Tag Archives: Harry Bingham

Reasons to be Optimistic

As I continue with my self-promotion campaign via blogging, creating a website dedicated to my crime novel series and posting on social media, in preparation for self-publishing this summer, I was happy to come across an optimistic article written by Harry Bingham.

I like Harry, as he knows the publishing business as an author:

https://harrybingham.com/

His early experiences of the publishing world prompted him to found The Writers’ Workshop, since renamed Jericho Writers:

https://jerichowriters.com/about/harry-bingham/

In the article What Fiction Decline? An Indie Author’s Asking, he makes astute points about the inaccuracies of many surveys of publishing, which ignore crucial sales figures—such as Amazon’s KDP—which Amazon doesn’t share with anyone. No one would take a survey of traffic seriously, if it only counted vehicles on two-lane and local roads, ignoring motorways/freeways, so why embrace doom and gloom when the Association of American Publishers and the Publishers Association in Britain say things are getting worse?

https://booklife.com/news/authors/11/19/2018/what-fiction-decline-an-indie-author-s-asking.html

The fact is that nothing at all in my interactions with readers makes me feel like I’m selling horses to car owners. Indeed, if my email inbox is anything to go by, I’m selling horses to people who really, really like horses. The appetite for good, absorbing, well-written fiction feels to me as intense now as it ever did.

I was glad to read this paragraph: I’m still unsure about what I’m doing with self-promotion and self-publishing, but it feels more like progress than querying cloth-eared literary agents who either ignore me completely or only deign to reply after three months with a form letter of rejection.

People hunger for new stories, so perhaps I’ll find an audience.

 

eBay buying tip

I’ve read many handbooks on writing over the years, acquiring them off Amazon, AbeBooks and eBay—usually for a few pounds.

I’ve had my eye on Harry Bingham’s The Writers’ and Artists’ Yearbook Guide to Getting Published, for a while, putting a watch on it as all the copies advertised were at least £13.

I read somewhere that placing an item into your shopping basket, then leaving it there, could have benefits with the seller offering the would-be buyer a discount to make the sale. Sure enough, after placing a copy of the publishing guide in my basket for two weeks, I received an email notification that the last copy had been reduced to £2.59 with free postage and packing.

I made it mine, saving about £10.

Incidentally, Harry Bingham is a thriller writer, who after realising that debut authors were having problems securing an agent and publisher for their first book, established an advice site he called Writers’ Workshop which also offered editorial services. It was recently rebranded as Jericho Writers.

He’s made many useful videos, which are on YouTube.

Querying & Synopsis Advice Videos

While researching ways of finessing my query letters and synopsis writing, I found several useful videos.

Harry Bingham is an experienced crime novelist who founded a writers’ help group after realising how many authors had problems finding representation for their first novel. Originally called The Writers’ Workshop it was recently renamed Jericho Writers.

The videos are about nine minutes long, and he gives some useful advice.

How to write a query letter

How to write a great novel synopsis

Jericho Writers offer a free query letter & synopsis builder