Have you ever loved a story so much that you wanted to visit the place where it happened? Have you been so involved in a scene that you felt like you were really there? Well, a new innovation means you almost can be there - almost. When an ebook's tale is set in a particular place - a cafe, a theatre, an historic location, a bowling alley etc., - then readers can click a link to learn more about the factual place. This opens up a new angle in virtual tourism, which could potentially result in readers of a story booking into a hotel or diner where their fictional heroes stayed. So what we have here is another way of writers gaining an income. Just as sports people are sponsored to wear trade logos, then why couldn't writers be sponsored to include linked-to places/businesses in their ebooks? The principles are fairly similar. Blind Fate by Patrick Brian Miller and Dixie Noir by Kirk Curnutt are the first of these innovative ebooks to be published on Kindle (which c

Several people have asked me why I've recently self-published two ebooks, Spanish Jones and Dark Tides .  In the past, I've been dead set against self-publishing.  Vanity publishing (where you pay a company to publish your book) is mostly an expensive dead-end, and self-publishing (where you DIY) requires much product promotion, can also be pricey, and in the past wasn't taken seriously.  The given wisdom was that people only self-publish when no-one will buy their book. Is that still true in 2011?  If readers didn't take self-published ebooks seriously, they wouldn't be buying them.  And they are, in ever increasing numbers, to the point that ebook sales are now apparently overtaking paperback sales. Producing an ebook can cost nothing but time if an author can create their own eye-catching front covers and do their own editing.  In my case, I went to art school where I studied art and design; I've worked as a photographer and an editor; and I also get pra

Pirates, selkies and witches battle to survive in this dramatic short fantasy tale. When Charlie Porter makes a deal with Spanish Jones, he ensnares the Porter family in a vicious centuries-long feud. Can Charlie's descendent stop the violence? Set on the ruggedly beautiful Hilbre Island in the Dee Estuary, history and folklore blend to create a magically atmospheric tale. Spanish Jones - a new ebook short by Adele Cosgrove-Bray, out October 1st, 2011. Available from:  Here     

"...We offer "singles" for 99 cents and five story collections for $2.99 (which brings the per story price down to 60 cents.) And we offer ten story collections of the singles for $4.99.  Think of albums in music. A single song is 99 cents usually, but albums with that song on it are more. Same thing in short stories and books. The story should be both ways to give readers choices." - Dean Wesley Smith This excellent interview with Dean Wesley Smith, Joe Konrath, Blake Crouch, Scott Nicholson and David Graughan explores the exanding market for ebooks, which type of ebooks sell well and why how to offer readers more choice. Read the interview:   http://www.fearnet.com/news/interviews/b23910_short_stories_ebooks_discussion_with.html   

Are ebooks changing the way news and magazine articles are structured?  Some articles which are too big for traditional magazine print, but too small to make anything more than a booklet, are now finding a niche as ebooks.  This idea gives publishers another way of marketing their products.  They can create a virtual bookshelf of titles which relate to their main publication(s), and also attract new readership and revenue.  Their most popular columnists can make use of their existing readership to sell their ebooks, also.  It sounds a practical and, from the point of view of writers whose work doesn't always fit neatly into a fixed word-count, liberating concept.  Most writers are quite happy to earn a bit more, too. From the readers point of view, if they find themselves interested in an article or regular column and want more, they can buy the ebooks.  If they'd like easy access to archived material, buy the ebooks.  If the price is kept very low this will happen freque

"Lie-zee Sandai Arrffta-noon, Oi Got Nah Toym-tah Warree...!" Well it's all right for some, snoozing the day away.  Unlike the rest of this household, I've been wielding the red pen on what was a 5,000-word story; so far I've cut out 500 words.  That's a lot of editing by my usual standards, but this may be because I don't write much sci-fi and  School is (more or less) a sci-fi story.  It's a sci-fi/fantasy hybrid, really, destined for inclusion in Dark Tides .  I was reading the submission guidelines for an anthology yesterday.  The requested subject matter sounded like my kind of thing.  The editors did not accept email submissions, and planned to pay $0.01 USD a word if they used a story, (which is not unusual, unfortunately).  So for a 1,000-word story they'd pay $10 USD.  At today's exchange rate, that works out at £6.33.  Deduct a third for UK tax, and that leaves £4.22.  Postage for a light MS from England to America

Are literary agents and publishers dictating the sexuality of fictional characters?  Apparently, Rachel Manija Brown and Sherwood Smith were told to 'straighten' one of their characters in their YA novel, or not have him come out until at least the third novel.  The responses to their blog post echo their dismay. Read the post here:  http://blogs.publishersweekly.com/blogs/genreville/?p=1519 Teenaged readers will be totally aware of the existence of non-straight preferences.  Some of them will have non-straight preferences of their own.  So why, in the 21st Century, is this bigotry being perpetuated?  To me, it seems ridiculous. Any agent or publisher with a similar tunnel vision need not apply to represent me.  (Ok, the way things work in this business is that traditional agents and publishers hold up the hoops for writers to leap through...)   My characters include straight people, bisexuals, homosexuals and one happy trio.  Mine are not stories about graphic sex; they&

This is an idea for an ebook cover. The design needs to be simple and bold, and also clear when viewed in an online catalogue listing when the images are around the size of postage stamps. Likewise, the wording needs to be concise and to clearly tell people what the contents are. The photo is one of mine, of course, and shows West Kirby beach at sunset. The subject of the photo needs to relate to the contents of the book, and several of the stories include oceanic and local references. Comments are most welcome!