Blog: Mel's Muse

Mel's Online Book Club: The Generation Game By Sophie Duffy

Titles are important to me. As an author I find it necessary to choose a title I can work to: one that defines the theme of the book I’m writing. As a reader, I look to see how those themes unfold.

When one of the members of my real-time Book Club suggested that...

Posted at 00:58am on 31st October 2012

4 Comments

Could I Really Be An Author?

Self-published novels and indie authors abound these days. In another guest blog - while I am in the throes of moving house - I invite you to take a look at how one new writer launched his debut novel in an innovative way, and began to realise that he is,...

Posted at 09:02am on 26th June 2012

7 Comments

Driven To Distraction: Writing And Publishing A Book

Another guest blog, this time from a second Facebook friend and ACW member, Claire Dunn. And yet again, this is a story of grit and determination: an inspiration to any aspiring author. Dogged with dyslexia, Claire might well have given up on her dream of writing and publishing a book. ...

Posted at 12:56pm on 7th June 2012

8 Comments

Guest Blog: Self-publishing & E-books - The Ups & Downs

Although I don’t know her personally, Sheila Skillman is one of my Facebook friends. With what many of us thought considerable bravery, she recently asked for advice from other authors, concerning the lack of sales for her book. I hope she doesn’t feel she received more than she’d bargained for.

The fact is,...

Posted at 06:35am on 20th May 2012

8 Comments

Preparing A Presentation For An Authors' & Booksellers' Conference

I must apologise for leaving you dangling with only half of Mel's Online Book Club discussion summary for Rob Bell's Love Wins. The other part will be available soon, I promise.

I've been preparing my notes and Power Point slides for the presentation I shall be giving at a conference next...

Posted at 04:11am on 17th May 2012

Mel's Online Book Club: Love Wins By Rob Bell - Part One

A daring choice for my real-time book club, given the controversy that surrounds it, Love Wins, by author, Rob Bell, attracted rather more people than usual to the discussion on Thursday evening. We'd teamed the book with Michael Wittmer's Christ Alone: An Evangelical Response... - half the group reading one title,...

Posted at 07:56am on 28th April 2012

2 Comments

Dear Mel, What Do You Know Of Author, Paul Gallico

On this night, the one-hundredth anniversary of the sinking of Titanic, comes a reminder of the sinking of another ship, the MV Victoria

Hi Ms. Menzies,

I performed a Google search on author, Paul Gallico and your name came up, and I noticed you used to work for him. ...

Posted at 13:44pm on 14th April 2012

11 Comments

Book Sales Donation To Tearfund

Thank you, again, to all who have bought my book, A Painful Post Mortem. A novel about a mother who has to come to terms with her daughter's waywardness, it raises, among other things, the question of HIV and AIDS.

Sales have already raised hundreds of pounds for Tearfund and...

Posted at 09:07am on 13th April 2012

Dear Mel, How Can I Promote My Book On Radio Shows?

Dear Mel,

We "met" on LinkedIn. I recently visited your website and enjoyed a few of the many things you offer. Something that struck me is the similarity of our book covers. You can see mine at www.grief-recovery.org I've written two books on grief recovery (any type of loss) and conduct...

Posted at 09:16am on 7th April 2012

6 Comments