News

The Art of Self-Promotion - by Anon.

Golden Duck — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 21:25:55 +0000

'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

Golden Duck — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 12:47:46 +0000

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

Golden Duck — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 09:02:36 +0000

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

Golden Duck — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 13:31:00 +0000

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?

Golden Duck — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 11:52:32 +0000

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

Season's Greetings from YouGov & FutureBook

Golden Duck — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 14:16:45 +0000

Season's Greetings by Claudia MyattClaudia My att might call this Season's Greetings and that is what the flags say. But I call it The Woman Who Didn't Get a Kindle for Christmas.

See my sackfuls of seasonal statistics at the Authors Electric blogspot

not quite normal service

Golden Duck — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 13:47:31 +0000

sorry everyone - I've broken my leg and Francis has had his second spine operation. Loads of lovely friends and family helping (eg Archie decorating the plaster) but Golden Duck's high professional standards might slip a bit over next few weeks. many apols if so.

Debbie's Idea - Mothers Lost and Found

Golden Duck — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 10:14:52 +0000

Debbie's Idea: I only knew of this book-site as a Good Idea - a place where readers could get advice on the crucial question "where to start reading x ...?" I had contributed some suggestions where to start reading Margery Allingham (though I'm not sure I came down very firmly at any particular point). Mentally I registered it as having a sense of a personality behind it and a real love of books. Then, recently, I remebered it and I sent little Salty paddling across the Atlantic to see if there was a safe haven in New York. This led to some correspondence with Ellen Pall, the founder of the site, and I learned a little about Debbie Sankey, the book lover who had had the Idea. Belatedly I have read Ellen's account of her first meeting with Debbie and the poignant, unsuspected link that bound them together. Ellen is a writer and her article Mothers Lost and Found is one that I will treasure.

LoveReading4Kids

Golden Duck — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 13:32:06 +0000

It's been impossible not to panic about the likely reception for A Ravelled Flag - the middle movement of the Strong Winds trilogy - a bit longer, structurally more complex, less charming perhaps, certainly darker. I wonder whether Louise Weir, founder and director of Love Reading, realises quite what her generous comments on this second volume have meant to me? (Or indeed, Seona Ford, Chairman of the Essex Book Festival, who wrote a personal letter saying how much she had enjoyed this sequel.)

The Lovereading comment:

The story of 14 year old Donny and his new found friends that began in The Salt-Stained Book continues in this gripping sequel. Donny's long lost great Aunt has arrived from China on a boat and rescued him and his mother from the care system. Her gorgeous boat Strong Winds (a Chinese junk) becomes their home but it's not long before Donny and his friends and family are caught up in yet more dark, intense and suspense-filled action and adventure that is cleverly interspersed with Chinese tales from great aunt Ellen's life and a good dose of wit as well. It's a great read. Volume three Ghosting Home will be published in Summer 2012.

And more than that, Louise called the SSB "a very special book" Phew!

Authors Electric

Golden Duck — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 13:38:30 +0000

This photo of Maddi reading the Salt-Stained Book on holiday in New Zealand is, as far as I'm concerned, perfect. It certainly wouldn't be quite as enchanting if she was snuggled down on the sofa with her electronic tablet. But that's the way many people's reading will be moving and there are many obvious advantages to the electronic format. If you are travelling for instance, and space is at a premium. If you're squashed in a train or living in a boat reading on a tablet may be just the thing. Also - if you're living in New Zealand and the book you want to read is published only in the UK - there's the whole question of the shipping and the extra cost of the printed version.

So I've been converted to publishing in both formats - print and electronic - and am inspired and encouraged by other members of the Authors Electric group who are using the electronic medium to re-pubish their backlist books or publish new work that doesn't fit the commercial mould - as the Salt-Stained Book did not. In the process I've discovered a whole new tranche of work I'd like to read. (Only trouble is ... I can't quite wean myself from print. Not at the end of the day when I'm on the sofa, in the bath of sinking down into those pillows. Perhaps I'd better pack a rucksack, get on a peak time tube, find a boat and set off for on holiday to New Zealand.)