Category: General

FREE today! Great urban fantasy from Jen Rasmussen

I just spotted that there’s some great urban fantasy free today. Grim Haven was a 4* read for me (high praise when I’m not even an urban fantasy fan!) – I found it great fun, with some truly atmospheric moments (the word ‘Hitchcockian’ was used). Highly recommended, so hie thee to Amazon and pick up a copy free, gratis and for nothing. I’ve no idea how long it will be free, so don’t hang about. Here’s the blurb: Years ago, Verity Thane turned her back on a hometown teeming with dangers and consumed by dark magic, swearing to herself she would never return. Now, she has no place else to go. When she’s cornered into using her magic to save mysterious Cooper Blackwood from a chilling supernatural attack, Verity is unwittingly drawn into a war with a clan of lethal monsters. Hunted and burned out of her home, she’s forced […]

Posted March 28, 2017 by PaulineMRoss in Archive, General, News / 0 Comments

More new covers, and a competition for 50+ books

More Brightmoon covers Here are some more stunning new covers from Deranged Doctor Design. The changeover has begun with the first three books, so just for a while you’ll see both the old and new covers around – it’s not easy updating paperback and ebook covers all at the same time, when there are seven books in the series so far! And a great competition I’ve joined up with 50 other fantasy authors to offer you the chance to win an amazing collection of books AND a Kindle Fire! The Fire Mages is in there, plus books from some fantastic authors, like Michael J Sullivan, Intisar Khanani, D K Holmberg, Michael Ploof and lots more. One lucky person will win a Kindle Fire and a copy of every book shown, and a second winner will get all the books. Click the image to enter the competition. Not read The Magic […]

Posted March 25, 2017 by PaulineMRoss in General, Publishing/marketing / 2 Comments

2016 review: Part 2: Reading

There was a time when I read 100+ books a year. In 2012, it was 108, and I also had time to review them all, write series reviews and compose long, detailed essays about my reading-related thoughts. In 2013, I read 91 books. In 2014, the year I published the first of my own books, it was 61, then 57 in 2015. In 2016 it was just 46, and that included a month in Australia with my Kindle, and a whole shedload of long-haul flights. This is the trouble with writing — it eats away at my reading time. And that also means that I have to be more selective with what I read, and I tend to be less experimental. Out come the tried-and-trusted authors, whose work I know I’ll enjoy. And the effect of that is that my average rating on Goodreads has risen from 3.3 stars to […]

Posted January 16, 2017 by PaulineMRoss in General, Ramblings / 0 Comments

Authors Answer 7: Christmas is coming! In your opinion, what would be the perfect gift for a writer?

{Yes, yes, I’m very out of sync here – but Christmas is always coming so…} Oooh, I can answer this, because I recently found the perfect gift for me. I added it to my wishlist, and… nobody bought it for me. Oh. Here it is: Isn’t that… erm, really, really naff? But cute and fun. If you don’t mind the idea of Jane Austen wearing a shocking pink spencer, that is. And look, she has her own quill pen and a copy of Pride and Prejudice. So, so cute. Serious answers? Do I have to? Oh, all right then. Scrivener, because it’s positively the best writing environment ever in the history of writing environments. There are plenty of word-processor wrappers which guide an author through the necessary steps to writing nirvana (or a completed manuscript, at least). Scrivener doesn’t do that, but what it does do is to allow the […]

Posted January 15, 2016 by PaulineMRoss in AuthorsAnswer, General / 0 Comments

2016 strategy part 2: launches and promotions

I talked in part 1 about my writing and publishing career to date, and my writing plans for 2016. This time, I want to talk about the other half of the writing/publishing equation, which is launching and promotion, or telling the world your books exist. There’s a lot of talk about marketing strategies and building a platform and the value of blog tours or Facebook boosts or whatever. However, the only truly effective measure I’ve found has been paid promotion via mailing list sites. The most effective ones included Ereader News Today, One Hundred Free Books, Book Barbarian, Robin Reads, FreeBooksy/BargainBooksy, Booksends and Free Kindle Books and Tips. Both discounted books (setting the price to 99c) and free worked well. Having a mailing list is reputed to be a good way to boost a new book launch, by setting the book to a special low price for a day or […]

Posted January 7, 2016 by PaulineMRoss in General, Publishing/marketing, Writing musings / 0 Comments

It’s awards nomination time!

It’s the time of year when blogs and forums all over the internet compile their best-of lists, and some of the bigger ones have proper awards, with nominations and voting and so on. This wouldn’t normally affect me much. I usually haven’t read most of the books nominated, haven’t even heard of a lot of them, so I vote for the one or two I’ve read and off I go. But sometimes an amazing thing happens – you scan the list of nominations, and find YOUR OWN BOOK! Yes, folks, The Fire Mages has received a nomination in Reddit’s r/Fantasy Stabby Awards, in the self-published and independent category. Which leaves me almost speechless with joy, even though I have zero chance of winning (there are some fantastic books in that category). So thank you, thank you, thank you, whoever nominated the book – you made a small-time author very happy. […]

Posted January 2, 2016 by PaulineMRoss in General, Publishing/marketing, The Fire Mages / 8 Comments

One day only! 60 science fiction and fantasy books FREE!

UPDATE: The promotion is officially over, but many of these books are still free, so it’s worth checking out. Just be sure that the book you want is still free before downloading. Yes, folks, for today only (Tuesday 3rd November) you can download up to 60 scifi and fantasy novels completely FREE, all either the first in a series or standalone. One of my favourite authors, Australian Glenda Larke, has made The Aware free for the occasion, book 1 of the Isles of Glory. I loved her Stormlords Trilogy and the standalone Havenstar, so I’m looking forward to reading this one, which was shortlisted for the Aurealis Awards. Here’s the blurb: “A halfbreed’s search for a mysterious slave woman leads her to a lawless land of dark dunmagic and an evil that poses a threat to all the Isles of Glory.” There are lots of other great reads available, from […]

Posted November 3, 2015 by PaulineMRoss in General, Publishing/marketing, The Plains of Kallanash / 0 Comments

I’m away for a few days…

…so there may not be any posts for the next week or so. Happily, my trips always allow me plenty of reading time, so there will be some reviews coming soon. Watch out for my 5* review of The Living Throne, part 3 of H Anthe Davis’s stunning epic fantasy series. I’ll also be reviewing another of Dawn Lee McKenna’s atmospheric suspense tales set in the Florida panhandle, What Washes Up. And in current reading, I’m deep into Clara Benson’s country house cozy, The Mystery At Underwood House, and just starting a popular traditional epic fantasy, Arcane, by Sever Bronny. After that, one of my favourite series returns: To The Gap is the fourth part of Kyra Halland’s enjoyable fantasy western series. The Mages of Bennamore is just 99 cents in the US (99p in UK) from 7th August! If you haven’t yet picked up a copy of the newest […]

Posted August 5, 2015 by PaulineMRoss in General, Publishing/marketing / 0 Comments

Hi folks – I’m back!

Yep, I’ve been away on holiday for a while, driving the campervan the length of Britain and through the channel tunnel (on the train!) to France for a weekend motorcycle event at Dijon. Then driving back again. Three solid days of driving in each direction, then parking in a field. But everything went well, the weather was not too horrible, French campsites and motorways turned out to be very civilised and we made it back home safely. So the blog will be getting back to business soon, with a review of Patty Jansen’s sci-fi Ambassador 1: Seeing Red, and an update on my own books.

Posted June 5, 2015 by PaulineMRoss in General / 0 Comments

Out visiting

I’m out visiting today: guest posting over at Anela’s blog, Amid The Imaginary, on the subject of what makes for a compelling read. It’s an interesting question, which will have a different answer for everyone. You can read my answer here. Have a wander round the blog while you’re there. Anela is a great reviewer, and she focuses solely on self-published fantasy and sci-fi.

Posted April 17, 2015 by PaulineMRoss in General / 0 Comments