Steven A. McKay's Blog, page 16
February 12, 2020
Stunning Dunnottar Castle during the Scottish winter! My latest research trip, just look at those views!
Last year I visited Dunadd Hill Fort to research my novel Song of the Centurion and it was not only a worthwhile trip, but a fantastic way to spend time with my daughter (my son wasn’t well so the wife had to stay home with him). Click HERE to see those pics. This year we went to Dunnottar Castle on the opposite side of the country to find out what the place is like as it will feature in book 3 of the Warrior Druid of Britain Chronicles (available summer 2020 hopefully). And the whole family came this time!
(BTW book 1 in the series, The Druid, is on special offer in the UK for just 99p all February LINK, and 99c in the USA ONLY on the 11th and 12th Feb LINK. Get your copy quick!)
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I’d Google’d Dunnottar and thought I had a good idea of what the place was like but my visit showed me the real value of research, as it was not at all as I expected. Of course, the ruined castle that stands there nowadays dates from medieval times – it wouldn’t have been there during the time of Bellicus and Duro. That means, hooray! I can pretty much invent whatever structures I want, within reason, but it’s great that I now have some idea of what the land is like and what people would have seen approaching Dunnottar from land or sea back in the 5th century. At that time it would have been a Pictish stronghold, with King Drest enjoying its stunning location.
So, on with the photos! The day we visited it was during Storm Ciara and very windy but well worth the trip as you’ll see from the pics. It was blowing so hard my flat cap actually blew off INSIDE the keep!
[image error]The walk from the car park shows the castle in all its glory, with the North Sea at the back
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Some of the pictures were taken by my wife, or my daughter. Very strangely, I had about 70% battery on my phone, wife had 60% – both our phones died within 5 minutes of arrival, and both in the same place (the Keep). Thankfully my daughter’s phone was fine or we’d have missed out on many of these amazing pics! It was pretty spooky how two phones with nearly full batteries, and no previous battery faults, both died suddenly and in the same building….
[image error]Now the phones dying makes sense….
[image error]I would have LOVED to go through that gate and come out the other side, but it was locked
Click to view slideshow.
[image error]A handsome photo-bomber
Click to view slideshow.
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[image error]Yes, one glove is fingerless – so I could use the camera without taking it off all the time! Wee tip for you there, next time you visit Scotland.
We stayed at the Carnoustie Hotel and I’d recommend it. I’m not a golfer but it’s a nice hotel with a pool and a great restaurant.
On the way home (in a minor blizzard) we passed the famous Bannockburn, Stirling Castle/ Wallace Monument as well as the equally famous Oor Wullie, Dennis the Menace, and Desperate Dan!
I hope you like the photos, and I hope you are looking forward to the next book. Fingers crossed for a summer release, but before that will be the Kindle and paperback editions of LUCIA. Look out for the cover reveal for that one VERY SOON!
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February 11, 2020
The Druid just 99c in the USA now too! Be quick though.
Yep, for a VERY short time, The Druid is only 99c in the USA (usual price $3.99) so if you haven’t read it yet, check it out. It’s currently doing really well in the UK so it would be nice to draw in some more readers in America too. Get your copy HERE:
Don’t forget, it’s also FREE on Kindle Unlimited worldwide, and FREE on Prime Reading UK, as well as just 99p UK during February so don’t miss out, and let your historical fiction reading friends know!
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February 8, 2020
Book Corner: Faces of Darkness by Steven A. McKay
“There were several points where I thought I had solved the mystery, only to be disabused of my theory a few pages later, which, of course, makes the book even more riveting!” Check out the latest review for Faces of Darkness from historian Sharon Bennett Connolly!
History... the interesting bits!
CROFTUN, ENGLAND AD 1328
Lady Isabella de Courcy is found alone in a room bolted from the inside, unconscious, and with a dagger brutally forced through her hand into the floorboards beneath, but this is just the latest in a line of similar, terrifying incidents. For months now she’s been stalked by some shadowy tormentor who leaves no trace of his movements and has never been clearly seen by anyone, even Lady Isabella.
Can the bailiff, John Little, along with his friend – the legendary friar, Robert Stafford – uncover the truth and, more importantly, will they be able to save the troubled victim before she ends up dead?
This new standalone tale from the author ofThe Druidsees the return of two much-loved characters from the Forest Lord series and is based on a shocking real-life case which remains, to this day, unsolved.
I have been a fan…
View original post 801 more words
February 1, 2020
Wow! THE DRUID is only 99p Kindle UK, FREE on Prime Reading & Kindle Unlimited!
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The Druid is in Amazon UK’s February deals – just 99p! Bargain! 
Grab it here – https://amzn.to/2ud1TCu
As Speesh Reads said – “The Druid is richly imagined, confident and gripping, full of memorable characters that fair leap from the page, and with a protagonist who, despite his calling, is written with just the right mix of the earthly and the unearthly, the spiritual and the realistic… instantly engaging storytelling on a par with anything you’ve read before by him there Cornwell, or Kane, or Kristian…a triumph, an honest to goodness, self-assured triumph.”
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January 14, 2020
Faces of Darkness by Steven A. McKay
“McKay knows what his readers want.. everything he offers us is pure brilliance and while we may not see the gang around that much it was so good to be back!”
Check out this interesting review of Faces of Darkness!
Next up on David’s Book Blurg I’m reviewing Faces of Darkness by Steven A. McKay.
Here’s the blurb
When a young noblewoman is brutally assaulted in her own manor house, two former outlaws decide they must solve the mystery, before things go too far…
CROFTUN, NORTHERN ENGLAND
WINTER, AD 1328Lady Isabella de Courcy is found alone in a room bolted from the inside, unconscious, and with a dagger forced through her hand, but this is just the latest in a line of similar, terrifying incidents. For months now, she’s been stalked by some shadowy tormentor yet, bafflingly, the attacker has never been clearly seen by anyone, even Lady Isabella, and he seems to leave no trace of his movements.
Can the bailiff, John Little, along with the legendary friar, Robert Stafford, uncover the truth and, more importantly, will they be able to save the troubled victim before she ends…
View original post 425 more words
January 8, 2020
Author Questions Answered – Should I write a novella?
If you like.
Tune in next time for more stunning insights from me!
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No, I’m kidding. Let’s look at this in a little more depth, as I have (genuinely) been asked about this more than once recently.
I’ve written a few shorter tales now, including novellas, a novelette and some short stories so I’d like to think I have some idea of how they work – not so much from an artistic standpoint perhaps, since that’s subjective, but from the business side. In other words, whether they sell or not.
And I’ll get straight to the point and tell you that, in comparison to full-length novels, NO, shorter stories don’t sell as well. Even if you lower the price, it doesn’t seem to matter. When browsing your book’s Amazon page readers are very clearly checking the page count and spending more of their cash/time on books with 300+ pages.
[image error]Boom! 1, 2 and 3 today! Looks impressive eh? But all 3 of those combined are selling less than The Druid.
My first novella was Knight of the Cross which was more fantasy influenced than my other books so, when it didn’t sell as much as Wolf’s Head or The Wolf and the Raven I thought people weren’t so keen on the HP Lovecraft cosmic horror thing. It had a superb cover after all, so something else had to be at play.
Then Friar Tuck and the Christmas Devil was next and, even at Christmas time when it sells best, it still doesn’t come even close to any of my novels in the charts despite being included in Amazon’s prestigious Kindle Singles Program.
The Prisoner and The Escape were shorter again and despite having really nice covers (particularly The Prisoner) and being good enough again to win places in the Kindle Singles Program they haven’t sold all that much.
The Abbey of Death was the next novella and this was my first book to be bought by a publisher (Amazon Publishing). I earned a nice advance and for once didn’t have to pay for my own editor. I hoped for big things.
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Yet that book is my worst selling so far, despite being hailed by reviewers as one of my best! What’s the deal? It’s full of action and based on a cool premise with a much-loved main character!
I began to wonder if my readers simply enjoyed the cover art and settings of the main Forest Lord novels and didn’t care for anything other than those.
But then The Druid came out, book 1 in a totally different series, and that has flown high in the charts for the past year and a half or whatever. It is, of course, a full-length novel. The sequel, Song of the Centurion, has sold consistently well too since it was published last autumn.
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The success of that new Warrior Druid of Britain series made me wonder if I’d now built up a readership more open to different things so I had high hopes when I started work on another Forest Lord novella. Faces of Darkness came out in December and…well, once again, it’s shown me that readers simply don’t care so much for shorter books. It’s doing great in the reviews, but in terms of chart placings or sales, it isn’t even close to my novels, even older ones. We’re talking about UK Amazon chart placings of circa 1000-2000 overall for The Druid and Song of the Centurion, compared to the novellas which rarely every reach higher than top 20,000 and are usually way, way lower. That’s a big gap.
And let me be clear – the novellas and other shorts all have just as good reviews as the novels. Not as MANY, obviously, but those who do read the likes of Faces of Darkness or The Prisoner seem to really enjoy them so it can’t be said bad reviews are putting off potential buyers.
So – if you are planning on writing a series of novellas to make money, I would advise you to rethink it. I read the Smashwords end of year report in 2018 and their findings totally confirm this – their figures proved that readers prefer buying books of 100,000+ words. So, if you are writing to make a living, rather than writing a few novellas why not restructure them to make one novel?
HOWEVER!
All of this assumes you are writing to make money. I must admit, I enjoy being an author but I only work my dayjob part-time now so my books are my main source of income these days – it’s no longer just a hobby. It may seem “vulgar” to some, but if I want to put fuel in my Lamborghini*, I need to sell as many books as possible and many authors are in the same place, or would like to be.
But writing IS art. If you have a great idea for a story and know it simply wouldn’t work padded out to 100,000 words, feel free to make it a novella. I thoroughly enjoy writing those shorter tales as they are action-packed and straight to the point with no messing around. It’s refreshing and a lot of fun, and some readers love them, so I will probably do more in future.
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So you must weigh up your options but, ultimately, do what feels right for you and your characters.
If you have anything to add to this, or would like to contradict my findings, please let me know in the comments!
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One final thing – I have another full-length novel which came out recently: Lucia. It’s available on Audible ONLY for the first six months, so impossible for me to compare to the other books in terms of charts and sales figures but I’ll be VERY interested to see how it does when it comes out on Kindle. Will a standalone novel, one that has no connection to any other book of mine, with all new characters, sell well? Might it, as I really hope, draw in new readers who might not want to take a chance on starting a series by an unknown author? I guess I’ll find out in the spring when Lucia is unleashed on Kindle!
*Citroen C3.
Author Question’s Answered – Should I write a novella?
If you like.
Tune in next time for more stunning insights from me!
[image error]
No, I’m kidding. Let’s look at this in a little more depth, as I have (genuinely) been asked about this more than once recently.
I’ve written a few shorter tales now, including novellas, a novelette and some short stories so I’d like to think I have some idea of how they work – not so much from an artistic standpoint perhaps, since that’s subjective, but from the business side. In other words, whether they sell or not.
And I’ll get straight to the point and tell you that, in comparison to full-length novels, NO, shorter stories don’t sell as well. Even if you lower the price, it doesn’t seem to matter. When browsing your book’s Amazon page readers are very clearly checking the page count and spending more of their cash/time on books with 300+ pages.
[image error]Boom! 1, 2 and 3 today! Looks impressive eh? But all 3 of those combined are selling less than The Druid.
My first novella was Knight of the Cross which was more fantasy influenced than my other books so, when it didn’t sell as much as Wolf’s Head or The Wolf and the Raven I thought people weren’t so keen on the HP Lovecraft cosmic horror thing. It had a superb cover after all, so something else had to be at play.
Then Friar Tuck and the Christmas Devil was next and, even at Christmas time when it sells best, it still doesn’t come even close to any of my novels in the charts despite being included in Amazon’s prestigious Kindle Singles Program.
The Prisoner and The Escape were shorter again and despite having really nice covers (particularly The Prisoner) and being good enough again to win places in the Kindle Singles Program they haven’t sold all that much.
The Abbey of Death was the next novella and this was my first book to be bought by a publisher (Amazon Publishing). I earned a nice advance and for once didn’t have to pay for my own editor. I hoped for big things.
[image error]
Yet that book is my worst selling so far, despite being hailed by reviewers as one of my best! What’s the deal? It’s full of action and based on a cool premise with a much-loved main character!
I began to wonder if my readers simply enjoyed the cover art and settings of the main Forest Lord novels and didn’t care for anything other than those.
But then The Druid came out, book 1 in a totally different series, and that has flown high in the charts for the past year and a half or whatever. It is, of course, a full-length novel. The sequel, Song of the Centurion, has sold consistently well too since it was published last autumn.
[image error]
The success of that new Warrior Druid of Britain series made me wonder if I’d now built up a readership more open to different things so I had high hopes when I started work on another Forest Lord novella. Faces of Darkness came out in December and…well, once again, it’s shown me that readers simply don’t care so much for shorter books. It’s doing great in the reviews, but in terms of chart placings or sales, it isn’t even close to my novels, even older ones. We’re talking about UK Amazon chart placings of circa 1000-2000 overall for The Druid and Song of the Centurion, compared to the novellas which rarely every reach higher than top 20,000 and are usually way, way lower. That’s a big gap.
And let me be clear – the novellas and other shorts all have just as good reviews as the novels. Not as MANY, obviously, but those who do read the likes of Faces of Darkness or The Prisoner seem to really enjoy them so it can’t be said bad reviews are putting off potential buyers.
So – if you are planning on writing a series of novellas to make money, I would advise you to rethink it. I read the Smashwords end of year report in 2018 and their findings totally confirm this – their figures proved that readers prefer buying books of 100,000+ words. So, if you are writing to make a living, rather than writing a few novellas why not restructure them to make one novel?
HOWEVER!
All of this assumes you are writing to make money. I must admit, I enjoy being an author but I only work my dayjob part-time now so my books are my main source of income these days – it’s no longer just a hobby. It may seem “vulgar” to some, but if I want to put fuel in my Lamborghini*, I need to sell as many books as possible and many authors are in the same place, or would like to be.
But writing IS art. If you have a great idea for a story and know it simply wouldn’t work padded out to 100,000 words, feel free to make it a novella. I thoroughly enjoy writing those shorter tales as they are action-packed and straight to the point with no messing around. It’s refreshing and a lot of fun, and some readers love them, so I will probably do more in future.
[image error]
So you must weigh up your options but, ultimately, do what feels right for you and your characters.
If you have anything to add to this, or would like to contradict my findings, please let me know in the comments!
[image error]
One final thing – I have another full-length novel which came out recently: Lucia. It’s available on Audible ONLY for the first six months, so impossible for me to compare to the other books in terms of charts and sales figures but I’ll be VERY interested to see how it does when it comes out on Kindle. Will a standalone novel, one that has no connection to any other book of mine, with all new characters, sell well? Might it, as I really hope, draw in new readers who might not want to take a chance on starting a series by an unknown author? I guess I’ll find out in the spring when Lucia is unleashed on Kindle!
*Citroen C3.
January 5, 2020
Another research trip to a fantastic Scottish fortress!
You may remember my blog post about a visit to Dunadd hill fort last year. It was a memorable trip I took with my daughter, and really helped me to get an idea of the place which ended up in Song of the Centurion (check out the photos HERE).
[image error]Heading back down after conquering Dunadd
Well, for my birthday this year I’m heading to the opposite side of Scotland, to check out the incredible-looking Dunnottar Castle! The current site features medieval ruins, but there’s evidence the place was in use in the “dark ages” and it’s obviously where the Picts in my Warrior Druid of Britain tales are based. The new book in the series will see some action at Dunnottar – the Picts are back, as are Hengist and Horsa, so expect some brutality and treachery as Bellicus and Duro try to survive the attentions of all these various warring factions!
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I’ve not written much of it so far to be honest, but I’m planning on making book 3 different to The Druid and Song of the Centurion so don’t expect a suicidal raid on Dunnottar by Bellicus. Which is a bit of a shame to be honest, as the place looks like it would be IDEAL for something like that! We’ll see how it develops, but I’m expecting to broaden our heroes horizons again in this book, so Arthur and Merlin will also probably return at some stage…Who knows? Not me. Yet.
We’ll be staying at the hotel by the famous golf course at Carnoustie which looks amazing
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and then onto Dunnottar. Hopefully it all inspires the new novel to be the best one yet…
Look out for it in the summer, and, in the meantime, check out Lucia and Faces of Darkness and have a great 2020 all!
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December 31, 2019
Happy New Year!
It’s Hogmanay! I hope you all had a great Christmas and Satan, I mean, Santa, was good to you!
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Thank you all so much for your amazing support in 2019. It’s been a very productive year for me, with two novels – Song of the Centurion and Lucia – being published, along with an unexpected return to medieval Yorkshire in the novella Faces of Darkness. Behind the scenes I also wrote a fair bit for that secret project I was first asked to do about this time last year – I should be able to finally share more on that in a few months!
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In the coming year I only have, so far, plans to complete the third book in my Warrior Druid of Britain series. It’s already underway and should be out in the summer, all being well. I expect the Picts and Saxons to make their presence felt once again but I haven’t really planned very far ahead – I like to come up with things as I go along after all.
There’s a small chance I’ll do another Forest Lord book – either a novella or even a full novel – as I’ve been listening to a podcast about an interesting mystery from the middle-ages recently, and it would make a great story, but it’s just an idea and may come to nothing…
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The first thing I will be publishing in the new year should be Lucia on Kindle, and as a paperback. I’m very proud of this one and I hope more of you will check it out on Audible (which is the only place you can get it right now as they bought the exclusive rights for the first 6 months). The narrator, Imogen Church, does a superb job so please do give it a go, but if you must have it in “proper” book form it’ll be available in the spring. I think it’s pretty unique in telling a Roman slave’s tale from her own perspective.
Now, I’m off to play my guitar with a beer before the bells – I hope you all have a fantastic 2020, readers, and thank you so much for all your support during 2019!
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December 13, 2019
Faces of Darkness out NOW, on Kindle & paperback
And the paperback version is live now too –
USA link – https://www.amazon.com/dp/1672331447/
UK link – https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1672331447/
I hope you all enjoy it
