Welcome to my first newsletter

Blog articles

I post to my blog once or twice a month, on various topics. There are a  couple of posts directly linked to things in The Mrs MacKinnons - one on mantraps and poachers, and one on ice houses and other features of gardens at the time.

What I'm working on - The Marstone Series

I'm currently working on a couple more books, but I'm doing things backwards, in a way. When I started writing I did it just for fun, and completed two novels before deciding to get them edited into a state fit for publication. The Mrs MacKinnons is the first of these, the second will become Playing with Fire.

Since I published The Mrs MacKinnons, I've learned a lot more about marketing and selling my stories, including the fact that series are popular with readers in all genres. The Marstone Series will be a set of stories linked by the Earl of Marstone, who had a small part in The Mrs MacKinnons, although each book can be read as a standalone.

Doing it backwards?

My current plan for the series looks something like this:

Sauce for the Gander - set in 1777. I've nearly finished the rough first draft, and I'm hoping to publish by the end of the year (or January 2019, if things take longer than anticipated).

Bella's Choice - set in 1785. This one is just a vague idea at the moment, and only a working title.

Playing with Fire - set in 1793. This is where doing it backwards comes in, as this book is almost ready for beta readers and the cover is done. But I need to publish in chronological order of the stories, so this won't be out until some time in 2019.

The Fourth Marchioness - set in 1794. This one has the first draft half written, but I'm not going back to this until the ones above are published.

If you're interested, I'm updating my website with progress every week or so - partly to encourage me to keep my nose to the grindstone!

Help the author

If you are interested in my writing, would you like to get an advance peek of future books and help me by joining one of my support teams?

Join my beta team - beta readers get a near-final copy of the manuscript, read it and send honest feedback to the author.

Beta readers give their impressions of the story: bits they did or didn't like, inconsistencies, things they didn't understand, and so on. The author can then make any necessary changes before sending the manuscript off for copyediting.

Beta readers don't need to look for spelling and grammar mistakes, as a copyeditor will do that at the next stage.

I'll be needing a few beta readers for Playing with Fire (see below) in August sometime.

Join my ARC team - an ARC is an Advanced Review Copy. The team get free copies of the book a week or so before publication, and (hopefully) leave reviews when the book is published, to get it off to a good start.

If you'd like to be a beta or ARC reader, drop me an email (just hit reply).

Write a review - reviews really help authors to get their books noticed. Amazon or Goodreads, and you don't need to write much. If you have already left a review - thank you! 

That's all for this time. If there's anything in particular you'd like to see in these newsletters, or on my blog, do get in touch.

Jayne Davis

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