It has been a long while since I made a post. To start off with, a had long period where an error by BlueHost made my site innaccessible. After that it was difficult to pick up the habit again. Then it became self-fulfilling – the longer I went without posting, the harder it was to post (kind of like writing generally).

Meanwhile, there was no impact on my book sales whatsoever. Now, writing a blog just to sell your books may be a bad idea, But it’s not unreasonable to hope that regular blogging might make some people interested in your work (by the by, you can click on the various links on the page if you’d like to read my books. They won awards and stuff!)

I had a contracted period of work and training come up and I focussed on that. I put fiction projects to one side to focus on academia. I started teaching at Sciences Po again. I was pushing so hard on other projects that this one just fell by the wayside.

So should I pick it up again? I think if there’s one thing I’ve learned about modern publishing it is that you need to be frequently releasing new books (quality, it turns it, is probably not as important – which is a shame, but hey, readers should read whatever please them). Would the websitebe more helpful if I’d just released a new book?

I don’t have an answer. I think that you should definitely have other good reasons to blog than just trying to push sales, because if you’re more focussed on your numbers than your writing it will bleed your soul dry. People buy and read my books. I should be finishing the next two (almost there, too busy writing about regulatory theory, do I need to change my priorities?)

I might try to move to shorter, more reflective posting than the essays I’ve produced in the past. With so much on my plate at the moment, I can’t put too much time into a website that had no impact when it vanished! I’ll also be sure to tell you when there are new books. If you have any ideas why keeping this blog is a good idea, please post in the comments!

My blog articles are too long. When I write about writing I am ebullient, effusive and, well, long-winded. I write the sort of articles that I never finish reading when I am on the tram. My book reviews are much better – 300 words-ish, on Instagram, BAM! So why can’t I learn my lesson and write to a damned word limit?

Why? Because secretly my long writing articles have many advantages both for me and for my website. In this article I give three key justifications for writing ludicrously long blog posts. Then I’ll keep on doing it anyway, because it’s my blog and I’ll cry if I want to. Mostly, my objective is that you come away feeling good about whatever way you choose to blog.

Damned Pirates!

I have spoken to a number of authors who were very cross to discover that their work was being pirated. I totally sympathise. Whether indie or in house, we work incredibly hard on our books, they are sold at a very reasonable price (most indie authors spend at least some time selling their e-books for 99p), and we see little of that money. To find that people are so cheap that they would rather steal our work than pay less than the price of a fifth of a bag of Maltesers is hugely frustrating. Top it off with the publishing industries plaintive wailing that piracy is destroying the industry, and it is easy to see why we get upset.

But there are several good reasons why we should not get ourselves wound up about piracy. In this article I am going to explain what they are.