Special Christmas Kindle Offers.

Now, yes, I know that Christmas seems to come a little earlier every year. And every man and his sister seems to be trying to sell you something (no, I can’t claim to be an exception, alas) – but as The Angel of the Lord once said (allegedly), I bring you glad tidings of great joy. No. Really. Cross my heart and… well, cross my heart.

For all of you who have bought or been bought bright, new, shiny (well, matte plasticy) Kindles over the past few months, the Kindle versions of my first two novels – If I Never and Children of the Resolution – together with my exclusive Kindle short story, Broken Angel, are now heavily discounted. (Other formats are available… getting good at this, aren’t I? Next week I’m doing the new Cillit Bang advert.)

To take advantage of these UTTERLY FANTASTIC DEALS, please click here. (And if you’re thinking, Well, no, I still probably won’t be able to afford it, it might be worth bearing in mind that you can buy ALL THREE for UNDER £3! Need I say more?)

Now, I hear some of you muttering to yourselves, BUT I HAVEN’T GOT A KINDLE! Well, fear not! FREE apps are available here for all types of computer and phone. (If you’re using Windows Phone 7, you can find it in your Marketplace.)

So let me just sum that up for you: two novels, one exclusive Kindle short story and a free Kindle application, should you need it, all for under £3. And, of course, without wishing to blow my own trumpet (though why break the habit of a lifetime), it’s bloody good fiction, too! Trust me, I’m an author.

If you know of anyone who might also be interested in these UTTERLY FANTASTIC and LIMITED TIME OFFERS, please feel free to forward this on to them. PLEASE. Pretty please. Pretty please with…

Joking aside, thanks again and I sincerely hope these offers are of interest – if not to you, then to someone you may know.

© 2011 Gary William Murning

Have Yourself a Kindle Little Christmas.

Cover via Amazon

Well, it’s that time, again. Blink and you miss a whole year. It whizzes by and before you know it you’re in the middle of yet another Big Freeze (surely by now we should be thinking in terms of Bigger Freeze), people are fighting in the aisles for the last turkey, G.O.L.D.’s showing The Vicar of Dibley Easter special and the rather suspicious bloke in the red suit with a predilection for chimneys and illegal entry can’t get into the country because Heathrow’s closed and Rudolph flat refuses to stick his dipsomaniacal nose out in weather like this.

Yes, as Noddy Holder so eloquently put it, though with rather more enthusiasm than I can summon, it’s Christmas.

I always have somewhat mixed feelings at this time of year. I’m not really the miserable old fart I often like to pretend (no, really). However much of a “rationalist” I like to think myself, I still have the capacity to get a buzz out of the sense of magic that can still sometimes be found lurking beneath a pile of wrapping paper and quite useless presents. But, so often, I can’t help feeling that it’s all developing a hollow ring. It’s all becoming too commercial and too readily fostering our already well developed need to consume…

… and when this thought occurs to me, a little smile starts to grow. Too commercial. When you have something to sell, isn’t that a bit like saying “too rich” or “too loving”. Isn’t this a situation where excess should be appreciated, celebrated, rolled around in and completely and utterly exploited? With an appropriately shameless and quite wicked glint in her eye? Abso-bloody-lutely!

So how best to cash in on – I mean participate in – the Christmas spirit? I asked myself. Books make fantastic stocking fillers, and I’ve done pretty well over the past couple of weeks, flogging them like words were going out of style. People have been very generous and extremely wise in their choices. But what of that hithertofore unavailable market? The new Kindle user!

Many people in the UK will be waking up on Christmas morning to find one of these rather special devices sitting beneath the Christmas tree. But what is it, really? A lump of plastic and silicon, lifeless, inert, quite pointless… unless it has a decent read downloaded onto it. (You can see where I’m going with this, right?)

What all these people need, obviously, is an electronic version of If I Never (and, yes, I do mean all). By all means, try before you buy, but trust me; a Kindle is no present at all without If I Never sitting in its virtual library. It’s like Kerplunk without the marbles! Or Buckaroo without the saddlebags!

So, go on. Realise the full potential of that rather slick and snazzy device you’re holding (no, not that one!) Do it now. Before something distracts you and you end up downloading Barbara Cartland, Dan Brown or Jeremy Bloody Clarkson instead. During those long, hazy post-Christmas days it will be the perfect antidote to fractious kids and moaning relatives. I guarantee it. (Though, just to qualify that, this would not, of course, be a guarantee of the money-back variety.)

Well, that’s my writerly duty done. I can now with good conscience hang up my promotional hat for a few days and focus on vegetating in front of the TV. But before I do, I would like to say to all my regular followers, readers and friends – whether you’ve bought my book or not – thank you once again for all the support you’ve shown over the past year. The laughs have made it all worthwhile.

Have a wonderful holiday however you celebrate it (or don’t!) Keep safe, keep warm – and if that strange fellow with the big white beard comes down the chimney, please don’t shoot him; it might be me, checking to see if If I Never has been preloaded on your Kindle.

Two sample chapters of If I Never can be read here.

To buy your copy of If I Never, please click here.

Also, UK Kindle users can now buy If I Never here. (US Kindle users here.)

© 2010 Gary William Murning

Hitchens on a Sunday. Amen.

After yesterday’s brief post featuring the video of Anderson Cooper‘s interview with the ever erudite and refreshingly honest Christopher Hitchens, I’ve noticed a couple of things.

1. My page hits have increased substantially.
2. I can’t help wondering how I myself, as an atheist and in many respects, to use Hitch’s preferred noun, anti-theist, will deal with what I’m sure we can safely assume is for each and every one of us an inevitability.

Last year – in fact it’s coming up to the anniversary – I had what ultimately turned out to be a not too serious sudden-onset medical problem that resulted in my being hospitalised at five o’clock in the morning. As many of my regular readers know, I have Type II (more or less) spinal muscular atrophy. In my case it’s categorised as a “severe” physical disability. Nonetheless, I’ve been fortunate enough to enjoy remarkably good health for many years. I’m disabled, not ill. Consequently, finding myself vomiting blood at five in the morning was something of a shock to the system.

Once at the hospital, however, it seemed that there wasn’t all that much to be concerned about. It looked like a fairly minor stomach bleed – most likely caused by the pinprick ulcers they eventually found. However, just as I was getting close to being discharged my Hb levels plummeted. We later found out that this was likely to have been a false reading, but at the time we didn’t know this – and given that they were having considerable problems getting a new, viable line into me… I was scared.

Of course, this was nothing like Hitch’s situation. But it’s as close as I’ve come recently. Ever, for that matter.

I was ill. Not as ill as any of us thought at that time – but I was weak, I hadn’t been eating and I think I was probably in shock. At one point, I can’t recall when, exactly, I seemed to click onto autopilot. I stopped thinking the way I normally would and simply focused on what was happening at that particular time. Things like writing novels, getting published, they became irrelevant. I sensed on that primitive level that death was a possibility – that it’s always a possibility.

So did I pray? Hitchens has talked about this extensively since his diagnosis. The religious among us – some, at least – trot out the tried and tested (and failed) “there are no atheists in foxholes“, sometimes just a little too smugly, and even dyed in the wool atheists like me find ourselves wondering what we’d do, even as we acknowledge that it’s something we haven’t as yet even contemplated resorting to in any real or meaningful way.

What many seem to completely miss when they refer to their foxholes is that for some of us, religion, the concept of gods, isn’t something from which we’ve escaped. It’s never really been there. Granted, we may have during our schooling gone through the predicated motions, but as adults it’s never been a question of rejecting god – he, she or it was never there to begin with. Certainly not in the way that people of faith experience. (I stress: for some of us.) And, so, the impulse to return to something in which we once found comfort just isn’t there.

And this is how it was for me. I’ve never depended upon gods. Even as a child, I never seriously asked expecting to receive. If I wanted love, if I wanted support – it was there, always, in the form of my parents. I didn’t have to ask.

So, no, I didn’t pray. I acquiesced to the knowledge of those around me – the doctors and nurses (although I wasn’t all that passive; I did constantly question) – and found the emotional support I needed in my parents. Had the prognosis been graver, would this have been the case? I’m pretty sure it would have been.

But just in case, let me quote Hitch on this:

As a terrified, half-aware imbecile, I might even scream for a priest at the close of business, though I hereby state while I am still lucid that the entity thus humiliating itself would not in fact be ‘me.’

Two sample chapters of If I Never can be read here.

To buy your copy of If I Never, please click here.

Also, UK Kindle users can now buy If I Never here. (US Kindle users here.)

© 2010 Gary William Murning

One Year of If I Never.

On the 29th of this month I’ll be celebrating the one-year anniversary of the publication of my debut novel, If I Never – maybe not a huge event in the lives of most out there, but something I feel the need to mark in some way.

Consequently, I’m planning on hopefully getting a few people together over the space of about a week or so to write short guest blogs on their experiences of the novel. These don’t have to be great literary masterpieces (though, naturally, it would be great if they were!), can be either long or short, can include photographs or YouTube videos – whatever you feel most comfortable with.

So, if you’re interested in perhaps contributing something, please let me know – either here, through Twitter or Facebook.

From my perspective, it’s certainly been a fascinating year. I’ve learned a great deal about the marketing/promotional side of writing, been lucky enough to meet and work with some fantastic people (the Legend Press team among them), ended up in hospital, got out (blessedly!) and recuperated quickly enough to get on and finish my then work in progress, had a great many laughs – oh, and even managed to sell a few books along the way!

Perhaps the most surprising element of the whole experience, however, has been the reader reaction. I’m a realist. I completely understand that not everyone is going to get or enjoy what I do. I therefore expected a number of negative comments – especially given the rather uncompromising nature of If I Never. The response, however, has been overwhelmingly positive. The Amazon reviews alone are more than I ever could have hoped for.

So, yes, it’s been an exceptional year – with hopefully many more to come! If you’ve played some part in that, either by buying the book, chatting online or visiting this website, thanks! I, as ever, truly appreciate it.

And don’t forget: if you can bring a friend of four along to the “celebration” – introduce them to the book in some way – please do!

Two sample chapters of If I Never can be read here.

To buy your copy of If I Never, please click here.

Also, UK Kindle users can now buy If I Never here. (US Kindle users here.)

© 2010 Gary William Murning

The Book As Promotional Tool.

Whilst reading this article in The Independent yesterday on Quercus — the publishing house that bought the rights to Stieg Larsson‘s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo et al — it occurred to me just how important it is that fledgeling published authors think of their books, their first published pieces in particular, as not just products to be sold but as promotional tools.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was an obscure piece written by a dead Swede. Quercus were having trouble shifting copies and some retailers simply refused to stock. One retailer, who Mark Smith (founder of Quercus) refused to name, even stated that its customers “don’t like authors with funny names”.

Now, knowing what we know about The Millennium Trilogy, this sounds quite ridiculous — but, in fact, it isn’t all that unusual and, ultimately…

Mark Smith, who founded Quercus in 2004, became so desperate to shift copies, […] he gave them away to people reading in parks – and planted dozens of more on the back seats of taxis and on Tube trains. “At that stage we were giving away more than we sold,” Smith says. “It was getting pretty nerve-racking.”

Now, I’m not in this position with If I Never. I don’t think my publisher lurks on street corners, collar turned up, muttering, “Great book. Here. Go on. ‘Ave it. It’s free and worth every penny.” But, if he did, would that necessarily be a bad thing?

On the surface, it would suggest that not all was going according to plan. As Mark Smith said, it would be “pretty nerve-wracking”. But increasingly in publishing — especially within the mainstream “establishment” — so much is thought of in the short term. And this, I feel, is fundamentally wrong.

Many excellent novels sink without a trace. A hard fact of life. But some… with persistence and time, some break through. Sometimes it’s a lucky break. Dick and Judy or whoever read it and start lavishing praise and — whoosh! — off it goes. But more often than not it’s about building a readership one reader at a time, gradually building a fan base until it reaches a tipping point, encouraging word of mouth, paving the way for book two, book three etc.

So should we be out there giving books away? Well, actually, unless things are looking really hairy, I would generally say no. I’ve tried giving freebies to a couple of celebrities and this didn’t meet with much success (Stephen Fry, bless his little cotton socks, promptly lost his copy and doesn’t seem to be trying very hard to find it… he’s still a lovely chap, though… no, really, he is.) In my experience, free stuff is usually viewed — as I joked above — as being “worth every penny”.

Nevertheless, the book is still a promotional tool. A first-time novelist needs to understand that some people are going to buy his book and pass it on to friends. When I first heard of people doing this with If I Never, I’ll admit, my reaction was something along the lines of “NO! BUY THE FUCKING THING, YOU TIGHTFISTED BASTARDS!” And then I realised. Then I saw the very fundamental truth behind this act. People were enjoying it so much that they felt the need to SHARE IT. So now when people tell me they’ve passed it on to a friend, what do I do? Rip off their faces? Become all indignant and tell them that they’re stealing from me? No. I — very sincerely — thank them and tell them how fantastic that is. I then add, with a wink, that they should make their friend promise that if they enjoy it they actually go out and buy the next one.

Libraries are also extremely important. Copies taken into libraries count as a sale — and whilst a first-time novelist probably isn’t going to make all that much, if anything at all, on PLR, library sales in themselves can soon add up. For instance, we recently approached for the second time one of our regional libraries. They’d taken one copy in not so long ago and, when we checked, we couldn’t actually see it on their system (via the their website.) We queried this and the extremely helpful staff member confirmed that they did have a copy — and that it was out. Because of this, she promptly ordered four more.

Now these copies of If I Never in this library and all those others are going to get read. Library Members aren’t paying for the book and, unlike someone browsing in Waterstone’s, can therefore afford to take a risk. Looking for something new, chatting with familiar librarians, they discover new writers and, always assuming they enjoy what you do, talk to people about your book. Many libraries also have reading groups, of course, which means they’ll sometimes buy in something like twelve books at a time (which has happened with me.) Granted, many of these readers will, with future books, wait for them to arrive at the library and borrow them. But some won’t. Some will decide to splash out and treat themselves.

But, you know, even if they don’t — it doesn’t matter. Not at this stage. Not at any stage. These are required conditions for the propagation of word-of-mouth. Libraries are the very places where the book begins to promote itself and its author. Short-term, it may not necessarily look all that appealing.

Long-term, however… it’s fundamental.

Two sample chapters of If I Never can be read here.

To buy your copy of If I Never, please click here.

© 2010 Gary William Murning

613.

Well it took a little over 18 months from start to finish (including the time it took to write the 20,000 word outline) but the first draft of As Morning Shows the Day is now (fanfare, please) complete.

I put the final full-stop in place last Sunday morning (18th of July), sat back, looked out of the window, looked back at the computer screen and sighed. Approaching the ending had been tense. It’s a fairly large piece of work and, hitting the final chapter, I was very aware of just how pleased I was with everything that had gone before — and how vital it was, as ever, that I get the final few pages just right.

Did I manage that? I think so — I really do. I haven’t, as yet, read through the whole novel, but having read the final pages through a few times it’s very much the conclusion I’d originally envisaged. There’s still work to do, of course, but I’m extremely happy.

613 pages of nostalgia, quiet humour, characters I love, a plot and thematic development that’s subtle but not too subtle… I like it. A lot.

Two sample chapters of If I Never can be read here.

To buy your copy of If I Never, please click here.

© 2010 Gary William Murning

The Invisible Author.

Whilst reading earlier today the report from last week’s Publishing Laid Bare Conference — a yearly conference on the state of the industry, set up by my publisher, Legend Press — I found myself focusing on one particular sentence:

The author’s ability to create their own brand as a method to promote their work was emphasised as a valuable tool to be taken advantage of, through which the problem of the so-called ‘invisibility’ of the author could be targeted.

The conference, once again, addressed some fantastic points (follow these links to read part one, part two and part three of the report), but this in particular is something I’ve been thinking of fairly constantly since the publication of If I Never.

The problem of invisibility and how it should be addressed, I feel, can’t be emphasised enough. Promoting one’s book is vital. This, after all, is the frontline product. But I feel that if we are looking to publish more than just one book, it’s also vital to build a sense of the person behind the work. An author’s name becomes recognisable through the finished product, of course (if we’re lucky enough to gain that kind of popularity!), but today we also have the benefit of various electronic media, as well as more traditional methods, which can be used to work and interact with people, to discuss ideas, to, when necessary, debate vociferously — and in so doing create a better understanding among potential readers of just who the author actually “is”.

It may not sit comfortably with some to think in terms of “brand”, or to consider themselves as part of the product — Gary William Murning™ feels a little odd even to me, a shameless self-promoter — but in this highly competitive business I’m not sure it’s something we can necessarily avoid. If you take what you do seriously as a writer, if you want it to be read by as many people as possible, these approaches must at least be considered.

(And, yes, okay — I’ll admit it; Gary William Murning™ doesn’t feel in the least bit odd! I actually quite like it!)

Two sample chapters of If I Never can be read here.

To buy your copy of If I Never, please click here.

© 2010 Gary William Murning

If I Never Competition Winner.

I’m delighted to announce the winner of the If I Never competition that was featured earlier in the year on the Struggling Authors website. The response, I’m told, was pretty good, with most entrants getting the right answer.

The question was: In If I Never, what is the name of Tara’s mother?

As many of you already know, I’m sure, the correct answer was Bernie or Bernice.

The winner is Lauren Rushton and her prize is to have her name featured as one of the characters in the next novel I write. Congratulations, Lauren — and thank you to everyone for entering!

Two sample chapters of If I Never can be read here.

To buy your copy of If I Never, please click here.

© 2010 Gary William Murning

Lovin’ the Librarians.

I was recently fortunate enough to be interviewed for the rather excellent Newcastle Libraries website — definitely worth a look, even if you aren’t from the north-east of England — and thought I’d share a little of it with you here:

Which authors do you admire?

Many! I love large canvas fiction — writers who connect us to individuals by large-scale stories. Tolstoy is the obvious example, but it also applies to writers like John Irving, who has also influenced me.

Lately, however, I’ve been rediscovering Michael Ondaatje — the Sri Lankan-born Canadian novelist and poet. I read The English Patient and Anil’s Ghost when they were both originally published and then, as is so often the way, lost him for a while. At the moment, I’m reading Divisadero, and I’m overwhelmed, again, by the beautiful economy of his writing. I heard him say in an interview recently that, for him, writing is about deciding what can be left out rather than put in, and this together with this wonderful novel is making me reassess my own way of working. A good author always makes you, as a writer, want to improve on what you do, find new ways of thinking about the familiar narrative problems.

To read more, please click here.

This response is fairly typical. The staff of regional and national libraries are proving to be wonderfully helpful — buying in copies, taking flyers and letting their readers’ groups know about me. This kind of support is truly invaluable and hugely appreciated.

If you’re a library staff member or someone visiting from a readers’ group, please say hi — and if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate.

Two sample chapters of If I Never can be read here.

To buy your copy of If I Never, please click here.

© 2010 Gary William Murning

Sunday Morning Catch Up.

Not a great deal going on in my little corner of the world at the moment. Just sitting here twiddling my thumbs, staring out of the window, trying to find something to do…

Or, at least, that was how it was in the dream I had last night. The reality is pretty different (which is why I’ll be keeping this update fairly short.)

The first draft of As Morning Shows the Day, which will, all being well, be my third Legend Press novel, is two and a half chapters short of completion but is currently on hold whilst I work on rewrites for Children of the Resolution. My editors at Legend are really proving their worth with this, offering excellent insights and providing unbeatable support — as determined as I that my second book should be as strong as it can possibly be. Something that now makes me especially pleased that I didn’t have to follow the self publishing route; good editorial input really is so, so important (for me, at least.)

A lot of work — with much to think about — yes. Especially when you factor in that I am also starting to think about what I plan on doing next (a rather dark novel which was originally going to be titled Out Of Season, but which I now think may instead be called Beyond Love… what do you think?)

But still loving every bloody minute of it.

In other news: in the Redcar constituency we finally got shot of Vera Baird. The first time this constituency hasn’t had a Labour MP since its inception in 1974. It’s fair to say that I was never exactly impressed with Ms Baird, so consider this a definite result.

Also, I recently received my first royalty statement which gave me a far better idea of how well If I Never is doing. Sales from publication to the end of December 2009 were considerably higher than I expected. A good, solid start — so, thank you! The support you, my friends and readers, have given is really starting to have a very noticeable effect. So, once again, thanks for buying and thanks for helping spread the word. It is, as ever, truly appreciated.

Two sample chapters of If I Never can be read here.

To buy your copy of If I Never, please click here.

© 2010 Gary William Murning