Terry Shames's Blog: 7 Criminal Minds, page 155

...and start all over again (some Big News today!) by Cathy Ace

Two jobs for me today - answer the "set question" and tell you about a bit of news...

So, news first: over the summer I've negotiated the reacquisition of all the rights to my Cait Morgan Mysteries (except English language print, which remains with the original publisher). This means I can now relaunch the digital versions of all eight novels. The first Cait Morgan Mystery was published in 2012 - that's seven years ago (where does the time go?) and the eighth came out in 2016. The books have,...

First Lines Matter

Readers often read the opening few lines or page to a book before deciding to buy. What makes an opening sentence stand out above the rest? Give examples of openings, including your own, that you believe work brilliantly. Any tips or lessons learned for new authors about what to avoid on that first page?  

From Frank

This is a great question, and near and dear to my heart. I think first lines matter a lot, whether in a story or a novel. In fact, the only line that matters as much as t...

Grabbing the reader

Q:  Readers often read the opening few lines or page to a book before deciding to buy. What makes an opening sentence stand out above the rest? Give examples of openings, including your own, that you believe work brilliantly. Any tips or lessons learned for new authors about what to avoid on that first page?  
-from Susan
Multiple award-winning crime fiction wrier Rhys Bowen gave me the most important bit of advice about that opening page. She had just read my first 20 pages and...

Read All About It!

Out of all the books available to read and limited time, what influences your choices? What books have you read this summer and which would you rate as your top recommendation?

This year, I’ve been fortunate in that I’ve been asked to be a judge for a couple of literary prizes: The McKitterick Prize, awarded by the UK Society of Authors for the best debut novel by a writer over the age of forty (the winner gets £3,000); and the Wilbur Smith Award for best adventure novel (which comes with a bi...

Read Any Good Books Lately?

Out of all the books available to read and limited time, what influences your choices? What books have you read this summer and which would you rate as your top recommendation?
For me, this summer has been a whirlwind (read torture) of final edits on TURN TO STONE, my seventh Ellie Stone mystery, which comes out January 21, 2020. I’ve completed eight full revisions in addition to the edits done by my publisher. And still I find maddening little errors. 

If not for the palate-cleansing resp...

Summer reads

Out of all the books available to read and limited time, what influences your choices? What books have you read this summer and which would you rate as your top recommendation?
by Dietrich
When I open a new book I want to be engaged by page one. The genre doesn’t matter as much as the quality of the writing. There are so many good books, both written by authors I’m familiar with and those I haven’t read before. So this year I’ve made more time for reading, and although I don’t have an absolute...

Choosing What to Read

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The Next Best Read. by Brenda Chapman

Question: Out of all the books available to read and limited time, what influences your choices? What books have your read this summer and which would you rate as your top recommendation?
A number of factors go into my book selection. 
I belong to a book club that meets monthly. We tend to stray from the mystery genre and read mainly literary fiction and often by Canadian authors. Quite often the book has been on the best seller list and usually quite recently.
However, if I'm standing in a...

Biting the Hand That Doesn’t Feed Me

Do you have, or have you ever had, an agent? Depending on your experience, mount an argument for or against having one.

by Paul D. Marks

I’m going to come clean on this issue. It’s a raw point for me. Make that sore point. And in talking about it below I may come off as a little pompous or show-offy, but that’s not my intent.

I do not have an agent. And, believe me, it isn’t for lack of trying. When I tell people I don’t have an agent, that I can’t get one, that I can’t even get one to respond t...

Lovely Lisa - by Catriona

Q: Do you have, or have you ever had, an agent? Depending on your experience, mount an argument for or against having one.

I do. Her name is Lisa Moylett, of CMM Lit Agency in London, and we've been together for a very lucky thirteen years.

I can't do pros and cons, because there are no cons. Well, if you are or want to be self-publishing then an agent makes no sense, but if you are or want to be traditionally published an agent is like the cops, your mum and Google rolled into one package...