Hello from a grey, damp and pretty miserable looking Bristol!
I got distracted! I subscribe to a lot of sites, and much as I want to read all the latest news from each, I tend to let them mount up in a file until I’m bored or I’m looking for something specific. Do you do that with my emails? Anyway, I digress. One of those sites is called Fantastic Fiction. Of course I follow myself, as you do if you’re an indie author. When Chance Encounters came out, they emailed me about the new release, and yesterday, I had a very unusual update on one of my favourite authors, Val McDermid, because she has a new book coming out. It’s called Lady Macbeth, it’s historical fiction, which is a change from her norm, and it doesn’t have a cover! I’m interested. So I click again. But it’s not available until May next year. I’m not sure if I’ll order it that far in advance. So a question for you:
Would you buy a book without a cover? A) Yes, if it’s a favourite author. B) Yes, I never take any notice of covers, or C) No.
Then I clicked over to my author page on Fantastic Fiction, and I liked what I saw. A lot. It is so much nicer and far easier to navigate an author’s work than Goodreads, or even Amazon. The only thing I would question would be the genre list at the end, but I’m guessing that’s what others have looked at who have followed me.
And here’s the thing that caused even more distraction. It’s given me some statistics that I’ve never worked out. Because having left the corporate world of stats and reports far behind me, I avoid stats unless absolutely necessary. Here’s what Fantastic Fiction told me, without having to do anything but scroll.
Misplaced Loyalty was the first book I published in 2012. There are 15 books, including the prequel, The Making of Meredith, in the Meredith and Hodge series. (I knew that, of course)
With Chance Encounters now live, I have published 25 books in 11 years (excluding boxed sets). That’s an average of 2 (and a bit) books a year. But here’s the one that amazed me. So far in 2023 I have written and published FIVE books. I thought it was four. (Yes, honestly.) I’d forgotten Error of Judgement came before The Little Compton Mysteries this year.
There are a couple of downsides to having clicked that link, apart from the distraction away from what I was doing. 1. As I’ve started writing two other novels, I’m now wondering if I can finish another one before the fireworks and bells herald in 2024. My sensible self says, ‘No, get real!’ My silly self says, ‘We’ll see. Why are you writing about stats when you should be writing the next one?’ and, 2. I’ve bought even more books from my favourite authors to add to the TBR pile. I think if I never bought another book and live to my mid-nineties, I might just get through them.

Image-by-yanalya-on-Freepik
To conclude: I went to look for something, got distracted by new books and the dreaded statistics, then ended up writing this to recommend you to subscribe to Fantastic Fiction, so you can easily find everything written by your favourite author. I feel I should add a word of caution. Tread carefully, it might (read will) cost you. Result: Several hours later, and I have to go back to my emails to find what I was looking for.
I’d better dash. My silly self is calling because before all this distraction I was working on the latest M & H Enough … who knows, I might make six!
Happy reading,
Image 1 & 3 by yanalya on Freepik
Image 2 by wayhomestudio on Freepik