Monthly Post: April 2020 Lock down! Why not give away books?

Two weeks ago I received an email from Smashwords, the smaller of the two book distributors I use. They were launching a sale called Authors Give Back in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, which aimed to help readers in lock down.

“THIS IS NO ORDINARY SALE: Readers everywhere are going through great difficulty. There’s the difficulty of social isolation as readers shelter in place at home. There’s the real concern that one’s family or friends will be harmed by Covid-19. There’s the economic hardship and uncertainty that touches everyone. As you promote your participation in this special one-time sale, please do so with heart, compassion and sensitivity. Before promoting your participation or a particular title, ask yourself, ‘How can my book(s) make a person’s day brighter?’”

The premise was simple. Participating authors could offer discounts of 30%, 60%, or 100% on one or more of their books. I chose to enrol all six of my novels and to give them away for free. Why? I genuinely wanted to do something to help people in this time of crisis, and here—miraculously—was something I could do with ease. But scratch below the surface and you will see my decision makes good business sense too, especially for indie authors.

One of the most difficult things for an indie author to do is sell their books, even if they hit “the sweet spot” for pricing, even if their readers adore them. Nor does the situation improve if you make them free. Who trusts free books? Surely they can’t be worth much if they’re free? But a promotion like this changes all that, and my sales have rocketed accordingly. They may not make me any money, but they bring my books to a whole new audience, and one which in the future might choose to review them. You can’t buy publicity that good.

Another plus is that Smashwords counts every book I give away as a sale. With each sale I make I become that much more discoverable on their website. Here’s the thing. I first started publishing in 2013, and all of my novels can still be found there by a casual browser. There will be books that were published only last year through lack of sales will have virtually disappeared. So what’s on offer?


Gooseberry (Send for Octavius Guy, #1) by Michael Gallagher
Current average rating: 4.22 of 5 stars

Fourteen-year-old Gooseberry once helped solve the mystery of the Moonstone. Now fate is about to throw him a new case, sending him sleuthing round the Victorian capital once more.
“Sometimes you see a book and just know you're going to love it…An absolute treat for fans of Collins’ novel and a successful novel in its own right.”—Emma Hamilton



Octopus (Send for Octavius Guy, #2) by Michael Gallagher
Current average rating: 4.22 of 5 stars

When the leading actress dies in mysterious circumstances during a performance of The Duchess of Malfi, Gooseberry feels duty-bound to investigate. It is, after all, a great deal more exciting than tracking down rich old ladies’ cats!
“Here is a sensational historical fiction who-dunnit that gives nothing away until the very end. To me, it reads like an old time radio show. It leaves you breathless.”—Connie A.


Big Bona Ogles, Boy! (Send for Octavius Guy, #3) by Michael Gallagher
Current average rating: 4.71 of 5 stars

This time young Gooseberry investigates a shady Spiritualist medium only to discover that somebody wants her dead.
“This is an absolute gem of a series and quite the most enjoyable set of books I have read in a very long time.”—Anita Dow




Oh, No, Octavius! (Send for Octavius Guy, #4) by Michael Gallagher
Current average rating: 4.67 of 5 stars

The well-heeled residents of Highbury seek Gooseberry’s help to oust their local rector from his post, little knowing that one of their number has a far more permanent removal in mind.
“I’ve said it before and I’m saying it again—Michael Gallagher is a master storyteller.”—Al Muckersie



The Bridge of Dead Things (The Involuntary Medium, #1) by Michael Gallagher
Current average rating: 4.20 of 5 stars

Murky Victorian London. Lizzie Blaylock is about to discover an unusual talent…one that the people around her are keen to exploit.
“I read most of the book in one night simply because I couldn’t put it down and when I finally did it was five a.m. Wonderfully haunting and exciting it receives five stars from me.”—Brittney L. Divine author



The Scarab Heart (The Involuntary Medium, #2) by Michael Gallagher
Current average rating: 4.46 of 5 stars

The Valley of the Kings, 1885. Lizzie is about to meet a young woman named Merit, and her life will never be the same again.
“I never thought I would enjoy historical mysteries until I got my hands on this book! Deserving of more than 5 stars, in my humble opinion!”—A. L. Faulkenberry




The sale ends on April 20, 2020, but I will make sure there are coupons in place so they’ll remain free until the end of this lock down. This will be my last monthly post until then. Stay safe. Stay distanced. Stay well.

Happy investigating!
Michael

Find me on my website Michael Gallagher Writes and on Facebook, and make sure to follow me on Twitter @seventh7rainbow.

Monthly Post: March 2020 Using Twitter to advertise

Gooseberry (Send for Octavius Guy, #1) by Michael Gallagher
Current average rating: 4.22 of 5 stars

Last year I ran an advertising campaign for my novels on Twitter, which proved surprisingly popular. The premise was simple. Every second week I’d feature one book each day, a single tweet consisting of a quote from a reader’s review (without listing the book title or author), a non-preview link to where it could be purchased, and the book cover. The USP (or unique selling point) was that the quotes used would never be repeated. Every second week brought an entirely fresh batch, and the campaign ran for many, many months. Earlier this year, however, the inevitable happened. Read on…

This month’s offer is a free download of Gooseberry: Octavius Guy & The Case of the Thieving Maharajah (#1). Fourteen-year-old Gooseberry once helped solve the mystery of the Moonstone. Now fate is about to throw him a new case, sending him sleuthing round the Victorian capital once more. Offer ends on March 31st 2020.
“I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and can't wait to read another of Mr. Gallagher’s mysteries. Forget Sherlock Holmes, send for Octavius Guy!”—Brittney L. Divine, author, Smashwords Reviewer (5 stars)
Happy investigating! Michael
Find me on my website Michael Gallagher Writes and on Facebook, and make sure to follow me on Twitter @seventh7rainbow.

The Painted Queen

The Painted Queen by Elizabeth Peters
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

You probably know this already, but it’s worth stating again. When Elizabeth Peters died before completing The Painted Queen, her family asked author Joan Hess to finish it. Hess was not just a fan but her friend, and must have recognized that this would be a thankless task—yet she gave three years of her life to ensure its completion.
The result has divided Amelia Peabody fans, with a good proportion of them questioning Hess’s portrayal of Amelia’s character. One example that pops up quite regularly is her knowledge of hypnotism. Here’s the thing. As readers, we seem to have a proprietorial regard for characters. They are ours. We know them better than anyone. Woe betide any author—especially an interloper—who gets them wrong. I personally felt that the hypnotism was bang on character, and provided a spark of comedy that was lacking elsewhere. I also loved the contrivance of the five brothers out for revenge.
For me, the novel’s biggest flaw was its interminable planning sessions. The family in its various permutations sits around talking about what they intend to do next…rather than getting on and doing it. Much of the book is needlessly padded out this way, and the resulting dialogue feels forced and stilted. Regarding the plot, I’m still unsure to what purpose one of the archaeologists was being drugged, and the tension between Nefret and Ramses, which we’re teased with throughout (even at the very end), is never explained (or, if it is, it’s so brief that I missed it). These issues should have been ironed out in the editorial stages. Had they been, this would have been a much better book.
It’s easy to lose sight of the fact that this was a labour of love written primarily to bring her friend’s final novel to fruition, and I applaud her for doing so.

View all my reviews

Monthly Post: February 2020 What has gone wrong with LTER?

The Scarab Heart (The Involuntary Medium, #2) by Michael Gallagher
Current average rating: 4.46 of 5 stars

LibraryThing Early Reviewers used to provide an invaluable service to publishers, especially to indie publishers like Seventh Rainbow. When we first signed up to it in 2013, it was managed by a guy named Jeremy. Here’s how it worked. Read on…

This month’s special offer is a free download of The Scarab Heart. The Valley of the Kings, 1885. Lizzie is about to meet a young woman named Merit, and her life will never be the same again. Offer ends on February 29th 2020.

“This is not my usual type of read! *However*…this is a fantastic book! Beautifully written, brilliantly conceived, utterly enthralling, exciting and moving.”—Al Muckersie, Goodreads Reviewer (5 stars)

Happy investigating!
Michael

Find me on my website Michael Gallagher Writes and on Facebook, and make sure to follow me on Twitter @seventh7rainbow

The Order of Things

The Order of Things by Graham Hurley
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

First off, let me hold my hand up. I am not a fan of police procedurals. I read this book for the Crimes & Thrillers reading group I attend. That said, this book doesn’t always read like a police procedural.
A woman is found brutally murdered in the bedroom of a seaside cottage near Exmouth, owned by a climatology expert who subsequently disappears. D.S. Jimmy Suttle is charged with the investigation, which rapidly stalls until his ex-wife—an investigative journalist who has just had a best-selling book and is now in need of another—begins her own investigation into the victim.
For lovers of police procedurals there should be enough to hold your interest. Short, telegraphic sentences and plenty of talk about the MIR and the like, much of which went straight over my head.
When Hurley writes in detail about the characters, however, all that changes. He’s another writer entirely. He has a very elegant turn of phrase and a knack of making what they say seem real—no easy task when your characters are often experts in their sundry fields. It’s a pity then that I ended up liking none of them, the ex-wife least of all, though I did begin to wonder if she had a bipolar disorder that had gone undiagnosed. Nor was I ultimately convinced by anyone’s motives for their actions. Why did the scientist upsticks and vanish, for instance? Why then come back, and why obfuscate when he did? I suppose I may have missed something key here but, if I did, it was subtly insinuated.
Still it’s very hard to ignore writing this good. Let me quote a description of Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G Major as an example:

“The music was truly divine, the theme picked out on the piano, then gathered up by the soaring strings and warmed by an oboe and a flute. It surged on, music to fly by, music for seagulls, music with no respect for either gravity or pain.”

View all my reviews

Monthly Post: January 2020 A new year, a new novel

The Bridge of Dead Things (The Involuntary Medium, #1) by Michael Gallagher
Current average rating: 4.20 of 5 stars

Not this particular one, by the way—this is this month's giveaway.
As the chimes of Big Ben die away, Oh, No, Octavius!—or Octavius Guy & the Case of the Quibbling Cleric, as Gooseberry would have it—is finally released on the public…after three very long years of conception. Four or five days after that, fifty review copies should be winging their way via the internet to those discerning LibraryThing Early Reviewers who were kind enough to request it. So here I sit with bated breath waiting for their response. Will they approve of young Gooseberry’s choices—and by extension the novel itself? Only time will tell. Read on…

This month’s giveaway is a free download of The Bridge of Dead Things. Murky Victorian London. Lizzie Blaylock is about to discover an unusual talent…one that the people around her are keen to exploit. Offer ends on January 31st 2020.

“I read most of the book in one night simply because I couldn't put it down and when I finally did it was five a.m. Wonderfully haunting and exciting it receives five stars from me...”—Brittney L. Divine author, Smashwords Reviewer (5 stars)

Happy investigating!
Michael

Find me on my website Michael Gallagher Writes and on Facebook, and make sure to follow me on Twitter @seventh7rainbow.

Monthly Post: December 2019 The Case of the Quibbling Cleric – What can you expect?

Big Bona Ogles, Boy! (Send for Octavius Guy, #3) by Michael Gallagher
Current average rating: 4.71 of 5 stars

Oh, No, Octavius!, the latest addition to my Send for Octavius Guy series, is set to be published on January 1st 2020. For those of you unfamiliar with young Octavius (known variously as Gooseberry and Octopus), he’s a skinny, young lad who is now fifteen years old, and who fancies himself a detective. It’s 1853, and the well-heeled residents of Highbury have a problem: the Reverend Allaston Burr, the rector who’s been foisted upon their congregation by an ancient yet legally-binding right known as an advowson. When a final appeal to Queen Victoria fails to remove him from his post, they turn to Gooseberry for help. As you might have guessed, the Reverend Burr is not long for this world. Read on…

This month’s special offer is a free download of Big Bona Ogles, Boy!: Octavius Guy & The Case of the Mendacious Medium (#3). This time young Gooseberry investigates a shadowy Spiritualist medium only to discover that somebody wants her dead. Offer ends on December 31st 2019.

“My favorite Victorian boy investigator sets off to solve a new mystery…Words cannot describe just how much I enjoy Octavius.”—Bethany Swafford, Goodreads Reviewer (5 stars)

Happy investigating!
Michael

Find me on my website Michael Gallagher Writes and on Facebook, and make sure to follow me on Twitter @seventh7rainbow.