C.M. Gray's Blog, page 3

Waiting for the final edits for Chaos Storm to come in an...

Waiting for the final edits for Chaos Storm to come in and getting ready to format for Amazon and Lulu. It's exciting to be publishing my third book and I can't wait to see it up and available!



While I'm waiting, I have now started the next book, a sequel to Shadowland. I'm reading all I can on the dark ages again, soaking up images of how people lived, what they ate and what clothes they wore, it's all interesting stuff and is slowly finding its way into words; two chapters completed so far and I love being back with Uther! 

Making a book cover from a couple of sketches....

The amazing graphic artist/designer Adriana Haganu recently completed the cover for my latest book 'Chaos Storm' which should be available by the end of September. She then agreed to update the cover for the first book, The Flight of the Griffin. Have a look at what she made out of a couple of quick sketches....

She took these three drawings...



...and made my wonderful new cover for The Flight of the Griffin!


Wow! Thanks Adi xx

Chaos update!

The manuscript for Chaos Storm is now with my editor, the wonderful Caro and we hope to have it finished and all the rogue commas and semicolons chased out by mid to late September.

Adriana has been working incredibly hard with the book cover and banners, for which I'm immensely grateful. She has even agreed to update the original Flight of the Griffin cover next so it doesn't look too awful next to Chaos Storm!

My next project is already into its second chapter and I'm already really excited about it!

Cover Reveal - Chaos Storm

Available September 2013

Chaos Storm is coming soon!

I've been so busy writing over the last few months that I've neglected my poor blog so here is a quick update.

Firstly the sequel to The Flight of the Griffin, Chaos Storm is just one chapter away from finishing. Just a wrap up of the loose ends and then it goes for editing. I'm hoping that it will be on Amazon by early July. One thing I promise is that if you enjoyed The Flight of the Griffin you are going to love Chaos Storm!

Set one year after the crew reunited the crystal skulls in Sterling Temple, a new threat plunges the Realm into danger with invading armies on two borders and Matheus Hawk back with greater powers and vengeance on his mind.

I also wanted to note that Shadowland, which now boasts 72 reviews on Amazon US with a 4.3 star average is a FREE kindle download on Amazon 11th- 13th June, if you haven't yet snagged a copy, this is your chance! Please leave me a review!!!  http://amzn.to/xrUOm5

The Times/Chicken House longlist - The Flight of the Griffin by C.M Gray

I am so excited today for The Flight of the Griffin to be included as one of the 21 'longlisted' books in The Times/Chicken House Children's Fiction Competition. It is a great honour and I'm just buzzing!

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/arts/bo...

The Dark ages festival of Samhain

 - The summer’s end and coming of darkness -
Tonight we’re celebrating Halloween in our own very modern way with pumpkins, parties and trick or treats galore. But to find the origins of Halloween we have to firstly go back to the early Christian festival of 'All Hallow’s Eve,' celebrated as the night before ‘Hallowmas’ which later became known as All Saints Day. However, did you know that back in the dark ages, before Christianity came to Britain and the period where my story Shadowland takes place, there was also a festival celebrated at this time, and it was known as Samhain, which translates as summer’s end.
Samhain took place on or about the 31st October because it’s the day that falls midway between the autumn equinox and the winter solstice. To the tribes of dark age Britain, it was the last day of summer and the first day of winter - they only had two seasons.
In the villages, Samhain was a time of preparation for the long hard winter ahead. Last crops, hay and firewood were stored in well thatched huts and cattle brought down from the high summer pastures with those destined to be eaten, slaughtered as part of the Samhain celebration.
On the night of Samhain, two great fires were lit in the middle of the village and before the feasting the returning cattle and the people would walk between the walls of flame in a ritual of cleansing, throwing bones and offerings into the flames as they passed.
The superstitious people of the dark ages saw the night of Samhain and their fires as the time when the doorway to the Shadowland , the land of the spirits, became open and the two worlds would almost becoming one. In the dark ages village, old age was respected for its wisdom and dying was not feared but seen as part of the normal course of life, it was on the night of Samhain when the dead could be spoken to, advice sought and honoured ancestors who had passed into the Shadowland invited to feast with their families and loved ones. It was very auspicious if a child was born on the night of Samhain, for it was known that the child would become a druid or dreamer, one that could commune with the Shadowland.
So while you celebrate Halloween cast your mind back to the dark ages, peak into the Shadowland and take a glimpse of Samhain, it is, after all, your past and maybe you can invite your ancestors to join you!

Latest interviews!

Read my latest interviews and read more about the mind games of a YA author at...From the Bootheel Cotton
and
Curse of Ancient  Shadows

Analysis of two days FREE on Amazon...

Shadowland was a FREE download on Amazon for two days.......So how did it go?

I've participated in FREE days on Amazon before and, to be honest, I didn't promote those days very well. I certainly got less than a thousand downloads for my troubles. It did lead to an upturn in sales for a week or so after and I got a bunch of nice reviews, 25 so far with a 4.3 average which I'm delighted with.

However, for this return to offering my treasured book for FREE... the book I sweated over for more than a year before letting it lose into the world, I decided that if I was going to do it, then I would go for as many downloads as I could.

I Got 8,403 downloads in two days!Well that made me happy! Most, 7,269, were in the US with a further 1,066 being in my native UK. I'm now watching to see how and if this translates into paid sales and more reviews... I shall keep you informed.
So how did I get so many downloads? I sent details of the free days to several websites and blogs that I am listing below. Most require a few days or even several weeks notice so it takes a little planning but if you're after downloads it's worth it.
I found the best sites to contact are:
http://www.pixelofink.com/
http://www.snickslist.com/
http://www.fkbooksandtips.com/for-authors
http://kindlefinds.com/submissions
http://ebookswag.com/
http://authormarketingclub.com/members/submit-your-book/
http://bargainebookhunter.com/contact-us/
http://thekindledailydeal.com/contact.cfm
http://thefrugalereader.wufoo.com/forms/frugal-freebie-submissions/
If you are going to offer  your work for free, then good luck and may the reviews be with you!

Shadowland is FREE on Amazon Kindle!

With 25 reviews and an average 4.3 stars on Amazon and 34 reviews on Goodreads with an average of 4.02 stars, I need more reviews to blast up through the listings!

Shadowland is FREE on 2nd & 3rd October Read the tale from the dark ages that follows the life and death of Uther Pendrgon!  Click the book to get it Free!Then please review:)