Nick Stephenson's Blog, page 8

Marketing your book – it all starts before you’ve even written anything.

There are (broadly) three types of writers that I have come across in my far-reaching quest for the secret sauce of Indie publishing. First, there’s the writer who can craft an elegant and beautiful piece of work, but hasn’t a clue about where to start promoting, selling and marketing. Second, there’s the opposite problem – the writer who knows how to promote until they’re blue in the face, but can’t string a sentence together. Thirdly, and far more common, is the writer who can do neither. W...

Sneak Peek – the new Leopold Blake Thriller: Free Chapters

We all love a little bit of love and attention, so for you loyal followers out there I’m posting up the first few chapters of the new Leopold Blake thrillerPanic for you to read and share, as well as a full electronic copy of the whole book (for free) to coincide with the end of January – which is officially the calendar equivalent of a Monday morning. Book details below.

Here’s the blurb:

Leopold Blake, expert criminology consultant for the FBI, had his weekend all planned out – and it didn’t...

Book Review – Night of the Assassin, by Russell Blake

The book opens with the deadly El Reyas he carries out his latest job – the assassination of a notorious drugs cartel boss aboard his luxury yacht, surrounded by a crack team of mercenaries. The book then switches to El Rey’s childhood and explains the origin story behind one of Russell Blake’s most brutal characters.El Reyis the product of a violent upbringing, terrible heartbreak and death. He’s also the most deadly assassin the world has ever seen.

Night of the Assassin is the prequel to Bl...

Do Judge a Book – The Importance of a Good Cover Design

Don’t underestimate just how important this part of the publishing process is for your finished product. The final cover that will be used for Panichas now been completed, and I’m very happy with it. What a difference a great cover makes! I’ve already had people ask me to send them a copy of the book, without them even knowing the plot.

You might remember the “working cover” I was using as a placeholder until I hired a graphic designer, just as a way to get the branding of the book in my head...

Eek-onomics and self-publishing

Okay, so when I find myself with a wandering brain (which is disturbingly often these days) I tend to start arguments with myself. This week’s argument centred around the idea of the free market model and the self-publishing biz. That is, under traditional understanding of “how stuff works” it should be possible to ensure success in this game just by looking at the numbers. Let’s take a look…

First, let’s define “success” in a fairly wide manner. For me, success would be the ability to live co...