Category: publishing

  • Judge’s comments on The Bog Mermaid

    Here are the delightful comments from Elizabeth Bradfield, the judge of the Quill Prose Award (the one Mermaid just won!) What does a bog contain?  Water, layer upon layer of sphagnum, darkness, cold; things preserved in that airless chill beyond what light and air would allow.  So the past burbles into the present, and currents…

  • The Bog Mermaid wins Quill Prose Prize

    Excited to announce that The Bog Mermaid has won the Quill Prose Award 2022, run by Red Hen Press There won’t be a publication, we couldn’t agree terms on the contract, but still, a prize is a prize. Read about the book itself here Read about searching for the right place to set the book…

  • Remembering Lilian Mohin

    Remembering Lilian Mohin

    I’ve just read in yesterday’s Guardian Other Lives, that Lilian Mohin has died, age 81, although the online version is dated March, so lockdown and Covid-enlarged deathrate must have pushed her off the paper version initially. I don’t think she’d be pleased. We argued, the first time Lilian and I met, and for a while…

  • Refugees Welcome Anthology

    Refugees Welcome Anthology

    I’m delighted that I have TWO stories in the forthcoming Refugees Welcome anthology. These are We Apologise for the Delay… a story of what it means to be a stranger and how communities form in times of need, told through the prism of the London Underground as the site for ‘first contact’ with aliens; and…

  • Why Short Stories?

    Why Short Stories?

    There’s been a lot of chat going on recently about short stories, including on the radio, this week’s Open Book had  Aminatta Forna giving a potted history of the short story from Poe, Chekhov and Saki to Helen Simpson, and even Ramblings (a walking programme … fascinating, listen!) had Claire Balding in company with short…

  • Fantasy Marketing

    Joan Taylor-Rowan talks about marketing her novel The Birdskin Shoes – the fantasy and the reality! joan taylor-rowan clip 7 marketing © Cherry Potts 2012

  • Self-Publishing and e-Books

    Joan Taylor-Rowan talks about her decision to self publish. joan clip 5 self publishing © Cherry Potts 2012

  • Judging a Book By Its Cover

    Judging a Book By Its Cover

    Joan Taylor-Rowan talks about choosing the right cover for her novel, The Birdskin Shoes, and discovering the work of artist Teresa Villegras joan taylor-rowan clip 6 book cover © Cherry Potts 2012

  • Interview with Joan Taylor-Rowan author of The Bird Skin Shoes

    Interview with Joan Taylor-Rowan author of The Bird Skin Shoes

    I’m posting a series of short snatches of interview with Joan Taylor-Rowan, Author of The Birdskin Shoes.  In this first section Joan talks about the inspiration for the title, and the connections between her own Irish roots and Joey’s escapades in Mexico, by way of religious imagery… its a far reaching book! listen here! joan…

  • market research, test trading and marketing

    It was in my mind to post this on my other blog, but in the true spirit of being aware of my market, I’m putting it where it will be seen by the people I want to see it!  If you are thinking, what, no Opera? be patient, I’ll get there. I’ve been supporting my…