I've launched a creative writing consultancy. Part of the reason is seeing shelves-full of books on the theme of writing a bestseller by people who have never written a single word of published fiction. Most of the reason is to create another income strand doing something I honestly believe I'm qualified to do. Though my rates are very reasonable.

I've written 14 full-length paranormal thrillers including The Colony trilogy and Children of the Night Award winner The House of Lost Souls. As Francis Cottam I'm the author of four historical novels including WH Smith Literature Award short-listed debut, The Fire Fighter.

My fiction has ben translated into 17 languages and I've been published by (among others) Bloomsbury, Random House, Hodder and Stoughton, St. Martin's Press, Severn House and Vintage.

Areas I'll advise on include pacing, character-development, tone, atmosphere, genre-classification, coherence and marketability. Often something as simple as which tense the writer has chosen or whether it's a first or third-person narrative can be hugely influential in determining the character and appeal of a story.

I've done this before, but on an ad-hoc basis while this is more of a professional commitment. I've copy-edited The Auguries (my next novel - out in February of next year). I've written the dedication. Can't see myself starting anything else of my own prior to Christmas and this is a positive way to keep busy. Time will tell how it goes, but it's a plan for anyone seeking objective advice about an unpublished novel, just so long as it exists as a Word file.