Susan Mac Nicol's Blog, page 5
July 2, 2020
More fabulous giveaways! Pick up free copies to read in the sunshine…
Suit Yourself is being offered down at Prolific Works. You can read all about the sexy romance between a sassy young fashion diva and an ex porn star. Leslie and Oliver are here to please you 
May 16, 2020
Writers’ Tools – the one I find most useful
I thought today I’d give people an idea of the tools I use to keep track not only of my writing progress, but my workloads, my promo activities and my To Do tasks. I use a variety of applications, some paid, some free (although sadly there are less of the free ones for obvious reasons) and every one is worth the spend. I’m a fan of the old saying ‘Work Smarter, not Harder.’ Time is a precious commodity.
SCRIVENER
I’ve been late to the party with using this although I’ve had the application for a number of years now. It looked a little daunting to me. I’m using it now, and while I’m still a bit awkward with it, it’s doing what I need it to do. My biggest gripe about this though is that it’s not web based. It’s a local application and needs to be installed wherever you want to use it. It’s great for keeping things in one place, like snippets of future scenes, plot ideas and images. And the test snippets can be written stand alone and then used wherever you want them.
final draft
I used to use CELTX which was free, but when I started developing screen plays seriously, I needed something with a little more OOMPH. Final Draft works beautifully and it’s easy to navigate. It’s also used by my writing partners in the USA, so we get to be to collaborate easily.
CLICKUP
This was a gem of a find. I’d been searching for years for something that gave me this sort of functionality. The designers have built ‘The One App to Replace Them All’ – Tasks, Docs, Goals, and Chat. It’s multi function, including Process Management and Team Collaborations, and they update it with new features every week. I was using Trello, but Clickup is so much better. I am loving it.
MAILBIRD
If you’re like me, performing a number of job roles and needing to manage multiple email addresses, this is your app. It’s easy to use, easy to add different accounts without all that messy having to know your domain, the server numner, user name, etc and all that techy stuff, and allows me to manage all my email accounts in one place. It also updates features regularly.
MAILERLITE
I was using Mailchimp for my newsletters until it got too expensive. I changed to Mailerlite, and while it took me a little while to get used to it, I am very happy I did. It offers much the same functionality as Mailchimp, is cheaper (for now) and lets me send out wonderful newsletters that are easy to construct.
ALLAUTHOR
One of the best and most diverse author promotion sites out there. New features constantly added, their team very ready to respond to questions and all in all, I find this site invaluable in making my teasers, scheduling tweets, advertising, creating quality book mock-ups and gifs and a host of other features. This is one of the teasers they made for me.
KIZOA
This takes a bit of time to learn, but it produces amazing book trailers and videos, and is a go to resource for me. I’ve made some wonderful book trailers using this application.
pacemaker
This app allows me to create a goal driven entry for my Work in Progress (WIP) and map my progress, change it as circumstances change and have a method of seeing how productive I am (or aren’t). It’s my work productivity bible and without it, I’d be stuck.
ADAZING/AUTHOR ACADEMY/AUTHORLAB
A great source of free book mock ups and cover templates, along with a host of other features. Along with this is the Author Academy. For a fee, you can explore and use loads of material and advice related to the publishing world. Author Lab is brilliant too but a little expensive. I was lucky enough to get it when it was only $40, on a special offer. It gives me more time to do what I should be doing – writing.
FYLE
I cannot tell you how much this app helps me when it comes to keeping track of my expenses, royalty statements and income. It’s another invaluable one. You create a specific tax year report, or expenses/income folder, email your receipts into the relevant one from your email account, and voila! It creates a report that can be downloaded as Excel or CSV, without you having to do any work. My accountant loves it – he has access to my account and all I do is let him know it’s all there and completed and he uses it to file my returns. If he wants to print something, he can, otherwise it’s all available for audit online.
So there you have it. I hope this proves useful to you, I know they certainly make my life easier. And you’ll end up having more of what’s below to spoil yourself rotten…Me Time.
March 25, 2020
Keeping you reading in these uncertain times
Here are all the ways you can get a bargain right now to read one of my books
February 6, 2020
It’s here! A funny, entertaining read to counter the GINsanities of life.
#Ginvincibleforceofnature #letthefunbeGin #newrelease
NEW RELEASE
Meet Birdy and Jaydon. A rather mismatched pair, but with Valentine’s Day around the corner, who knows what can happen?
When Birdy’s peacock attacked his bank’s Relationship Manager, his business problems took a turn for the worst, until they sent Jaydon Tyrell, and then everything started to add up just fine.
BIRDS OF A FEATHER
Imaginative, creative, brilliant are some of the accolades Bradley “Birdy” Dobbs enjoys as the creator of top-of-the-line designer gin. Flighty, crazy, and irresponsible are also monikers used to describe him, mostly by the parade of Relationship Managers – read: death and doomsday business wazzocks – the bank sends over to Birdy’s company, Ori-Gin. When the latest number cruncher shows up with propositions Birdy can live with – and some he’s aching to try – Jaydon Tyrell becomes the most important member of Birdy’s flock.
Amazon US https://loom.ly/nNfr8dc
Amazon UK https://loom.ly/nyv34ww
To celebrate, there’s a quirky giveaway to win gin teabags and a quirky notebook
In celebration of my new release, Gin me Over, I’m offering my newsletter subscribers the first chance to take part in a specially themed giveaway. All you have to do is confirm your email address, then follow me on Twitter, Facebook, BookBub or Amazon in order to get more chances to win. I’ll announce the winner on the 15th February and the items will be shipped to you wherever you reside.
You can join the KingSumo giveaway HERE and below are details of the prizes to be won
Botanical teabags
Charbrew’s Gin Infusion Set Contains 6 Individual Infusions Containing A Natural Mixture Of Herbs, Flowers And Spices In Pyramid Shaped Pouches To Infuse With Gin & Tonic For The Perfect Glass.
The Perfect Gift For the Gin Lover, Delivered In Mesh Tea Pyramids
Set Includes- Royal Red, Orange Tuxedo, Irish Sunrise, Blossom Of Rose, The Lemon Zinger. Suitable for Vegetarians and Vegans, Gluten Free And Low In Calories
Notepad
19 high quality bright white pages with lines (27 lines per page)
Full size duo sided blank sheets
Sturdy and matte full color softbound cover
Good luck to everyone and please drop me a line to let me know whether you enjoyed Birdy and Jaydon’s story. I’d love to hear from you.
November 28, 2019
Exciting News for 2020
I’ve been doing a lot of soul searching recently and I’ve decided I need to take my writing in another direction and give myself another string to my author bow.
I love writing MM Romance but I’m also very into my fantasy stuff, urban, olde world, LOTR, Harry Potter – I love it all. I started an otherworld epic adult adventure book when I was 16 and I got 30 000 words down and left it to languish. It’s time I finished this story now. So while my focus next year will be this book, I’ll still be writing MM books in 2020, but I may not be as prolific as before. At the moment, I’ve got one due in February and another planned for later in the year.
I adore each and every one of my MM readers and you need to think of it as me slowing down the press for a while. Dipping my toes in another pond 
November 12, 2019
Two giveaways, and a sassy excerpt
Follow some amazing authors on Amazon and social media for a chance to win one paperback copy of All Your Perfects by Colleen Hoover, one paperback copy of Dark Lover by J.R. Ward, one paperback copy of Handle with Care by Helena Hunting, a 3 piece set of aromatherapy reed diffusers, a five-piece Bath and Body Works Spa Gift Basket and a $25 Amazon Gift Card! You can also come back every day for special tasks that will earn you daily entry points! Click the image below to enter.
And I promised you TWO giveaways so here’s the next one…
Looking for some amazing reads to keep you company this fall? Enter for a chance to win the below! Open internationally through 11/30/19!
$50 Amazon (US) gift card 5 ebooks from the below authors
Participating Authors:
*Giveaway open through 11/30/19. One winner will be chosen and notified via Facebook or email the first week of December 2019.
MY NEW BOOK OUT in FEBRUARY 2020
I have a new book out for Valentine’s Day 2020. It’s called ‘Gin Me Over’ and it’s the story of one rather flighty and creative gin-maker named Birdy who meets his match in uptight bank manager Jaydon. Their chances of making it together are good…unless Jaydon loses patience before they’ve got a chance to start what’s certainly building between them.
Here’s a nice long excerpt to give you an idea of exactly what poor Jaydon will have to put up with
October 13, 2019
Giant Giveaway, and a new release to make you lick your lips….
October is a busy month for me!! As well as the Men of London box set release, the third book in my latest series will also be out on October 22nd. This book is called Cover Me In Chocolate and as the title suggests, it’s rather edible…
#establishedcouple #friendstolovers #detective #intrigue
A STICKY, MESSY AFFAIR
A missing young woman, an abusive boyfriend, and a trail with dead-end clues have Clay Mortimer and Tate Williams of M&W Investigations chasing their tails. Not a position they often find themselves in, if ever. When an employee of the erotic chocolate shop in Fetish Alley disappears, the usual suspects don’t pan out, and Tate and Clay need to find the clue that’ll help them solve the case. When chocolate moulds of the missing woman’s body parts start being delivered and are accompanied by odd notes, the urgency to find her ratchets up. And through it all, Tate and Clay find all sorts of delicious ways to spice up their love.
Add this book on your Goodreads TBR list
And then this is happening…
It’s almost here!! On the 15th October, there will be a special Men of London boxset – e-book and print version – released.
Because of Amazon’s pricing policy, the sets are split into two, each containing FIVE books. Pricing has been set for $9.99 for each of the e-book volumes and $17.50 for each print volume. It’s a steal
July 18, 2019
Circus life and Living On Air
Living On Air features in a BookBub deal today, for 0.99. This was my ‘love’, the book that took a few years to write. I stayed in a circus to research the circus life and it was one of the most amazing experiences I’ve had. There’s something about living in a tiny caravan for a few days and being able to go behind the scenes in the Big Top and talk to all the performers that truly was enriching. The photos I took will forever live in memory and is something to one day show my grandchildren.
You can read all about my experiences with my hubby, Gary, here in the blog post I wrote for my column here on the Divine Magazine website.
This post details quite a bit about the behind the scenes activity, the superstitions, the wonderful people who live there and the fact it’s like a mini Royal Court itself, with plenty of drama and policitics.
Author’s Note
This book delves into subjects some people may find disturbing. There are elements of the main characters’ pasts that include paedophilia, the dark side of religion, and the horrors of war. Aspects of the story include self-harm, depression, and suicide, and the book is set in a circus where clowns are featured.
None of these elements are gratuitous, but instead are included because they are part of the human condition, and are essential to our main characters’ journeys.I hope you join Cary and Rhys as they navigate their way to love.
What’s it about?
For aerialist, Cary Stilwell, aside from performing forty feet in the air, life holds little comfort until he meets Rhys McIntyre, who punctures all of Cary’s defenses.
PIERCING THE NIGHT
Cary Stilwell has been existing since he was ten years old, and each year it gets harder to find meaning in his bleak life. The only exception – his work. As a top-billed aerialist in a popular travelling circus, he enjoys accolades and applause, but little else. When notable photographer, Rhys McIntyre, joins the circus to catalogue its inner workings, Cary fights the attraction that hits him from the moment they meet. But a kind soul wrapped in a beautiful body has a way of battering all the walls Cary has built around his cold, dark heart.
WITH LIGHT
Rhys McIntyre is on his third iteration of reinventing himself. Once a hotdog financier, he embraced his passion for photography and became an imminent war photo journalist. Until one too many bullets lodged in his body, and he gave up the front lines for the softer side of chronicling life. When he accepts the assignment to record life in a circus, the last thing he expects is to find the man crush of his dreams. Except Cary Stilwell is a cold, tortured man who seems incapable of any warm emotion, never mind love. But Rhys is known for his persistence, and this time the pay-off might be more than he could have ever imagined.
The book is available here
Add to Goodreads
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/38388655-living-on-air
July 4, 2019
Now in Kindle Unlimited! And may I say I’m as pleased as Punch
I’m thrilled to say I now have three books in Kindle Unlimited for KU subscribers to choose from. There are more planned, and I’ll let you know as that happens.
These books are – my very first MM debut novel, Stripped Bare; the angsty Saving Alexander, and a revamped version of Waiting for Rain, for which I have the rights back. This has been re-published as Doubting Hearts with a few small changes to the contents and a gorgeous new cover.
You can find these books on Amazon by clicking the universal links below –
While I know this is purely an estimator, this amount below is more than I have earned with Dreamspinner and the old book, Waiting for Rain, in over two years. And this is ONE self published book, over 4 days only. I think I did the right thing, getting my rights back and re-publishing this as Doubting Hearts, new cover and all. It may not cover what I forked out for it yet, but I’m hoping it will soon.
July 2, 2019
Book Blitz – Death by C*ck by Susan Mac Nicol
This book follows on For Fox Sake and involves Tate Williams and Clay Mortimer once again getting caught up in all things Fetish Alley. In Tate’s words “Have we become like the official investigators of all things weird and kinky? I never got the memo.” There’s hotness, a murder mystery, a lot of banter, and some surprise events which will only be revealed in reading the book…
Publisher: Boroughs Publishing Group
Release Date: June 6th, 2019
Length: Kindle Edition, 195 pages
Series: Fetish Alley #2
Genre: M/M Mystery, M/M Romance
Add to Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/46162839-death-by-c-ck
Blurb
Things are getting dicey in Fetish Alley, so much so, the police have asked Tate and Clay to work a murder for them since the denizens of the Alley don’t want outsiders to learn their secrets.
Somehow, after solving one particularly squirrelly case, Clay Mortimer and Tate Williams of M&W Investigations have been deemed experts in all things Fetish Alley. Tate’s taken an undercover assignment for the London police, and solves it with his usual flair. When a brutal and particularly sensitive murder send the shop owners and patrons of Fetish Alley up in arms, once again the police department call upon Tate and Clay to take the lead in solving the grisly crime. Meanwhile their lives are being redefined in ways neither of them expected, and even though change can be scary, these brave men make certain that love guides them on every road they travel.
Murder with unique and delightful characters! ✰✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ – Dixiecowgirl060
A delicious follow up to For Fox Sake ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ – Ann Alaskan
Boroughs Publishing Group | Amazon | Smashwords | Barnes & Noble | Kobo
Excerpt
Death by C*ck
Susan Mac Nicol © 2019
All Rights Reserved
Tate wrinkled his nose as Rick swung open the front door to Stuffed for Choice and walked in. A stale smell wafted out of the shop, reminiscent of old weed, cigarettes, and the fustiness of small creatures. Tate noticed the crime scene paraphernalia was gone, and the shop appeared to have been restored to its former condition.
Dead animals with a soupçon of dust.
He wandered past Clay, shoving his way into the shop after Rick. “Huh. You could make a great joke out of this one.” He chuckled. “A policeman, two investigators, and a psychic walk into a taxidermy shop…”
Clay snorted as he entered the cool clime of the shop. “Sounds like a match made in heaven. Except the psychic hasn’t arrived yet.” He took off his sport coat and left it on top of the counter. Today hadn’t been a suit and tie day, even more so now he no longer had an office. Tate had finally managed to convince his man to dress down when he worked from home or didn’t have clients to see.
And what a sight he was. Clay was dressed in dark grey chinos, a crisp white long-sleeved shirt, and a camel sport coat.
Tate grinned at the memory of this morning. He’d taken one look at Clay and shaken his head with affection. His words, “You’ll never quite get the hang of casual, will you, babe?” had made Clay grumble softly.
His man did look pretty edible though. Tate was in black jeans, torn at the knees, a tight-fitting blue t-shirt, and his usual black leather jacket, a lighter version of the one he usually wore, because, after all, it was spring.
Meet the Author
The official stuff
Susan writes steamy, sexy and fun contemporary romance stories, some suspenseful, some gritty and dark and hopefully always entertaining. She’s also Editor in Chief at Divine Magazine, an online LGBTQ e-zine and a member of The Society of Authors, the Writers Guild of Great Britain, and the Authors Guild in the US.
Susan is also an award-winning script writer, with scripts based on two of her own published works. Sight Unseen has garnered no less than five awards to date and her TV pilot, Reel Life, based on her debut novel, Cassandra by Starlight, was also a winner at the Oaxaca Film Fest.
The ‘unofficial’ stuff…
She loves going to the theatre, live music concerts (especially if it’s her man crush Adam Lambert or the divine Cumberbatch) walks in the countryside, a good G and T, lazing away afternoons reading a good book, and watching re-runs of Silent Witness.
Her chequered past includes stories like being mistaken for a prostitute in the city of Johannesburg, being chased by a rhino on a dusty Kenyan road, getting kicked out of a youth club for being a ‘bad influence’ (she encourages free thinking) and having an aunt who was engaged to Cliff Richard
https://www.authorsusanmacnicol.com/
https://www.facebook.com/susiemax77
https://www.facebook.com/authorsusanmacnicol/
https://twitter.com/SusanMacNicol7
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6472959.Susan_Mac_Nicol
Hosted by Love Books Promotions
![[image error]](https://susanmacnicol.files.wordpress.com/2020/05/stopwatch-2061855_1920.jpg){kind=link}
![[image error]](https://susanmacnicol.files.wordpress.com/2020/03/mock21.jpg){kind=link}
![[image error]](https://susanmacnicol.files.wordpress.com/2020/05/home-office-569153_1920.jpg){kind=link}
![[image error]](https://susanmacnicol.files.wordpress.com/2020/05/bath-1620833_1920.png){kind=link}