Monthly Archives April 2011

Amazon rankings

April 27, 2011 Amazon

The Amazon rank for the paperback, and the ebook have fluctuated quite a bit, but I think yesterday was its highest yet. Fire Season has fallen back down the rankings now but this, last night, made my day:That's two positions on Amazon Top 100 lists: #72 in Men's Adventure and #97 in Lad's Lit.And now I should go back to my current work-in-progress. I have too many things intruding on my time right now, and trying to get time to write is tricky. It doesn't help when the planned 1,500 word short story is now 4,000 and still going.

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Fire Season on Kindle – 99p

April 25, 2011 Uncategorized

For Easter, and to celebrate the launch of the Kindle Edition, Fire Season on Kindle is now 99p, down from £2.97. For readers overseas it is also available from Amazon.com and Amazon.de at a similar discount.Following the interest in the book after the Sample Sunday extract, I'm using this post to answer a few questions.For people looking for the discount rates the book is available from:Amazon.co.ukAmazon.comAmazon.deAnd as far as I am aware, the offer will be on until end of May.If you want a sample of the book, the Sample Sunday post is an extract. Alternative the free e-book Arrival can give you a longer sample of my writing style.Here's the publisher's press release:--Press release --For Easter, Fire Season by VH Folland is now 99p on Kindle. (For US and German readers, it has been

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SampleSunday

April 24, 2011 SampleSunday

Go to SampleSampleSunday is a twitter hashtag. You post an extract of your novel on blog or website, and then tweet a link with the #Samplesunday tag.I haven't tried Sample Sunday before, but I thought I'd give it a go. It turns out that the hardest thing about it is trying to format the extract for this blog! Anyway, here's one of the opening incidents from Fire Season, right before it all kicks off. There's more on the author interview at Indie ebooks.The Sample

“What happened?” Jim asked, worried. He put a hand on his brother’s shoulder, and Jake straightened, shaking him off.

“Stupid blasted kids. Mind if I grab a chair?” Without waiting for an answer he walked across, a little more slowly than usual, and took the seat that Matt gestured to. Pouring himself a mug of

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Easter Holiday Offer – Fire Season 99p on Kindle

April 22, 2011 Fire Season

A short announcement, because this is some good news I was not expecting.For the Easter holidays, Ragged Angel have discounted Fire Season to 99p (and a similar discount for readers on .com and .de). Apparently this was arranged yesterday but has spent today working through the Amazon's systems, hence the announcement on the bank holiday.While the offer is on, you can get the discounted price from Amazon here:Amazon

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An Author Interview

April 20, 2011 Uncategorized

My first author interview is up, conducted by the new Indie e-books blog. I'd like to say thanks to them for the opportunity, and I wish them all the best with their new blog (which has certainly introduced me to a few e-books I hadn't known were out there!)Indie e-books Blog - VH Folland Interview

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Back from launch, and very tired

April 17, 2011 Uncategorized

I'm back from the book launch and very tired. I'll post a better update once I clear my head. We ran out of the Arrival pamphlet and Fire Season cards. A number of copies went, but none signed, which I am told is unusual. Unfortunately I did back away from the chance of a video interview, which would have been good publicity, but by that point my voice had gone and I felt like a zombie so how it turned out would have been random chance.It was also a chance to talk to the Vulcan to the Sky team members present, about restoring the Vulcan and this year's display schedule. Mentioning XH558, the charity offer from the publisher is still on. Buy the book from either of the links below and the profit goes to Vulcan to the Sky.

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Coming up to launch

April 14, 2011 book launch

With less than two days to go until the launch, a few things have happened I wanted to mention.First, Amazon.co.uk now has the paperback in stock. Only two copies, but there are apparently more on the way so hopefully that distribution issue has been sorted. Even if not, the book is now up on Kindle so it can be purchased as an ebook and Amazon have successfully linked the books.I've just received copies of some of my items for the launch, including giveaway pens, and small booklets containing Arrival. I'm a little surprised about the latter as I'd never intended Arrival to go into print in that form.There's also a charity offer on for the launch, where if you buy the Kindle or paperback version through a dedicated link all profits go to XH558, to find her display season. (See

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Publishing v. Self publishing v Small press part II.

April 12, 2011 book launch

I am honestly too nervous about the book launch on Saturday to come up with anything interesting to say, so I'm going to push on with a terms clarification about the different types of publishing.Publishing: These are the huge publishing houses like Hodder and Stoughton, who do offset printruns in the thousands, and probably release as many promo copies as a small press expects to sell in total. This is what most peple think of when they mention "Published". Some people also refer to this as "traditional publishing".Self publishing: You personally own the ISBN, or have set up a company purely to publish your own works. Nowadays this usually involves lulu or createspace, to make the books available through POD, or using Smashwords or Amazon to publish as e-books.

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Japanese Earthquake

April 7, 2011 Uncategorized

This is a complete break from the normal focus of the blog. This morning, on Twitter, this comment made my day:"from DirectRelief: @VHFolland @CloviasLawn - thanks for all your help raising awareness and funds for the need in Japan."Then just now the BBC reported another earthquake, 7.1 on the Richter scale.This request won't be particularly well written, but sometimes even writers run out of words.

Please help if you can. The Pennies For Japan campaign is ongoing, selling a collector's set of elongated pennies, or individual ones as necklaces. There is also the Write for Japan anthology, a set of short stories available as an e-book or print book. Both of these raise funds directly for the Red Cross.If you can't donate, please visit one of the lenses below and click on a link or an

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New Review

April 6, 2011 Fire Season, Reviews

A new review of the book has just gone up, and it's also appeared on Amazon.com for the Kindle edition A review within a day of it going live was unexpected.The review, from E & K Family Books, is also available on their blog (here)."The characters are rich and their interactions natural and unforced. I loved the multi layered personalities each character brought forward."

E & K Family Book Review

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