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News: Success of 'Irish Nell' & 'The Willow Marsh Murder'

9/1/2020

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2020 has already begun with a BANG! for myself and Detective Stephen Lavender.
My short story, The Death of Irish Nell has had a flurry of sales over the last few month, especially in the UK, and is doing very well in the Amazon rankings. It was lovely to see her awarded an Amazon 'Best Seller' badge.

In addition to this, both Irish Nell and my forthcoming new novel, The Willow Marsh Murder, have been promoted on Amazon as HOT NEW RELEASES in Historical Mysteries.
Apart from doing my famous 'Happy Author Dance' around the kitchen, I added a sexy little wiggle at the end of my usual routine to celebrate my hotness. Although, when several FB readers on my Author Page asked if they could buy tickets or get video evidence, I stopped that nonsense straight away. (Winky Face)

News: 'Murder in Park Lane' Published

13/2/2019

Fifth Detective Lavender Mystery
An Instant Best-Seller

Murder in Park Lane, the fifth novel in The Detective Lavender Mystery Series, was published on February 12th 2019 and within 24 hours it was already in the Top 200 on Amazon.com - and had a Best-Seller tag.
At the time of typing, it is the best-selling novel in Historical Thrillers.
Go, Lavender!

News: Publication date for 'Plague Pits & River Bones'

27/8/2017

D-Day: 11th January 2018

That's the date,folks.
On the 11th January 2018, Thomas & Mercer will publish the fourth novel in The Detective Lavender Mystery Series:
Plague Pits & RIver Bones.
It's already up for pre-order on Amazon with its lovely new book cover and racy blurb and this happy, little author is doing an excited dance around the kitchen.

Pre-order on Amazon

London 1812: Savage gangs intent on treachery and revolt besiege the capital, while a brooding menace stalks the corridors of the Palace of Westminster. When Detective Stephen Lavender is called in to investigate a highway robbery and a cold-blooded murder, both the cases take a dangerous and disturbing personal twist.
Meanwhile, Lavender’s trusted deputy, Constable Ned Woods, finds a mysterious, severed foot washed up on Greenwich Beach. They soon realise that these ancient bones are more sinister than they first appeared.
With Bow Street Police Office undermanned and in disarray, it will take all of Lavender and Woods’ wit and skill, with help from Lavender’s spirited wife, Magdalena, to unmask the fiend behind the mayhem; restore peace and justice to the beleaguered city and solve the tragic mystery of the severed foot.
But will they do so in time to foil a plot that threatens to plunge the country into chaos?

News: New novel to be published in December

18/4/2017

PUBLISHING DEAL FOR
PLAGUE PITS & RIVER BONES

I'm delighted to announce that Thomas & Mercer have agreed to publish the fourth Detective Lavender Mystery: Plague Pits & River Bones.
I don't have a firm date for publication yet, but it MAY be as early as December 2017.
In the meantime, I have a few more days left to tweak the manuscript before I submit it to my editors.
Over the last six weeks, I have pain-stakingly removed 6,500 surplus words and phrases. Then with the help of my friendly Alpha-readers I've restructured it and tightened it some more. The novel, my most complicated plot to date, has now gone down from 110,000 words to 100,000 and is a lot better for this revision.
It'll go thorugh three more rounds of edits with Thomas & Mercer and, hopefully, by December it will be a smooth, thrilling and enjoyable read.

News: Amazing sales for 'The Heiress of Linn Hagh'

23/12/2016

'Heiress' Reaches Milestone 100,000 Sales

Santa came early to me this year with some amazing news about the Detective Lavender series. THE SANS PAREIL MYSTERY passed its 50,000 sales milestone and THE HEIRESS OF LINN HAGH passed an incredible 100,000 sales! My publsishers sent me a commemorative plaque to mark this milestone which now has pride of place under my kitchen Christmas tree until I can find it a permanent home.
My publishers are delighted with the continued success of the series - and the fabulous reviews 'The Sculthorpe Murder' has achieved in the UK.
I'm a very happy author and I sincerely hope that Christmas 2016 turns out to be as wonderful for you as it has for me.
Take care, and thank you for all your support. Karen xxx

News: 'The Sans Pareil Mystery' is one year old

6/10/2016

HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY TO
‘THE SANS PAREIL MYSTERY’

One year ago today, The Sans Pareil Mystery was published. This was a huge moment for me. Yes, The Heiress of Linn Hagh had enjoyed significant success when I self-published it in 2014 and had gathered wonderful reviews – but could I do it again with this second book in the Detective Lavender Mystery Series?

Sans Pareil was the first novel I’d written in three years. During that time, my beloved husband, Chris, was diagnosed with terminal cancer and died. After a year of grieving, I’d started to run out of money and needed to return to teaching. Recklessly, I abandoned that plan and pursued my creative dream instead.

I also had new publishers to worry about. Thomas & Mercer had taken over Heiress earlier in 2015. Could they repeat its success with The Sans Pareil Mystery? Would they want any more books in the future? Everything from the mortgage payments to my dream of remaining a full-time author depended on the successful publication of this new novel and I was full of nerves on publication day. What would the fans of Heiress make of Detective Lavender and Constable Woods’ latest adventures? Could I really make it as full-time author?

Fortunately, the answer was ‘yes’. Sans Pareil gained wonderful reviews, sold well and was long-listed in a prestigious historical fiction competition. Thomas & Mercer published the third book in the series, The Sculthorpe Murder last month. I’m now writing the fourth book in the series and my teaching career is definitely over. I’ve so much to be grateful for, and the publication of The Sans Pareil Mystery was a turning point in my life.

A series of novels on Amazon or in bookshops always look very similar to the reader. They have book covers in the same style and the same font and typesetting throughout. Homogeneity is the key to success in publishing.

But to the author, each novel is as individual as a child. Born and created out of a unique set of real-life experiences, often written in difficult circumstances, each one holds a special place in the author’s heart and is loved for different reasons. The Sans Pareil Mystery is a precious baby to me.

Happy first birthday, sweetheart.

News: 'The Sculthorpe Murder' Available to Pre-order

27/3/2016

'The Sculthorpe Murder' is Now Available To Pre-order on Amazon

We still have no book cover or blurb but 'The Sculthorpe Murder' is now available to pre-order from Amazon. AND the publishing date has been brought forward to 30th August. Not long now, folks!
Pre-order 'The Sculthorpe Murder' Here

News: Publication of 'The Sans Pareil Mystery'

6/10/2015

The Sans Pareil Mystery

The Second Detective Lavender Mystery

...is now published by Amazon.

Order on amazon.co.uk

Order on amazon.com

nEWS: nEW eDITION OF 'tHE hEIRESS OF lINN hAGH'

9/6/2015

tHOMAS & mERCER pUBLISH
tHE hEIRESS OF lINN hAGH

Today is publication day for the T&M edition of 'The Heiress of Linn Hagh' and I still can't believe it is happening...
...my smile says it all.

'Heiress' on Amazon UK

'Heiress' on Amazon US

Article: TEN THINGS NO ONE TELLS YOU ABOUT BOOK PUBLISHING

19/4/2015

TEN THINGS NO ONE TELLS YOU ABOUT BOOK PUBLISHING

In a recent survey carried out by YouGov and published in The Independent newspaper, 60% of UK adults declared that being a writer is their ‘dream job.’ 14,294 adults were interviewed for this survey. I can only assume – that they all assume – that being an author is both stress-free and lucrative.

In response to this article about the YouGov survey I stuck my tongue in my cheek and jotted down a few observations about the truth behind a publishing contract – especially with a small publishing house. This list of observations is gathered from my own experience and that of fellow authors. I have decided to share it with you below.

If you are ‘lucky’ enough to acquire a publishing deal with a small traditional publisher the following may happen…

1. You probably won’t be paid an advance and won’t see a penny in royalties until six months after the book is published.

2. In the meantime, you will be expected to do an awful lot of marketing to promote the book and this will cost money. A surprising amount of money. You will buy in lots of stock, organise expensive book launches which no one attends and travel up and down the country to poorly attended events where no-one buys your book.

3. You will annoy and pester your teenage children into designing webpages for you. And beg them to teach you about Facebook and Twitter.

4. You will rapidly lose friends – especially on Facebook and Twitter – as you harass everyone you know into buying your book.

5. Those family and friends who do read your book will make the most bizarre assumptions about upon whom the characters are based.

6. You will soon realise you are spending more time marketing your first novel, than you are writing the second one.

7. You will harbor a secret hope that despite having no publicist or marketing budget that somehow your novel will make it onto the best-seller list and be signed up for a film deal. You will dream of retiring from the day job, moving to the Mediterranean and spending the rest of your life sipping cocktails beside the pool, while tapping out another best-seller on the laptop.

8. Everyone else in the world will assume that you are coining in the cash, while you may have an uneasy suspicion that this is just turning out to be a VERY expensive hobby.

9. When your first royalty cheque arrives, you will be devastated and convinced that there should be another zero at the end of that figure. At this point, your long-suffering partner will lose all patience with you and refuse to support you or your writing anymore. If you are really unlucky, your publisher will fold and disappear off into the ether still owing you money.

10. Despite the fact that your spouse has filed for divorce and the bailiffs are on the doorstep, no-one will ever have any sympathy for you…because you are a writer ‘living the dream.’

Of course, this is the worst case scenario but even authors with the bigger publishing houses have problems. They write to strict deadlines which are often inflexible and can be exhausting. Midlist authors with the Big Five live in constant fear of being dropped by their publisher because of poor sales and as we all know, we are all only as good as our last novel.

Self-publishing authors work to their own timetable but have a massive learning curve to undergo in order to be successful. They need to source decent book cover designers, editors and proofreaders and have to learn how to format. They are entirely responsible for their own administration, marketing and success and it is not easy to get your novels noticed on Amazon when yours is just one novel among so many millions.

Having said all that – if it works out—being an author IS the best job in the world. Like many novelists, my experience of the publishing industry has thrown up some horrible lows as well as highs. There is hard work, heartache and disappointment behind every one of my books. But each morning as I climb out of bed with a spring in my step and a smile on my face, I remember the words of Édith Piaf:

"Non, je ne regrette rien.”