Michael Ridpath's Blog - Posts Tagged "amnesia"
Publish and be damned. But how?
In the good old days, any writer worth his or her salt wanted to be published by a proper publisher. Publishing books yourself was possible, but you had to pay for the privilege, which is why self publishing was often known as "vanity publishing". So if you published a book yourself, you were not just a loser, you were a vain loser.
As you will no doubt have noticed, the publishing world has been thrown into turmoil over the last ten years by the digital revolution. This has mostly been very good for readers: not only do you have the choice of buying a book in either digital or physical form, but there are many more books out there to choose from, and most of them cost less than they used to.
The world has changed for the writer too, especially those, like me, who write commercial fiction. Increasingly writers are publishing books themselves, mostly on Amazon Kindle. And increasingly these self-published authors are selling more copies than their traditionally published colleagues. This is especially true of British thriller writers selling their books into the United States: Rachel Abbott, Mark Dawson, Adam Croft, Nick Stephenson, Dean Crawford, Harry Bingham and JF Penn have all done very well in the last three or four years.
Self publishing has its advantages. It allows you much more control over the publishing process. It allows you to develop a direct rapport with your readers through mechanisms like this email, or Facebook. It gives you much more flexibility in marketing and pricing. That’s fine for digital books, but although you can make print-on-demand books available, you don’t have the connections and marketing budget that a traditional publisher does to get physical books into real bookshops.
I like my British publisher, Corvus. And while I suspect that self-publishing might be the future, I’m not sure. So what should I do?
After much thought, I have decided to publish my books in the UK through Corvus (which is an imprint of Atlantic Books) and to publish in the US myself.
I am trying this out for the first time with my stand alone thriller Amnesia. This was published in the UK by Corvus on 4 May. I will be publishing it in the US myself at the end of May.
For most US readers this is good news. You see, I am able to launch Amnesia at a price of 99 cents for its first week, and to warn loyal readers (that’s you) that it’s available at the lower price. Then I will raise the price to $3.99 for everyone else.
Unfortunately, I can’t extend this offer to readers outside the US, but it should be easier for readers in Britain and Australia to get hold of physical books in bookshops.
So, if you are in the United States, look out for a blog post from me in the next week or so that Amnesia is available at the low price.
As you will no doubt have noticed, the publishing world has been thrown into turmoil over the last ten years by the digital revolution. This has mostly been very good for readers: not only do you have the choice of buying a book in either digital or physical form, but there are many more books out there to choose from, and most of them cost less than they used to.
The world has changed for the writer too, especially those, like me, who write commercial fiction. Increasingly writers are publishing books themselves, mostly on Amazon Kindle. And increasingly these self-published authors are selling more copies than their traditionally published colleagues. This is especially true of British thriller writers selling their books into the United States: Rachel Abbott, Mark Dawson, Adam Croft, Nick Stephenson, Dean Crawford, Harry Bingham and JF Penn have all done very well in the last three or four years.
Self publishing has its advantages. It allows you much more control over the publishing process. It allows you to develop a direct rapport with your readers through mechanisms like this email, or Facebook. It gives you much more flexibility in marketing and pricing. That’s fine for digital books, but although you can make print-on-demand books available, you don’t have the connections and marketing budget that a traditional publisher does to get physical books into real bookshops.
I like my British publisher, Corvus. And while I suspect that self-publishing might be the future, I’m not sure. So what should I do?
After much thought, I have decided to publish my books in the UK through Corvus (which is an imprint of Atlantic Books) and to publish in the US myself.
I am trying this out for the first time with my stand alone thriller Amnesia. This was published in the UK by Corvus on 4 May. I will be publishing it in the US myself at the end of May.
For most US readers this is good news. You see, I am able to launch Amnesia at a price of 99 cents for its first week, and to warn loyal readers (that’s you) that it’s available at the lower price. Then I will raise the price to $3.99 for everyone else.
Unfortunately, I can’t extend this offer to readers outside the US, but it should be easier for readers in Britain and Australia to get hold of physical books in bookshops.
So, if you are in the United States, look out for a blog post from me in the next week or so that Amnesia is available at the low price.
Amnesia published
He woke up to discover he had killed the only woman he had ever loved. She discovered it was her grandmother.
I have always been fascinated to imagine what it would be like to lose your memory. To wake up and not know who you really are. Don’t get me wrong, this is not something I would ever want to happen to me. It would be scary. What if you turn out to be a murderer? What if you turned out to have murdered the only woman you ever loved?
There is something else I have always wanted to do: write a fictional memoir covering the whole of a character’s life. Get to know a character from the inside, as his life is unfolding around him. The author William Boyd has done this brilliantly a couple of times, notably in his novel “Any Human Heart”. But i write crime novels and thrillers. How can I combine a memoir with a thriller?
I mulled over these questions for several months, but eventually came up with an answer. Alastair is a doctor in his eighties, living alone by a loch in Scotland. He falls and hits his head, forgetting everything before the age of 18. He has no relatives left in England, so Clemence, a stduent from St Andrews University and the niece of a friend, looks after him at his cottage. While there she discovers a hand-written memoir, clearly by the old doctor which starts withe the words: "It was a warm, still night and the cry of a tawny owl swirled through the birch trees by the loch, when I killed the only woman I have ever loved.” Then Clemence realises the woman was her French grandmother Sophie.
She decides to read the memoir to Alastair from when he visited Paris in 1935 and first met Sophie. As they read, they learn more about Alastair’s past, and about each other.
And so I wrote Amnesia. The idea seems to have worked.
Crime Writers' Association Diamond Dagger winner Peter Lovesey said: "Highly ingenious and engaging: a mystery within a mystery within a mystery, like one of those Russian dolls. I was gripped. The irony in all this is that Amnesia will lodge in my memory for years to come.”
And Gold Dagger winner Frances Fyfield said: "Scenically breath-taking, ingeniously plotted...The best thriller you'll read all year.”
Norwegian crime writer Thomas Enger said: "Impossible to put down - a great read. Loved the ending.”
The initial response from the press is good too.
The Literary Review said “This is a pleasingly convoluted story with numerous twists and turns, and time shifts between the recent past and the frightening present.”
And the Daily Mail said: "Atmospheric, sinuous and elegant, this demonstrates Ridpath’s special talent.”
Because I am self-publishing Amnesia in the US, it will be available at 99c in the US and Canada until about June 7 2017. Unfortunately it will be full price elsewhere.
To find out more, click here: Amnesia
I have always been fascinated to imagine what it would be like to lose your memory. To wake up and not know who you really are. Don’t get me wrong, this is not something I would ever want to happen to me. It would be scary. What if you turn out to be a murderer? What if you turned out to have murdered the only woman you ever loved?
There is something else I have always wanted to do: write a fictional memoir covering the whole of a character’s life. Get to know a character from the inside, as his life is unfolding around him. The author William Boyd has done this brilliantly a couple of times, notably in his novel “Any Human Heart”. But i write crime novels and thrillers. How can I combine a memoir with a thriller?
I mulled over these questions for several months, but eventually came up with an answer. Alastair is a doctor in his eighties, living alone by a loch in Scotland. He falls and hits his head, forgetting everything before the age of 18. He has no relatives left in England, so Clemence, a stduent from St Andrews University and the niece of a friend, looks after him at his cottage. While there she discovers a hand-written memoir, clearly by the old doctor which starts withe the words: "It was a warm, still night and the cry of a tawny owl swirled through the birch trees by the loch, when I killed the only woman I have ever loved.” Then Clemence realises the woman was her French grandmother Sophie.
She decides to read the memoir to Alastair from when he visited Paris in 1935 and first met Sophie. As they read, they learn more about Alastair’s past, and about each other.
And so I wrote Amnesia. The idea seems to have worked.
Crime Writers' Association Diamond Dagger winner Peter Lovesey said: "Highly ingenious and engaging: a mystery within a mystery within a mystery, like one of those Russian dolls. I was gripped. The irony in all this is that Amnesia will lodge in my memory for years to come.”
And Gold Dagger winner Frances Fyfield said: "Scenically breath-taking, ingeniously plotted...The best thriller you'll read all year.”
Norwegian crime writer Thomas Enger said: "Impossible to put down - a great read. Loved the ending.”
The initial response from the press is good too.
The Literary Review said “This is a pleasingly convoluted story with numerous twists and turns, and time shifts between the recent past and the frightening present.”
And the Daily Mail said: "Atmospheric, sinuous and elegant, this demonstrates Ridpath’s special talent.”
Because I am self-publishing Amnesia in the US, it will be available at 99c in the US and Canada until about June 7 2017. Unfortunately it will be full price elsewhere.
To find out more, click here: Amnesia
