Monday 25 February 2013

More titles uploaded to Kindle

We are delighted to announce that the following titles are now available to buy on Kindle:

Jane Elliot: END OF THE TRAIL

Adam Fitzroy: STAGE WHISPERS

Chris Quinton: SEA CHANGE

The next batch will follow in a week or two's time and we'll keep you updated as promised!

Saturday 23 February 2013

New review of MAKE DO AND MEND

We're delighted to announce that the first substantive review of Adam Fitzroy's MAKE DO AND MEND has now appeared on Confessions From Romaholics. The review, by Black Tulip, had previously appeared on Goodreads and concludes with the following words:

Adam Fitzroy has written an absorbing and inspiring story with two very endearing characters that have first to free themselves from the past before being able to live their life to the fullest and

Simply let Harry and Jim carry you through this brilliant story. This is the kind of book that I certainly will read again someday. In the meantime, I give 5 stars!

Saturday 16 February 2013

New review of BETWEEN NOW AND THEN

Reviewer Sirius at Jessewave has been reading Adam Fitzroy's BETWEEN NOW AND THEN, and her verdict is recorded here.

"Those who say that good writing can sell you anything are so right. As much as I love well done time travel element, I usually prefer it to be explained much better than it was in this book. I like my whys and therefores to be spelled out where time travel is concerned. In this book it just happens because they are in the certain place and time, nothing else was really explained and I completely bought it because of the good writing."

There is also, included in the review, a fascinating point about whether or not the main storyline of BETWEEN NOW AND THEN (i.e. the relationship between Dennis and Allan) actually constitutes a 'romance', and we'd be very interested to get your views on this - either specifically about this book, if you've read it, or more generally if you haven't. What elements do you think need to be present for a story to be described as a 'romance'?

For the record, Adam tells us that the primary 'romantic' relationship in BETWEEN NOW AND THEN is intended to be the one taking place in the past, and the present-day one is almost accidental in relation to it - but this is, of course, only one of very many possible points of view about the subject, so please feel free to weigh in and tell us what you think!

Thursday 14 February 2013

VALENTINE'S DAY GREETINGS


In honour of the occasion. we are delighted to announce that eight of our titles are now available on Amazon for Kindle: they are Julie Bozza's THE DEFINITIVE ALBERT J. STERNE; ALBERT J. STERNE: FUTURE BRIGHT, PAST IMPERFECT; HOMOSAPIEN; THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW OF DEATH and of course BUTTERFLY HUNTER, as well as R.A. Padmos's RAVAGES, Chris Quinton's ALOES and Adam Fitzroy's DEAR MISTER PRESIDENT. This is the start of a rolling programme of Kindle launches which will take place over the next few months; we'll keep you fully updated with the details.

There are now 'Amazon Kindle buy links' on the relevant pages on the website, but these will take you to Amazon.co.uk; we're sure those of you in the rest of the world will figure it out, however!

At the same time, we are also happy to announce price reductions across the board for those of you who prefer to buy in dollars from our distribution partner websites. These have been occasioned by currency fluctuations over the past year or so. Our plan is to stay in closer touch with the exchange rates in future, and to implement further price changes as and when the situation warrants.

Tuesday 5 February 2013

Changes to availability of Manifold Press books

Two small snippets of news to bring you about this. The first - and least - is that we're going to decrease the lapse-time between publication and availability via our partner sites. In the first instance this will come down to two months, so that our 1 February books will be available on Rainbow and AllRomance from 1 April this year, but in due course we intend to reduce it to one month. Whether or not we will ever go so far as to have simultaneous publication, however, is something we have yet to decide.

More importantly, we've started the process to make our books available through Amazon. This won't happen overnight, of course; we expect it to be gradual and probably to take about six months altogether. Again, as with our reseller partners, we do not expect to be making new books available via Amazon immediately, but we're working towards a lapse-time of only one month. We know we've probably been over-cautious about this, and that some readers have found it infuriating, but it's been very important to us to make sure we knew what we were doing before we took this major step; we're not the type who rush into things, on the whole, and we can't afford to make expensive mistakes.

In any event, we're sure you'll agree that these are both changes for the better!

Friday 1 February 2013

Statistics for January

As promised, a quick update for our records and for anyone else who is interested.

The best-seller through our website in January was Adam Fitzroy's MAKE DO AND MEND but (as has so often been the case in the past!) the overall best-selling book was once again Julie Bozza's BUTTERFLY HUNTER.

As far as response times go, we can record a tidy average of exactly 4 hours and 30 minutes.

Now ... next challenge, please?

New titles available - and reviews!

Our two new titles are now available to buy through our website, and have already been reviewed by the tremendously efficient Josie Goodread at Mrs Condit Reads Books.

Of Adam Fitzroy's BETWEEN NOW AND THEN she has this to say:

The desperation and sheer awfulness of World War 1 came over so well that I really felt like I was there, and as much as I liked the comedy of the first part of the book, the pervading sadness and waste of it all sucked me in and made it impossible for me to put the book down

and of Chris Quinton's FOOL'S RUSH the following:

Chris Quinton has the ability to write complex plot driven stories that literally flow from one page to the next. Events interweaving, but never complicating the story, and she is at her most masterful with Fool’s Rush.

As if all this bounty wasn't quite enough there is also a new review of Julie Bozza's BUTTERFLY HUNTER from Val Kovalin of Obsidian Bookshelf, which reads in part as follows:

The story has a leisurely pace and there isn’t much conflict, but the good writing and amazing setting held my interest. Here, the Australian outback is fascinating in its strangeness and potential for grave danger. I also like our two heroes. Nicholas is kind, goofy, and charismatic. Dave is quietly competent.

It's on days like this, Dear Reader, that a publisher like ourselves might actually be encouraged to believe they were doing something right!

For those who take an interest - and we're sure they are few - the January stats will follow as soon as they're to hand; these things take a little time to organise, as we're confident you'll understand.