Wednesday 24 April 2013

Win a Free Edit worth $60/£40

 
This week I have something very special
for all you writers out there -
 
 Andrea Harding from Express Editing Solutions
is offering a free 10k word edit to one lucky person for their manuscript or short story worth $60/£40!!
 
Below, Andrea has written a wonderful guest post about how she came to be
an editor. Beneath the post you can find out how to enter the competition.
 
 
My mother, affectionately nicknamed Mammacat (we’re a cat kind of family), retired last year, after 38 years of teaching. She taught children aged 5-11 and was head of Literacy for many years. Recently, we were discussing my editing. She asked me why writers don’t just learn how spell and use grammar correctly. I tried to explain it to her in terms that she’d understand.

You see, when those tiny little budding minds that she’s so used to teaching sit down to take tests and exams at the tender age of seven, they do something called ‘the long write’. The long write is usually a story composition of some kind; it is marked on different criteria, and the resulting piece of work is given a ‘Level’, usually between 1 and 3 (with 3 being awarded to the highest achievers). Children who attain a Level 2 might have simply wonderful stories, but they might not have yet mastered the art of using a sentence, correct spellings or punctuation. The children who attain Level 3 can do all of these things and more, but sometimes their imaginations are somewhat lacking, and their stories are dull as dishwater.

This is how I explained the relationship between authors and editors: authors are your Level 2 children, their minds overflowing with wonderful characters and stories that are just aching to spill out onto the page; sometimes so much so that things like spelling, grammar, punctuation are forgotten, unimportant, barriers that their stories have to hurdle to be indelibly set onto a page. Editors, however, are Level 3 children, sometimes lacking in their own ideas, but with a great attention to detail, a phenomenal capacity for rules and their application.

Anyway, I told Mammacat not to question it; my skills would be surplus to requirements if all authors were Level 3s.

If you asked me how I came to start editing, I don’t think I’d be able to actually tell you. Before I started busying myself with trying to help people improve on them, I read an extraordinary amount of books. I believe last year I actually read somewhere in the region of 180 of the things. I just can’t get enough. But with the dawn of a new technological age and the birth of the Kindle and other e-readers, I discovered more and more books with more and more errors in them.
 



Mammacat and I have a history of needing to be separated at functions such as weddings and funerals, because we would end up pointing out and giggling at typos in the programs; we photographed and shared badly sign-written vans we have been sat behind at traffic lights and plaques that beggar belief; it was hardly surprising that I became one of those annoying/helpful (delete as applicable) people who started emailing authors with lists of errors I had found in their books.

One such author was Griffin Hayes, who has not just become one of my favourite authors, but also a valued friend; he was the one that pushed me to push myself, recommending that I set up on a freelance basis.
 
I love working with a variety of authors who write within a range of different genres. Some people have commented that my low pricings are unprofessional, but at the end of the day, I already have a day job: I can pay my bills. I edit for the love of a good book; it’s my hobby, my passion and where my real talent lies. If I can pass all of that on to authors who might not necessarily be able to afford the expense of an editor who charges prices that make people cringe or by the hour, then why shouldn’t I do so? I certainly can’t think of a reason.
 
 
To find out more, visit Andrea's website: Express Editing Solutions
 
 
***THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED***
Winner to be announced May 15th 2013
 If you'd like win an amazing 10,000 word edit from Express Editing Solutions, all you have to do is leave a comment below stating why you would like the prize.
 
(Closing date May 8th 2013. Winner to be announced here on 15th May. The winner must respond within 7 days or the prize will be offered to someone else)

Thursday 18 April 2013

A Free 10K Word Edit

Attention, Authors/Writers/Dabblers!
This is a heads up to let you know that next week I'm running a competition in association with Express Editing Solutions to win a Free 10,000 Word Edit for your manuscript or short story.


Don't miss it.


Monday 15 April 2013

Greenwood Tree Cover Reveal

Today I'm proud to be one of the sites to reveal the cover for
 Greenwood Tree by B. Lloyd

And here it is in all its wondrous glory:



*sigh* *swoon* Gorgeous isn't it? And the story is just as swoonworthy...


Well, what do all mysteries have?' said Aunt Isobel. 'Money, mistresses, and murder.’

1783 – and Lichfield society is enthralled by the arrival of dashing ex-officer Orville; he charms his way into the salons, grand houses and even a great inheritance from extrovert Sir Morton. 

1927 – and detective writer Julia Warren returns to her home in Lichfield to work on her next novel. Initially she hopes to find plot material from the past and set it in the present. Aunt Isobel, while making preparations for the annual midsummer ball, has managed to root out an old journal from 1783 which might prove a source of inspiration. Once Julia starts reading her ancestor’s journal she becomes absorbed in solving the mystery surrounding officer Orville. Detective fever takes over, and she moves from reality to legend as events from the past seem set to re-enact themselves in the present, and she finds herself unravelling more than just the one mystery. Who was Orville? Who was the agent, Oddman, set to spy on him? And who is helpful Mr Grenall ? 

Pagan gods don’t walk away just because you stop looking at them. The Gronny Patch sleeps. Perhaps it dreams. Or perhaps not …

A complex, multi-layered story unlike any other, full of whimsy, horror, and mystery, shifting between the centuries and from source to source, until all the threads are finally drawn together by the imperturbable Miss Warren.

 

 Watch one of the mini trailers here:

 
 

Author Links:
Twitter: @AuthorsAnon

Buy Links:



Thursday 11 April 2013

Free Sci Fi Thriller


is free on Kindle until Sunday 14th April
Grab a copy while you can.


What would it take for the United States to fall from within? In a not too distant future, America is put to the test. With the American people deep in The Second Great Depression and two of the most powerful hurricanes on record to contend with, the United States is in no condition to deal with hidden terrorists on its soil, maniacal politicians, and the most formidable military threat the world has seen since the Third Reich.

This is the story of three men from three very different walks of life: Howard Beck, the world's richest man, also diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome; Richard Dupree, ex-Navy SEAL turned escaped convict; and Maxwell Harris, a crippled, burned-out chief of police of a small Texas town. At first, they must overcome their own struggles and fight for their survival against impossible odds. In the end, the unlikely trio must band together to save their beloved country from COLLAPSE.

Empires topple. Nations crumble. Civilization is fragile. In 2027, America will fall. 

Monday 18 February 2013

Blog Tour for THE CLEARING with Fiction Addiction

My blog tour starts today!!


 
I've hosted other books on their blog tours, but I've never had one of my own,
so I'm very excited to announce that my blog tour for THE CLEARING starts today.
I'd love it if you could join me over the next couple of weeks at the following virtual venues where there'll be interviews, blog posts, giveaways and reviews.
 
 
18th February 2013
19th February 2013
Victoria’s Pages of Romance - Interview & Excerpt
20th February 2013
Reading a Little Bit of Everything - Excerpt & Giveaway
21st February 2013
A Novel Review - Review
22nd February 2013
Story Addict Guest Post
25th February 2013
26th February 2013
Rhoda Baxter - Guest post
27th February 2013
Miss Bookworm Reviews Review & Giveaway
28th February 2013
Book-Marks the Spot - Review & Giveaway
1st March 3013
 
 
Thanks so much to Shaz Goodwin at Fiction Addiction Books on Tour
for her super-special ninja powers of organisation and co-ordination!
 


Monday 28 January 2013