The problem with that title is that it is so cliched, it makes my jaws ache. Seriously. That, and the conviction from my former employers that I must be angry, upset or something else with negative connotations.

Hate to break it to you guys, but I was not surprised. I was not angry and I was definitely not upset.

Let’s deal with that cliched title: redundancy is not the end. From that book I was given in Pharmacia “Who Ate My Cheese” or some crap like that, to the hint that it being made redundant, your skills were not up to scratch, there will be someone who tells you in an overly cheerful voice that redundancy is about new beginnings. And, there will be some who will say “Yeah, right!” or who might believe that it is an end, or if they don’t, they will come to feel that way. When I left GSK, there was a definite air of ‘poor Jo wasn’t up to scratch’ because I couldn’t secure redeployment somewhere in the company. My most recent employer also used the words ‘angry’ and ‘upset’ to describe how I ‘must’ be feeling. Well, big surprise, guys and gals …

That person is not me and will not be me.

I am a big one for believing that things happen at a specific time for a reason. Lessons need to be learnt, and the time for that lesson just happens to be now. I also maintain that my Goddess (yes, I am a devout pagan) only sends those lessons at the right time, when I am ready and when I am strong enough.

What do I mean by that? This time last year, the black dog of depression and anxiety had me tightly in its grip. Yes, I contemplated killing myself before realising that the recruitment notice would be placed about the same time as my ‘caring’ employers let the rest of the company know of my demise. In other words, my now former employer would not give a rat’s arse if I did kill myself.  That was where it all started. It became clear that, both during my time signed off sick by my GP, that the company viewed me and potentially anyone with mental health issues as a burden, and one to be cast off with the minimum delay.

When we were told earlier this year that one of four salespeople with eastern territories would be made redundant, I knew it would be me. A previous attempt to … encourage me to leave had not worked. This was the latest attempt, as I saw it. I am sure that the ‘evaluation’ paperwork will show all the reasons why I would be the one chosen. After all, that would be the first thing to be examined if any questions were asked. But it was irrelevant.

Of greater importance, bearing in mind my conviction that ‘it’ would be me, I needed to start planning alternatives. I needed to ensure that I was offered the most beneficial severance package possible. Yes, such plans might not earn me as much as that job, but it would serve two purposes: It would bring in some money, even if that was less than £100 a month, and more importantly, I would keep my brain active.

Yes, I have allowed myself a couple of days ‘downtime’, but then I have other things in mind.

Want to know what they are? Read the next blog post to find out …

RELEVANT LINKS FOR JO PILSWORTH
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/JKPilsworth

Paranormal may not be your thing. Urban fantasy may not either. But who knows? I may be one of your friends new favourite author.
Inspired by #Legends an #UrbanFantasy series. #RBBC

Alpha: https://t.co/IRZLR92AFu
Beta: https://t.co/DGDDI03VB9
Merysekhmet (US link): https://t.co/fFOUm5MHUs
Toho: https://t.co/oKtbDgrqiHhttps://t.co/mGMuJWd6Xd
Medved: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07C19QKPH

Begin at the beginning, said the Queen of Hearts to Alice. A wise suggestion, but what defines the beginning. The internet is chock full of tales of warning and woe about self-publishing authors who make mistakes, I am not going to regurgitate some generalisations. This is MY story. If you can find something relevant and useful, then well and good.

So where was my beginning in my wild ride through being a self-published author? One evening, I was sitting in the restaurant of this hotel:

Yes, this very hotel. The Holiday Inn at Scotch Corner, on the junction of the A1 and A66. As you might have guessed by the style of the building, a hotel has been here for a good few decades. It has become my home from home in the seven years with my present employer, in a job involving a lot of business travel. So there I was, trying not to laugh out loud at a three way online role play I was writing with one writer from Sweden and one from America who was in Afghanistan at the time. I didn’t feel lonely in the hotel, because of people like that, people with whom I might write and forget my day.

But life is full of bumps in the road, and the online roleplay world is full of drama queens. I broke away from that original group, after I trusted the wrong person. For years, I had had my own ideas for my own stories, stemming from dreams I used to have as a child. Having realised that writing was an excellent way to de-stress, I decided the time had come to put those ideas into written stories. That was the start of Fane Anghelescu, a Hellhound, and of Gavril Negrescu, the Alpha of the Cwn Annwn.

Legends had always fascinated me. Legends and people watching. Humans are not all the same, so I asked myself why should Hellhounds all be the same. I was accused of copying the ideas of the roleplay group from which I had split. However, that individual had a penchant for sex and violence, preferably together. Hardly deep and meaningful. My Fane was much more that that. A Hellhound, so in theory a creature of Hell. Yet, like humans, he was different from the stereotype of his breed. As I was writing paranormal romance, there was bound to be some … okay, a lot … of sex, but, like the violence, I did not wish to make it gratuitous. As for Gavril and his Cwn Annwn, no one else has written a story like mine. That is not boasting, but the simple fact. The Cwn Annwn are the spectral hounds in service to Mallt-y-Nos. My twist was that they were charged with hunting down evil souls for her to judge, but also protecting the innocent. They were also not immortal, thus ensuring that the stories could run the gamut of emotions.

That was the start. A year or so later, I was in the process of trying to publish a fourth book, which was something of a spin off, using the same characters and a few others, but also introducing new characters.

As a result of my interest in the Egyptian pantheon, I decided to create a new character, a lion shifter in service to the goddess Sekhmet, who was both a warrior and a healer. Originally, I planned to make him an Anaesthetist, but I found it a bit difficult to work an anaesthetist in the battle scenes, so I made him a surgeon, at least in this century. As he had been around for a couple of thousand years, being a healer covered a lot of different descriptions over time.

That was when some very annoying problems occurred. When copies of “Merysekhmet” were purchased, it became clear that the wrong version had been pushed out to the buyers. In order to upload a pre-sale, one has to load a document of a similar length to have the same page-count. Unfortunately, it was this draft document which my readers were being sent, rather than the final version. Several attempts later, and it became clear that the easiest solution was to unpublish the book and start from scratch.

Begin at the beginning. In the end, I decided to unpublish all my books from all outlets and go through a laborious process of reformatting. The first book, “Bound”, had been written in role-play format, with alternating character points-of-view. It did not match the other books, written as they were in third person, and I wanted to change that. There were other historical events which I wished to include in “Alpha”. The third book, “Beta” originally included the trial of those responsible for the smuggling ring and was a way of introducing Casimir Gosselin. Things went a bit pear-shaped as we say in the UK, when a co-author decided t9 mess with the storyline. She didn’t appreciate that these were pre-planned (more or less) novels.

This was key, because Casimir was one of the most complex characters I had conceived, and certainly one to rival Fane. Then again, it did transpire that they were related. But if I explain that, then you lose a reason to buy the book. So, nope, you have to wait. If I didn’t include the trial, then how would I introduce Casimir? And he did need to be introduced because events involving both Casimir and Fane were key for “Merysekhmet”, “Toho”, “Medved” and “Ma’iitsoh”.

The upshot was, the continuity of the series was out of sync, and that was bugging me. Ultimately, it came down to the series didn’t feel right anymore. Some might say but if you unpublish, you lose reviews? Well, I never expected to make my fortune from writing. I have sold a few, but not huge numbers, and the only ‘reliable’ reviewer was my pet troll. Time to hit unpublish.

But, I had learnt loads in the past year which I intend to use. So, I will be back. The stories will be the way that I had envisaged them in the first place. And, I shall also make use of some of those lessons I learnt along the way.

In the meantime, you can find snippets and other details on either my Author page or my Hunter’s Arrow page

Two months since I wrote a piece for my blog, so I thought, let’s go for a nice, lightweight subject. Racism? That’s my idea of a light subject? Nope. Anything but. “To Kill A Mockingbird” has been removed from schools in Biloxi, MS because it made people uncomfortable. Well, that is what it is supposed to do. [Note to self: send a copy to my cousin, so her kids can still read it].

Those of you who have seen my profile picture (A Year of Selfies) will notice that I am not Caucasian. Born in London of parents of Indian origin, I have a relatively light skin, but trust me, growing up in what was an Irish neighbourhood (Wembley), I was fairly obvious. I had all the racist teasing which included not being allowed to join the girls’ games in primary school. So what? Boys were much more fun. Who needed dolls when you could play wargames.

As an adult, I can react accordingly to racisim. There was that group of Indian doctors, who called me ‘BBC’: British-Born and Confused. I told them I wasn’t confused. It hurt though when a child in my son’s Cambridgeshire primary school called him a ‘Paki’. My son had the perfect retort, which was that of the twelve nationalities in his family tree, Pakistani was not one of them.

But on to the subject of this blog: Racism in Novels. I am a member of several author promotion groups on Facebook. I write in what is admittedly a crowded genre of paranormal romances, but when you look at this link, using the keywords paranormal shifter romance, what do you notice about the book covers? All the characters are Caucasian. Yet, in terms of race, what could be more different that being of different species, let alone different skin colour? Even when the shifter animal comes from a species on a continent with darker skins such as African or Indian, their faces are still pale.

I am guilty of this. Only on one of my current books do the characters show racial differences, namely Merysekhmet (Amazon link here). Ramses, as his name suggests is Egyptian, and Elizabeth is a dark-haired American.

The question is why does this happen? Is is ‘market constraint’? Does it bother a potential reader that the cover might show a mixed race romance? I would like to think not, but if that were the case, why don’t we see more covers with mixed race characters? Does it mean that a cover with a mixed race couple sells less? Or, are our readers not so narrow-minded.

I am not sure I know the answer. However, in these days of the #takeaknee protests, not just in the USA, but also in Germany, understanding race and how non-Caucasians can be disadvantaged, is absolutely key.

How can the status quo be changed if we are surrounded by the ‘ideal’ being a Caucasian couple, regardless if it is a M/F, M/M or whatever else.

The next time you buy yourself a book, just consider that.

LINKS TO THE BOOKS IN THE DIARIES OF THE CWN ANNWN and HELLFIRE PACK SERIES

“Bound”, Volume 1 of The Diaries of the Cŵn Annwn
Amazon.com $0.99 or free on KU: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B016TQFBNY
Amazon.co.uk £0.99 or free on KU: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B016TQFBNY

When I looked back at my publishing schedule, I realised it was months since I had added anything to my blog. Even then, I found it difficult to express myself as myself. Depression and anxiety are insidious. You tell yourself that you can cope, but then something tips the scale, and the proverbial chasm beckons.

But now, I have so many ideas bubbling away, that the difficulty is sorting them out. “Wait your turn!” I mutter to all the ideas, as I try to put them in some sort of order.

I have always enjoyed writing with a fountain pen, not least because it was a sign that I could write ‘properly’ as a child. I remember that first pen: a Platignum pen, purple barrel. Unfortunately, my style of writing meant that I ground the nib down one side. Other pens followed. Parker, Sheaffer. Nothing fancy. Just sturdy pens. In college it was a Parker Vector, which unfortunately was stolen by some lowlife. It was shame, because it had a beautifully smooth nib. Still it did teach me that not all pens, and nibs, are created equal.

Leap forward into my mid-forties, and my love of fountain pens was rekindled because a colleague preferred to use them. Until then, I had a couple of Parkers which just languished in my pen pot. Within a relatively short time, those two long-suffering pens were joined by several others. I went so far, even, to order a replacement nib for one from Australia.

Not all of them are inked. Some have standard black. Some not so standard purple, or brown or turquoise. Another has Diamine Blood Orange or Diamine Dark Forest. I have put a pause on buying any others, given that there is a Pen Show in London which coincides with my birthday in October.

And, it doesn’t stop there. Paper … Ah! The delights of paper. I prefer 90gsm paper, but I have Clairefontaine notebooks from Bureau Direct. I have some made by Rob De La Porte (Click here for Rob’s website), and I have the one illustrated above with the peacock feather, found in the sale pile at WH Smith in Newcastle.

So, why am I waxing lyrical about pens and paper? Most of my novels are written either on my Lenovo Yoga laptop computer or on my iPad, the latter courtesy of Uncle George. But, given that my job involves a lot of travelling and waiting around, I found another option. I rediscovered the pleasure of writing longhand. So, what I write may not make it into a novel, but it gives me a repository for those bubbling thoughts, whenever they occur. The process of writing with a fountain pen on good quality paper has meant that I have rediscovered the pleasure and relaxation in writing longhand. The latter surprised me, because my writing had become rather scrappy. Who needs a pen and paper when you can make a quick note with talk-to-text software.

But, there is pleasure and there is relaxation. I am having regular appointments with a CBT therapist, and one of the things he pointed out was what did I do that brought me pleasure? What was just for me? Not work, not family, not for my husband or son? Just for me.

That is writing with a fountain pen. Writing on good quality paper. Writing my stories and the thoughts of my characters. You might consider trying it.

LINKS TO THE BOOKS IN THE DIARIES OF THE CWN ANNWN and HELLFIRE PACK SERIES

“Bound”, Volume 1 of The Diaries of the Cŵn Annwn
Amazon.com $0.99 or free on KU: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B016TQFBNY
Amazon.co.uk £0.99 or free on KU: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B016TQFBNY

I was having a discussion recently about the importance of a good cover for a book. With my background in sales, it was something that made sense to me. When first I started in pharmaceutical sales, the Marketing Department would have designed a multiple-page detail aid, a sales process we were to follow, page by page, with the customer. A mix of words and graphics to highlight the key points of our product. Of course, the reality was that a customer would have perhaps a minute and a half to spare me. The reality was that we would use the ‘leavepiece’ rather than the detail aid, a single A5 or gatefold piece of literature, with key product bullet points.

Covers are effectively the leavepiece rather than the detail aid that is the online book listing or the ‘Look Inside’ feature.

But … where do you draw the line between stereotype and communicating your ‘message’? My own genre is paranormal romance. It is a crowded marketplace, so how can I ensure that my ‘product’ has a ‘unique selling point’, that makes it stand out.

The thing that seems to characterise a paranormal romance cover, at least at the moment, is a naked male torso. No head, and maybe just a hint of low-slung jeans. Abdominals, definitely. Perhaps an image of the paranormal creature involved in the story.  A picture of the moon wouldn’t go amiss, considering paranormals were affected by the moon. The image to the right is an early book cover which I used as a promotional item. All the requirements for a paranormal romance seemed to be there. But there was a technical hitch. I tried to run a Facebook advertisement with it. The advert was rejected, on the grounds that the image promoted a ‘negative body image’. Apparently, the abdominals made my model look emaciated. Yes, emaciated. One of my readers commented that she wished her husband looked that emaciated.

When I launched my first book, I chose a pre-made cover from http://www.selfpubbookcovers.com, because they offered options which were not too expensive, and I could customise the book title and author name, using a fairly wide variety of fonts. Their licensing scheme also covered the use of the image for a reasonable number of copies, certainly more than I might hope to sell, so it worked for me.

But then, my friends and I realised that we were writing a series, and that required a different approach. That required a brand identity. In the same way that products in a supermarket have a livery, so to speak, a series of books need to have a ‘look’.

So, here we have “Exhibit Three”. This is a collage of covers from one of my favourite authors, Sherrilyn Kenyon. The top row was from an earlier stage in the author’s career. The second row is from a more recent series of the books. The bottom row is from the author’s series of YA books, hence them having a different look from the earlier books. The key point is that each set has a clear ‘look’ to them.

Yet, there are no naked abdominals. Are they not essential? The difference here is that arguably, by the time the second row of titles came out, Ms Kenyon was a well-established author. The main information that needed to be communicated to her ‘customers’ was her name and a clear visual so a reader might know it was a new book. The title of the book was almost immaterial.

So, ask yourself what are you trying to achieve with your cover? Do you want your name to be known? Do you want it clear under what genre the book falls?

There is another aspect to be considered. Example #4 is a different genre from my own:

These books both come under the heading of military history, but they were bought from two very different sources. The book on the left was found in a bookstore in the Military History section. The book on the right was purchased from a supermarket in the Non-Fiction section.  Two very different marketplaces, so different rules apply. Arguably, the supermarket purchase needs to stand out, so you have a light-background and an easily identifiable image to match the title. The bookstore purchase doesn’t need to stand out, since a potential buyer knows what the subject matter will be as the book is in a specialist area. The ‘no nonsense’ look works, because it is a serious subject.

Another factor to take into account: Where will your book be sold?

A final note on covers, and for this I will use my own covers. I mentioned that my stories were clearly forming a series. As it happened, it was two series, so I needed clear identities to link them both together.

Row 1 is the original series. The images are tied together by the series title, the wolf image and the similarity of the couple in the heart shape. Row 2 is the follow-on series. It is linked to the original by the strapline at the top, but then it has its own identity. As a ‘shifter’ series, the image combines a picture of the lead male character, as a romance, and the animal into which he is able to shift. Although I have different co-authors, the use of the same style in the author name also serves to tie the books into a series.

I don’t sell my books through supermarkets or bookstores, but at the same time, I want a good quality image for a simple reason. As I said, my genre is very crowded. A reader is likely to search on a string of keywords, such as ‘shifter romance’. As you know, Amazon will bring up thumbnail images. A good quality cover image will stand out, and increase your chances of catching a new reader’s attention.

A final point is how much are you prepared to spend on the cover? I have paid between $69 and £200 for my covers. The higher end of the scale is because they were drawn for me. The lower end is for pre-made covers. The point is that a good quality cover can be purchased for a relatively low amount, but it is a worthwhile investment. It might delay launching your book if you have to think about finances, but it is worth it.

So, in summary, the four questions you need to consider:

1. Is it important for your genre to be clear because it is part of your identity?
2. It is more important for your name to stand out?
3. Where will you be selling your book?
4. Is the cover optimised for search engines?

And don’t forget, gut instinct. Does it feel right for your book? I learnt a lot as I searched for covers for my books. I know I made mistakes, but hopefully, others can learn from them.

LINKS TO THE BOOKS IN THE DIARIES OF THE CWN ANNWN and HELLFIRE PACK SERIES

“Bound”, Volume 1 of The Diaries of the Cŵn Annwn
Amazon.com $0.99: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B016TQFBNY
Amazon.co.uk £0.99: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B016TQFBNY
Smashwords.com £0.00 (Free): https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/589130