Yesterday, Amazon sent out an email to Kindle users that featured my Bone & Cane, a recent high climber on their charts, as the lead item. I’d heard that Amazon helped promote Kindle books that were doing well, but had forgotten until that email landed in my inbox. An hour later, the book had shot from number seven to number two. An hour after that, it was number one. Where it still is, with sales up 600% yesterday according to the Amazon ‘Movers and Shakers’ chart. This is my debut adult crime novel and my brilliant publishers, Tindal Street Press, are selling it at a special introductory rate in order to build an audience for the series it begins. I was very happy when it…
Great event at Antenna the other night, ‘Contact’, a Word Of Mouth evening organised by Robin Vaughan Williams featuring local writers alternating with international ones, skyping from all over the world. Well done to all involved. The evening concluded with Kelly Malone reading from New Zealand where, because of the international date line it was (almost) time for The Rapture. Here’s some video I shot of it, first with Sue Dymoke’s set. and here’s Kelly Finally, a couple of songs of the week and a little preview of the new Arctic Monkeys album. Oh, and if the world does end at 6pm tonight, thanks for tuning in, it’s been nice knowing you and here’s a couple more songs (No REM – too obvious). The Arctic…
For the last day, the Kindle edition of Bone and Cane has been just outside the paid for in Kindle top 20. My mate Scott says he saw it at number 19 yesterday, but it can’t have been there long, as I checked every couple of hours and the highest it got was 21. I like chartwatching and working out how charts work. eBook charts are a very different thing to music charts, where most artists (other than Adele) tend to peak in the first week or two of release, then drop like a stone. When my publisher, Tindal St Press, told me that they wanted to make the Kindle edition of my debut adult crime novel only £1 for a limited period, I said…
Here’s an extended version of my review from today’s Nottingham Post. It’s been a long wait. Six years since her last album of new songs, ‘Humming By The Flowered Vine’ and a wonderful Rescue Rooms show, Laura Cantrell is back, elegantly dressed in black. Her ‘Kitty Wells’ Dresses’ tribute album has only one new song (the title track, a demo of which can be found here) but is a welcome reminder of the 92 year old Queen of Country’s career, which stretches back more than 70 years. Laura takes to the stage with a lovely ‘Trains and Boats and Planes’, then explains the delay. During the 2005 tour, she was, unknowingly, pregnant. Daughter Bella celebrates her fifth birthday later this month. Tonight, the hour and…
Short post this week, as the sun is shining and I have a huge pile of dissertations to mark, while I wait to Skype my partner in New Zealand. For her, it’ll be bedtime, while I’ll be heading out for a friend’s birthday lunch. We shall be discussing how I use her proxy vote on Thursday, in particular, on the AV referendum. I’m going to vote yes, because it’s fairer, and a small step towards more proportional representation. All of the arguments against aren’t about fairness but about results, and, in particular, punishing the Lib Dems. But if, as seems likely, the ‘no’s prevail, the surest winners will be the Tories, who’ve already gerrymandered boundary changes to ensure it’ll be much easier for them…