Book signing, readers and an invite out of the blue

Firstly, I’d like to thank those who came to my book signing yesterday at Waterstone’s in Hanley. Thanks me ducks.

Although I write because I obviously enjoy it (why else shut yourself in solitary confinement and conjure monsters and killers), there's a difference between writing for pleasure and selling work to be published. When you write for pleasure, you're writing for yourself, but when you write for publication, readers are the most important thing. If they don’t like what you write, then they won’t read anything else by you and that’s the end of the line where publishing is concerned. So I hope people, on the whole, continue to like what I write, and that they stick with me on what I hope will be an entertaining journey. Everyone who buys my work is taking a chance and spending their hard earned money, and I respect and appreciate that more than you will ever know. Each and every one of you is the greatest.

Now for anyone who would like to see where I write, I have a guest post up at Book Chick City. It would be great if you could stop by and leave a comment (it’s a great site to visit anyway as there are lots of things to read and some great book reviews): http://www.bookchickcity.com/2010/10/all-hallows-eve-where-stories-are-made_30.html

On the writing front, I was invited to submit to an invitation only press, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed that they like what I (sent) send, but it has inspired a new novel idea that I’ve made a start on. So far I’ve not kept to a theme with my novels (one’s about a strange village, one’s a serial killer story, then there’s zombies and mutated creatures), and this one is unrelated to anything else too. I don’t know whether people like themes, but I like variety. I think that if I kept to one subject, such as zombies or suchlike then it could grow a little stale and as an author, I’d only be catering to a niche group. And of course, writing about different subjects also means that if a reader doesn’t like one book, then they might like another, and like I said at the beginning, when you write for publication, readers are the most important thing.

And last but not least, Happy Halloween. Hope everyone has a great night and stays safe.