The Art of Self-Promotion - by Anon.

'Ad ter larf. Bust my brains reading self-help articles, how improve one's Amazon ranking etc etc then sweated blood to turn this into a bearable post for Authors Electric. Sat up until small hours wrestling with idiosyncracies of Blogger and finally forgot to add my name to the completed article. Susan Price, site moderator, deeply unimpressed by this.

Slightly Foxed

I already knew that Slightly Foxed ran an attractive and readable quarterly magazine. Now I discover that they have a bookshop. They've taken over the Gloucester Road Bookshop and stocked it with a mix of carefully chosen old and new titles. Better still, their winter newsletter features A Ravelled Flag with three other recommended children's titles. Really rather exciting - I'm longing to visit. Meanwhile here's their website address. http://www.foxedbooks.com/

Sailing from a Sofa

Especially enjoyed Claudia Myatt's recent blog about the pleasures of yacht cruising, as opposed to racing, and the almost equal pleasure, during the winter months, of reading about other people's amazing exploits from the safety of a sofa. Writing such adventures is fun too - and I hope even now Claudia is keeping snug by her radiator as she draws hapless windsurfers tumbling off their boards in ever more outlandish ways.

Too Many Books - from Amanda Craig's blog

Amanda Craig described the sackfuls of books for review that arrive daily at her house. Her space to review children's books  for the Times has been cut from once a week to once every three weeks. Her piece is an eloquent statement of why this matters. If we care, she says, please write to James, Harding, the editor of the Times. I have.

Amanda wrote a generous review of The Salt-Stained Book on June 25th 2011. She says that she 'loved' A Ravelled Flag but no longer has space to write about it. Promises to read Ghosting Home but cannot undertake to do more than offer a comment. If you like a book, says Amanda, or your friends do - then post a review on Amazon or give it stars. Apparently that's what really matters now.

This does seem a pity.   Click here to read Amanda's piece

Ghosting Home?

Be afraid, be very afraid - the Hispaniola is coming up the river! Claudia Myatt's wonderful imaingative response to one ofthe incidents in Ghosting Home. Publication scheduled for July 2nd 2012  ISBN 9781899262069