Mike O'Toole

I'm in my second 90-day period with KDP Select. Not by choice, I just failed to notify them when the first 90-day period was up that I wanted to cancel and by default you enter into another contract. Having said that, I’m not sure what alternative I would have chosen. I know nothing about Kobo or Smashwords and from what I’ve read I’m not convinced they would be any better for me. Anyway, my experience with KDP Select has not been all bad. During my first free promo period, my wife's book Rings of Smoke was downloaded over 6,000 times. At its peak it was downloading at the rate of 100 per hour, sending it to no.4 in the Free Thriller charts. However, once the free promo was over the downloads dropped back down again. They were more than before, but nothing outstanding. I did get a few good reviews out of it though. Just recently, I had another free promo. This time I really went full out with the publicity, paying to advertise it on several sites, tweeting, Facebo...

The biggest problem facing a new author is getting recognised. You could have the best thriller since The Stand but if nobody has heard of you, you're not going to get many downloads.

So, you're all wondering, why did I decide to become an indie-publisher? Well have you ever tried getting a book published down the traditional route? This is how it usually goes. You write a book, well maybe only 80% of it to start with, then you fire off the first three chapters or so to Literary Agents to see if there is any interest. Most new writers give up at this point because they become disheartened at the response, or lack of it. You see Literary Agents are very prescious people. They say they will only read something if it is presented in exactly the format they want it, and if they say they want the first fifty pages they want exactly fifty pages. No more no less.    Well I did all of that, but still got rejection after rejection. Some rejections actually came seconds BEFORE the read reciept, so I knew they hadn't even read the manuscript. That's when I decided to have a go at publishing it myself. I read a blog by someone who had done just that and thou...

Rings of Smoke by Diane O'Toole “Who’s been spanked with the ugly stick? Fitch has!   Fitch has!”   Leonard sat on the top step, looking down at the girls, dancing in a circle.   He was alone.   He was always alone. “Who’s been spanked with the ugly stick? Fitch has all day long!”   The girls laughed hysterically. Leonard just stared at them. They’d made the song up after hearing a group of American soldiers singing minstrel songs at a school concert earlier that year. And as they taunted and laughed at him, he just sat quietly, staring back at them, a hint of a smirk danced in his eyes as he thought, your time will come and how I’m going to make you suffer – just wait and see! It was lunchtime at Lancaster Grammar School; the time Leonard Fitch hated the most. Not because the food was dreadful and inedible. Not because he was a loner, without friends – he preferred it that way. Who wants to play with those morons anyway? But it was the one time the ...

How amazing is that? I have done lots of things in my time, but to become a book publisher is something I'd never have thought of. Anyway, next thing is, is to promote it. So go and buy it everyone! It's called Rings of Smoke and it's by Diane O'Toole. Only available on Amazon for now, but you don't need a Kindle to read it, just download the app to your PC, laptop of phone.