Hi and welcome to my July newsletter. This time, I'm sharing how
my holidays are a time for writing and inspiration; my author feature in Uncaged Book Reviews, and news about one of my current dogs in training. Plus links to free samples of fantasy reads to help you discover new authors. And this month, a limited-time offer of the ebook of A World To Lose. I hope you enjoy reading
this email. Thank you for being part of my publishing life ❤️ Best wishes Frances |
And I am so happy to be able to go on holiday for two weeks. The highlight of it must be when I went to Paris for a few days and visited the Palace of Versaille. It is this incredible building, surrounded by this gigantic garden, built by King Louie the thirteenth in the seventeeth century. It is breathtaking and
very grand, to say the least. I have never been inside a palace like this before, and for my own imagination and descriptions for the castles in my books, I have always needed to use good, old images from the internet. But now I’ve been able to see the inside first hand, and it’s been great fun taking inspiration from this place. The Royal Chapel, for example, was a great comparison to the Throne Room in the castle on Saluverus, with the high ceilings, the alter at the end, and the wrap-around
balcony. It was an incredible visit, and definitely a recommendation, if you are ever in that area, to go and take a look! |
Paris was a stop-over on the way south to the
B&B and beach where I've spent every summer holiday since I was 6. The complete absence of distraction means I get to research, write and edit to my heart's content - this is the dream! 🏖️😎 |
My first Author Feature! As you have most likely seen, authors are always encouraging their readers to write a review of their books. Known as "social acceptance", these pieces of text, even if only a few sentences long, are enormously valuable to authors, as they help readers find new books that suit them best. Traditionally published
authors, i.e. those with a contract with a Publishing Company, are often supported by being able to send out tens of review copies to entice in new readers. Self-published authors, like me, don't have those resources, and we also have to do the legwork ourselves. When I published A Queen To Come, I researched independent reviewers and sent off free paperback copies to a chosen few. To my utter amazement, considering the number of books
these people are deluged with daily, two of them picked up A Queen To Come, and wrote completely independent 4- and 5 star reviews of it - thank you, thank you, thank you 💝 |
One of those, Uncaged Book Reviews, recently invited me to do an author feature in
their July/August release. Cyrene, who runs the website, has been selflessly promoting independent authors and those published by small presses since 2016. You can check out my feature here, and at the same time, maybe you'll also find some new authors to try out. | |
In case you are wondering, the other review was from Midwest Book Reviews.
Follow the link and jump to/scroll down to the Fantasy/SciFi shelf to see the review. |
The day job, for now....? If you've come across my Author Bio you will know that I train guide dogs for the blind. This month I would like to tell you about Micha.
He is a cross between a Labrador and a German Shepherd, and he is by far the biggest dog that I have trained in all my time as a guide dog trainer - see his photo for a size comparison. Not only is he big, but he is also very strong—physically and also mentally. My muscles have really grown in strength ever since I’ve had to work with this hilariously, stubborn dog. In the beginning, he really didn’t care who I was. He was too busy trying to get everywhere he wanted to go. If a particular bush
smelt particularly nice, he would use all his strength to pull me towards it. He would not pay any attention to curb edges that I could trip over, if it meant getting to that dog on the other side of the street faster. |
| At first I thought: how on earth am I going to get this dog to want to
work for me? And to enjoy the work, too? It definitely took a while, but when Micha and I developed a bond, and he opened his mind to the work, he turned out to be really, really good at it. He is still incredibly strong, but he now genuinely cares for my safety. We walk along a pavement at a very high speed, but when it gets narrow because of bikes or lampposts, Micha actively brings down his speed and keeps checking to make sure I don’t bash into anything. He is still really strong, though, so
he will need a client who can handle this. Lucky for us, there’s a match for every dog, and I’m very excited to see where this fantastic dog ends up! |
Discover new fantasy reads To find new readers for my books I work with fellow authors to widen our readership by promoting our books to each
other's email list. We offer an e copy of a book, novella or custom short story for free on sign-up to our newsletter, to help the reader decide if they want to keep following us.
Interested? Just click on the images or links below to get to the website, browse through the free book(s) on offer, and take a punt. |
| Banished is a YA dystopian scifi-fantasy. It introduces the Sybiline, the youngest and most influential of five Elementals Elders, desperate to prevent the destruction of the elementals race. Get your free novella here. |
| Black Bane is part of the Keystone Prophecy series. In this epic fantasy world, with wondrous creatures, clashing cultures and a mysterious evil force, four distinct races fight an unknown enemy intent on destroying them. Get your free short story here |
More than 100 free books in this July fantasy book binge - load up here for summer! |
Limited-time offer* A World To Lose FREE!! 20-24 July If you haven't yet got your kindle copy, or want to share
this offer with your reader friends, now's your chance. *USA and UK markets only | |
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