Hello all and welcome to the first in our series of author interviews. The first to take The Plunge is crime thriller author Phillip Strang.
Everyone, please stand up and give Phillip a big round of applause for 1) taking part in our exciting adventure and 2) being the first to do so.
Hooray, Phillip!
Phillip Strang’s Bio
Phillip Strang was born in the late forties, the post-war baby boom in England; his childhood years, a comfortable middle-class upbringing in a small town, two hours’ drive west of London.
His childhood and the formative years were a time of innocence. Relatively few rules, and as a teenager, complete mobility, due to a bicycle – a three-speed Raleigh – and a more trusting community. It was the days before mobile phones, the internet, terrorism and wanton violence. An avid reader since childhood.
In his early twenties, the author, with a degree in electronics engineering, and an unabated wanderlust to see the world left the cold and damp climes of England for Sydney, Australia – the first semi-circulation of the globe, complete. Now, forty years later, he still resides in Australia, although many intervening years spent in a myriad of countries, some calm and safe – others, no more than war zones.
Phillip and I talked about writing thrillers, living internationally, the hard work of sitting down and writing, creating box sets of your work, success, marketing and selling as an indie author and advertising on Facebook, Twitter and Amazon (Phillip shared his wonderfully detailed methodology for getting reviews in How Self-Published Book Author and Marketing Maven Phillip Strang Gets Amazon Reviews. It’s worth a read).
You can find links to Phillip’s books on the right or at the bottom of this post (depending on your device). You’ll also find links to Phillip’s sites underneath the video. And please comment both pro and pro. Okay, con, too, if something really peeves you.
The Interview
Phillip Strang’s Links
Phillip’s website
Phillip’s Books on Amazon
Phillip on Facebook
Phillip on Twitter
Phillip and I talked about a site he uses, InstaFreebie. Check it out.
Special bonus to all watchers, listeners and readers of Phillip Strang’s interview; Be one of the first to comment or share (and let us know) and receive a free copy of Phillip’s latest DI Tremayne Thriller, DEATH AND THE LUCKY MAN
9 Responses
Interesting comment from Philip that he doesn’t write his series as cliffhangers. I wonder if there is any general advantage or disadvantage to that approach other than the potential for readers to miss a previous book.
Two reasons as to why I don’t write cliffhangers: One, the reader expects to read a book with a conclusion. Secondly, the author will receive negative reviews if they have a cliffhanger.
It’s not a problem for the principal persons in the book, namely the police inspector and his team, to have unresolved issues which carry on into a subsequent book, though.
I’ve found that if the readers enjoy the book, they’ll go back and read the others in the series.
The cliffhanger suits a television series more so than a book.
Interesting perspective! Thank you. I had planned to write a trilogy starting this year but this gives me cause to rethink it.
The Foundation Series by Isaac Asimov was a trilogy. Whereas the underlying story related to Hari Seldon’s plan to reduce the time between empires from 30000 to 1000 years, each book was able to be read individually, not necessarily in sequence. Seldon’s plan continues through the series.
It’s many years since I read the series, so some of my facts may be incorrect.
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By the way, I wanted to check in to say I did watch it, and I enjoyed it. It’s likely most viewer watch without posting a comment, so who knows how many are out there.
I like that Phillip approaches the work with maximum flexibility in terms of willingness to change course and to write without a rigid plan. Personally, I’m inefficient in the sense that I plan and meditate a lot on what I want to do, but I discard virtually all plans along the way as the work shapes up and better ideas come my way. At least I hope they’re better, as I’d bet 90% of the work ends up on the scrap heap.
[…] The Jan 2018 schedule can be seen at Jan 2018 Author Interview Plunges and the first is live at Phillip Strang – Murder is a Tricky Business (British Sleuths and Publishing Analytics)). My goal is to cover the entire writing/authoring spectrum: all genres, all forms, all […]
[…] Tremayne Thriller Author Phillip Strang talks about the fine arts of murder and marketing on “Murder is a Tricky Business (British Sleuths and Publishing Analytics)“. Look for it on Wednesday, 10 Jan 2018. Until then, look for Phillip on Amazon, […]
[…] 10 Jan 2018. If you’re reading this post after that date/time, you can find his interview at Phillip Strang – Murder is a Tricky Business (British Sleuths and Publishing Analytics) (that link won’t be active until after that […]