Paying more for your digital downloads? Here’s why!

 

If you live in the UK or any of the EU countries and are in the habit of buying digitally provided services, then this post is for you. It doesn’t matter what you buy, whether it’s music, ebooks, software, apps, films, games, screensavers, even crochet or knitting patterns, I could go on for ever, then you have been paying more for them from the beginning of this year. In fact, anything you download from the internet to your computer, mobile phone, android tablet or iPad etc, is now costing you more!

 

The reason for this is quite simple. It’s the new EU VAT rules on the supply of electronic services to the consumer, that’s you.

The implementation of this legislation has caused a storm of protest from the suppliers of these services, many of whom have stopped trading because the rules are so onerous, so, apart from paying more for your knitting or crochet pattern, or your specialist software, you may find your favourite seller is no longer trading. And while you, as a buyer, are only affected if you live in the UK or EU, sellers worldwide have been affected by the changes with which they must comply, or risk penalties for non-compliance. But enough of the sellers, because this post is intended for you, the buyer.

The EU brought in this legislation to crack down on the big conglomerates like Amazon and Apple, who register in Luxembourg so they can sell their goods with only 3% VAT added, which is the Luxembourg rate. This was felt to be tax dodging, so the new rules stipulate that instead of applying the VAT rate associated with the seller’s country, they are now to be applied according to the rates of the buyer’s country.

The outcome is that if you buy an ebook, computer software, apps, music, films etc in the UK, which have to be downloaded, then you will be paying the 20% VAT rate instead of the previous 3% VAT rate, and that applies to the crochet and knitting patterns as well. However, think yourself lucky you don’t live in Hungary, because the VAT rate there is a massive 27%.

There is a catch though, and it’s due to all the EU countries having different VAT rates. If you go on holiday and download something using a local wifi connection, then you will pay that country’s VAT rate. Moral – don’t download anything in Hungary.

It’s ironic, really, legislation implemented by the EU to prevent tax dodging by the big conglomerates won’t add anything to their costs, because it’s the buyer who pays the VAT. And that is you!

So, if you download something and say to yourself, I’m sure that was cheaper in December, don’t blame the seller, blame the EU.

Check out the EU VAT Action Campaign Group

Chris Longmuir

http://www.chrislongmuir.co.uk/

Amazon

Amazon Author Page

Amazon UK

Amazon.com

Apple iBooks

ITunes Book Page UK

iTunes Book Page US

 

Ebooks – Time to Take Stock

Chris Longmuir at the launch of  Dead Wood
The International Book Prize winner, 2009

Every author who publishes eBooks is fascinated by sales figures.

 
It’s easy to check sales figures on Amazon’s Kindle publishing platform so the newly published author may be unable to resist the urge to keep checking, and may visit the reports section of the site several times a day, noting with glee every single download of their book. However, with the publication of more books, plus the development of a more blasé attitude, these visits lessen, tapering to once a day, then maybe once a week, finally ending up at once a month, in order to check the sales figures for that specific month. I don’t think I’ll ever get too blasé to omit the monthly check.
 
Of course, many authors juggle their prices and offer promotions, and it’s a good idea to keep checking whether these have resulted in additional sales. For me, it’s too much effort to go down this route, and although I did try it a couple of times, I discovered it made no difference at all to my sales figures. So I reckon I won’t be doing any more juggling, or going down the promotional road again. I am wondering, however, whether the VAT (Value Added Tax) increase from 3% to 20% will have an effect on sales because it will push up the price of all eBooks.
 
It is of value, though, to run an annual check to see which of your eBooks has performed best. So, given it’s December, the last month of the year, I thought I would have a quick tally to see how my eBooks were doing. So here are the results:-
 
My top best-selling eBooks
 

1.  Night Watcher

2.  Dead Wood (rounded up because it’s only been on sale for 7 months)

3.  Missing Believed Dead

4.  The Death Game

5.  Ghost Train (short stories)

6.  Crime Fiction and the Indie Contribution

 

7. A Salt Splashed Cradle

8.  Obsession (short stories)

 
In terms of author earnings the list would look the same with the exception of 5, 6 and 7. Number 6, my non fiction book Crime Fiction and the Indie Contribution, which sold less than half the number of copies compared to Ghost Train, earned approximately four times more than Ghost Train, and A Salt Splashed Cradle, my historical saga earned three times more. Therefore my two lowest earners are my two cheapest books, no wonder I refer to them as loss leaders. In fact, when I think about it, the profit from the sale of either of these books wouldn't even be enough to cover the cost of getting into the toilets at Edinburgh Station.
 
Compiling these figures was interesting for me, from the point of view that my Dundee Crime Series is selling better than the other books, which indicates to me that series are popular. The first book of the series, Night Watcher, is consistently selling far more than the others, even my International Dundee Prize winning book, Dead Wood. But I suppose that only indicates that readers like to read book one of a series first.
 
The other interesting thing is that my two loss leaders, selling at 0.99c/77p, are at the bottom of the leader board, and the $4.99/£3.00 books are doing far better (NB: the UK price will rise after 1st Jan due to VAT increases)
 

The Winner is

 

Beat the price rise by downloading now

 

Note: From 1st January 2015 the VAT (Value Added Tax) charged on ebooks will increase from 3% to 20%. I won’t get anything extra, but the government will!

 

Chris Longmuir

 

 

 

http://www.chrislongmuir.co.uk/

 Amazon

Amazon Author Page

 

Amazon UK

 
Amazon.com
 
Apple iBooks

ITunes Book Page UK

iTunes Book Page US

 

 

 

Authors Electric Christmas e-Book Bargains

http://authorselectric.blogspot.co.uk/p/electric-are-proud-to-bring-you-their.html

Did Santa put a Kindle or maybe another make of ereader in your stocking, then what are you waiting for? Hop over to Authors Electric and check out the e-book bargains, you might see something you like. It runs from Christmas Day until 28th December, and the authors featured on Authors Electric are the cream of the ebook writers and publishers. Providing you choose the kind of book you like reading, I guarantee you won’t be disappointed.

Happy christmas everyone.

Chris Longmuir

http://www.chrislongmuir.co.uk/

Amazon Author Page

Amazon UK

Amazon.com

Sink or Swim – It’s Launched

I didn’t have a celebrity to smash a bottle of champagne over the bows of Missing Believed Dead, as it slipped down the runway into the world wide web. Or should that just be the world? There was just me and some friends, all tooting as loud as we could, and hoping to draw some attention.

So, I want to thank the people who supported me. People like J.B.Johnston, who featured a cover reveal on Brook Cottage Books. Click here if you want to see it. Then she followed it up by a review, where she described it as “a gritty, suspense filled and extremely clever thriller”. Not only that, but she said she was so drawn into the story, she dreamed of the characters one night. In my opinion that might have been better described as a nightmare! Sorry for the dreams, Jonty, but thanks for the suport. If you want to read the review for yourself, then click here.

I found another review on the Eclectic Electric, the Authors Electric eBook review site. Thank you Julia Jones for taking the time to write and submit it, and for considering me a competent, confident crime writer. High praise indeed.

Famous Five Plus, a fantastic group that supports quite a few authors, didn’t fail me either. They published several posts, starting with Have You Heard? They’re Missing Believed Dead, in June. this was followed up by Are You Ready For It? on the day of the online launch. And this weekend they’re featuring it in their Hug a Book competition, where a lucky reader can win a copy by answering a simple question. Thanks Famous Five Plus.

Then there was my interview with another great crime writer, Bill Kirton, where he made me bare my soul on his blog. Thanks, Bill.

And there’s still another blog to come. My good friend, and debut author, Melanie Robertson King, plans to feature a post her blog Celtic Connexions, on the day of my Waterstones paperback launch, which, in case you’ve forgotten, is on Thursday 11th July. Thanks in advance, Melanie.

But there are others I need to thank. There are all the people who read pre-publication copies of Missing Believed Dead, and provided reviews. Thank goodness they all loved the book, although I was prepared for the worst if they didn’t. They weren’t obliged to write good reviews. And all the people who tweeted and shared my posts on Facebook. Emails and good luck wishes can’t be ignored either. It gives me such a buzz when someone takes the trouble to drop me an email, leave me a message or put up a comment on Facebook, or makes it known in any number of ways that they enjoy my book. That’s what we write for. If I’ve forgotten anyone, I apologize. Put it down to an increase in senior moments, but I thank you anyway.

Maybe this is the place where I should share with you the dedication I put at the beginning of Missing Believed Dead. It’s “This book is dedicated to all my faithful readers who give me support and provide me with the encouragement to keep on writing. Without readers, a writer is nothing.”

Now listen to the first chapter of Missing Believed Dead.

And check out the other books in the Dundee crime Series

Chris Longmuir

http://www.chrislongmuir.co.uk/

Amazon Author Page

Amazon UK

Amazon.com

Why are we Waiting?

The long wait is over. The wait for what? I hear you ask. Well, it’s the wait for the launch of my new book Missing Believed Dead. I’ve been counting down the days to the launch on the first of July, and today I’m pressing the upload button for both the Kindle ebook and the paperback, just to make sure they both appear on the scheduled date. And maybe, with a little bit of luck, Amazon won’t be too slow and they’ll appear early.

Take a look at the cover. Brilliant isn’t it? The lovely Cathy Helms, of Avalon Graphics designed it, and it’s a stunner. You can have another look at it if you pop over to Brook Cottage Books, where the site is doing a cover reveal. It’s also got the blurb to tell you a little bit about the book. And there’s more coming. Brook Cottage Books are doing a review of the book on Monday 2nd July, and Famous Five Plus are doing something as well. I’ll post the links when they appear.

Then,of course, there’s the launch of the paperback at the Dundee branch of Waterstones on 11th July. and, if you’re within spitting distance of Dundee on that date, remember to pop in. I’ll be giving a wee talk and signing books.

If you want to know more about the book, visit the links as they are put up. In the meantime I’m going back to Brook Cottage Books to do some more drooling.

http://www.chrislongmuir.co.uk/

Amazon Author Page

Amazon UK

Amazon.com

When is the End not the End?

Book Launch after I won the Dundee International Book Prize

I need a pat on the back. Why? Well I wrote The End on my work in progress. It’s finished. Completed. I’ve written the final chapter, and even better, the final sentence. And I must say there was a wee tear in my eye as I wrote it.

Tears! From a dark crime writer! What next? Well, even though my books are not renowned for happy endings, I do have a soft side. I’m sure I’ll be deafened by the mutterings out there when this is read. But I do, honestly. And, although my crime books may not have very many happy endings, things do work out. Anyway, would you really want a happy ending to a dark crime book?

Once I stopped dancing because I had written The End, I had to knuckle down to some more work. You see, when a writer writes The End to their work in progress, it’s not really the end. Next comes the hard work of revision, editing and proofing, and I do all that before it goes out to my editors for fresh eyes to look at.

Revision comes first. The entire manuscript is read, and while reading I am looking out for clumsy writing, places where I’ve told the story rather than showed the action, although there are places where telling is okay. If I reach a tell section, I consider it. Would it be better if I turned it into show, or should I leave it the way it is? A lot depends on what is happening in the story at that point. If it’s a fast paced section then there is no argument – it has to be show. But tell is great if you want a quick way to sketch in background or move the story through time. However, given that the action in the new book takes place over a period of 6 days, time gallops.

Then, there is the hunt for weasel words. That is, words that are unnecessary, words where the sentence would make the same sense if they weren’t there. I’m thinking about words like – just, that, actually, basically, extremely, almost, simply – there are loads more, including the word ‘then’ which starts this paragraph, and the Find command in Word is excellent for rooting them out. However, each word has to be considered before removal, because in some cases they are needed.

Then a hunt for quotation marks. Word’s Find command is great here too, but this is laborious, and you only realize how many you use when you search them out. So what am I looking for? I’m checking that dialogue is both opened and closed, and that apostrophes are in the correct place. Speaking of apostrophes, I also do a find on words like ‘its’ just in case it’s the one that needs the apostrophe. Then there’s the hunt for ise, and ize endings to ensure the correct one is written. I use the Oxford Dictionary for Writers & Editors, and they stipulate the correct usage for words that can be written either way. Their preference is for ize endings, with some exceptions, for example, ‘realize’ is an ize ending but ‘surprise’ is an ise ending. However, as I have a tendency to use the ise endings in preference to ize, this means hunting out every ise ending and converting it if it’s needed. I’m getting better though, because when I’m writing my brain has become trained to write ize instead of ise.

After that, another read through is needed before it goes out to my editors. And that’s where the book is at the moment. And, of course, another read through once the corrections are in, then a speak aloud read through – it’s amazing the errors you can detect when you read the manuscript aloud, although after 92,000 words I reckon I’ll be hoarse!

Oh, nearly forgot to say, the cover has been commissioned, but I have no idea what it will look like yet. I’m waiting for my cover artist to surprise me.

I suppose you want to know what the book is about, but I’ll leave that until later. What I will tell you though, is that it is the third one in the Dundee Crime Series, and I should be ready to launch it in early July.

Watch this space!

http://www.chrislongmuir.co.uk/

Amazon Author Page

Amazon UK

Amazon.com

Harrogate Crime Festival 2012 – Part 3

I can hear you say – at last, thought we were never going to get Part 3 of the Harrogate Crime Festival. that’s because I took time out last week to write about the Edinburgh Ebook Festival, because if I hadn’t the festival would have been over before it was posted. Anyway, thank you for your patience, and here is day three of the Old Peculier Crime Festival at Harrogate.
 
Before I start I want to give you a link. Remember in the last festival post I commented on the furore around the panel Wanted for Murder: The Ebook, when feelings ran high and caused quite a bit of media buzz. Well, the Harrogate Crime Festival site has produced an audio download of the panel discussion. It will cost you £3, but if you want to get at the truth around all the hype in connection with this panel, then you might want to listen to it. Here is the link http://harrogateinternationalfestivals.com/crime/shop/wanted-for-murder-the-ebook/

Peter James and Paul Blezard

So, on to Day 3 of the festival. We started off at 9 am, some of us more bleary-eyed than others, with the special guest Peter James who was interviewed by Paul Blezard. He was interesting to listen to and gave us snippets of information about his background. Like the time he worked as a cleaner for Orson Welles, but was sacked after a week because he was ‘not cut out for it’. Similar to a lot of writers he was an obsessive reader as a child, so I suppose his progression to being a writer was to be expected, although he said his first two books were very bad spy thrillers. He also had a stalker for over 5 years, and was given advice by the police to step up home security because they could do nothing unless she killed him. Lots of fascinating information in this interview, although, considering the furore the day before about cheap as chips ebooks, his publisher sells one of his books on Amazon for 20p and he has no say in this.

 

Deadlier than the Male panel

 
I missed the Golden age and the New Blood Panels because I was chatting with Alex Gray and then went out for a welcome breath of air. The Deadlier than the Male panel was interesting. It looked at why women write violent crime fiction, and why the majority of it is bought by women readers. The main points I took from that were –

1.  Violence is associated with males, which makes it more horrific when associated with a female.

2.  Women have a much more terrifying imagination than men.

3.  Women crime readers want to know what makes the dark side tick.

 

Special Event: Luther

 

The Special Event: Luther was something special. The panel was made up of Neil Cross, the creator of Luther; Claire Bennett, the producer of the series; Simon Morgan, police adviser; and two of the show’s stars, Michael Smiley who plays Benny, and Warren Brown who plays Ripley. Neil Cross talked about wanting an iconic police character, a mad copper. He is a lover of the TV show, Columbo, and he wanted to put his mad copper into a Columbo format. I must say I never associated Luther with Columbo before, but as he is the creator I take it he knows what he’s done. The panel also talked about Idris Elba having a ‘presence’, and they never thought they would get him, but he was keen to star in the show. One thing came out that I didn’t know, was that Idris Elba has a soul singer career on the side. There was lots more, but if I detailed it we would be here forever. So I’ll close this panel with the information that the next show in the series – Series 3 – is carnage from beginning to end.

 

Laura Lippman interviewing Harlan Coben

 The last guest of the evening was Harlan Coben who was interviewed by Laura Lippman. Harlan is an excellent speaker and he told us that when he finishes a book, he is empty, and it is only the fear of having to work in a department store which impels him to write again. He says he suffers from a level of insecurity and insanity when he is not writing well. He took up golf a few years ago, but when he is doing something else there is a voice in his head which says he should be writing. But when he is writing he fluctuates between thinking it is crap or genius, and he suffers from lots of self doubt. This was something that appeared over and over again during this festival, the insecurity of writers, no matter how successful, who all fear that they will never be able to write another good book. There is also something else he shares with most writers I know, and that is, if he writes and no one reads it, he is not a writer. He also said that he keeps writing because he hasn’t written the perfect book yet, and he never will. All I can say is that Harlan Coben is a thoroughly nice man.

 

Quizmasters extraordinaire - Val McDermid and Mark Billingham

 Considering Harlan didn’t stop speaking until 9.30 pm you would be excused for thinking the day would be over, but you would be wrong. There was still the infamous Harrogate quiz night chaired by those most experienced quiz masters, Val McDermid, and Mark Billingham.

The Scarlet Ladies - Sonia, Justine, Me, and Isobel

 
The quiz is always hilarious with lots of cheating going on and much good natured shouting. I was in the Scarlet Ladies team, which also included Lucy, Isobel, Justine, and Sonia, and we came fifth, which wasn’t bad going. I was really glad we didn’t come first, not as if that was ever a possibility considering the competition we had. I was also glad not to win the raffle. I can hear you asking – why on earth would you want to lose? Well, the reason was the size of the prizes. Massive hampers that I would never be able to carry, let alone get on the train with, plus the largest pile of books to go along with it. There were several of the prize hampers plus books and I was really glad not to have to cart them off. Mind you, the top prize of next year’s Harrogate festival for two, all expenses paid was a beaut.
 
Well, that’s Day three finished, time to stagger to bed. There’s only Sunday morning to go now before it’s all over for another year. But I’ll tell you about Sunday the next time.

http://www.chrislongmuir.co.uk/

NEWSFLASH: Edinburgh E-Book Festival

If you’ve been looking forward to part 3 of the Harrogate Crime Festival then there’s no need to worry, it will be with you in the next couple of days. However, I simply had to let you know about something fabulous that is happening right now.
 
What is it? Well, it’s only the first ever Edinburgh Ebook Festival which is running at the same time as the internationally known Edinburgh Festival. For those of you who have been to the Edinburgh Festival, you will know that it has many faces including the Edinburgh Fringe, Edinburgh Tattoo and the Book Festival. However, the Edinburgh Ebook Festival is an independent virtual festival with no ties or association with the commercial entity that is the Edinburgh Book Festival. It is something unique, never been done before, and I am so excited to be part of it.

This is how the Edinburgh Ebook Festival site describes itself:-

“The great thing about the Edinburgh e-book festival (launching this year) is that it comes to you, you don’t have to go to it. So you are doing your bit to be eco-friendly too: No paper, no carbon emissions and no money spent. The environment will love you for it. You’ll love it back. And you may learn something about the digital publishing revolution and loads of great writing out there you’ve never heard of. From new writers to seasoned professionals re-publishing their back catalogue to award winning authors who are choosing to publish via ebooks for a whole range of reasons, there will be something for everyone.

We’ll be bringing you a host of items online each day from August 11th right through till August 27th.”

The festival events start on 11th August and will run to 27th August, but you can get involved right now because the ‘Rolling Launch’ started on Friday. You can explore the website, click on the tabs and see what’s already there. Here is the link for the Home Page, you can access everything from there –Click here http://edebookfest.wordpress.com/?like=1&_wpnonce=d74a4569cf&wpl_rand=9f122508f7

I’ve just clicked through all the tabs and there’s something on each page to bring you the flavour of what is to happen when the events explode onto the scene beginning on 11th August. There is also a Who’s Who link to introduce you to all the authors taking part. Some authors have a more active role than others and I’m lucky to be one of them. If you want a quick link straight to Who’s Who, click here http://edebookfest.wordpress.com/whos-the-festival/
 
I hope you find the idea of an Ebook Festival as exciting as I do, and I hope we’ll meet up there.
 
I’ll be back in a couple of days with Part 3 of the Harrogate Crime festival.

http://www.chrislongmuir.co.uk

Harrogate Crime Festival 2012 – Part 2

Friday at Harrogate started out with John Connolly who was interviewed by Mark Billingham, and I’m not sure which of the two was most under the weather. John Connolly, of course is known for his Charlie Parker novels which are set in America rather than his native Ireland.
 

John Connolly in full flow at Harrogate

 
His first book, Every Dead Thing, took him 5 years to write and he was rejected by everybody. He said that in every book he’s written he reaches the stage where he thinks it’s awful but he still has to finish it, and his first book was no different, if he hadn’t finished it he would never have written another book. He thinks that doubt is the thing that makes a book, and that every writer is doubt ridden, they live in fear of rejection. He still lives in perpetual fear it will all fall apart and being dumped is just round the corner. This was an honest and entertaining interview and I noticed the fear of rejection was a constant theme that was echoed by many writers during the weekend.
 
It would be far too lengthy to describe all the panels that took place on Friday because the day was so packed, so I’ll only include the highlights as I saw them.

Crime in Another Dimension Panel at Harrogate

 

The second panel of the day which was based on novels with a science fiction or urban fantasy setting was hilarious. It frequently went off track, and I’m not sure we learned anything, but there was loads of humour and the audience laughed a lot.

 

Wanted for Murder: The E-Book panel at Harrogate

 
A mid morning panel was also lively but in a different way because this is a subject that is quite contentious. It had the title Wanted for Murder the E-book. The panel included a well known writer of e-books, Stephen Leather; bookseller Patrick Neale; author, Steve Mosby; agent, Philip Patterson; and VP of the Publisher’s Association Ursula McKenzie; which I thought was weighted more to the traditional publishing model than the e-publishing one. To me Stephen Leather seemed to be the only one really defending the e-book corner, and he took some whacks from the others as well as from the audience. I kind of felt a bit sorry for him, although he did put his foot in it several times. Still, it couldn’t have been a comfortable experience and probably knocked him off course.
 
Some interesting points that came out of the panel were:-

• Three years ago Little Brown, Publisher, were only selling 3% e-books, they are now selling 20% overall, and 30% fiction.
• Stephen Leather sold 5% the first year he published e-books, and last year he sold half a million. He is now selling three times more e-books than his traditionally published print books. He sees the future as being 90% in favour of e-books.
• There is no e-book market in Germany or France (maybe that’s why I haven’t sold any there!)
• The cheaper than chips argument – the notion that an e-book does not exist physically, does not mean they should sell for 49 pence, although when physical costs disappear they should be cheaper. There was a view that cheap e-books undermine all books, with the assumption that it is independent authors who are pushing cheap books. Interestingly it came out several times over the course of the weekend that MacMillan (traditional publisher) was offering 20 pence books on Amazon. (If you’re interested look up Peter James books)
• Publishers will not vanish with the advent of e-books because a lot of authors won’t want the hassle of doing the business side of things, therefore they will need a publisher and/or agent to do this for them.
• Book sales – the bookseller indicated hardbacks were selling better than ever and thinks it will only be paperbacks in jeopardy from the rise of e-books.
• Stephen Leather thought a fair price for e-books was 70 pence for short stories; £1.99 for novellas; and £3.99 for novels. However he does give away some free books as a promotion for his paid books.

Interestingly there was quite a bit of aggro from the audience at question time, with many of the questions aimed at Stephen Leather, and I understand that since the conference there have been a lot of quite vicious comments floating around on Twitter. Phew, who would think a panel could produce that kind of reaction.
 
Here are 2 links to follow up to get a flavour of that aggro:-

http://www.publishingebooks.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/appearing-at-harrogate-plot-thickens.html

http://www.theleftroom.co.uk/?page_id=243 (there are now 2 posts in this one, read the bottom one first)

 

Writing for Your Life panel at Harrogate

 
Writing for Your Life was a panel of former intelligence agents and investigative journalists who went into detail about the risks involved with acquiring information for their books. I was quite interested in Tony Thompson’s book Gangs which I thought would come in useful in relation to my own writing. He was a really nice guy and I had my photo taken with him.
 

Tony Robinson and me

 
The day had passed quickly with loads of panels, and all of a sudden it was 8.30pm and time to listen to Kate Moss, the author of Labyrinth, and the evening’s special guest. She was interviewed by Dame Jenni Murray from BBC Radio 4, and Jenni can always get the best out of her interviewees. It was an interesting session and hearing Kate talk about Labyrinth which she wrote as an adventure story was enough to make me download it to my Kindle. I think one of the things that attracted me to it was her interest in myth, magic, folklore, and nonsense, the gap between logic and the dark part. Now how could I resist that.
 

Special Guest: Kate Mosse at Harrogate

 
I bet you’re thinking the day was finished when we left the session at 9.30pm, but you’d be wrong. There was still the Special Guests Late Night Conversation between Ian Rankin and Peter Robinson. This started at 10pm and was, quite frankly unusual and interesting. The stage was laid out like a pub, complete with beer pump, table and chairs. Ian and Peter sat at the table, beer glasses in hand, and just chatted. Every now and then they would get up and refill their glasses from the pump. It was as if the audience wasn’t there, and I reckon they must have been quite merry by the end. I liked Ian’s description of what they were doing – ‘Two old farts sitting at a table’. They covered a variety of topics such as:-

• Whether or not to watch their TV series. Ian prefers not to.
• The return of Rebus.
• Trends and changes in crime fiction and the rise of lots of new writers. They both thought it was a different world now with changes in technology, although there was still a place for traditional crime fiction.
• Screw ups.
• Music.
• Being in a band or group.
• e-books.
• The Killing.
• Scandinavian fiction.

They thought it was a bit scary how quickly the world has moved on, and that their earlier books seem historical now. There was lots more but I think I’ve given the gist of it. So, at the end it was time to stagger to our rooms, although many of the audience went there via the bar.

 

Peter Robinson and Ian Rankin in a late night conversation at Harrogate

 
It was the end of another exhausting but exhilarating day. I’ll bring you Saturday’s events the next time, so watch this space.

http://www.chrislongmuir.co.uk

All Talked Out

My recent blogs have been focused on something the majority of us learn to do at an early age – talking.

 

Chris giving talk on Tartan Noir at Crimefest 2012

 

I’ve been doing a lot of talking lately starting with Crimefest, where I talked about Scottish Crime Writing and how it came by the name of Tartan Noir. You can see my report on Crimefest here http://chrislongmuir.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/crimefest-2012.html Following that I wrote an article for the blog Do Authors Dream of Electric Books where I considered how personal appearances and talks could be used as a promotional tool. You can check that out here http://authorselectric.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/on-conference-trail-by-chris-longmuir.html
 

Chris Longmuir delivering her speech at A Summer Audience in Tetbury

 
Hot on the heels of Crimefest was the Love a Happy Ending event – A Summer Audience – at Tetbury. That was really good because I met up with loads of writers and readers associated with loveahappyending.com, an online literary community of writers, readers and editors, and of course I had to blog about that. You’ll see my blog looking at when virtual friends become real flesh and blood friends, here http://chrislongmuir.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/when-do-virtual-friends-become-real.html But I also gave a cut down version of my talk to Love a Happy Ending and they published it on their site. It’s here if you want to have a look at it http://loveahappyending.com/what-do-psychopaths-and-mystery-writers-have-in-common/
 

Chris still rabbiting on about psychopaths and mystery writers at Tetbury

After those two big events you would think I would have relaxed back to recuperate, but no, there were two more to go. A library talk on the last day of June, where I must admit I used some of the material I’d prepared for Tetbury, interspersed with some readings of my published books, but I also gave them a preview of the work in progress by reading the first chapter. The only problem with that is I am now being hassled by my readers to get the book finished. Yikes, there’s been so much going on this year that my writing time seems to have gone down the drain. Can’t disappoint my readers though, so it looks as if I’m going to have to chain myself to my computer and get on with it.
 
Finally, I gave a highly successful talk to my local writers’ circle on epublishing. So that’s me now until the end of August when I’m booked to talk about epublishing to a writers’ group on the west coast.
 
So, has my marathon of talking been worth it? Well, I did notice a surge in sales after each talk, so I suppose that proves personal appearances and talking does have a marketing spin off. On the other hand it could simply be a coincidence because my sales have been increasing month by month since I first started to epublish. But the main pay off for me has been enjoyment. I have loved meeting my readers and people who are enthusiastic about my writing, even if it has been at the expense of the amount of writing I can do. So I would say, yes, it has been worth it.
 
In the meantime I’m all talked out.

http://www.chrislongmuir.co.uk