The Symptoms of His Madness Were As Follows: is a short animated film by Sheryl Jenkins, based on a short story by me. The story itself is in my collection, The Bridge That Bunuel Built.

It came about through our contact on twitter. Somehow we followed each other. I checked out Sheryl’s work as an animator and wondered if she would be interested in doing something based on one of my stories. I didn’t want a conventional book trailer. But I did want something that could help me promote the collection and my writing. A kind of micro film, if you will.

Symptoms is quite short and intense so I thought that might be a good one to work with. I sent it to Sheryl and she agreed. Right from the start I gave her a pretty open brief – basically, I said take it and do whatever you want with it.

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’m currently researching my next novel, the third in the Silas Quinn series. In fact, I’m reaching the stage where I’m thinking about putting the history books to one side and doing some actual writing.

The first thing I will have to do is turn the rather loose outline I submitted to my publisher into something I can actually work from. A detailed, chapter by chapter synopsis.

Usually, it’s my favourite part of the process. Fleshing out the bones of the plot, tying myself in knots and then teasing out the strands. But this time I’m experiencing a strange sense of resistance. In fact, I read the first line of my outline and winced. What kind of sick bastard came up with that idea? I thought. Oh, it was me.

I remembered my editor’s response to the outline when I sent it to her. “Seriously, I worry about your imagination!!!” Still, she commissioned the book – without asking me to tone down any of the gruesome elements. And whenever I’ve met her she’s struck me as a perfectly respectable individual.

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I’ve been memed. Barry Forshaw, critic, author and editor of the CrimeTime website, has named me in the Next Big Thing. Ten questions in ten minutes is the idea.

So here goes:
1) What is the working title of your next book?

The book is called The Mannequin House. It started life as a novella called The Monkey and The Mannequin. Or was it the Mannequin and the Monkey? Something like that. I suppose that was the working title.
2) Where did the idea come from for the book?

The book’s set in a department store in 1914. I love the idea of those early department stores and have long wanted to write a novel set in one – ever since reading The Ladies’ Paradise by Zola. The store in my book is loosely based on Whiteleys. I discovered that William Whiteley was shot and killed in his own store. So that fed into my story.

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I invited people to ask me questions about my new book, The Mannequin House, or about my writing in general. I got so many great questions that I decided to split the answers into three videos.

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I’m delighted to welcome another bold adventurer in e-publishing, Maria (MG) Harris, author of the popular Joshua Files series of thrillers for pre-teens and teenagers, Invisible City, Ice Shock, Zero Moment, Dark Parallel and Apocalypse Moon, all published by Scholastic. Maria has now self-published a further e-book, drawing on the same fictional universe, The Descendant.

RM: Maria, you’ve written on your own blog about the increasing numbers of authors ‘dipping a toe in the self-publishing waters’. What are your own reasons for going down this route?

MG: For the last twelve months or so, seems to me that I’m hearing more about self-publishing than traditional. Maybe it’s just an obsession with the new, or a kind of opportunism, that’s gripping authors right now. Maybe in a couple of years everything will return to normal.

I tend to trust my instincts about business: I started working in biotech when the UK had just one ‘proper’ biotech company – and then watched the sector boom. I left bioscience in 1996, to set up an IT business because I sensed that the Internet sector was about to take off. Mind you – both sectors went through bubble periods too…

That’s how I feel about self-publishing right now. I can’t explain it any better – it’s a gut reaction to what I’m picking up. And – when this happens – I have to get involved!

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Today’s adventurer in e-publishing is Seumas Gallacher, author and self-publisher of The Violin Man’s Legacy ebook. Seumas has achieved staggering success with his novel, reaching no.3 in the Amazon UK bestseller thriller chart.

RM: So, Seumas, could you start by telling us how many sales and/or free downloads of The Violin Man’s Legacy there have been so far—if you don’t mind sharing that information?

SG: I’m delighted to share the numbers with you. Paid downloads are 16,000+, and the Kindle free promo just completed drew another 8,000+, for a total so far of 24,000+, which just blows my mind as an unknown unpublished new author.

Enviable figures indeed. What do you put your success down to?

The flippant answer would be ‘sheer luck’, and from what I now understand about the writing industry that I’ve learned in the last four years, that’s not so far off the mark. I’ve been putting in a lot of the leg work since finishing the book, and have caught on to the phrase and concept ‘building a platform’. Rachel Abbott, the darling of the indies at the moment, has done tons of research and generously shares in her blogs the ‘how to get it to the market’ after the writing’s done. The business approach calls for budgeted time, split among writing; reading other writers; blogs; reviews; social networking, particularly with peers on the like of Twitter. As a businessman I appreciate that model and I’m trying to emulate that now.

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Thirst eDition Fiction is a new e-publishing venture that launches today April 23, with the release of three titles: A Proper Job by Ian Hocking, Dragonchaser by Tim Stretton and Mean, Mode, Median by Aliya Whiteley. Future titles include Basic Theology for Fallen Women by Frances Garrood and a re-launch of my own The Bridge That Bunuel Built (interest declared). The man behind Thirst eDitions is Matt Curran, who as MFW Curran is the author of the Macmillan-published fantasy novels, The Secret War and The Hoard of Mhorrer.

RM: Matt, I called Thirst eDition Fiction an “e-publishing venture”. How would you describe it?

MC: Hi Roger, “an e-publishing venture” is probably the best way to describe what we’re doing here. Or perhaps a “self-e-publishing venture” to be more exact. I’ve heard it being called a writer’s co-operative, or a “writer’s group with added benefits” even. But it’s easy to get hung up on definitions. What we’re doing here is working with commercial authors on non-commercial projects, or projects trade publishing deem as too risky to get behind under the current financial climate, but it’s the author who is driving the publication. In essence it is self-publishing but with a whole lot of support from other, commercial authors.

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Many words have been used to describe my e-published collection of short stories, The Bridge That Bunuel Built: bizarre, quirky, surreal, dark, weird, certifiable, brilliant (that wasn’t me who said that, but someone did, I promise!). Now we can add “free” to the list. That’s right. For a few days only this stylishly designed and durable e-book will be available on amazon for a cost so low it is literally not a cost at all. It is free. So it’s a good time to buy it. Or not buy it. Because it’s free. Steal it, legally. It’s okay. You can even put an eye-patch over one eye and pretend to be a pirate if you like.

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Got a nice trawl of responses to my readers’ survey on e-books. My thanks to everyone who took part.

With 56% of the vote, the most popular e-reader by far was the Kindle. The Sony e-reader came second with 11%. (One respondent was vehemently opposed to the Kindle, on the grounds of software incompatibility. Kindle-fans spoke positively of the reading experience.)

64% said they buy more books now than before they owned an e-reader. 34% said they are buying about the same. No one says they are buying fewer books. So that’s a good thing, isn’t it?

Everyone of the people who took part in my survey said they are still visiting bricks and mortar bookshops. No one has stopped buying print books altogether, though two people said it’s very rare for them to buy a print book these days. (My wife, who did not take part in the survey, says she has given up buying print books now she has a kindle. That said, she didn’t buy a lot of books before, she just read the ones I’d bought!)

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I’ve been canvassing the views of authors and publishers involved in e-publishing. But I thought it was about time I heard from the people who really matter, the readers. So I’ve put together a short(ish) questionnaire. It’s really designed for people who have an e-reader of some kind, but I would also be interested in hearing from people who don’t have a kindle (or equivalent). The question for you, I suppose, is are you intending to get one, or will you never succumb?

So here are the questions. Please leave your answers in a comment. Feel free to answer as many or few of the questions as you like. Or if you prefer, just leave a general comment about your views on ebooks. I just want to hear from readers (this includes writers who are also readers, of course!). Thank you!

What type of ereader do you own? Eg Kindle, Kobo, Sony, iPad, Android… (Are there any others?)
Do you buy more books overall now that you have an e-reader? Or fewer?
What was the last ebook you bought and when was that?
When was the last time you went in a bricks and mortar bookshop?
How many ebooks do you buy per month? 0-1; 2-4; 5-10; blimey -how many books can you read in a month!? Or “don’t know”.
Have you stopped buying print books entirely since owning an ereader?
If no, what is the ratio of ebooks to print books? Mostly ebooks. Mostly print books. About half and half. Don’t know.

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