Book sales have increased during this pandemic and, for some, it seems that crime fiction has boomed. This caused me to look at my own sales figures. As I’m a self-published author on Amazon, my sales figures are very easy to find. It looks as if my book sales have more or less doubled compared to last year. It is, of course, a situation that I’m very happy with, however, it did start me thinking.
I have been advertising a little more and I’ve finally got up to ten books in my crime series but I’m not sure that’s the whole story behind the increased sales. Continue reading
Firstly, like my main character Mac Maguire, I identify as being disabled. However, I’m not in a wheelchair like the sign says. Why on earth a depiction of a very specific disability is used for all disabilities is beyond me. We need a new sign but we also need some new words. 
What you call your book may be one of the most important decisions that an author will ever make. It will be the first thing that readers see on your book page, it will feature on your book cover and hold centre stage in all your advertising efforts. And yet you may never find out how successful or not your choice has been. Once your book is published then the title is what it is. It’s baked into the whole thing.
I’ve been writing full-time now for nearly two years and I’m loving it. I especially love those moments of pure creation when new characters, situations and even worlds spring into life.
My latest book The Eight Bench Walk should be ready for publication next month. This is the first Mac Maguire mystery that is more or less completely set abroad and so it presents its own set of problems. (Only part of 
I attended a local reader’s group a few weeks back. It was one that specialised in crime and murder mysteries. I was interested in what they did and it turned out that they were interested in what I did too. The first question, as always, was ‘Where do you get your ideas from?’
This is the original cover and it was one I quite liked. It’s the first book in the series and therefore I’m anxious to advertise it as much as possible on the grounds that if a reader likes it then they might read the other eight.
I keep the draft paperback versions of my books in the bookcase in our hallway. I rarely look at them but, when I do, I am sometimes surprised that there are so many of them and even that they’re there at all. I only took up writing as a sort of pain therapy but it seems to have taken on a curious life of its own. At year’s end it’s the usual custom to reflect on the events of the past year and to look forward to what the new year might bring. I’ll attempt to do that in this short post. 
Patrick C. Walsh Author 