Free Book Giveaway Day on Amazon April 27 2014: The Shuttered Room by Charles Jay Harwood

An unmissable thriller will be free on Amazon scheduled on Sunday April 27 2014. Charles J Harwood’s The Shuttered Room is an unforgettable thriller about abduction. Read more about this free thriller below.

Free Thriller on Kindle on Sunday April 13 2014

Little do they know their captive holds a deadly secret.

Link to Book on Amazon

Jess is taken hostage and incarcerated in an upstairs room by three thugs demanding a huge ransom from her rich father.

In a bid to escape, she cuts a hole in the bedroom floor with a cutlery knife. From there, Jess observes the three of them going about their everyday business.

That’s when she starts playing games with them. That’s when her spying pulls her into a treacherous psychological game with her abductors.

If only they knew what their captive was up to. What would they do to her?

                                         

A disturbing psychological thriller that will take you into the darkest recesses of the human psyche.

Full Length Thriller Freebie on Amazon on 27 April 2014

This kindle thriller is scheduled for a giveaway day on Amazon on 27 April 2014. Normal price is $3.30, which is £1.99 in GBP, plus Amazon’s delivery fee. This offer cannot be missed.

The Shuttered Room is also available on paperback and large print.

If you enjoyed this thriller, do leave a customer review!

Visit Charles Jay Harwood author page.

Charles Jay Harwood Screenplays on Amazon: Adapting Novels into Screenplays

I love writing thrillers, but writing screenplay thrillers has a different type of thrill, as only the action and dialogue are permitted in the script, not the inner thoughts of the characters. Having written four psychological thrillers to date, have now published their equivalent screenplays on Amazon.

Screenplay Thrillers on Kindle

My four thrillers, The Shuttered Room, Falling Awake, Nora and A Hard Lesson are available on Kindle, Nook, paperback and large print. But now their screenplay adaptations are also available on Amazon. The Shuttered Room and A Hard Lesson were originally conceived as novels, and adapted into screenplays. Falling Awake and Nora were conceived from screenplays and fleshed out into novels. Having enjoyed writing the screenplay versions, have now published all four screenplays on Kindle, as well as paperback.

Formatting screenplays for Kindle is not possible so had to think about the reader experience. Character cue was made bold, action description italics and dialogue “ordinary black”. I also had to adjust the font size and formatting for the paperback versions of my screenplays.

Full Length Drama Scripts to Read

All screenplays run approximately 90 – 100 minutes and are specially formatted for ereaders. Paperback versions are 8x5in and are 95-100 pages long. Each book includes a character list and a guide to reading a screenplay, creating ease for the script reader. Read more about these gripping screenplays below.

The Shuttered Room Screenplay

Little do they know their captive holds a deadly secret.

Jess is taken hostage and incarcerated in an upstairs room by three thugs demanding a huge ransom from her rich father. In a bid to escape, she cuts a hole in the bedroom floor with a cutlery knife. From there, Jess observes the three of them going about their business. That’s when she starts playing games with them. That’s when her spying pulls her into a treacherous psychological game with her abductors.

If only they knew what their captive was up to. What would they do to her?

Falling Awake Screenplay

A toe-curling tale about an unseen voyeur and a reluctant exhibitionist.

Faced with the threat of repossession, Gemma takes an evening commission performing for chronic insomnia, Luke as he watches from his apartment window. If only she knew the sort of man her voyeur was. She wouldn't perform for him.

Insomnia can have the most sinister causes.

Nora The Screenplay

Her harsh brand of rehab hides a bitter secret.

Nancy is hurled into the world of celebrity when she finds herself performing a shoot for handsome but odious playboy, Vince, as they walk from one of his nightclubs. The seduction of this other world sours after Nancy overhears Vince make a bet with his PA, Leon on the length of her fifteen minutes of fame.

Her world falls apart after Vince’s limo crashes, propelling Nancy into a nightmare world where her alter ego Nora is born.

A Hard Lesson The Screenplay

A teacher takes on the pupil from hell only to learn what treachery means.

Tenacious teacher, Sarah learns things aren’t what they seem with her boyfriend Frank who belongs to a parasitical criminal clique headed by psychopath, Kurt. When her pupil, Josh becomes suspect to a stabbing, Sarah finds herself torn between her duty and facing her greatest fear, not least Kurt himself.

Writing Dramas for Kindle and Paperback

All four Charles J Harwood screenplays are now available on Amazon Kindle, Nook and paperback. Reading the screenplays equivalent to a novel is an interesting experience and certainly helps the writer improve on writing. The same applies to writing a screenplay versus a novel. Screenplays permit only action and dialogue, not the inner thoughts of characters. This can only be hinted at via subtext. In novels, the writer can flesh out the character’s thoughts and feelings.

This means a screenplay can be read in around an hour, as opposed to the novel equivalent which can take several days. Reading a great screenplay is almost like reeling off a movie in your head.

Visit my author page on Amazon to find out more about CharlesJay Harwood screenplay thrillers.

The Pros and Cons of Joining Kindle Countdown Deals: Book Merchandizing Tips

A book promoting tool, Amazon’s Countdown Deals is an extra way of getting your book discovered on Amazon. Not only will you be able to earn bigger royalties on your book for a smaller selling price, but also have your book included on a high viewing webpage.

What is Kindle Countdown Deals?

How to do Countdown Deal with Amazon

Simply put, countdown deals is a selling tool authors can use to control the discount price of books for a given period of time. But how can the writer use Kindle’s countdown deals to promote books?

Well, let’s start from the beginning. Firstly, you have to have an account with KDP Amazon self publishing platform, with kindle books listed. Secondly, you have to be enrolled with KDP Select. Explained in more detail in another article, KDP Select is an Amazon selling tool for authors to increase discoverability of books on Kindle. Your book can be borrowed by customers who are enrolled within the Amazon Prime membership program to gain access to the Kindle Owners Lending Library. For a membership fee, readers can borrow up to 12 kindle books a year for free, whilst the author still earns a royalty for borrows.

The author can also run promotions of their book for up to five days per ninety, where books can be given away for free on given days. This might sound like madness, but book giveaway days can generate sales. Bear in mind that either a Kindle Countdown deal or free giveaways are permitted per KDP Select period (lasting 90 days). Not both. More about free book giveaways in another article.

The Downside of KDP Select

There are pros and cons to enrolling with KDP Select. Running promos and being included on Amazon Prime can hugely increase discoverability of the kindle book, generating sales and book reviews. However, each book enrolled in KDP Select must be exclusively available on Amazon, not Smashwords, Google Play, Kobo, Apple or even your own website or blog. (I have published one of my novels on a blog, and am informed by Amazon that I can leave 10% of my novel up, whilst I am enrolled in KDP Select.) This does not affect the paperback version of your book, such as that published on Createspace or Lulu.

Countdown Deals on Kindle to get Your Book Discovered

Once your book has been enrolled on KDP Select and it is not on sale on other platforms, you can create a countdown deal for your book. You have to make sure:

You haven’t changed the book price for 30 days.
Your book hasn't had any free giveaway days in that 90 day period.

Once enrolled in a countdown deal, the price cannot be changed for 14 days after the countdown deal has ended. Similarly, the countdown deal must end 14 days before the KDP Select period has expired.

The price of your book must be at least £1.93 in the UK and $2.99 in the US.

You own the copyright of the book.

What to Watch out for on Amazon’s Countdown Deals: Currency Conversion Rates

Watch out for conversion rates of US dollars to GBP pounds, as they fluctuate daily. When setting the price of your book on KDP Amazon, uncheck the tick on the UK pricing box that says ‘automatically set the price of the book with US dollars’ and manually set the price for above £1.93.

If the price of the book is just above this threshold, the strength of the pound could shift downwards, causing it to dip below £1.93 even when the price of the book was above this threshold when you had set the price on US dollars. If this happens, your book will become ineligible to be included in the Countdown Deals. So, be sure to uncheck the UK pricing box and fix the price above the threshold manually.

Merchandising your Book Tips: Example of a Countdown Deal

Once everything is in order, you can enroll your book into the countdown deal program. Only one countdown deal is permitted per KDP Select period (lasting 90 days) so use this book selling opportunity wisely. The time period of the countdown deal can last is from 1 hour to 7 days, and the book’s price can be managed in 99c increments over this period as set by the author.

The book’s countdown deal will also show up on the book’s product page on Amazon.

Let’s see an example of how a countdown deal works. Say you had set the price of your book to $3.99 for at least 30 days. It is in KDP Select and the book is exclusively available on Amazon.

You have chosen the countdown deal to run for 6 days. The first 3 days, the book’s price is 99c. On the book’s product page, a graphic will show up next to the book (see screenshot) showing the countdown deal price of the book and a countdown to when the book’s price either increases, or goes back to its normal price.

After 3 days have elapsed, the book’s price increases (as set by the author) to $1.99. Again, a countdown clock will be displayed showing the time period of the countdown promo.

Once the remaining 3 days have elapsed, the book’s price goes back to its normal amount and will no longer show up on Amazon’s countdown promo webpage.

Advantage of Pricing Book Countdown Deals

Bear in mind, is that whilst the book is enrolled on KDP’s Countdown Deal, royalties earned per upload will remain 70% even when the price has been reduced to below the $2.99 threshold (as authors normally earn 35% royalties on books priced below $2.99). Whilst in KDP Select, your book will also earn you 70% royalties from Japan, Brazil, Mexico and India (which otherwise earn 35% royalties). Having said this, I seldom sell book in these countries anyway.

Simple Guide to Kindle Countdown Deals

Enrolling your book onto Amazon’s countdown deal sounds a little complicated. A thirty-day wait and patience is needed. Once your book has been enrolled onto KDP Select and the price has not changed for 30 days (priced above $2.99/£1.93) your book can be included within the countdown deals. Only one countdown deal promo is permitted per KDP Select 90 day period.

The promo can run from 1 hour to 7 days. Once the price and time period has been set, a graphic will show up on your book’s product page and your Kindle book will be included on Amazon’s dedicated kindle countdown kindle book list. Search results of your book will be enhanced and extra sales generated.

The author has to jump through hoops with this book marketing tool, but could be worth the trouble.

Basic guide to using KDP Select

Interesting Sentence Openers: How to Avoid Pronouns at Beginning of Sentences

Making writing flow entails finding new ways of beginning sentences. A piece of writing comprising sentences that begin in the same way soon becomes repetitive. There are more ways to begin a sentence than pronouns and character names. So, how else can the author begin a sentence, and by the way, what is a pronoun?

Beginning Sentences with Pronouns and Character Names

There is more than one way of beginning a sentence than with a person’s name or its pronoun. A pronoun by the way is the equivalent for a noun. Pronouns include: he, she, it, they, them. A pronoun to be particularly beware of is ‘it’. Too many ‘its’ will dilute the feeling of the writing and sounds weak. Take a look at the piece of writing to see how repeatedly beginning sentences in this way can soon take the life out of the story.

Boring Ways to Begin Sentences in Stories

“Vince turned to the coat hanger. He scooped up his coat and placed it over his shoulders. He gazed soberly ahead. Nancy stifled an urge to snigger. It was difficult not to. She would treasure the image of seeing this celebrity taking himself so seriously. She kept her mouth still for when he turned. He did so and walked past her, scuffing his shoulders against her on leaving. She followed him out.”

See how wooden this excerpt reads? This is because each sentence begins with either a character’s name, or the pronoun alternative: i.e., Vince, Nancy, he, she or it. To take the rot out of this, try beginning sentences with another word rather than character’s names or pronoun equivalent. For example, a sentence could begin with another noun or even verb within that sentence, such as coat hanger, celebrity or snigger, for example.

Writing Tips on Sentence Starters

“The coat hanger rocked as Vince snatched his coat from the hook. He placed his coat over his shoulders. A snigger surged up Nancy’s throat. This celebrity sure took himself seriously. She kept her mouth still for when he turned. With a scuff of the shoulder against hers, he slid past. She followed him out.”

The excerpt reads better and I got rid of the ‘it’ pronoun. However, there are still more ways of beginning a sentence other than nouns and pronouns. Consider certain connectives (however, when, still, or), adjectives (describes nouns) or adverbs (describes verbs) prepositions (before, after, under, over) or interjections (ugh, hi, oh, hmm). Consider the following alternatives for beginning sentences:

Without warning he darted for the gate…

As though by script…

Never had she seen him react like this…

The set of his mouth told her…

Quickly, she ran for the door…

And yet the car did not start…

Movement drew her attention…

Such an ordinary looking doorway…

Beneath the table, she found a note…

Ugh, she thought. That sounds horrible.

I was careful how I opened sentences in my blog novel,Nora. Notice how I opened sentences in various ways as well as by using character names and their pronouns. Similarly, Nancy watches A-list celebrity, Vince dress for a photo shoot. Here, his PA Leon assists.

Great Sentence Openers for Novel Writing

Beware of sentences opening in the same way in paragraphs. This could create a repetitive feel to the sentence structure in novels. A common culprit is opening sentences with a character name or pronoun equivalent. The pronoun ‘it’ is also to be aware of. Try moving the sentence structure around, such as shifting the latter clause to the beginning or using another noun for the opener other than the person’s name. Consider using other words other than nouns and pronouns for the sentence opener, such as connectives, adverbs, adjectives, prepositions and interjections.

Charles Jay Harwood Thrillers on Amazon

How to Write the First Scene of Your Novel: Don’t Bore the Reader

The first scene of any novel is arguably the hardest or most crucial part of the story. If that first scene doesn’t grip the reader within its maws, the fickle butterfly that is the reader will just flitter off to another more interesting flower head. For this reason, the first scene as well as the first chapter of my novel will go through more draughts than the rest of the story.

Boring First Scenes in Novels

Tips to Hook the Reader

Personally, I find huge blocks of unbroken paragraphs within the opening of a novel a bit of a turn off. Unless the genre is of a special kind, breaks in paragraphs with speeches, action and a smattering of description might offer more of a visual enticement.

Lots of description can slow the pace and could cost the author a reader. So, avoid too much description. Similarly, avoid too much setting up. I dislike reading several pages only to realize nothing has happened. This causes me to skip the latter pages and then either read the end or not bother reading any more. Bring the action closer to the beginning. Something must happen, questions must present themselves and conflict of some sort must exist within the first page.

Click to have listen to the first scene of A Hard Lesson audiobook. Straight away, we are hurled into action, where questions present themselves and curiosity keeps us listening. Why is Kurt's uncle riled by his nephew? Why is Frank witnessing this event? Is something going on beneath the surface? What is going to happen next?

Grabbing the Reader in Thrillers

I like to think of the first scene to my novel as a good advice to writing a screenplay, that is, to begin opening the scene after it begins, not before it begins. Don’t preamble or spend too much time setting up the scene with descriptions or smalltalk. If the story begins with a gambler losing thousands of pounds, consider beginning the story the moment the gambler sees his horse lose rather than the moment he walks into the betting shop.

Or if the story begins with a car crash, consider opening the story with the moment the passenger realizes the brakes don’t work or sees the driver is under the influence. This might be more enticing than reading about the passenger entering the car before it moves off. Interesting elements such as how this came about can be explored later in the novel.

The Opening Sentence of Novels

Another article on this blog explores inserting unexpected words into a paragraph to make the reader sit up, such as putting slang words within a mix of high-brow words. Other contrasts can be explored such as mixing old with new or putting in swear words where least expected. Another great way of opening the novel is by someone saying something. This might be something controversial, provocative or make the reader ask questions. Examples of this might be:

‘What do you mean you’re not my real dad?’ Kitty could feel the floor tumbling away. The man who was not really her dad merely looked down.

‘Where did you get all that cash?’ Doris asked suspiciously as Felix opened his wallet to pay for the wine. He said he’d been broke, yet a stack of twenties bulged within the leather.

Both openers not only hurl the reader into the action, but causes the reader to ask questions. What were the circumstances of Kitty’s birth? Where is her real dad? Why has Felix got all that money? Why did he lie about being broke? Both situations create curiosity. If the questions are interesting enough, we want to find the answers.

Contrasts in Openers in Novels

Creating contrasts in any form will set up tension in the novel and make the reader want to turn the page. This might be subtext in the body language and what is said. For instance, the character might hate the situation he finds himself in, but has to behave in a certain way. He might know a secret or feels secret resentment towards someone.

I used this contrast in the first scene of my blog novel,Nora (after the prologue). The main character, Nancy feels uncomfortable in the situation she is in, but we are unsure of why. Her friends are drunk and are baiting the pole dancer to give each a birthday kiss. Nearby punters have been driven away by their raucous behaviour and Nancy is anxious she’ll be chucked out of the nightclub. Things are about to get out of control as the remaining crowd chant and stomp their feet. Nancy’s unease causes questions to be asked and we suspect she is about to find herself in an excruciating situation.

Good Openers for Novels

So we can see here, that no words can be wasted on preamble, setting up or descriptions. Don’t bore the reader, create contrasts, tensions and pose questions that will pique the reader’s interest. Begin the scene after it starts rather than before it starts. This will bring interesting elements of the novel nearer to the beginning of the book, rather than page 30. By then, the reader might have taken flight.

Words to avoid in novel writing
Interview your fictional character
Find Charles Jay Harwood novels on Amazon.

Using Attributives in Novels: Said or No Said in Speech and Using Action

Good use of attributives in novels will help make the novel a better read. Action is also a good substitute for attributives in novel writing. A beginner’s mistake is to keep on using said in speech after each person has spoken. Another problem is using a close alternative that feels contrived. A good idea is to think about how the speech was delivered or to use action to assign who is speaking.

                                   

Bad Use of Attributive Speech in Novel Writing

There is little worse in a novel than to read a to-ing and fro-ing of exchanges between two characters where the author simply puts, ‘he said’, ‘she said’ after each has spoken. See this example:

‘I heard about Dawn the other day,’ Lily said.

‘Yes. She got sacked from that job at the chemists’ didn’t she?’ Susan said.

‘It was terrible. I think she got angry at one of the customers because she kept getting the prescriptions wrong,’ Lily said.

‘And to think how long she worked there. She won’t find it easy getting another job,’ Susan said.

The scene soon gets tiresome to read. The attributive ‘said’ is OK in moderation, but overused soon feels repetitive. One suggestion is to think about how each person has spoken and find an alternative or omitted altogether. Alternatives to said are, explained, asked, queried, uttered, muttered, chortled, piped, crowed, moaned, sighed, whispered and so forth.

But sometimes, using alternatives to saids are not enough. Try relocating the attributive in speech. Let’s work on this scene a little to see an improvement.

‘I heard about Dawn the other day,’ Lily chortled.

‘Yes. She got sacked from that job at the chemists’ didn’t she?’ Susan asked.

‘It was terrible. I think she got angry at one of the customers because she kept getting the prescriptions wrong.’

‘And to think how long she worked there.’ Susan tished. ‘She won’t find it easy getting another job.’

Good Use of Attributives in Speech in Novel Writing

Using alternative words to ‘said’ has made some improvement but more can be done to bring flow to the scene. Sometime, we don’t need to attribute speech to know who is speaking. The attributive can be substituted for action. Here is a further improvement to this scene.

‘I heard about Dawn the other day,’ Lily chortled.

Susan applied lipstick from her hand mirror. ‘Yes. She got sacked from that job at the chemists’ didn’t she?’

‘It was terrible,’ Lily said. ‘I think she got angry at one of the customers because she kept getting the prescriptions wrong,’

‘Hmm, and to think how long she worked there.’ Susan put her lipstick away before turning and facing her. ‘She won’t find it easy getting another job.’

Tips on Novel Writing Said is Not Always Needed

See in this final example how action can be used instead of attributives to signify who is speaking. Using action in this way brings variation into the scene and provides imagery for the reader. Action can be inserted in speech or tagged at the end. Sometimes, the attributive and action can be omitted altogether without the reader losing track of who is speaking.

Good Use of Tags in Novels

In this scene from my blog novel, Nora, I used a mix of action and attributives to bring the scene to life. Here, Vince and his PA, Leon make a grubby bet about the passenger in his limo. As we can see here, I have used different attributives as well as action to bring the characters to life.

So there are lots of tactics the author can use to signify who is speaking in any scene. Small portions of ‘saids’ and alternatives are a good start. Try omitting the attributive altogether to see if the scene really suffers as a result. And don’t forget to use action to bring variation to the mix, provide imagery and reveal character.

Charles J Harwood thrillers on Amazon

Using Contrasting Words in Novels Sod Off or No Thank You

Getting readers’ attention in novels is never easy, but I like to surprise the reader by throwing in unexpected words within prose. I do this by lulling a reader into a certain mood within the story and then to throw in a displaced word. the mood might be soft, exotic or elevated. Soft sounding words might be used such as silk, acquisition or cologne. And then, pow, you put in the word gag or smack or garbage within the mix.

See my video clip on making your writing stand out with contrasting words

                                                     

Rude and Polite Words Together

Lots of opportunities for creating contrast in literature can be used, for instance, a protagonist who thinks inappropriate thoughts whilst trying to behave with decorum, or a character that put into an awkward situation. Dialogue might be very proper, but the thought processes of the character might be very different, containing slang or swear words.

Mix Rude and Polite Words in Fiction

I used this opportunity for the main character of my novel who comes from a harsh background, but finds herself surrounded by people from privileged backgrounds. In order to integrate herself into the other world, she puts on a persona. She says ‘thank you,’ but in her head, wants to tell the other person to sod off. This contrast creates the opportunity to put rude and polite words together. The result might be funny or set up tension.

My video on using contrasting and the element of surprise in your novel writing.

Soft Words and Harsh Words in Literature

Thinking about how a word sounds, rather than its meaning can also create mood in writing. For instance, soft-sounding words might have sibilant consonants, or longer vowel-sounds. Examples of soft-sounding words are: shoe, stealth, broom, surreptitious, arrange, however, fiber, and so forth. Harsh sounding words might be: stuck, staple, pickaxe, spit, temper, break and fit.

Words with Soft Meanings and Harsh Meanings

Some words sound soft but have harsh meanings. I find such words sinister but love to use them in my novels. Such soft sounding sinister words are: slay, stealthy, harsh, harmful, nail, loathe and, well, sinister itself.

And again, some harsh sounding words have benevolent meanings, such as devote, kids, skip, duck, comic and slapstick. With practice, a tone can be set in novel writing, where an odd word can be dropped in. This will make the word stand out as well as the sentence. It is always worth checking the thesaurus for alternative words to the norm.

Making Words Stand out in Novel Writing

Great English Words

The English language is blessed with all sorts of words, including the soft Latin derivatives to the harsh Viking or Norse words, not forgetting other word sources such as French, African and Spanish. I also like to mix the old with the new, such as counterpane and naff. Slang, swear words and a fusion of two words are also great to use.

Examples of Writing by using Displaced Words

For examples of how I stuck out-of-place words in prose, check out the links to my blog novel, Nora. In the prologue, soft words are used, and then rude words were injected where least expected.

In this other excerpt, the main character’s thought processes contrast sharply with her surroundings. She does indeed think sod off instead of saying thank you.

Hated modern cliches in novel writing
Charles J Harwood thrillers on Amazon

My thriller Nora on Kindle

Writing a Thriller on a Blog the Agony and the Ecstasy

Have completed my novel Nora, a free thriller available on my blog. In doing so, have learned a lot about this strange medium of the book blog. Firstly, my writing has become more disciplined, as an audience was out there, waiting for the next installment. This helped motivate me to writing every day. But there are pros and cons to writing a story on a blog.

The Pros of Fiction Blogging

Click to read my book blog
by Charles J Harwood

Firstly I wanted to get my book out there, in more ways than on merely Amazon, Smashwords and Google books. I wanted to reach more readers than ever. Getting more readers is a good thing for any author, even if the reader gets the book for free, for giveaways often lead to sales. I also feel more comfortable giving my book away than tying myself up with Amazon’s KDP Select, which permits a free giveaway a few days per 90 days. KDP select also prohibits publication in digital format of your book anywhere else on the Web.

The Experience of Writing Fiction on a Blog

Getting your book out there also means that you can get others to read it ahead of publication on ebook platforms. They can read it on phones, PCs and Tablets just as easily as on a Kindle device. At the bottom of each page, I provided easy navigation for the reader, enabling ease of use to page back, forwards to go back to the beginning.

There are pros and cons of writing a free thriller

The process took me around three months to complete. I began my book blog novel in December of 2013 and finished in March 2014. I made sure I dedicated around one to two hours per day to writing and I posted two to three times per week, sometimes in batches.  I love blogging anyway and it was good to see my work out there.

The Problems with Book Blogging

The problem with writing fiction on a blog is that the first draft might read fine, you post and then notice a typo or a better way of phrasing a sentence. This can mean going back and reposting on your blog which can be time consuming. This is why getting the words right before posting is important. I would do three or four redrafts before posting each chapter onto my blog. Per 600 words or so, I would tag each text clump with a post number so that I know which portion to repost on my blog. This helps saves time.

Another idea is to allocate each post with a separate page number, so it is easier to copy and paste the text into the blog edit. I was careful not to make each post too long, for ease of reading. This meant breaking down each chapter into two or four posts.

The other problem is that maintenance of the blog can take some hours out of the writing time. Posting links, designing the look of the blog and replying to comments can sometimes cause distraction.

Tips on Writing a Free Thriller

A problem of writing fiction on a blog is that you cannot use keywords. Keywords are a great way of getting surfers to find your website. For instance, by putting in the keywords: ‘tips on how to write fiction’, my blog might be found, because this phrase might have been used in an article here. However, keywording is simply not possible when writing a book blog. This can mean low hits, even if the book is brilliant. People are simply unable to find it. To overcome this problem, I keyworded an explanatory post of my blog. I also posted links were applicable (without spamming) on Twitter, Facebook and also on my other sites. As word spreads, others might post links to this book blog.

Book Blogging for Profit

Nora on Kindle

Once my book blog was complete, I Adsensed it, so even though readers come for free, I am able to earn a little revenue on the way. I was careful to keep the ads unobtrusive. I am also able to advertise via Amazon Associates my books and other books, so customers can purchase goods and I get commission. But ultimately, the aim of the book blog is to publish the Kindle version for Apple, Kobo, Amazon and Smashwords so people have the option of purchase. Incidentally, my thriller, Nora is also available on paperback and large print. I enjoyed writing it. I hope you enjoy reading it.

And if you are interested, you can find my blog version of Nora by Charles J Harwood here.