Hi,
Firstly, please don't take what follows as a guide on HOW
to write thrillers. In many ways it demonstrates how NOT to do it. I've made
mistakes, plenty of them, but I'll try to describe them honestly. I've written
to please myself - so the product, at least, has pleased / amused one person -
and sometimes brought surprises.
All my books are listed at www.cuthanbooks.co.uk. Wait a minute.
Who or What is/are cuthanbooks? Quite simply it’s me. Last time I said I’d
obtained ISBNs but for that I needed a unique Publisher Name. As my hero is a tenth century Saxon fugitive I picked on the Old English /Anglo-Saxon word for ‘bring forth’ (which
could = ‘publish’) & so I became cuthan books – and that is a UNIQUE name
However, this series of blogs isn’t really about
what I've written in print - but if anybody's got any questions or
comments on them, just fire away.
As a group they are the ‘Jonas Forbes Saga’ &
I'll start by answering a few basic questions such as WHAT, WHO, WHY
& HOW.
WHAT : The series is about an ‘Enquiry Agent’ usually
hired by the UK government to sort out problems which require ‘no comebacks’.
They're set all over the world & employ extensive historical research to
TRY and get the facts right. The opposition may be foreign governments, spies
or just plain 'nasties'. They’re written light-heartedly, almost as a spoof
perhaps, although they do contain adult material.
WHO: The hero is JONAS FORBES – really a
combination of ‘The Saint’ and James Bond and definitely NOT myself, unless my
alter-ego is having fun jerking my chain. Sometimes real historical characters
appear (& usually the background is a real historical situation). However,
the stories are peopled by a whole range of characters – some using traits of
real personalities (including myself) but others are just conjured out
of......Perhaps a psychiatrist might complete that sentence in some cases.
WHY: After publishing my 4 books in print I’d
certainly been bitten by the writing bug. These thrillers are the result.
I set them in that period because the first story was written nearly 40 years
ago and set in 1965. When I decided to release it as an e-book it had become
HISTORICAL Fiction so I had to do a lot of research even though I'd lived
through (& taught the history of) that period.
They were written chiefly to please myself & often
the stories run away into dark corners I hadn’t planned. They’re out there just
in case somebody might get a few hours entertainment by reading them. They’ve
been released through Amazon Kindle, Google & Smashwords. The price
(May 2015) is 0.99$ each.
HOW: Really a big thank you to organisations & people
who’ve helped with the e-books. So here are some in the order I encountered
them - the last three are where to find my e-books:
http://www.isbn.nielsenbook.co.uk/ for advice on ISBNs & much more besides
http://calibre-ebook.com/
for transforming my work into the various formats needed for e-books
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/BobHyslop : for so much advice re’ formatting e-books & publishing my work
https://play.google.com/store/books/author?id=Bob+Hyslop&hl=en_GB : for help in publishing
https://www.amazon.com/Bob-Hyslop/e/B005ESGSIQ : for help with publishing
That’s enough for now. I’ll get into the real business next time but if you have any questions I’ll do my best to answer them.
Bob Hyslop
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