Posts Tagged New Street Authors
Amazon Ratings
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Competitions, Markets, Successes on December 15, 2025
As we approach Christmas and the end of the year, I’d like to say a heartfelt thank you for your continued support. Most of the time, the writing life is a hard slog. Having people ‘on side’ makes a massive difference to the morale. Thank you!
The Interior of Waterstones in Bradford
At the beginning of December, Out of Control received its 1000th Amazon rating – which I think is cause for celebration. Little Museum of Hope has 1035 ratings and Waiting for A Bright New Future is creeping up behind them with 809 ratings. Thank you to anyone who has read and rated or reviewed any of my books – it makes a difference in several ways: a positive rating or review gives the author a boost and helps the book gain visibility on Amazon, which in turn may increase sales and sway a publisher into re-signing an author for further books.
The lovely people at Farnham Literary Festival have asked me to remind you that the closing date for their ‘First Five Pages’ competition is 31st December 2025 and it’s fast approaching. There is a first prize of £1000!
And here is a submissions opportunity for the New Year. Bending The Arc, a Thrutopia Magazine, will be open for submissions from Monday 12th January until Sunday 1st February. The magazine wants stories, poems, and essays which ‘bend the arc of the possible towards a thriving future on earth’. Their Substack account has more specific details.
I’ve mentioned the New Street Authors’ Collective before. They have produced a Collection of Beginnings. This allows readers to try a new author or genre without monetary risk and it’s available free of charge. The opening to my psychological thriller The Promise can be found by scrolling down to page 10, if you fancy giving it a try.
A couple of weeks ago I was in Bradford for the weekend and finally got to visit the town’s branch of Waterstones. I’d seen many pictures of the store’s interior on social media and it didn’t disappoint in real life. And it’s got a cafe where you can peruse your purchases! What more could a reader want?
Finally, I’d like to wish you a very happy Christmas and a healthy 2026. See you in the New Year!
5 Questions About Writing With . . . Peter Raposo
Posted by Sally Jenkins in 5 Questions About Writing on February 11, 2025
Peter Raposo was born in London to Portuguese parents and now lives in Coventry.
His first book dUst came out in 2021. Peter writes science-fiction novels, fiction, romance, and he’s now working on a horror novel. He’s also a member of the New Street Authors and has a YouTube channel called that boring dude.
How do you discipline/motivate yourself to write and do you set daily targets?
I always make sure to take a couple of hours to write or to do a bit of research every day, but if no ideas are coming to mind, I take a break where I either read something or do a bit of meditation. As I get older, the writing tends to get a bit easier, but I don’t set myself any daily targets. I just wait for the words to come to me. There are days when I can write 10 to 20 pages in one go, and then there are days where I find it hard to write half a page.
What are the most important qualities required by a writer? Do you have them?
Imagination. Pain. Love. Be a bit funny. Or dramatic. I think I’m a bit of both.
I’ve written some of my best work while going through some of the most painful moments in my life. It’s almost as if I’m a sadomasochist that craves the pain just so I can write. Maybe I should have been a poet.
How do you market yourself and your books?
I use a lot of social media, including my YouTube channel, and I email magazines, radio stations and other writers/bloggers asking if they would like to have me on their show or interview me for their blogs.
I also email libraries and independent bookshops asking if I could do a book event, and I usually get good replies. Plus I’m a member of a local writing group and we always find a few events to do throughout the year. And then there’s Facebook and Instagram, but, to be honest, I’m still learning the process of marketing myself.
Which writing resources have you found useful, e.g., books, courses, organisations, websites etc.?
Communicate with people. Go out there, see the world, talk to people, to other writers, etc. During the lockdown of 2020-2021, I started to help out at a food bank and I met so many people who had such crazy stories to tell me that, in the end, I ended up writing a trilogy of books.
A top tip for other writers?
Only one: write. If you’re stuck and you don’t know what to write, just start journaling. That will help you to write.
About The Mechanical Tears of the Immortal Being – published January 2024
A famous author is invited to a party in the middle of nowhere, a party attended by some of the most powerful people in the world. On the way there, he meets a porn star. Later, when they’re already at the party, he watches as the poor woman is taken away because some people want to have fun with her. And why was he invited to that party?
Years later, that same writer takes a private flight to New Zealand. One of the passengers on that flight is the billionaire Samuel Obberbrunner. Unknown to everyone, Samuel is heading to his bunker where immortality is waiting for him. But to achieve immortality he will have to leave love and everything else behind him for a long time.
5 Questions About Writing With . . . David Wake
Posted by Sally Jenkins in 5 Questions About Writing, Authors, Self-publishing on December 13, 2024
David Wake writes science fiction, adventure, comedy and, most recently, fantasy. 
An advocate of indie publishing, he co-wrote Punk Publishing with Andy Conway on why and how to self-publish. He’s published 14 novels and has been a guest of honour at SF conventions.
More information: www.davidwake.com. Sign up to receive his latest news via his mailing list.
How do you discipline/motivate yourself to write and do you set daily targets?
It’s the other way around. I like writing, so it’s other things, real life stuff, that gets in the way. The trick is to make writing part of your lifestyle. You write, say, in the mornings, and always do that. Then writing is easy, part of your every day routine. I get twitchy if I’m not writing something.
I have, and do and will do in the future, set myself targets. Most successful writers I know, and I’ve read about, tend to write 1,000 words a day. But, if you set yourself a target, then you can feel a failure when you don’t reach that arbitrary number. But we shouldn’t. And maybe this chapter, that paragraph or whatever has to be written slowly.
So, make it part of your lifestyle.
What are the most important qualities required by a writer?
Perseverance. Bloody mindedness. Kindness.
How do you market yourself and your books?
I really don’t do enough and I should. I go to SF conventions and sell to fans there. I occasionally do Amazon Ads. I’m too English and hate blowing my own trumpet. It’s a problem for me. I’m great at turning readers into fans, but rubbish at turning strangers into readers.
Which writing resources have you found useful, e.g., books, courses, organisations, websites etc.?
Wikipedia for research, obviously. I did an MA in Creative Writing. There’s loads of stuff on YouTube, but a lot of it takes a lot of time to say nothing.
I’ve written a program to help me with a few admin things when writing. For example, it does an automatic word count for the target I shouldn’t be setting myself.
As for organisations, the best is New Street Authors (http://newstreetauthors.com/), which I co-founded and co-run. It’s a collective for independently published authors.
Andy Conway and I also co-wrote a book, Punk Publishing, on why and exactly how to self-publish. (http://punkpublishers.com/)
A top tip for other writers?
Just keep going. And work out how to use Word’s styles – fiddly, but worth it once you get them working for you, rather than against you, it really helps.
And be kind.
About The Jackdaw’s Choice (The Daughters of Égraine Book 1) – published November 2024
Mara dreams of peace and the return of Red Mill’s men from war, yearning for the day she can marry the blacksmith’s apprentice. But when a brutal goblin raid strikes her village, Mara must lead the women on a desperate journey into the unknown…
The Jackdaw’s Choice begins the spellbinding Daughters of Égraine trilogy.
Kickstarter, Audiobooks and Limited Edition Print Runs
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Promotion, Resources, Self-publishing on November 29, 2024
New Street Authors is a collective of independent authors. We aim to support each other and increase our publishing knowledge. To this end we have a monthly guest speaker via Zoom. In November it was Oriana Leckert who is Head of Publishing at Kickstarter.
These Boots Were Made for Kicking!
Kickstarter is a crowd-funding platform aimed at creatives such as authors, artists, crafters, who need to raise money to fund projects such a hardback book print run, video game production, board game manufacture and so on.
Two particular uses of Kickstarter appealed to members of our group and I’m highlighting them here because there might be others who would like to fund their writing in this way.
Audiobooks. Audiobooks are growing massively in popularity. Possibly because, in our busy world, they allow multi-tasking, such as driving or doing chores at the same time as enjoying a book. Most traditional publishers now produce audio versions of their books alongside the paperback and e-book.
But the cost of producing a professional audiobook can be prohibitive for independent authors and/or risky. There is no guarantee of sufficient sales to recoup costs. This is where Kickstarter comes in. An author can ask for funding to produce an audiobook. If sufficient backers signup the project can go ahead at no financial risk to the author (assuming he/she has costed the project correctly). If there are not enough backers, the project doesn’t go ahead but the author has lost no money.
To attract backers, the author offers rewards for different levels of investment, as well as a copy of the audiobook. These rewards might be in the form of physical books, mentions on the acknowledgements page, artwork from the book and so on.
Limited Edition Print Runs. An author selling books at a genre-specific convention directly to readers who are hugely enthusiastic about their reading matter, might find that having a limited edition print run specifically for that event will attract large numbers of buyers. These buyers are getting an edition of the book which is not available elsewhere. But these are not books that can be cheaply produced via KDP. They may have gold sprayed page edges, a cover that is printed on the inside as well as the outside and various other expensive special effects. Upfront capital is needed to produce books like these. And Kickstarter can be a way of generating that capital in return for giving investors access to limited edition rewards.
Of course, the backing of investors has to be worked for. It’s not simply a case of putting your project on Kickstarter and waiting for the money to roll in. You will have to publicise and shout about the project in order to attract backers. But if you fancy creating something from your writing that requires capital, it might be worth a shot. The only thing you have to lose is your time.
Editing, Podcasting and a Flash Fiction Competition
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Competitions, Self-publishing, Writing on October 17, 2024
I’ve been buried deep in structural edits for the past month. 
This has involved improving character arcs, deepening internal conflict rather than relying on external conflict and trying to ensure that my secondary characters remain sympathetic throughout the book. After doing the major changes, I downloaded the document to my ancient Kindle to read, and I scribbled notes about all the additional things that needed changing. The manuscript is now covered in my scarlet Microsoft Word ‘track changes’ deletions, amendments and insertions. I wish my editor much luck in deciphering it all!
This is the third novel of my three book contract with Choc Lit and, at the moment, I don’t know what comes next. It may be time to branch out. Watch this space!
In other news, I have taken part in my first ever podcast. I chatted with Natalie from the US Fiction and Friends podcast for nearly an hour. It’s amazing how the time flies when you’re talking about reading, favourite books, authors and, of course, writing. The podcast is available on YouTube, Apple and Spotify.
I am also now part of New Street Authors and have my very own page on the NSA website. New Street Authors is a collective of indie authors with links to the Birmingham (UK) area. Regular readers of this blog will recall that I published several books independently prior to my career with Choc Lit. These books are still alive and kicking on Amazon and, therefore, I’m keeping up to date with developments in that area.
Finally, the New Writers Flash Fiction Competition 2025 is now open for entries of up to 300 words. The entry fee is £10 and first prize is a generous £1,100! Second place gets £300 and the third placed writer will receive £200. £1 from every entry will be donated to the writing charity, First Story. Closing date is Friday 31st January 2025.
In my next post, crime writer Claire Sheldon will be answering five questions about writing.
Sally Jenkins 