A New Website for a New Title

I've been a busy boy over the weekend and built myself a brand spanky new website. This is largely because no suitable variant on THE TWELVE was available as a domain name, and the old site needed a good going over anyway. Have a look at the links section - I've tried to include as many people as I could in the rush to get it online, concentrating mostly on authors with specific promotional sites, and I've left the 'Friends' section rather bare. If you'd like a link and I've neglected you, please let me know in the comments.

In other news, I have received editorial notes from my other editor, Briony (yes, I have two editors!), and I have to say I'm astounded at her eye for detail, and slightly embarrassed at all the mistakes she's found. I've got another busy period to come as I work through revising the manuscript.

And finally, just thought I'd mention I'm off to New York in March, and I'm as excited as the first time I went.

MySpace is Evil

A few weeks ago, I caved and set up a MySpace account. Anyone who works in web design can tell you that MySpace is a dreadful piece of design and coding, but it is nonetheless the place to be, so I have joined up. My profile is set to private at the minute, but if any of you folks want to 'friend' me, hop on over to www.myspace.com/stuartneville/. I've already said hello to a few old college friends, so it's not all bad. Oh, and ZZ Top are now also my friends. I wonder will they come round for tea?

Book Rabbit!

I recently discovered what I think may be the most exciting book website since Amazon - BookRabbit.com.

As I've been investigating the world of online book marketing, I realised that unlike movies or other media, there is no common meeting place for book enthusiasts. There are countless blogs, low-population forums and websites dedicated to reading and writing, but to try to leverage them for marketing is a daunting task. They are simply spread too thin. The new Book Roast blog is a valiant effort, but still there is no IMDB.com for books.

Until now, that is. At least potentially. BookRabbit.com is a website at once a social networking site and online store for book lovers. They offer a selection of titles that rivals Amazon in both choice and price, but the shopping experience is wrapped up in a library of 'bookshelves' uploaded by the site's users.

Here's how it works: You upload a picture of your bookshelf (here's mine, though it's really a pile on the floor) and then tag your books. The system then finds other users who have the same books, so you can browse what else they have, say hello, comment on the books, or even go and buy them. It's a very well put together website, with bags of potential. It's only a couple of months old, but already I see big things ahead for it - IF it takes off.

The most interesting thing, though, is the potential for author marketing. When you register, you can designate yourself as an author. Using RSS, you can hook it up to your blog, so you can maintain your journal in one place. You can talk about your books in the same place readers are browsing and buying them. And community blogs like Book Roast can feed right into it. It's the step forward in author-reader interaction I believe the Internet has been crying out for up to now. Really, I think it's brilliant, and it deserves to succeed. And the only way it'll do that is by people like us getting involved.*

*One small issue - it's a UK site, so not much use for Americans wanting to buy, but you can still interact.

Book Trailer!

I've updated The Ghosts of Belfast website with one of those new fangled book trailers. Check it out at http://www.theghostsofbelfast.com/trailer/.

Things have been busy of late, leaving me unable to blog as frequently as I'd like, but I'll hopefully be managing a bit more in the weeks to come.

Blog Update Complete (and novel only slightly nearer the finish line)

So, my blog has been given a facelift to transform it from Blogger's butt ugly template to my slightly more snazzy website layout. There are some variations between this and my site purely out of necessity, but it's pretty close.

But...

I am also kicking myself firmly in the arse because this has been at the expense of valuable writing time. It's that old procrastination-because-it's-nearly-finished thing again. It's down to the last two sequences, which themselves are made up of about four or five scenes. About 5,000 words or so will see it done. I've just got to get on with it, and I've no excuses now...

My Website and Electric Spec Online!

My short story, Me and the Devil Blues, has just been published in the Summer 2007 edition of Electric Spec, the online short fiction magazine. Check it out at http://www.electricspec.com/!

And just in case that wasn't enough excitement for one lifetime, I've just uploaded my new website to http://www.stuartneville.com/ - have a look and let me know what you think. Expect more content over the coming weeks as and when I find the time. :)