Snared on the cheap / Three-book deal

Hope you’re all gearing up for Newtonmas, not long now.
Anyway, just to let you know SNARED was selected as one of Amazon Publishing’s top-selling books of 2015 and is on sale at £1.49 (also in the Australian deal, too). If you haven’t bought it, well now’s your chance. Linky and the deal page is here (some crackers on that list)
Oh, and in other news… I’ve signed a three-book deal with Amazon Publishing’s Thomas & Mercer imprint, home of SNARED among many others.
What? Who?
The deal is for the first two books in the DI Simon Fenchurch series, THE HOPE THAT KILLS and VICIOUS CYCLE, hardcore police procedurals set in that London. The east end mainly, though Islington features heavily. And it’s also for the second in the DS Vicky Dodds series, FALLEN, picking up eighteen months after SNARED. What’s happened to Vicky in that time? Well.
When?
Tentative dates, which will be updated in due course, are THE HOPE THAT KILLS in May/June 2016, VICIOUS CYCLE in September 2016 and FALLEN in January 2017. I’ve delivered the first two books and I’m going through edits for HOPE just now. Done an outline for FALLEN, but not put finger to key yet.
Why?
Because they’re a brilliant publisher who treat authors as people and not like cattle. I love working with them. They seem to like me, too. I know a lot of other authors with the imprint and nobody has anything even vaguely negative to say. Plus, they’re one of the few publishers who know how to really sell ebooks (I’d add Bookoutoure to that small list). And I’ve loved the process of publishing and selling SNARED.
Wow! Erm, what about Cullen?
Ah, yes. That publishing schedule is aggressive as hell and shows a huge amount of support for me and my scribblings. There’s a knock-on effect for the Cullen series, which means there won’t be any new Cullen novels until next Christmas, dependent on that publishing schedule. Happily, this matches my own thoughts (as outlined in the afterword for COWBOYS). With series books, especially self-published ones, there’s a law of diminishing returns. Think of it as a funnel, wide at the start but tapering off. The Cullen books have got better as I’ve written them and improved my craft, but the sales need a bit of time to catch up. Hence why I’ve started another two series. Hence why I’ve slowed down publication of Cullen (first three were nine months apart, last two were ten). I still love/hate the bugger as much as ever, and I hope you enjoy the Fenchurch books as much as I have writing them. And, of course, Ms Dodds sophomore adventure.
Yeah, so there we are. Happy Newtonmas when it happens. I’ll probably do year-end stuff over the next few weeks.
Oh and I’m properly on Schoolbook now. Sorry, Facebook. Friend me there, or whatever it is the kids do these days.
— Ed