a crazy parent for no reason, so you might understand why I feel a degree of sympathy for his plight. I was interviewed in February 2016 by two BBC Radio 4 producers as part of their Analysis programme on the subject of Inheritance. They’d heard that my book, Random Bullets, deals with the subject of disinheritance and its aftermath.

Tough crowd

They’re a tough crowd on Audible, so I am chuffed to so far gained 8 ratings and reviews for The Hostile on there with an average of 4 stars out of 5. I’m especially pleased because I narrated my paranormal thriller myself. Paying for narrators for my audiobooks is not an option due to financial constraints. Some listeners are prejudiced against authors narrating their own books, especially if those listeners are voice-over artists. This is why I’m amazed to have scored as high as a 4 average.

The Kindle edition of A Slice of the Seventies will be FREE on Amazon on Friday 9th September for just one day.

A Slice of the Seventies is the first book in the Mug Trilogy. The Kindle edition was published on Amazon in July 2015 and the paperback version in November 2015. It tells the story of Jersey-born Mug, a troubled girl from a recently broken home. It covers her experiences as a teenager at the Isle of Wight Music Festival in 1970, the same year she follows a guru. The book tracks her tumultuous four years as an art student in Coventry, where vegetarian Mug finds herself living next to an abattoir and railway shunting yard with David, a fellow art student. Dramatic events follow on from the evening they first meet at a party where David is attempting to commit a very public suicide. Whether you were around in that decade or not, you’re bound to enjoy this nostalgic Slice of the Seventies.

This loosely autobiographical book can be read without having to read the other two books in the trilogy, The Lying Scotsman and Straws. The same applies to these other two standalone books in the series. The Mug Trilogy is available on Amazon in paperback and Kindle editions, as are my other five books in various genres. Two of my books are also available as audiobooks on Audible, Amazon and iTunes. All eight Kindle versions are only £2.25 each or equivalent currency on Amazon and I keep the paperback prices as low as possible. My eight Kindles are all permanently FREE to Kindle Unlimited subscribers.

http://amzn.to/28ZLVft for the UK Kindle edition.
http://amzn.to/297MAdY for the USA Kindle edition.

http://amzn.to/29osS0l for the UK paperback edition.
http://amzn.to/297Mdjm for the USA paperback edition.

Another day of spooky synchronicity

Is the universe trying to tell me something? Today I hit 300 Facebook followers for my Joy Mutter’s Books Facebook page and I am one follower short of 3,000 Twitter followers. I’m sure I’ll hit 3,000 by the end of today. This would not be odd if it weren’t for the fact that a few months ago, I hit 200 Facebook followers and 2,000 Twitter followers also on the same day. Spooky!

Here is the link to my Joy Mutter’s Books Facebook page in case anyone feels the urge to like it. https://www.facebook.com/JoyMutterAuthor/

As happened a few months ago, to celebrate these landmarks, I’m sending a paperback of their choice to author Suzy Henderson who is my 300th Facebook follower. Delighted she chose a paperback of Random Bullets, my personal favourite. I’m also delighted she lives in the UK; it cost me more in postage to America than the book cost me when I sent a paperback to the American winner of my 200 Facebook likes event.

I also offered a free paperback of their choice to my 3,000th Twitter follower. Still waiting to hear back from them. They might have unfollowed me in horror ha!

Update: I heard back from them. They live in Zimbabwe. As it would work out too expensive to send them a free paperback, I offered to send them a free ePub edition of any of my books.

In other news, here is the link to a new feature post about Random Bullets on Awesome Book Promotions site http://awesomebookpromotion.com/random-bullets-by-joy-mutter/

The Kindle edition of POTHOLES AND MAGIC CARPETS is FREE on Amazon today, 4th September

The main action in Potholes and Magic Carpets takes place in rural Kent and London. This contemporary novel looks at the dramatic incidents, challenges and temptations in the lives of four couples of varying ages, professions and sexual persuasions, all linked by either blood or friendship. The negative, selfish, sometimes violent natures of some of the characters in Potholes and Magic Carpets wreak havoc on the innocent. A tale of not so simple folk.

£0.99 Kindle promotion will end on 5th September

My £0.99 Kindle promotion ends on 5th September, then all Kindle editions of my eight books on Amazon will cost £2.99 or the equivalent currencies. All of my Kindles remain free to Kindle Unlimited subscribers.

Each book is also available in paperback on Amazon. The Hostile and Her demonic Angel are also available as audiobooks on Audible, Amazon and iTunes.

If you are in Great Britain, all of my books on my Amazon author page in both paperback and Kindle editions can be found here.

I’ve joined The Alliance of Independent Authors

I recently became a fully paid-up member of The Alliance of Independent Authors. As I’m an extremely independent author, who has written, designed and published eight books single-handed, it seemed an appropriate organisation to join. Time will tell if I did the right thing as it wasn’t cheap to join and I’m not made of money. Several authors whose opinions I value have already joined, so I will blame them if I find no benefits from joining.

My reviews of other authors’ books

Although my life is crammed with writing, designing, publishing and marketing my own books, I think I should try to review other books after I’ve read them. If I can’t be bothered to write a review after reading a book, why should I expect other people to find the time to write reviews of my own books?

I’d already written a review a couple of months ago of Owen Mullen’s book, Old Friends and New Enemies, and today I wrote a review of Pete Adam’s book, A Barrow Boy’s Cadenza. I thought it was worth creating a new page on this website to house my reviews of other authors’ books. You can read what I think of these two books on my new page. I already have a page for reviews of my own books, so it seems only fair. I’ve read several hundreds of books in my long life, but as it takes a while to write a decent review, I think it wiser for me to only write reviews of books as and when I read them, not write retrospective ones.

A lovely present from another author

There was a wonderful surprise waiting for me when I looked at my Twitter notifications today. The first thing I noticed was that celebrated author, Colin Garrow, has generously made this snazzy banner advert for my 2016 paranormal thriller, The Hostile. I’ll be smiling all day. Thank you, Colin. I’ve even incorporated your banner into this little video on my YouTube channel.

I also noticed that The Hostile has received another 5-star review on Amazon, not from Colin I hasten to add. Thank you to whoever left the latest encouraging review. The Hostile is still lagging slightly behind Random Bullets as far as the number of ratings on Amazon goes, but Random Bullets was published five months before The Hostile. Reviews and ratings act as fuel for an author’s engine. Without reviews, whether they be 2-star or 5-star, we’d be working in a vacuum, without the positive criticism that enables writing skills to improve. I know that I’ve listened to the criticism from anyone kind enough to offer it. Whenever I agree with their analysis, I’ve changed elements of my style. 

 

I’d been wondering which of my books to promote on social media today. It’s a daily dilemma with eight books to promote, but one I enjoy. I think I have my answer. Here is the link to The Hostile kindle edition on Amazon http://amzn.to/2c1OIIc. It is also available in paperback on there and also as an audiobook on Audible, Amazon and iTunes.

My Facebook author page is worth a mention. If you happen to be passing, take a look. If you’re feeling generous, please feel free to click the ‘like’ button.

https://www.facebook.com/JoyMutterAuthor/

 

Living with Postcards is FREE today on Amazon

The Kindle edition of LIVING WITH POSTCARDS is FREE on Amazon today, 28th August. A paperback version is also available.

Living with Postcards is a colour-illustrated non-fiction book that describes my close relationship with old postcards, mostly pre-1924. I’ve collected them since the 1970s and now own over 2,000 of these charming, quirky historic items. A beautiful present from the past.

I started enthusiastically collecting postcards whilst writing my main thesis on Fantasy in Postcards at Art College whilst studying for my graphic design degree. My thesis won me a first with distinction, whereas my graphic art annoyingly gained me only a 2:2. My art history tutor suggested I lecture on the subject of fantasy in postcards. As I was only twenty-one at the time, I didn’t feel ready to become a lecturer and declined his kind offer. I decided to write this book instead. All of the cards in Living with Postcards are from my own large collection.

http://amzn.to/29d6k5T for the UK Kindle edition
http://amzn.to/29gEV0B for the USA Kindle edition
http://amzn.to/22qrcH1 for the UK paperback edition
http://amzn.to/299Jg2c for the USA paperback edition

All kindle editions of my seven fiction books are currently £0.99 or the equivalent currency on Amazon and free to Kindle Unlimited subscribers. Please feel free to sneak a peek at the Kindle edition of Living with Postcards here http://amzn.to/2bCIbmY

FREE today!

The Kindle edition of my contemporary 2016 paranormal thriller THE HOSTILE is FREE on Amazon today, 20th August.

In a rundown area of Manchester, inside a bathroom in a small terraced house overflowing with children and dysfunctional parents, an unfathomable, powerful entity befriends young Serena with disastrous effect. The enigmatic force not only dramatically affects introverted Serena’s life, but threatens the well-being of everyone she knows, especially those people who for some reason have earned the strange girl’s displeasure. It soon becomes clear that nobody should ever upset Serena if they know what’s good for them. After reading The Hostile, you’ll never look at D.I.Y. in the same way again.

I am currently writing the gripping sequel to The Hostile. I’d love to hear what you think of it and my other seven books. All Kindle editions of my eight books are only £0.99 or its equivalent currency on Amazon and are free to Kindle Unlimited subscribers. The paperback versions certainly won’t break the bank either. I keep my prices low to encourage people to read my work. Just because the Kindles and paperbacks are low in price doesn’t mean they are poor quality. My reviews and ratings show the true worth of my books.

The Kindle edition of The Hostile on Amazon.co.uk is at:http://amzn.to/22hiRFD
The Kindle edition of The Hostile on Amazon.com is at:http://amzn.to/29dk5Qw
The paperback edition of The Hostile on Amazon.co.uk is at:http://amzn.to/29dkOkS
The paperback edition of The Hostile on Amazon.com is at:http://amzn.to/299CVUw
Also available as an audiobook on iTunes, Amazon and Audible.

Please feel free to read a sample of The Hostile here: http://amzn.to/2blBo12

Sticking with the Olympics theme …

14th August 2016

Random Bullets is my current Gold medal holder in the fiction event. The Silver medal goes to The Hostile, closely followed by Bronze medalist Potholes and Magic Carpets. In the non-fiction event, my Living with Postcards book is undisputed Gold medalist because it is my only non-fiction book.

 

Find them all here for £0.99 for the Kindle editions and low prices for all of my 8 paperbacks. If you’re feeling adventurous, try one of my 2 audiobooks, The Hostile and Her demonic Angel. http://amzn.to/2b96qaj. Happy reading!

Happy First Birthday to the Mug Trilogy.

23rd July 2016

A day after publishing Potholes and Magic Carpets on 22nd July 2015, I published on Amazon the Kindle editions of A Slice of the Seventies, The Lying Scotsman and Straws. They were two of the most exciting days of my life. In November, I published the paperback editions of these books. Four other books followed over the next twelve months, published in paperback, Kindle and some also in audiobook editions.

Coincidentally, this morning I received a lovely message from a reader who has just finished reading A Slice of the Seventies. She said ‘I couldn’t put it down. Great stuff’. What a wonderfully encouraging message to wake up to.

 

Happy 1st birthday to Potholes and Magic Carpets

22nd July 2016

Happy first birthday to Potholes and Magic Carpets. It is the first book that I ever published on Amazon. It was swiftly followed over the next day or so by the Mug Trilogy, comprising A Slice of the Seventies, The Lying Scotsman and Straws. All four books had been written over the previous few years. As I realised that I was not getting any younger, I decided to self-publish rather than waste time looking for an agent and publisher. I took control of my own destiny and became a full-time indie author. I am relieved and proud to report that I never paid for anyone’s services throughout the whole publishing process, even if I could have afforded to pay anyone.

All of my books started off as Kindles. I never thought I’d manage to teach myself how to publish them all in paperback, but the paperback editions followed the Kindles on Amazon a few months later. My twenty years as a graphic designer helped me to design them. Over the past few months, I have also made audiobook versions of Her demonic Angel and The Hostile.

The past year has been a concentrated whirlwind of writing, editing, designing, publishing, redesigning covers, republishing and marketing each of my eight books. It’s been an enjoyable juggling act. It shocks me to think that it has only been 365 days since my first book was born. So much has happened in that time. Thank you so much to everyone who has encouraged me and given much needed moral support as I struggle on. It has been a successful year, but not financially. It has been a fulfilling twelve months in so many other rewarding ways that have nothing to do with money.

As it has been a year since I first became a self-employed author, I will take this opportunity to recap on how I became a published writer, for those who do not know. Many people are probably unaware of what led to my present unusual circumstances. As a single working woman in her late fifties, I developed a chronic back condition in 2011. I had developed a permanently slipped disc that specialists say cannot be cured. They told me it would be too dangerous to operate on my spine. I was medically discharged from my job. I did not want to claim disability benefit as I have never claimed benefits. I wanted to see if I could survive unaided. I hasten to add that I have nothing against anyone who does claim benefits. If my books fail to find readers, maybe I will have to claim disability benefit in years to come. I just wanted to see if I could survive unaided.

Instead of claiming disability benefit, I decided to sell my small house in Kent in 2012 to move north, where I knew nobody. I now fund my writing solely from the difference between the cost of my old house and my new house in Oldham. I believe I have the talent and certainly have the determination. I just need a lucky break, just as every unknown author needs. If I fail, it certainly won’t be due to lack of trying. Whatever the future holds, I will never give up writing, designing, publishing and marketing my books all day and every day. Writing is in my blood.

More exciting developments

I received two exciting pieces of news this morning. I had emailed Suzanne at Oldham main Library a few weeks ago to ask if the library might be interested in including any of my eight books on their shelves. As I had not heard back, I assumed that she would not be interested. However, Suzanne has just emailed me to say that she had been extremely busy but would indeed like me to send her copies of my books for her to assess. I immediately organised for Amazon to deliver six of my books to her in the next day or so. I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed that one, some or all will be deemed acceptable. I am glad that I recently redesigned all of my books and republished them with new covers. They now stand a much better chance of being accepted.

In her email, Suzanne also invited me to be one of the guest speakers at BBC #LovetoRead Weekend on 5th November 2016 at Oldham Main Library. I will be asked to give a talk about my writing career and my books, plus answer questions from the audience. She told me that I can also sell my books at the event. I look forward to hearing which other authors will be speaking at this local event. Hopefully, I will already know some of them.

I doubt that book nine, the sequel to The Hostile, will be published by November, but you never know. I have so far written 15,000 words of the current book and it is progressing very well. It is unimportant whether it is published by then because I have more than enough books to bring along. As my books are printed on demand, I hope I will be given a rough indication of how many will be attending. As well as bringing enough copies of my books to sell at the library, I will definitely be bringing a bundle of my promotion postcards to hand out. Maybe I can have a box of my books delivered to the library beforehand. That would make sense as I live alone, cannot drive and have a chronic back condition. Lugging boxes of books to the library is not really an option.

These two pieces of news from Suzanne have certainly made my week. I have also been encouraged by the number of listeners, mostly from America, who have recently been requesting promo codes from me through Audiobook Boom for my two audiobooks, Her demonic Angel and The Hostile. I await their reviews on Audible with bated breath.

In shock

I’m in shock. I’ve just received a message on Facebook from Tobias Van De Peer, someone I have not met for over ten years. He told me that he has recorded himself narrating the first chapter of my thriller, Random Bullets, on SoundCloud. He is a talented musician, actor, voice artiste and all-round performer, so I am amazed but thrilled that he took the time to record a chapter of my book. He had mentioned that he would like to narrate it, but I never thought that he actually would. By the way, the Kindle edition of Random Bullets is free on Amazon 18th and 19th July.

I think he has done a fantastic job. What do you think? I know that he had enjoyed reading the book and had rated it 5 star, but I am delighted he likes it enough to narrate it too! Here is the link to the SoundCloud file of Toby narrating Chapter One of my Random Bullets that he has just sent over to me on Facebook. https://soundcloud.com/tobiasvandepeer/random-bullets-chapter-one I asked him if I could share this on Facebook and he kindly agreed.

Thank you, Toby, for taking the time to do such a wonderful job of narrating the first chapter of Random Bullets. I reckon that you narrate my books better than I do, ha! I’m looking forward to hearing you narrate the rest of my book.

I ventured into Audiobook Boom territory yesterday

I decided to try to market my two audiobooks more effectively and so I placed Her demonic Angel into this Tuesday’s Audiobook Boom’s newsletter postings. I have already received about ten requests for gifted promotional codes from listeners, mostly in USA. Audiobook Boom require these people to post reviews for these promo codes. There have been a few requests from people who have not posted reviews as yet, so I won’t be posting any of my precious Audible promo codes to them just yet, I might later if I have any codes left over. I await the legit reviewers responses to my audiobooks with bated breath. I have entered The Hostile into next week’s Audiobook Boom. I am hoping that all of my extreme effort to narrate both books will prove to have been worth it.

What a surprise!

11th July 2016

I was thrilled to discover late last night whilst browsing Facebook that my only non-fiction book, Living with Postcards, has been featured in an advert by Jersey-based Victoria Art and  Framing Company. I must pop in and buy one of their snazzy mini easels next time I visit Jersey, where I was born.

Here is the link to  the paperback edition of Living with Postcards: http://amzn.to/29sp0sR

 

 

 

 

 

I’ve entered The Hostile into a Goodreads Giveaway

10th July 2016

Goodreads Book Giveaway

The Hostile

by Joy Mutter

Giveaway ends August 03, 2016.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter Giveaway

Although Goodreads has used my old cover for my promotional giveaway of The Hostile, I’ll forgive them. I have been entering paperbacks of all eight of my books into Goodreads Giveaways for the past few months. Hopefully my efforts will generate a few more reviews. This Giveaway is open to readers in the UK. I will send a paperback edition of The Hostile to each of the three winners. The draw takes place on 3rd August. If you are entering the draw, good luck!

In a rundown area of Manchester, inside a bathroom in a small, terraced house overflowing with children and dysfunctional parents, an unfathomable, powerful entity infiltrates twelve-year-old Serena’s life with disastrous effects. The enigmatic force not only dramatically affects introverted Serena’s life, but threatens the well-being of everyone she knows, especially those people who for some reason have earned the strange girl’s displeasure. It soon becomes clear that nobody should ever upset Serena if they know what is good for them.

After reading The Hostile, you will never look at DIY in the same way again.

The Hostile is a contemporary thriller with a heavy sprinkling of fantasy. It is in a similar vein to my previous thriller, Random Bullets, but with more emphasis on fantasy than in my earlier book.

The Hostile is available in paperback and Kindle editions on Amazon and is also available on Audible, Amazon and iTunes as an audiobook, narrated by the author. 

If you are in Great Britain, all of my books on my Amazon author page in both paperback and Kindle editions can be found here.

If you are in America, all of my books on my Amazon author page in both paperback and Kindle editions can be found here.

I have finally finished redesigning the covers of all eight of my books and they are now live on Amazon

9th July 2016

Over the past couple of weeks, I have managed to redesign, update and republish all eight of my book covers in both paperback and Kindle editions. I also updated the end matter of each book to reflect the new books that I have written and published over this year. It has been an enjoyable but mentally draining exercise. I hope that you all think that it was well worth the enormous amount of concentrated effort.

I have certainly thought since the beginning of my writing career that each book deserved better covers than I had first designed. I was far too busy writing the current book to spend much time on the way the covers of my first books looked. I did my best within the constraints of Createspace, but I recently found a way to create the artwork myself and then drop it into the Createspace templates. I am mightily relieved to have achieved that task. As an ex-graphic designer with twenty years of graphic design experience, I always knew that my original book covers were lacking. I knew that I would have to revisit these original book covers, most of them designed a year ago, and revamp them. The old covers did not do me or the interiors of my books justice. Remaining true to my indie roots and philosophy, I did not pay a penny to achieve these results.

Here is the link to my Amazon author’s page where you can buy all of my books in paperback, Kindle and some in audiobook editions too http://amzn.to/29vbqql

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FREE Kindle edition of Her demonic Angel

23rd June 2016

The Kindle edition of Her demonic Angel is FREE on Amazon on 23rd and 24th June.

 

Her demonic Angel is a collection of all of my short stories written thus far. The stories have been written in a variety of genres so hopefully there should be something for everyone. Some tales are stranger than others, but all could be said to be different shades of dark. Despite its somewhat suggestive title, Her demonic Angel is not erotic fiction. Also available in paperback and audiobook editions.

 

The link to Her demonic Angel free Kindle on Amazon.com is http://amzn.to/28RGdRa

 

The link to Her demonic Angel free Kindle on Amazon.co.uk is http://amzn.to/28RUcqE

A slight but exciting delay

20th June

Well, my plans to steam ahead with writing the sequel to The Hostile were somewhat delayed today after the delayed arrival of 25 free promo codes for The Hostile audiobook that I wrote and narrated. I have just downloaded my free copy of The Hostile audiobook, even though I wrote and narrated it. When I made my first audiobook, Her demonic Angel, I was so keen to download it that I actually bought it from iTunes for £7.95 as I did not know that I would be receiving free promo codes from ACX that I could have used instead of hard-earned money. I was more patient this time and waited for the free codes for audiobook number two and now have The Hostile audiobook proudly sitting on my iPhone inside my Audible app. I also have asked for some promo codes for Audible.com as well as the Audible.co.uk ones that arrived by email from ACX, so that I can distribute them to relevant Americans as well as to some British listeners.

Here is the link to The Hostile audiobook on Audible.co.uk http://adbl.co/28It6kz

At last, it’s time for me to make a start on The Hostile’s sequel

19th June

I’m limbering up this evening in readiness of starting to write book nine first thing tomorrow. I will be writing the sequel to The Hostile, a book a fair few of you have read and enjoyed I’m very relieved to say. Sadly for me, people take up the kindle free offers of my books rather than buy a paperback edition, but at least that generates a review or two. As you know, book reviews are vital if any unknown author like myself is ever to become better known on Amazon.

The more time, money and effort that I spend marketing my books, the less satisfied I am with the results of my strenuous attempts to reach potential readers. It is time to kick marketing very hard into the long grass for a while. I can now return to what I do best and enjoy more than anything else on offer in this world, which is writing words that people can enjoy whenever they have enough spare time in their hectic lives.

Freebie alert!

The Kindle edition of my 2015 thriller, Random Bullets, is FREE on Amazon today, 18th June.

A doubly momentous day

16th June 2016

June 10th 2016 was not only the day that my beloved daughter, Zoe, married Chris Blyth in Ilfracombe, Devon, but it was also the day that the audiobook of The Hostile went live on Audible, Amazon and iTunes. As with my audiobook of Her demonic Angel, an iTunes copy is half the price of the Audible and Amazon copies. To be honest, I was so enchanted and involved with celebrating the spectacular wedding that I didn’t even notice that The Hostile audiobook, narrated by me, is now for sale or free download until I returned home on 13th June.

On 8th June, I flew to Exeter from Manchester, stayed a night in Exeter with my 86-year-old mother, who had flown from Jersey for her granddaughter’s wedding. We then caught a taxi (£110!) to Ilfracombe. At least we could share the cab fare. The rain luckily held off until after the outdoor ceremony overlooking sea, then it hammered down as we enjoyed a Lionel Richie themed reception. There was even a Lionel Richie cake and a Lionel Richie conga. It has been a magical, perfect six days that I will remember forever.

I am now back in Oldham, slightly shell-shocked and slowly recovering from the festivities, gradually sliding back into my normal life of writing books and trying my best to market them, whilst bracing myself to start writing book nine, a sequel to The Hostile. Oh, did I mention The Hostile audiobook went live on iTunes, Amazon and Audible last Friday?

I’m trying to suppress a huge WOOHOOOO!

6th June 2016

I’ve just received an email from ‪#‎ACX‬ telling me that my resubmission of my audiobook of my latest thriller, The Hostile, narrated by me, was successful! There were no problems with it at all.

ACX informed me that The Hostile audiobook is now heading for retail, where it will join my other audiobook of Her demonic Angel, which is already available to buy on Audible, Amazon and iTunes. I’ll let everyone know when The Hostile is up on the retail sites. I dare say ACX will give me 25 promo codes again, so 25 people can have a free copy of The Hostile. It is wonderful news to hear just before my daughter’s wedding to Chris on Friday.

A partly reluctant FREE offer

4th June 2016

At long last, I have decided to offer the Kindle edition of my only non-fiction book, Living with Postcards, FREE on Amazon tomorrow, 5th June and on 6th June. I have held off doing this for months, because I consider that Living with Postcards is better read as a paperback, although there are still full-colour illustrations of the postcards in the Kindle version. It just feels better on paper rather than on a screen. In the end, I decided that I would like more people to have the chance to read it, and not everyone is willing to shell out £11.85 for the paperback edition. I would love to know what you think of it. Here is the link to the FREE Amazon Kindle edition: http://amzn.to/24ppK7k

Another day, another of my FREE Kindle offers!

2nd June 2016

The Kindle edition of Potholes and Magic Carpets is FREE on Amazon today, 2nd June and also tomorrow.  If readers prefer, it is also available to buy on Amazon in paperback.

http://amzn.to/24k9O6q

Help! I think I am becoming addicted to giving away my books

28th May 2016
I only recently started offering free paperback editions of my books on Goodreads Giveaways. I have already completed and sent off five copies of Random Bullets to five lucky winners. I am crossing my fingers that they will be kind enough to leave me reviews and ratings, although they are in no way obliged to do so.

Tomorrow, 29th May, my giveaway of five copies of The Hostile ends. On 31st May, my giveaway of five paperback editions of Her demonic Angel ends. I will then have to organise for the ten winners to receive the relevant paperback books. I am oddly excited about this, despite soon being well over fifty pounds out of pocket ha!

Today, I set up yet another giveaway for two copies of Living with Postcards, which starts on 10th June, my daughter’s wedding day, and ends on 10th July. I am only offering two copies of Living with Postcards because each book will cost me £11.85. My other paperbacks are mostly half that price to buy to send to the winners. I have set up a Goodreads Giveaway page on this site, so I reckon that I am going to be continuing to give my books away. As if regularly giving away free Kindles of all of my books wasn’t bad enough.

Dipping a toe into Facebook advertising waters

26th May 2016

I thought that I ought to pay some attention to my non-fiction book, Living with Postcards. With a mixture of hope and desperation, I have just placed a small advert promoting my Living with Postcards Facebook page on Facebook. It will run for 7 days from today. Please let me know if any of you see it lurking in the sponsored panel down the side of your page. I’m very interested to see how effective the advert will be. My recent Facebook advert for my Joy Mutter’s Books page gained thousands of views but zero sales. The same might happen with my Living with Postcards sales. Who knows?

Minor setback

19th May 2016

Well, unlike the production of Her demonic Angel audiobook which sailed through problem-free, six of the twenty chapters of The Hostile audiobook need revisiting. Fourteen chapters passed the scrutiny of ACX with flying colours, so that news was very encouraging.

I was disappointed about the problematic six chapters for about five minutes, then buckled down to start remedying the slight issues. I rerecorded chapter three entirely on the same day that ACX told me that there were one or two extraneous sounds. I am now in the process of sound editing it and will then work my way through the rest. I have also sorted out sound errors on chapter seven. Luckily, I am not up against any external deadline, so I am not in the least bit panicked by this minor setback. The Hostile audiobook will be available within the next month though, or my name’s not Joy Mutter!

I was actually somewhat encouraged that errors were discovered by ACX as it proved they were actually listening to the tracks. I had been amazed at how easily Her demonic Angel audiobook passed quality control on ACX, considering it was narrated, recorded on Audacity and sound edited by yours truly. So, undaunted, it’s back on with the headphones and off I go again.

Still giving it all away

15th May 2016

Since my last blog, I have been working towards the publication of the audiobook of The Hostile. I have only two chapters to sound edit and then I am ready to upload it to ACX. Then I will be holding my breath in the hope that there are no problems. There weren’t any issues at all when I produced the Her demonic Angel audiobook, which is now available on Amazon, Audible and iTunes.

In the past couple of days, I have dipped a toe into advertising my books on Facebook. I am hoping that it will be effective and actually produce a few sales. According to Facebook, people seem to be looking at my advert, which consists of a video of all of my books. It’s running for a week and cost only £12, so I am not expecting miracles, although for a miracle to happen would be perfect.

I ran a one day offer of a free kindle edition of The Hostile yesterday, just for the hell of it. Hopefully the readers who have taken advantage of my many free offers and promotions will leave reviews, but it is naturally not guaranteed. I very recently was delighted to discover that I had gained a couple of five star reviews for two of my books, Living with Postcards and also for The Hostile. I pasted their kind words into the Reviews page on this site.

Yesterday, I offered my next-door neighbour, Lee, the choice of a bottle of wine, money or a paperback copy of my latest book, The Hostile, for unblocking my outside drain and trimming my hedge. I hasten to add that he offered to do these jobs, I didn’t beg him. I am delighted to announce that he chose my book as payment! I laughed and told him that I’d have punched him if he had chosen the wine or the money ha! He now has two of my books, although he knocked on my front door to ask if he could buy a paperback of Living with Postcards from me at Christmas to give to his mother. Luckily I had one spare copy that I could sell him. Now that Lee has so generously unblocked my drain and cut my hedge, I wish I had given, not sold it to him.

The Kindle edition of Random Bullets Kindle is FREE tomorrow and Thursday

3rd May 2016

The Kindle edition of RANDOM BULLETS is FREE on Amazon tomorrow, May 4th and on Thursday May 5th. 

Just because

2nd May 2016

As it’s such a cold, wet Bank Holiday, I thought that I would try to resist continuing to work on my audiobook of The Hostile, as it’s supposed to be a holiday. Instead, I decided to throw all of my books on the floor and photograph them on my iPhone. Trying to be logical, I ranged them in order, from the first book I wrote and published, A Slice of the Seventies, to the latest, The Hostile. And why not? Before you say anything about the quality of the photograph, I am a writer not a photographer.

The Kindle edition of The Hostile is FREE today!

2nd May 2016

The Kindle edition of my new thriller, The Hostile, is FREE on Amazon today.  I am glad to report that many readers have already grabbed this bargain. I will probably offer it free for a couple more days in a few weeks. I would really love to know what you think of it. Link to Kindle edition of The Hostile on Amazon

I have also just organised another two FREE Goodreads Giveaways. The first Goodreads Giveaway is five paperback editions of Her demonic Angel. It starts on 5th May and ends on 31st May. The second Goodreads Giveaway is five paperback editions of The Hostile and starts on 8th May, ending on 29th May. Goodreads will then tell me the names and addresses of the ten lucky winners of these two Giveaway draws and then it is down to me to send the winners the relevant paperbacks. I will then buy ten copies of my own books and instruct Amazon to send them to the relevant winners. These winners are under no obligation to review my books, but it would be wonderful if they decided to. Receiving book reviews are one of the only ways that my book sales will increase. I greatly appreciate each and every review that I receive. A HUGE thank you to everyone who has already taken the time and trouble to write a review of one of my books.

After much soul searching, I eventually decided to only offer these last two Goodreads Giveaways to British readers, because, as an unknown author,  it is too costly for me to pay the postage to America and other parts of the world on top of paying for the paperbacks themselves. I will probably occasionally extend similar Goodreads Giveaway offers to countries other than Britain.

The weather this Bank Holiday is grim. Ideal weather to snuggle down in front of a fire and read a good book. I might even be lucky enough for you to read The Hostile. Did I mention that the Kindle edition is free on Amazon today?

My Goodreads Giveaway of 5 free paperback editions of Random Bullets ended yesterday

1st May 2016

I have just sent the five paperback copies of Random Bullets off to the five lucky winners. It was the first Goodreads Giveaway that I have ever attempted and it remains to be seen if it will affect book sales. Nearly six hundred people entered the draw, which was encouraging, and also resulted in over a hundred people adding it to their ‘to read’ list on Goodreads. This is far more than have added any of my other books to their ‘to read’ list. If you aren’t on Goodreads, you probably don’t have a clue what I am talking about, but I shall carry on regardless.

I had allowed Americans and Canadians as well as Brits to enter the draw, and naturally it was all Americans who won a copy of Random Bullets. This meant that my ploy to have free postage with my Amazon Prime membership went out of the window, as I had to not only pay Amazon for the paperback but also for the postage to America, but hopefully the extra expense will be worth it. You live and learn, well, I try to anyway, ha!

I think my next Goodreads Giveaway will be exclusively for British entrants, but I will probably relent at the last minute and include Americans and Canadians as well. Many of my most supportive online friends are American, so it’s only fair that I don’t exclude them. I’m such a giver ha! I have probably given away almost as many books as I have sold, but that’s fine by me … sort of.

I am just about to trot off to Goodreads Giveaways to give away 5 free paperback copies of Her demonic Angel, my collection of short stories. This practice of entering my books on Goodreads Giveaways might turn out to be addictive. I hope that I don’t bankrupt myself!

Memory jogger

The kindle edition of my new thriller, The Hostile, is free on Amazon today, 1st May and also tomorrow, 2nd May. Grab yourself a bargain! Link to the Kindle edition of The Hostile on Amazon

The Kindle edition of The Hostile will be FREE for two days!

30th April 2016

The Kindle edition of my new thriller, The Hostile, will be FREE on Amazon tomorrow, 1st May and on Monday, 2nd May. I would really love to know what you think of it. Link to Kindle edition of The Hostile on Amazon

If my Goodreads Giveaway of 5 paperback editions of Random Bullets goes well, then in May, I will offer five free paperback editions of The Hostile. My Random Bullets Goodreads Giveaway ends today, so I will soon be finding out if Goodreads Giveaways are worth doing. It certainly managed to generate a buzz around Random Bullets, so hopefully it will  also stir up some more interest in The Hostile.

Thrilled!

It is hard to believe that it was only yesterday that The Hostile went live on Amazon and yet I am holding a printed copy this morning. I’m so thrilled with the finished result, which is an appropriate emotion, because it’s a thriller.

Link to the Kindle edition of The Hostile on Amazon

Link to the paperback edition of The Hostile on Amazon

Another day, another edition of The Hostile

Today, the paperback version of The Hostile was made available on Amazon to keep the Kindle version company. I already had a lunch planned with my good friend Diane, so I have just celebrated the publication in style. Tomorrow, I will continue with the production of the audiobook edition of The Hostile.

My first attempt at a Goodreads Giveaway of another of my thrillers, Random Bullets, ends on 30th April. I will then be sending five lucky readers paperback copies of Random Bullets. If the Giveaway goes well and does not cause me any unexpected headaches, I will give away free copies of The Hostile and some of my other books on Goodreads. I hope that I will receive some reviews from the Goodreads Giveaways, but the winners are in no way obligated to review the book. I have my fingers crossed that they will do though, because I will never be able to interest new readers without reviews.

The Kindle edition of my thriller, The Hostile, went live on Amazon today!

As promised, my contemporary thriller, The Hostile, went live on Amazon this morning as a Kindle edition! I am hopeful that the paperback edition will be published on Amazon tomorrow or the next day. The audiobook version, narrated by me, should be available on Audible, Amazon and iTunes in a week or two.

Here is the link to the Kindle edition of The Hostile on Amazon : http://amzn.to/242YqRo

I would really love to hear what you think of The Hostile.

A rather momentous day

I managed to hit a few more milestones today. This morning, I finished recording my narration of the final chapters of The Hostile audiobook. I have edited the sound on about half of the chapter tracks, so it will be a few weeks before the audiobook version is released on Audible, Amazon and iTunes, where it will join my audiobook edition of Her demonic Angel. I also sent the files for the paperback edition of The Hostile off to Amazon this evening to be reviewed by them before I publish it on there. Tomorrow, I will submit the Kindle version for review, even though I am tempted to do that tonight. I have to remind myself that there is no rush. Only I am setting the deadlines. The excitement of publishing my books has yet again taken hold of me, as always happens when I am so close to publication, but I will force myself to resist this evening and watch television instead.

One reason for me telling myself that I should perhaps rest this evening is because the inside of my mouth is very sore from concentrating so hard for so long. My poor lips have never recovered from when I published Her demonic Angel earlier this year. A sore mouth is a hazard that I would never have imagined happening to an author, but the more I concentrate on writing and publishing my books, the sorer and more swollen the inside of my lips bizarrely becomes. I am starting to look like a Mick Jagger impersonator!

The Hostile is  a contemporary thriller with a generous dash of fantasy. It is my eighth book, which I find hard to believe, but it is a fact. I am trying to decide whether to start book nine, or to concentrate on making audiobooks out of Random Bullets, then Potholes and Magic Carpets.  A Slice of the Seventies would also lend itself very well to being turned into an audiobook. I am also torn between writing a sequel to The Hostile, because a sequel is very possible, or writing a completely different story. I have ideas for both books. Decisions, decisions!

A FREE Her demonic Angel audiobook!

I thought I’d give away a FREE audiobook copy of ‘Her demonic Angel’ to the FIRST person to leave a comment  on my website saying ‘Yes Please’. I’ll then send the winner the promotional code for them to claim their prize. If you win, just follow the directions below and the audiobook is yours for FREE! The prize is worth over £16!

Dear winner,
1. Go to my book’s page on Audible.co.uk: http://adbl.co/1RMgQhD
2. Add the audiobook to your basket. (The promo coupon won’t work on any site except Audible.co.uk.)
3. If you are prompted to sign in, please create a new Audible.co.uk account or log into it if you already have an Audible.co.uk. Otherwise, proceed by clicking “Do you have a promotional code?” beneath the cover artwork of the audiobook.
4. Enter the promo code, and click “Apply Code”.
A credit for the audiobook will be added to your account. Click the box next to “1 Credit” and click the “Update” button to apply the credit to the purchase.
5. Complete checkout, and start listening to the free copy of ‘Her demonic Angel’.

I hope that you enjoy this collection of all of my short stories, written in different genres. I’d love to hear what you think of it.

What a giveaway!

15th April 2016

I must be feeling generous. I recently seem to be giving away books left right and centre. My first Goodreads Giveaway promotion has been running over the past couple of weeks – five copies of the paperback edition of my contemporary thriller with a fantasy twist, Random Bullets. The promotion ends on April 30th, when Goodreads will inform me to whom I will be sending the five free paperback copies. I will probably be entering all of my other books into Goodreads Giveaway promotions at some point.

I am also giving away FREE copies of the Kindle edition of my collection of short stories, Her demonic Angel over this weekend, 16th and 17th April.

On my Facebook Joy Mutter’s Books page, I have been giving away promotional codes to the first person who comments on my post. The winner can then use the code to claim a free audio book of Her demonic Angel from Audible.co.uk. worth £16. Not to be sniffed at! So far, I have only given away one promo code but I have plenty more to give away. I will run promo code giveaways for free audio books of Her demonic Angel when the mood takes me.

I am itching to step up the promotion of my book Potholes and Magic Carpets but I am reluctant to do that whilst Amazon is dragging its heels changing its BIC classification from Fiction/Erotica to Fiction/General. There is no erotic content in this book or any of my other books to speak of since I published revised editions of Potholes and Magic Carpets, Random Bullets and The Lying Scotsman a month or so ago. I asked Createspace support team to change the classification over a month ago, but it still has not been done. I have told them that it urgently needs to be done because anybody buying the book expecting it to be erotica will be sadly disappointed, which would reflect badly on me and on Amazon. I am perfectly willing to delete Potholes and Magic Carpets from Createspace and Amazon and republish it under a new BIC classification if that is the only way that I can remedy this unfortunate situation. However,  Createspace support keeps telling me that they are dealing with the matter and that I should be being told soon that the problem has been solved. I have been told that for over a month. Meanwhile, I cannot promote Potholes and Magic Carpets at all, because I do not want to misrepresent it. Hopefully they will soon tell me some better news and I can start marketing the book properly.

I am halfway through narrating, recording and sound editing my second audio book, The Hostile, even though I have not as yet published the paperback and Kindle editions. The Hostile is my eighth book and is another thriller with a fantasy twist although nothing like Random Bullets. The Hostile is written and edited, but I am finding that reading it out loud as an audio book is showing me further ways to improve it before I publish it as a paperback and Kindle edition. I will probably always record the audio book before the printed editions in future.

My audio book of Her demonic Angel has just gone LIVE on Amazon!

I am so excited to have just received an email from ACX telling me that my AUDIOBOOK edition of Her demonic Angel has just gone live on Amazon and will soon also be available on iTunes! It’s free if you’re an Audible member apparently. I don’t know yet what the iTunes price will be. I narrated the whole book myself and also produced the cover. My thirteen short stories are written in different genres. Her demonic Angel is also available on Amazon in paperback and Kindle editions.

I am thrilled that producing the audiobook unexpectedly all went through without a hitch because it is my first venture into making an audiobook from scratch. If you ever buy one, I’d really love to know what you think about it. A review would be very much appreciated.

I definitely will be producing more of my own audiobooks in future, whether anyone buys a copy of Her demonic Angel audiobook or not. It has been a ton of hard work but well worth the effort because now I can read you all a bedtime story!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Her-Demonic-Angel-Collection-Stories/dp/B01DUSPUPS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1459975813&sr=8-1&keywords=Joy+mutter+Her+demonic+Angel

I’m feeling generous. TWO free offers!

The kindle edition of my first book in The Mug Trilogy, A Slice of the Seventies is FREE on Amazon from Monday 4th April until Friday 8th April. http://amzn.to/1DFfHDE.

Through Goodreads, I am also giving away five FREE paperback editions of another of my books, a contemporary thriller with a fantasy twist, called Random Bullets. I will discover which five entrants Goodreads Giveaways has selected to receive Random Bullets on 30th April.

My only non-fiction book, Living with Postcards

I thought I would show me posing with my only non-fiction book, Living with Postcards. It has sold better than any of my fiction books but it is still early days and I am hopeful my fiction work will eventually gain more readers. Those that have read them have been very complimentary, so I am not disheartened. An author rarely gains many followers when they are as unknown as I am, plus marketing is not really my strongest point. I am an author above all else, but I do my best at getting the word out. The trouble is, every other author is also doing their best to advertise their books. I believe that the reading public is becoming somewhat immune to the clamour to be noticed. Here is the link to the Amazon.co.uk page for Living with Postcards paperback book: Living with Postcards book on Amazon

Another intense day of recording my first audio book

13.3.2016

I finished recording all thirteen of the short stories in my book, Her demonic Angel yesterday. It felt like another landmark day. I am relieved to have recorded them all before my neighbours bring home their new-born son from hospital. I was fearful that my plans to use my spare room as a recording studio would be scuppered by the sound of a crying baby coming through the dividing walls.

I now have to edit each track, which will take much longer than recording them. I enjoy the process, although I may have ripped out my hair by the time it is all finished. I have never attempted anything like this before and I am having to teach myself every step of the way, but hopefully it will all work out in the end. All of this effort, just so that I can read people a bedtime story, ha!

In other news, I spent all today turning Random Bullets from an erotic thriller into a thriller. It has taken me a few months to come around to realising that the erotica in the book was getting in the way of a good story. I have published a second edition of Random Bullets in both paperback and Kindle formats. I think it will also be my next audio book. I am now taking the graphic sex out of Potholes and Magic Carpets for the same reasons. I will be publishing a second edition of it, just as I have done with Random Bullets. Sometimes it takes a few years for an author to find their authentic voice.

An evening with Val McDermid

I enjoyed a splendid evening at Oldham Library yesterday. The wonderful crime writer Val McDermid was giving a talk about her books and signing copies. I could have listened to her for hours. It was also fun to meet up with other members of two writing groups that I’m part of. The lovely lady with the red hair is another author friend of mine called Helen Durrant. We are both very supportive of each other’s writing and I enjoyed chatting to her before and after the main event. Whilst Val McDermid was signing one of her books for me, I sneakily gave her one of my own book promotion postcards. Yes, I’m incorrigible!

Today, I recorded the first five stories of the audiobook that I’m making of my short story collection called Her demonic Angel. I thought it wise to make a start because I found out yesterday that my next door neighbours have just had a baby. It was news to me as I didn’t even know his wife was pregnant. The baby boy was premature so won’t be coming home for a couple of weeks. I must try to finish recording my audiobook before he leaves hospital because I know from experience that the walls between our houses are annoyingly thin. Recording audiobooks and crying babies don’t really mix.

Mothering Sunday

6th March 2016

I have just spent a wonderful weekend with my daughter at my home in Oldham. Zoe drove up from Croydon with her fiance, Chris. He spent most of the weekend at his sister’s house which is about thirty minutes away, but all three of us managed to spend a decent amount of time together.

As one of my Mother’s Day treats, my daughter agreed to take a few photographs of me posing with each of my seven books. She could not really refuse my request with it being Mothering Sunday, ha! I transformed the photographs into a short video just for fun.

Today is also my remarkable mother’s 86th birthday. I do not recall her birthday ever falling on Mothering Sunday before. It is a shame that we live so far apart with her still living in Jersey and me living up North in Oldham, but at least we managed to talk on the telephone. I am looking forward to us all meeting up in Devon in a few months for my daughter’s wedding to Chris.

I am grateful to have an excuse to stay indoors today

I refuse to walk anywhere outside until this snow disappears. I had not heard any weather reports and so waking up to thick snow was a big surprise. I hope that it doesn’t make the five-hour drive from London to my house in Oldham too grim for my daughter and her fiancé this evening.

At least I have a good excuse to stay in the warm because I am working on my latest book. It is my eighth book, a contemporary thriller called Hostile. When have you ever known me not to be working on some book or other? #amwriting

Her demonic Angel is now available in paperback as well as Kindle edition on Amazon

I am delighted to announce that Her demonic Angel is now available worldwide on Amazon as a paperback as well as a Kindle edition. Book eight, Hostile is progressing very well and I am currently writing the final chapters. As I have mentioned before, I am looking forward to producing the next three drafts of Hostile. I hear many authors complaining on Twitter about how they dislike editing their own work but I am enthusiastic about polishing my books as much as I can before publication. I am also itching to begin book nine which will be another thriller. Postcards will be involved in the story, which is a satisfying link to my non-fiction book, Living with Postcards.

Yes! A proof copy of Her demonic Angel has just been delivered to my house!

Yes! I’ve just received a proof copy of my short story collection called Her demonic Angel! I have checked it through and told Amazon to go ahead and make it available in their stores worldwide. It only costs a fiver ha! I wanted to keep it as inexpensive as I could so that folk could afford to buy it. It should be possible to buy it in three or four days, maybe sooner. The Kindle edition is already available on Amazon for only £0.99. Bargain!

I would love to hear what you think of it if you ever take a leap of faith and buy it. By the way, book eight, Hostile is going really well.

A Kindle edition of ‘Her demonic Angel’ is now available on Amazon. It will be available in paperback in the next couple of weeks

21st February 2016

It might be yet another rainy day in Oldham, but I am feeling sunny inside because last night Her demonic Angel, my collection of short stories written in different genres went live on Amazon as a Kindle book. Once I have received the printed proof copy from Amazon and approved it, it will also be published in paperback format.

I really must get around to publishing my latest book and other of my books as audiobooks. I have all the equipment and software to perform this task but have been too busy working on Her demonic Angel. I think that my short stories might be the most suitable candidate to first be made into an audiobook. If I enjoy the process, then I will make one or two of my other books into audio versions. That is the plan, but we all know that plans can change.

Now that Her demonic Angel has been written and published, I can turn my attention back to Hostile, another modern day thriller that I broke off from writing in order to complete my collection of short stories. I am not one of those that take time off to celebrate or sit around once a book is finished because I usually have another book on the go that I am eager to work on.

You might be wondering why I jumped ship and abandoned Hostile in favour of Her demonic Angel. The reason was guilt. My elderly mother had telephoned me from her home in Jersey and questioned the amount of graphic sex there is in Random Bullets and Potholes and Magic Carpets.

‘I’ve been trying to read these two books of yours but every time I hit a sex scene, I have to put them down,’ she told me sweetly. ‘Does Jilly Cooper have as much graphic sex in her books as you do in yours?’

‘I really can’t remember whether she does or not,’ I replied. I felt relieved that at least my mother loves my Living with Postcards non-fiction book, but she is not as big a fan of my fiction work. She loves the actual story lines, except for the sex scenes. It must be a generational thing, although I know many folk of all ages feel the same way that she does. I am very open-minded but I have to acknowledge the fact that not everyone else feels the same way.

I was becoming rather tired of having to justify the way that I write sex scenes. Knowing that there is no sex to speak of in any of my short stories, I wanted my mother to own another book of mine apart from Living with Postcards that she could read without being offended. Hopefully she will enjoy Her demonic Angel as much as she loves Living with Postcards but we shall see.  Her eighty-sixth birthday is next weekend and it would be wonderful to be able to send her a present of a paperback copy of Her demonic Angel. I had better whip onto Createspace website and order my proof print copy. Once I have received and approved it, Her demonic Angel will be made available in paperback on Amazon. My mother could always buy it right now as a Kindle edition, but like many folk, she prefers a paperback to having to look at a screen to read a book.

‘Her demonic Angel’ will soon be available on Amazon

A rainy day in Oldham, 20th February 2016

My six books will soon be joined by a seventh. ‘Her demonic Angel’ is a collection of all of my short stories. They are written in several genres, although there is no erotica in this book, despite the title. Once I have approved the final printed proofs, ‘Her demonic Angel’ will be available on Amazon in paperback and Kindle editions just like my other books. Book number eight, a contemporary thriller called ‘Hostile’ will hopefully be published well before the end of 2016.

I would really love to know what you think of my books. A review on Amazon and Goodreads would be more than appreciated if you have the time to write a few words. Reviews are so vital to an unknown indie author like me who is up against millions of established writers. Thank you so much to anyone who has been kind enough to write a review of any of my books.

I’ll be honest, it would be wonderful to have even just one book sale this month. Despite all of my diligent attempts at marketing my books, I have had zero February sales. This could be seen as crushing after spending years working seven hours a day, seven days a week to produce every single aspect of each book. However, I refuse to be crushed and am even more determined to continue writing books despite the disheartening lack of interest shown by the general public. Writing is such an integral part of me that I cannot imagine my life without it. I am in this for the long haul and it is still only three months since I published my first six books on Amazon.

Before I send ‘Her demonic Angel’ off to Amazon later today for a printed proof copy for me to approve, I want to say how extremely grateful I am for all of the wonderful people who have actually shown me their support and encouragement over the years since I started writing books. I thank you all from the bottom of my heart. I honestly could not do all of this without you. #amwriting http://amzn.to/1Kq3h29 Go 👀

I have just listened to my interview on BBC Radio 4’s ‘Analysis’ programme on Inheritance that was aired last night

The plan was that I was going to listen to the broadcast at 20.30 with Diane whilst we ate our supper in the Millgate pub after our monthly writing group meeting at Failsworth Library. I had been feeling slightly concerned that my contribution might not come over exactly how I had hoped it would, so I was not too bothered to discover that I could not listen to the programme as there was a particularly noisy group of inebriated people in the pub.

‘I’ll listen to the programme later at home because they are making it available online,’ I told Diane and that is exactly what I did.

My contribution was near the beginning of the programme and I was pleasantly surprised by how sensitively my hour-long interview with Jo Fidgen had been edited. She was the beautifully spoken, blue-haired presenter of the programme who had originally interviewed me whilst the producer, Jo Kent had made the recording in my living room here in Oldham. I had felt honoured that they had made the long journey from London to Oldham a few weeks ago to interview me on how it had felt after learning that my crazy, bullying, adulterous father had disinherited me over fourteen years ago.

When my mother telephoned me with some trepidation to tell me that my name had not even been mentioned in my dead father’s Will, I felt so shocked and angry that I came out in psoriasis all over my entire body for several weeks afterwards. Psoriasis is an ailment that I have never suffered from before or since. I am glad the producers kept this part of the interview in the show and also my remark that psoriasis has been my sole inheritance from my father. I would not have cared in the slightest that I had been excluded from the Will if it had not been for the fact that he had left  all that he owned to my brother and sister on the death of his second wife.

I am relieved that the programme mentioned the fact that I had never expected me or my siblings to inherit anything because he had never really given us anything. My father never actively worked against my brother and sister in the way that he had hated me for as long as I can remember. He was never physically violent or emotionally bullying to them as he always had been to me.

Not understanding his reasons for doing such a hurtful thing and being unable to do anything about it because he is dead has caused me many problems over the following years. Agreeing to the interview stirred up many painful memories that I had buried and I am still feeling the effects weeks after the interview was recorded, but I hoped that the Radio 4 interview might help publicise my books. Several of them deal with the theme of disinheritance, especially my thriller Random Bullets and my autobiographical Mug Trilogy.

In time, my unearthed memories and churning emotions will subside, but they will never disappear completely. I just learn to live with them. Although the presenter mentioned that I am a writer, they naturally did not have enough time in the half hour programme to mention the name of any of my books. This is totally understandable as they also had David Cameron, Toby James and several other celebrities on the show. I felt honoured that an unknown author like me had found myself in such illustrious company.

I have received several very kind comments about my contribution to the programme which I really appreciate. My daughter thought it was ‘brilliant’ and she felt proud of me for agreeing to do it. If you missed the programme, it is being repeated  on Sunday 21.2.2016 at 21.30 and is available to download on the Analysis website.
Here is the link to the Analysis programme on Inheritance:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b070d28w

A change of schedule for the broadcast of my BBC Radio 4 ‘Analysis’ interview

I’ve just been told that the scheduling has been changed for my forthcoming interview on BBC Radio 4’s Analysis programme on the subject of Inheritance. Joe Kent, one of the BBC journalists who interviewed me a few weeks ago, has just emailed me. He says that the Analysis programme is now going to be aired this Monday, 15th February at 20:30 and repeated on the following Sunday.

He also told me that I have been allotted quite a large chunk of time at the beginning of the half-hour show. I am cringing already at the prospect of listening to myself being broadcast on BBC Radio 4, ha! I can’t really avoid listening to it though, because Joe Kent told me that he wants my opinion on the programme that he and blue-haired Jo have put together. Gulp!

Getting to grips with my new hardware and software.

I admit it, I have been treating myself lately and bought myself a few presents. After all of my hard work writing and publishing my six book, I reckoned that I deserved to buy a new laptop. My old beast was falling apart and I naturally could not risk being without one. Having to bash the letter P very hard every time I wanted to use it on the old keyboard was driving me scatty. I am very impressed with my reasonably priced new Lenovo Ideapad 300 laptop, complete with Windows 10 and terabyte of disc space. I spent most of yesterday setting it all up and surprisingly did not encounter any major problems.

Today I dragged a brand new Snowball Ice microphone from the box that it had been entombed in since before Christmas. I bought this attractive piece of kit months ago with the intention of making my own audiobooks to sell on Amazon alongside my other paperback and Kindle editions. People have often told me that I have a decent voice, so I’ve decided to put my dulcet tones to good use. I gave the new laptop and mic a testdrive today by making a podcast on Spreaker. During the ten minute broadcast, I described several of my exciting experiences over the past six months. I’ve previously broadcast 20 or so podcasts on many different subjects, not only about writing and publishing my books. They are all under the banner heading of Joyster’s Tracks on Spreaker if anyone wants to listen to them, including the track that I broadcast today.

A Kindle edition of ‘Her demonic Angel’ is now available on Amazon. It will be available in paperback in the next couple of weeks

21st February 2016

It might be yet another rainy day in Oldham, but I am feeling sunny inside because last night Her demonic Angel, my collection of short stories written in different genres went live on Amazon as a Kindle book. Once I have received the printed proof copy from Amazon and approved it, it will also be published in paperback format.

I really must get around to publishing my latest book and other of my books as audiobooks. I have all the equipment and software to perform this task but have been too busy working on Her demonic Angel. I think that my short stories might be the most suitable candidate to first be made into an audiobook. If I enjoy the process, then I will make one or two of my other books into audio versions. That is the plan, but we all know that plans can change.

Now that Her demonic Angel has been written and published, I can turn my attention back to Hostile, another modern day thriller that I broke off from writing in order to complete my collection of short stories. I am not one of those that take time off to celebrate or sit around once a book is finished because I usually have another book on the go that I am eager to work on.

You might be wondering why I jumped ship and abandoned Hostile in favour of Her demonic Angel. The reason was guilt. My elderly mother had telephoned me from her home in Jersey and questioned the amount of graphic sex there is in Random Bullets and Potholes and Magic Carpets.

‘I’ve been trying to read these two books of yours but every time I hit a sex scene, I have to put them down,’ she told me sweetly. ‘Does Jilly Cooper have as much graphic sex in her books as you do in yours?’

‘I really can’t remember whether she does or not,’ I replied. I felt relieved that at least my mother loves my Living with Postcards non-fiction book, but she is not as big a fan of my fiction work. She loves the actual story lines, except for the sex scenes. It must be a generational thing, although I know many folk of all ages feel the same way that she does. I am very open-minded but I have to acknowledge the fact that not everyone else feels the same way.

I was becoming rather tired of having to justify the way that I write sex scenes. Knowing that there is no sex to speak of in any of my short stories, I wanted my mother to own another book of mine apart from Living with Postcards that she could read without being offended. Hopefully she will enjoy Her demonic Angel as much as she loves Living with Postcards but we shall see.  Her eighty-sixth birthday is next weekend and it would be wonderful to be able to send her a present of a paperback copy of Her demonic Angel. I had better whip onto Createspace website and order my proof print copy. Once I have received and approved it, Her demonic Angel will be made available in paperback on Amazon. My mother could always buy it right now as a Kindle edition, but like many folk, she prefers a paperback to having to look at a screen to read a book.

‘Her demonic Angel’ will soon be available on Amazon

A rainy day in Oldham, 20th February 2016

My six books will soon be joined by a seventh. ‘Her demonic Angel’ is a collection of all of my short stories. They are written in several genres, although there is no erotica in this book, despite the title. Once I have approved the final printed proofs, ‘Her demonic Angel’ will be available on Amazon in paperback and Kindle editions just like my other books. Book number eight, a contemporary thriller called ‘Hostile’ will hopefully be published well before the end of 2016.

I would really love to know what you think of my books. A review on Amazon and Goodreads would be more than appreciated if you have the time to write a few words. Reviews are so vital to an unknown indie author like me who is up against millions of established writers. Thank you so much to anyone who has been kind enough to write a review of any of my books.

I’ll be honest, it would be wonderful to have even just one book sale this month. Despite all of my diligent attempts at marketing my books, I have had zero February sales. This could be seen as crushing after spending years working seven hours a day, seven days a week to produce every single aspect of each book. However, I refuse to be crushed and am even more determined to continue writing books despite the disheartening lack of interest shown by the general public. Writing is such an integral part of me that I cannot imagine my life without it. I am in this for the long haul and it is still only three months since I published my first six books on Amazon.

Before I send ‘Her demonic Angel’ off to Amazon later today for a printed proof copy for me to approve, I want to say how extremely grateful I am for all of the wonderful people who have actually shown me their support and encouragement over the years since I started writing books. I thank you all from the bottom of my heart. I honestly could not do all of this without you. #amwriting http://amzn.to/1Kq3h29 Go 👀

I have just listened to my interview on BBC Radio 4’s ‘Analysis’ programme on Inheritance that was aired last night

The plan was that I was going to listen to the broadcast at 20.30 with Diane whilst we ate our supper in the Millgate pub after our monthly writing group meeting at Failsworth Library. I had been feeling slightly concerned that my contribution might not come over exactly how I had hoped it would, so I was not too bothered to discover that I could not listen to the programme as there was a particularly noisy group of inebriated people in the pub.

‘I’ll listen to the programme later at home because they are making it available online,’ I told Diane and that is exactly what I did.

My contribution was near the beginning of the programme and I was pleasantly surprised by how sensitively my hour-long interview with Jo Fidgen had been edited. She was the beautifully spoken, blue-haired presenter of the programme who had originally interviewed me whilst the producer, Jo Kent had made the recording in my living room here in Oldham. I had felt honoured that they had made the long journey from London to Oldham a few weeks ago to interview me on how it had felt after learning that my crazy, bullying, adulterous father had disinherited me over fourteen years ago.

When my mother telephoned me with some trepidation to tell me that my name had not even been mentioned in my dead father’s Will, I felt so shocked and angry that I came out in psoriasis all over my entire body for several weeks afterwards. Psoriasis is an ailment that I have never suffered from before or since. I am glad the producers kept this part of the interview in the show and also my remark that psoriasis has been my sole inheritance from my father. I would not have cared in the slightest that I had been excluded from the Will if it had not been for the fact that he had left  all that he owned to my brother and sister on the death of his second wife.

I am relieved that the programme mentioned the fact that I had never expected me or my siblings to inherit anything because he had never really given us anything. My father never actively worked against my brother and sister in the way that he had hated me for as long as I can remember. He was never physically violent or emotionally bullying to them as he always had been to me.

Not understanding his reasons for doing such a hurtful thing and being unable to do anything about it because he is dead has caused me many problems over the following years. Agreeing to the interview stirred up many painful memories that I had buried and I am still feeling the effects weeks after the interview was recorded, but I hoped that the Radio 4 interview might help publicise my books. Several of them deal with the theme of disinheritance, especially my thriller Random Bullets and my autobiographical Mug Trilogy.

In time, my unearthed memories and churning emotions will subside, but they will never disappear completely. I just learn to live with them. Although the presenter mentioned that I am a writer, they naturally did not have enough time in the half hour programme to mention the name of any of my books. This is totally understandable as they also had David Cameron, Toby James and several other celebrities on the show. I felt honoured that an unknown author like me had found myself in such illustrious company.

I have received several very kind comments about my contribution to the programme which I really appreciate. My daughter thought it was ‘brilliant’ and she felt proud of me for agreeing to do it. If you missed the programme, it is being repeated  on Sunday 21.2.2016 at 21.30 and is available to download on the Analysis website.
Here is the link to the Analysis programme on Inheritance:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b070d28w

A change of schedule for the broadcast of my BBC Radio 4 ‘Analysis’ interview

I’ve just been told that the scheduling has been changed for my forthcoming interview on BBC Radio 4’s Analysis programme on the subject of Inheritance. Joe Kent, one of the BBC journalists who interviewed me a few weeks ago, has just emailed me. He says that the Analysis programme is now going to be aired this Monday, 15th February at 20:30 and repeated on the following Sunday.

He also told me that I have been allotted quite a large chunk of time at the beginning of the half-hour show. I am cringing already at the prospect of listening to myself being broadcast on BBC Radio 4, ha! I can’t really avoid listening to it though, because Joe Kent told me that he wants my opinion on the programme that he and blue-haired Jo have put together. Gulp!

Getting to grips with my new hardware and software.

I admit it, I have been treating myself lately and bought myself a few presents. After all of my hard work writing and publishing my six book, I reckoned that I deserved to buy a new laptop. My old beast was falling apart and I naturally could not risk being without one. Having to bash the letter P very hard every time I wanted to use it on the old keyboard was driving me scatty. I am very impressed with my reasonably priced new Lenovo Ideapad 300 laptop, complete with Windows 10 and terabyte of disc space. I spent most of yesterday setting it all up and surprisingly did not encounter any major problems.

Today I dragged a brand new Snowball Ice microphone from the box that it had been entombed in since before Christmas. I bought this attractive piece of kit months ago with the intention of making my own audiobooks to sell on Amazon alongside my other paperback and Kindle editions. People have often told me that I have a decent voice, so I’ve decided to put my dulcet tones to good use. I gave the new laptop and mic a testdrive today by making a podcast on Spreaker. During the ten minute broadcast, I described several of my exciting experiences over the past six months. I’ve previously broadcast 20 or so podcasts on many different subjects, not only about writing and publishing my books. They are all under the banner heading of Joyster’s Tracks

To save you the trouble of finding the track on Spreaker, here it is:

My next door neighbour knocked on my front door this afternoon to ask if I had a copy of my book ‘Living with Postcards’ that he could buy to give as a Christmas present to his mum. Luckily I had a spare copy. He asked me if I would sign it. I naturally was happy to oblige. I guess that counts as my first book signing and I didn’t even have to leave the house! If my lovely neighbour had been better prepared for Christmas, he could have bought my book or one of my five other books from Amazon at http://amzn.to/1Jl0Org

Living with Postcards by Joy Mutter – a perfect present from the past

7.12.2015

When my mother told me that she thought that my Kindle version of Living with Postcards deserved to be available in print as well as for Kindle, her remark set in motion a string of events. Making a reality of her suggestion kept me occupied for all of my waking hours over the past month or so. I have chewed my lips with concentration for twelve hours a day and I am now paying the price as they are sore and swollen. All of the hard work and pain were well worth it.

After working endlessly on my laptop organising the print publication for all six books, a few days ago I managed to organise for Amazon to deliver a copy of the fully illustrated printed book into her very appreciative hands. She is honest to a fault and a woman who has never avoided giving criticism when needed. To have her shower me with high praise for my book was very rewarding.

At last my mother owns a book of mine that she can be proud of, without ‘too much sex’ in it like my other books, according to her. She told me that she has been showing my Living with Postcards to all and sundry ever since she received it as an early Christmas gift from me. Hopefully some of those people will eventually buy it. As my marketing seems to be showing poor results in the week since all of my books progressed to paperback editions, it would encourage me to gain one or two sales of the book. I know that I am biased, but I agree with her when she said that it would make an ideal gift, especially at Christmas.

If a person of any age appreciates beauty, charm, art and quirkiness mixed in with a little slice of postcard history then they could not fail to enjoy Living with Postcards.

All six of my books are now available in PAPERBACK on Amazon!

27.11.2015

Yesterday was a very special day for me. I self-published all six of my books as paperback editions. They went live on Amazon in the evening. The speed of publication took me by surprise because I was told that it would take a few weeks before they went on sale, but no, it was immediate. As soon as I pressed the ‘Approved’ button they went on sale.

I was so impressed that I even bought a copy of one of my own books, ‘Living with Postcards’ and had it delivered to my mother over in Jersey. She will be pleased, as she thinks all of my other books have too much sex in them ha! I hope that she approves of my dedication to her in the front of the book.

Last week was frantic for me. I was working on my own for twelve hours a day, seven days a week in order to achieve my publishing goal. I almost fainted with excitement as the first printed proofs were delivered into my trembling hands. The Kindle versions are fine, but every author knows that nothing compares to holding your own printed books in your hands.

I amended each proof, changed the size of each book and made the covers myself. Still, all that is behind me now and I can continue working on books seven and eight. One book is another erotic thriller with an even bigger fantasy twist than in ‘Random Bullets’ and the other book is a collection of short stories in various genres.

The first delivery has arrived of the printed proofs for three of my six books!

25.11.2015

I was so excited to receive the first three printed proofs of the six books that I sent to CreateSpace to be proof printed. The thrill of holding my first printed paperback book in my hand last week was indescribable. Another two books swiftly followed. Apart from them being too large, with only a few minor changes to the covers, I will soon be telling CreateSpace to print them and offer them on Amazon. I designed them as 6 x 9 books as that is the most popular book size according to Amazon, but I think that is too cumbersome.

I designed the interiors and the covers of all of my books. As an ex-graphic designer, I have so far thoroughly enjoyed the entire book publishing process. I can’t wait to publish books seven and eight hopefully in 2016. I already have the covers prepared!

The next three completed printed proofs should be delivered to my house on Monday. I can’t wait to see them! I’m delighted with the first three proofs.

Gadgets and gizmos

Anticipation

Exciting times

11.11.2015

I ordered printed proof copies of ‘Random Bullets’ today. I am thrilled at the prospect of soon being able to hold a printed book that I have written in my hands. It should arrive next week. If I approve the proof, then Amazon will distribute ‘Random Bullets’ to the world. I am now going to do the same for ‘Potholes and Magic Carpets’ and my other books.

The next step

10.11.2015

I decided to break off from writing for a day or so in order to organise the printing of my latest book, Random Bullets. I think it is my best book thus far and two reviews stated that the readers could not put it down. I need to provide paperback versions for folk that dislike eBooks, for book signings and for sale on Amazon.  I hope to then organise the printing of Potholes and Magic Carpets and the rest of my books. As usual, I am tackling everything single-handed. Wish me luck!

A slight change of plan

26th October 2015

After publishing Random Bullets, which I am delighted to report has recently gained its first five-star review I had been intending to write a collection of short stories. I have written ten of these stories over the past month that I was happy with. I am still planning to write another ten to complete the book, but before I strive to accomplish this, my eleventh short story has served me a curve ball. This particular short story emphatically told me that it needs to become an entire book. Who am I to disagree?

Without giving the game away concerning the content of the book, suffice it to say that it is another contemporary erotic fantasy thriller. However, it is shaping up to be nothing like my latest book, Random Bullets. I sense that the fantasy element will be even stronger, judging by the first ten pages that I have already written. In my opinion, and also in the opinion of one of the readers of the book who said that they could not put it down, Random Bullets is probably my best offering thus far. Hopefully I can outdo myself with this next book. Whatever happens, I am thoroughly enjoying the process of writing it, which is always a very good sign.

On another note, one morning a few days ago I received an interesting email from an editor-in-chief of the erotic book section of a publishing company. She said that if Potholes and Magic Carpets is still available, her company would be ‘happy to consider publishing it.’ To be honest, I had forgotten that I had sent them the first 50 pages of the book over three months ago. Since sending it, I had decided to self-publish all of my books on Amazon as eBooks, which is exactly what I have done.

In the afternoon, I received another email from a different woman in the same department of the erotic book publishers. She informed me that she had taken over the job of the woman who had originally emailed me that morning. She told me that once she had read it, she would let me know whether or not she too thought my book was worthy of her company publishing it. At least she had the good grace to apologise for any confusion. To say that I was confused is an understatement. I await her decision with interest.

I never consciously set out to write erotic fiction. Erotic elements seem to mysteriously creep into my writing. I try to ensure that there are always many other elements and levels to my books over and above the erotic content. It is not my fault that most of my characters enjoy sex. After all, they are only human.

Random Bullets, my sixth book

On 27th September 2015, with very little splash, bunting and brouhaha, I self-published Random Bullets on Amazon at the eye-watering price of £0.99. It is an erotic thriller with a fantasy twist. The low price of my latest eBook is in keeping with my policy to keep all of my books affordable for everyone. I mentioned the fact that I had published Random Bullets on Twitter, on Vine, my Facebook author page and my website with very little effect because I have only sold three copies to date. Luckily, I have now steeled myself for very little response, so I expected as much to happen. I know that the biggest threat to my love of writing is a feeling of despondency due to realising that nobody gives a hoot whether I have published a new book or not. Only acclaimed, long-standing authors have readers panting for the release of their latest oeuvre. Realism has crept into my life over the three months since I published my first five books on Amazon following my initial unsustainable euphoria.

I am now working on a collection of short stories of mixed genres and thoroughly enjoying the experience. I am sticking to my timetable of writing from eleven in the morning until six in the evening. Decent book sales would be a very welcome cherry on the cake, but unless I throw time and money into promoting the books it is unlikely to happen. I am more interested in writing than in promoting the end result, but I probably will change the emphasis at some point over the next few years. There are apparently many con artists out there keen to profit from promoting an author’s books, especially if the author is self-published. I do not want my enjoyment of writing tainted because of falling foul of this type of unscrupulous business. At this point, my books can take their chances with a minimum of publicity amidst the millions of others on offer.

Ironically, I have just listened to a televised discussion of the topic of authors buying reviews of their books. I wonder whether the public will suspect book reviews in future and not rely on them to make their book purchasing decisions. Until recently, I yearned for more starred book reviews, but only genuine ones. I would only be interested in receiving honest, above board reviews and would not dream of buying one to appear more established and venerated than I really am. Authors who buy their reviews have muddied the waters for everyone. What price literary fame based on dishonesty? I hope this shady practice of buying book reviews will be stamped out so that the true value of a book review can be restored.

Reviews over Revenue

I have decided to reduce all five of my fiction books to £0.99 each for the foreseeable future. This is because I would prefer people to read them than scroll past them on Amazon because they cannot afford to buy them. When Amazon allows me to reduce my non-fiction, Living with Postcards book, then I will reduce that too. I am confident that all of my books are worth considerably more than £0.99 each, but there are so many other books for sale on Amazon at low prices that I cannot justify charging more.

It has been a couple of months since I first published five of my books as ebooks on Amazon. My sixth book is literally hours away from publication. I have recently realised that reviews are what I need more than revenue. Without a five star review, the reading public cannot be expected to trust a book to deliver what they expect it to. It is a Catch 22 situation. Without reviews, nobody will buy a book, but the book has to be read to be reviewed. Two of my books have received a five and four star review in the two months since I have published my books. Hopefully I will receive more in the near future or my strenuous efforts to bring my books to the general public will have been in vain. However, I will carry on writing regardless of sales, as it has been such a massively important part of my life for so many years.

Bargain alert!

All four of my fiction books on Amazon are reduced to £0.99 or $1.55 for six days from 23rd August 2015. My non-fiction ‘Living with Postcards’ book is also being reduced to the same price for six days the following week. This is the first time my kindle books have been reduced and I am interested to see what affect, if any, this will have on sales.

Where is everybody?

So, with considerable difficulty, the first part of the task is complete. I am finally a published author, ten years after starting to write my first book. There are now five, almost six of my e-books available to purchase on Amazon by anyone with the urge to buy them. The past year has seen me emailing chunks of each work off to be scrutinised by an ever-increasing number of literary agents. I emailed my last offering to eighty-five agents, but it has so far turned out to be a fruitless occupation, although not all have yet replied. I impatiently decided to shun them all just as they had ever so politely shunned me. After a sudden rush of blood to the head, I opted to self-publish. Some literary agents had made encouraging noises, particularly over my penultimate book, ‘Potholes and Magic Carpets.’ However, as they have hundreds of book samples thrust at them weekly, they said that they did not have space on their lists for little, old me.

After speaking to three authors who have had books published through established publishing houses, I realised that I did not want to work for any publishers in any case, with their deadlines and intrusive input. I have always been a fairly strict self-disciplinarian and do not need anyone to crack the whip to force me to write. Having decided to change tack, I launched myself onto an unsuspecting world, rejecting the constraints and shackles of a traditional publishing house.

The plan was for me to trot along to my friend Diane’s house and pay her husband to upload my books onto Amazon. That particular day, Diane was busy making jam and suggested meeting up the following week. As there was far too much fire in my belly to wait until the following week, I gritted my teeth, girded my loins and decided to tackle the task myself.

I researched the Kindle direct publishing process, watched several YouTube video tutorials on the subject and dived headfirst into the absorbing world of self-publishing. After a few extremely helpful telephone calls and some online correspondence between Diane and myself whenever I hit a brick wall, my first book disappeared up the chute. With the click of a button, it was suddenly made available to the world through Amazon, much to my delirious, giddy delight. I could not have managed it without Diane’s initial assistance and encouragement, for which I am eternally grateful.

Silence then followed with zero response for the first few hours. What had I expected? Did I honestly think that clamorous applause would ring out across the world because a woman in Oldham had published her first book? Irrationally, maybe I was, such was my over-excitement over what I had just achieved. I had no way of knowing what to expect, because I had never even used Amazon to buy other author’s books, having always been an iTunes customer. I was so hyped up on adrenaline and over-work after succeeding in my ambition after a decade of trying, it was hard for me to come to terms with the fact that the world fundamentally did not give a damn about my book, not deep down, not like I did. Why should they?

To blot out the deafening silence, I immediately ploughed my way through publishing the remaining four, already written books. Over the next couple of weeks, I learned more about the entire process. I was engrossed to the point of obsession, twiddling with my laptop for over twelve hours each day, revising each book countless times until I was satisfied with content, layout and covers. Having earned a living for over twenty years as a graphic designer who has laid out artwork for other author’s books, it is a joy to lay out my own literary works.

I eagerly looked at my sales figures at least six times a day during the next few days and was ecstatic when the first book of my Mug trilogy was purchased by a mystery buyer in America. Oddly, my first three buyers were from America, despite me being a British author. I am doing much of what new, self-publishing authors should do; I bought a domain name, set up my first author’s website and created my page on Author Central. I promote my books on Twitter, Vine, Spreaker, LinkedIn, Facebook and anywhere else that I can think of. I am mindful that too much self-promotion could be irritating and counter-productive. However, such was my initial over-excitement that I am embarrassed to admit that I even informed my neighbour, three taxi drivers and two Tesco deliverymen about my book publishing enterprises. I could sense their polite indifference.

My mother eventually managed to access my Amazon Author page and telephoned me from Jersey to rave about how much she loved my non-fiction, ‘Living with Postcards’ book sample. Gaining any sort of praise from my mother has always been quite an achievement and her words touched me deeply.

‘I shan’t be buying any of your books until they’re in print,’ she added. I smiled and sighed. So like my mother. She eventually bought all five books and I am now awaiting the backlash, as most of my books have a fair sprinkling of sex in them and three are mainly autobiographical.

It has been three weeks since all of my five books were published on Amazon. There have been nineteen book sales worldwide during that time, nine books of which were bought by either me, my mother or my sister, who is reading her way through ‘the Mug Trilogy.’ They have both given me welcome, constructive criticism which I have acted upon. Perhaps there might be an increase in sales when the price is discounted to $1.99 for a week in late August, a normal part of the traditional, Amazon book-selling strategy. I am still finding my feet as far as the pricing of my books goes. I am considering permanently lowering the prices because they are only e-books, despite my decade of hard work to produce them. It takes much longer than three weeks to build even minor publishing success, especially as an unknown non-celebrity.

I am content now that my life-long ambition of becoming a published author has been achieved. Am I disheartened by the understandably slow response? I was initially mildly deflated, but that sinking feeling has diminished and will never deter me from completing books six, seven and however many books I am lucky enough to produce in my lifetime. Book sales are a secondary incidental to me because I am aware that the competition from other writers is intense and growing daily. Fortunately, my main pleasure comes from the writing process itself. I was never in it for the money, which is just as well.