Hello!

Well, when I invited you lovely people to let me know #whereareyoureadingyours I never expected to find Outback among royalty. Turns out Bill Kemp has ended up in the library of the Queen Mary II, courtesy of very happy reader Geri.   Having enjoyed it on a cruise which, appropriately enough, included Sydney (the Harbour Bridge is visible in the background), she left a copy on board for others to discover. A brilliant way to spread the word – thanks Geri!   Don’t forget, you can join in the fun on social media by posting a picture of you with the book (or just the book, if you’re camera-shy) in whatever exotic location you find yourself, from Goa to Grimsby. Just remember to add the hashtag to help boost visibility.   And on the subject of visibility, here’s another plea from me to get those completely impartial five-star reviews out there on every platform you can think of. This isn’t a vanity request on my part – they really do make a difference to helping people find Bill and his exploits.   I know a lot of you have already done sterling work in this regard, but if you’ve been putting it off for one reason or another, or it simply hasn’t occurred to you just yet, please could I invite you to take five minutes to pop over to Amazon or Goodreads or Waterstones or wherever and jot down a few encouraging words for newer readers? You’ll have my undying gratitude – honest – and with the new Kemp novel Thin Ice now scheduled for release on October 24, it’ll really help build momentum over the summer.  

Now, we all know about those websites I mentioned above, but have you discovered the latest site aimed at connecting authors and readers in a more user-friendly fashion? It’s called Shepherd.com and I was delighted to be invited to contribute a little something.   Founder Ben Fox has penned an introductory message especially for readers of this newsletter. Here’s what he has to say about his site:   Shepherd is trying to reimagine the way we explore and discover books online. I've asked 10,000+ authors to share their favourite reads around topics, themes and moods they are passionate about. Then, I connect their book lists and make it easy to follow your curiosity as you wander through the website. Just search for a topic, genre, book, author, grade or age and we give you a ton of ideas on where to start browsing for a book you will love.    And here’s a link to my own list of favourite reads – see how it compares with yours: https://shepherd.com/best-books/action-adventure-that-are-not-crime-thrillers       Finally, a plug for an amazing resource that’s primarily aimed at playwrights but is proving just as useful for authors, scriptwriters and anyone else in the storytelling game.   It’s an ongoing thread of Twitter posts by award-winning playwright Mark Ravenhill under the heading of 101 Exercises for Playwrights and it’s a fantastic introduction to the creative (dark) art of writing. He’s already 15 or so exercises in but they’re easy to digest and you can quickly catch up, and if you’ve ever wondered how to go about writing something, they’re a bit of a goldmine.   You can find them in a pinned thread on his Twitter feed @MarkRavenhill2 and they’re highly recommended.   Go explore… and have fun!                         Just a quick reminder before I go to follow me on all those channels if you don’t already, and please spread the word whenever you can. Word-of-mouth really does help!   Website: mrgdavies.com Facebook: Michael Davies – Author Twitter/X: mrgdavies TikTok: mrgdavies Threads: michaeldaviesauthor Instagram: michaeldaviesauthor