Ray Connolly's Blog
February 11, 2014
Sunday Morning
A couple of weeks ago Quercus Books reduced the price of the eBook version of my novel Love Out of Season to £0.99. The result was a massive spike in sales, and it shot up to 6th in the Amazon best sellers. Naturally it fell down again when the price went back to normal, but it got me thinking.
So I'm now selling the eBook version of my much earlier novel Sunday Morning at £1.99 as an experiment.
It'll be interesting to see what happens. Sales are already up in the UK.
So I'm now selling the eBook version of my much earlier novel Sunday Morning at £1.99 as an experiment.
It'll be interesting to see what happens. Sales are already up in the UK.
August 20, 2013
Sunday Morning
I wrote quite a long piece about my lifelong love affair with France in last Saturday's Daily Mail...
(http://www.rayconnolly.co.uk/pages/jo...)
...ending with a mention of my novel Sunday Morning which is now available on Kindle.
To my surprise and delight there's been a mini-boom in the sales of Sunday Morning since then, which is thrilling because although it's obviously fiction it also contains quite a few bits and pieces of my own life.
Lots of writers obviously cloak their lives in fiction, but I've found that, in so far as Sunday Morning is concerned, I occasionally have false memories, thinking momentarily that what happened in the book happened to me. Then I have to pinch myself, and remember that I made it up.
(http://www.rayconnolly.co.uk/pages/jo...)
...ending with a mention of my novel Sunday Morning which is now available on Kindle.
To my surprise and delight there's been a mini-boom in the sales of Sunday Morning since then, which is thrilling because although it's obviously fiction it also contains quite a few bits and pieces of my own life.
Lots of writers obviously cloak their lives in fiction, but I've found that, in so far as Sunday Morning is concerned, I occasionally have false memories, thinking momentarily that what happened in the book happened to me. Then I have to pinch myself, and remember that I made it up.
May 18, 2013
Kill For Love
The trickiest thing in eBook publishing is knowing what to charge. My latest novel, KILL FOR LOVE, is a thriller about music and television and concerns a woman TV reporter, Kate Merrimac.
I'm as pleased with it as with any of my other novels, but the thriller genre is one I haven't entered for some years, so I've decided to reduce the price of this book to $2.99 in the US.
I'm currently adapting it as a screenplay, and it will be interesting to see how it sells at the new low price.
I'm as pleased with it as with any of my other novels, but the thriller genre is one I haven't entered for some years, so I've decided to reduce the price of this book to $2.99 in the US.
I'm currently adapting it as a screenplay, and it will be interesting to see how it sells at the new low price.
May 7, 2013
I'm A Story Person
Whenever the short list for a literary prize is announced, I always take a quick look through the novels selected. Usually, I find I haven't read any of them, nor any of the books previously written by the chosen authors. (All right, Hilary Mantel is the exception.)
Is this because I have low literary tastes? Possibly. But I honestly don't think so.
It is, I think, because I'm a story man. I don't care how brilliantly written a novel is, if it doesn't keep me interested in the characters and plot I know I won't finish it - probably won't even start it.
This, I'm sure, would have been so obvious to Charles Dickens or the Brontes it wouldn't have needed to be said. But it would seem that in the 20th century form became more important than content, especially in the UK. And that, to my way of thinking, has to be a back to front way of appreciating fiction.
Is this because I have low literary tastes? Possibly. But I honestly don't think so.
It is, I think, because I'm a story man. I don't care how brilliantly written a novel is, if it doesn't keep me interested in the characters and plot I know I won't finish it - probably won't even start it.
This, I'm sure, would have been so obvious to Charles Dickens or the Brontes it wouldn't have needed to be said. But it would seem that in the 20th century form became more important than content, especially in the UK. And that, to my way of thinking, has to be a back to front way of appreciating fiction.
