But I digress… back to the new book.

Some of you may have seen my Irish wildlife profiles on the back page of Ireland’s most popular family magazine, Ireland’s Own. They’ve been running (and re-running) there since 2001, and are incredibly popular. Over the years I’ve received many letters and emails from readers asking if there was anywhere they could buy a collection of the articles in book form.

The answer was always no… until now.

Thanks to the platform I’ve developed through Ireland’s Wildlife, and advances in online self-publishing options (I looked at the traditional publishing route, but self-publishing seemed so much more attractive for this project), I finally decided at the start of 2017 that it was time to pull together a collection of my wildlife and nature writing as a series of books.

So here it is… “The Irish Wildlife Collection: Volume One”.

This first book in the series, released under the Ireland’s Wildlife banner, is available through Amazon as a Kindle eBook or as a paperback (additional distribution options coming soon). It features a collection of my Ireland’s Own species profiles, punctuated with other Irish wildlife related articles that have featured in prestigious publications like BBC Wildlife, The Countryman, The Irish Independent, The Irish Examiner and others over the years.

You can get your hands on either a Kindle eBook or paperback edition below:

Get it on Amazon UK | Get it on Amazon US

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There’s nothing quite like having a physical copy of a book in your hands.

I love eBooks, and read pretty much everything on my Kindle these days.

But for some readers there’s nothing better than holding a physical copy of a book in their hands… the weight, the smell of the paper, the feel of turning actual pages. So I’ve decided to make my epic fantasy “Empire: Book One of the Bantara Chronicles” available as a trade paperback.

For now it’s available exclusively through Amazon here for the UK/Ireland, and here for US customers (or search your local Amazon store) — and will be available through additional distribution channels in due course.

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If you’ve already read Empire, and are waiting for the second instalment in The Bantara Chronicles, rest assured it’s on its way. These things take time… which was in short supply in 2016… but I am working on it and will keep you posted.

Meanwhile if you wouldn’t mind heading over to your local Amazon store and leaving a review of the first book I’d be extremely grateful.

The following excerpt is taken from Chapter 7: Troubled Waters of my fantasy novel Empire. Get your copy now on Amazon UK, Amazon US or search for Empire Bantara on your local Amazon store. 

Download a free sample of Empire here.

Amber woke with a start to a sound that was at once familiar and unsettling. The trill warbling of the willow thrush was a common sound during summer in the Silverwood; a bird that all young elven children knew well, and whose warbling call they often mimicked. It wasn’t a sound she expected to hear on a winter’s night in the middle of Bantara.

On her feet quickly she woke Ryan and, holding a finger to her lips to indicate silence, made her way out of their cramped cabin towards the hatch that led up onto the deck. Ryan behind her, she climbed the ladder set into the wall and, careful to stay in the shadows, peered out of the opening into the gloom. 

The first thing she noticed was there was no sign of the aft sentry. Then she saw dark shapes moving as several figures clambered soundlessly over the vessel’s rail. Elves! It was amazing that they had followed her so far into Bantara. She counted six of them, and signalled to Ryan. She had no way of telling him that they faced elves, and hoped that he was as good as she thought he was. This would be no ordinary test of his ability — going up against an elf one-on-one, particularly at night, would be close to suicide for a human. The elves would be faster, stronger and have better senses in the dark. Ryan would need all of his skill to survive a three to one encounter. Hopefully it wouldn’t stay so one-sided for long, and the guards would wake from below. Amber couldn’t risk taking the time to wake any of them — their biggest advantage now was surprise. The elves weren’t expecting a welcoming committee.

Out in the open they would be overcome, there was no doubt about that. The narrow openings that led down to their cabins, however, were small enough that only one person at a time could enter. She gestured to Ryan and he moved to cover the entrance at the far side of the corridor. The cabins were roughly arranged around a set of H-shaped corridors with an entrance at each corner. Between them they now covered the left arm of the H. They would be able to hold it until reinforcements awoke, or until their adversaries used the other entrances and moved through the right arm of the H, through the connecting corridor, and attacked them from the rear.

As luck would have it, the first of the elves approached the opening where Amber lay waiting. The flash of Amber’s blade caught the weak light from the lamp at the bow, and the elf twisted away taking a wound in the side. He cried out in pain and the battle was joined. Two other elves dragged their wounded comrade away and another engaged Amber at the opening.

At the other end of the corridor, Ryan was fully occupied with Talar, neither could gain any advantage through the narrow opening, the elf unable to bring his superior strength to bear in the confined space, and so far Ryan’s reflexes were matching the elf’s speed. Amber lashed out and another elf went down with a cry. She couldn’t be sure how much damage she had done. The fighting at the openings was intense, but her training in Oraciel had involved a lot of fighting in confined spaces, so she was better prepared than the trackers who came against them.

The commotion was starting to rouse others on the barge. One of the first to appear was Drew. Bare-chested, rapier in one hand and lantern in the other, the young noble glanced at the fierce fighting going on at the two hatches, and a moment later raced down the middle tunnel. He hung the lantern on a hook near the junction where the corridor met the other arm of the H and turned back just in time to parry a blow from an elf that would have left him dead. There were two of them, but only one could engage in the narrow corridor, and the combatants effectively blocked the route through to the others.

As more people on the barge awoke Darnill began to realise that it was a futile exercise. He called to Eldin in the elven tongue, instructing him to disengage and work his way back onto deck. Drew pressed them all the way, pushing them backwards while never overextending himself.

Once back on deck Darnill gave the signal to retreat, and the other elves tried to disengage. Ryan and Amber pressed them, pushing out of the openings and up onto the deck, guards waiting in the confined space behind them swarmed out once the way was clear, trying to circle the intruders.

This was getting worse, Darnill thought. They moved back towards the railing, where the canoes waited below. One of the elves could hardly stand from his injuries, another lay unconscious near the opening, blood staining the deck from a sword-wound inflicted by Amber’s blade. They would be lucky to get out of this alive.

Ryan and Talar still fought fiercely. The elf’s speed was starting to tell now that they were out on deck, but the human was holding his own with surprising skill and dexterity. Talar lunged, expecting Ryan to parry as he had been throughout their exchange. He was taken by surprise as the human stepped around his thrust and inside his guard. Ryan struck the elf in the temple with the pommel of his sword, and he crumpled to the deck. Quickly Ryan disarmed his felled adversary and tied him to a nearby railing, then turned his attention to the others.

There were four of them, one clutching his wounded belly, the other three facing the growing number of guards appearing on deck with weapons drawn.

‘Give it up, Darnill,’ Amber addressed the leader, ‘you’ll never make it.’

It was true; they were doomed, thought Darnill. Even if they made it to the dugouts, archers from the barge, Amber in particular, could take them out before the darkness swallowed them. ‘We’re here to take you back to Oraciel Amber. I implore you, come back with us, let us all go home.’

‘I can’t do that, Darnill, not yet. I have unfinished business here in Bantara. You can tell Arhediel that I will return once I have discovered the truth that I seek, and not before.’

‘Then we have a problem. We have been charged by our King to take you back. The fact that we are this far inside Bantara should be evidence enough of how serious he is. We cannot stop and return to Oraciel without his leave — you know that. We must take you back or die trying.’

‘It seems to me, friend, that you’re perilously close to achieving the second of those options here tonight,’ Drew spoke confidently, the air of command in his voice unmistakable. ‘I know nothing of your quarrel with this woman, but you have been caught raiding this vessel, and under Bantaran Law I am entitled to exact retribution as I see fit. Throw down your weapons or die where you stand. The choice is yours; your King is a long way away.’

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Get the whole story on Amazon UK, Amazon US or search for Empire Bantara on your local Amazon store.

I needed to re-read the book anyway (I did write the original more than 15 years ago now) so that it would be fresh in my mind as I work on the sequel. So armed with my trusty Kindle Paperwhite I dived right in, marking the little foibles and quirks as I went.

Remember I wrote the entire novel back in the day on an old Psion palmtop, so naturally typos were rife in the first draft. I caught most of them before letting it out into the wild, but not all. This time, hopefully I’ve cleaned up most of the rest — although undoubtedly some will have slipped through again. It’s practically inevitable.

While I was cleaning up the typos I also tightened up elements of the prose, and rearranged a few things here and there as I went along to improve the flow. I have to say, reading through it again, it’s a cracking story that deserves a follow up. I’m itching to know what happens next, which is always a good sign.

I’ll be working on the next instalment of The Bantara Chronicles over the coming months… stay tuned here for details.

Before

After

Meanwhile, with the text revised, I also decided to have a stab at improving my (very) amateur attempt at a cover. I think you’ll agree the new version is a vast improvement on my initial effort. I do have a professional illustrator working on a “proper” cover for me — but wanted something better in the interim. So this is it.

To celebrate this revamp I’m dropping the price of Empire to just 99p / 99c from 01 April to 07 April on Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com — so if you like fantasy this is a great time to grab yourself a copy. Remember — you don’t need to own a kindle to enjoy Kindle books — you can read them on the free Kindle reading app for Android, iOS or even your PC or Mac.

Happy reading — and don’t forget to leave an honest review on Amazon to let me (and other readers) know what you think once you’ve finished the book.

]]> https://cjwriting.com/empire-new-cover-revised-text/feed/ 0 https://cjwriting.com/you-never-know/ https://cjwriting.com/you-never-know/#respond Sun, 06 Mar 2016 14:59:41 +0000 https://cjwriting.com/?p=773

You never know when you get up in the morning what the day has in store. Oh, you might think you know. You might think you have it all worked out, that the online time management course you did worked, and you have your day all planned out.

But what they never tell you is that you can’t manage time… you can’t alter its rate of passage, can’t slow or accelerate its inexorable march. You sure as hell can’t manage what time’s relentless progress brings your way.

Maddie hadn’t planned to be in this hospital waiting room today. She was meant to be at work. She glanced at her watch. Right about now she should have been delivering that big presentation to the board… the one she’d been working on for weeks… the one that would finally secure her that big promotion.

Yet here she was….

Author note: This “short-short” is just the germ of a story I wrote on my mobile while standing in my sister-in-law’s garden waiting for my wife on Friday afternoon. Although it’s (really) short, it kind of works as a stand-alone piece, so I thought I’d share it here, as much to capture the idea as anything else.

If you’re a content strategist or content creator you know exactly what I mean. You walk in to a room of executive level managers, and they simply don’t get it. Worse, five minutes into the discussion you know that they don’t want to get it.

Their business is just fine and dandy thank you very much… they’re immune to this thing called the Internet. Their customers already know them, and they’re happy to keep doing the same old thing, marketing to them in the same old way.

It’s scary how many businesses still think this way.

Now, I’m passionate to the point of evangelism about the power of effective content to transform business. I have access to data and the persuasive capacity to convince and convert even the most trenchant of doubters given time. But here’s the thing… I no longer have the inclination or the patience.

Time is precious… and my time is much more productively spent working with clients who already understand the value I bring them. So I’m done pounding that relentless treadmill trying to convince clients they need to invest in content.

You either “get” the content imperative, or you don’t… and if you don’t, good luck with that. I hope your business thrives and prospers, but somehow suspect the decline has already set in.

There are plenty of businesses out there who understand the value of effective content. Those are the clients I choose to work with. Doubters be damned… your days are numbered, and I for one am done trying to save you!

Image by Brandon.wiggins (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

You’re in the market to buy something. Grabbing your laptop you start to explore the options. At first you look at established brands and high quality products or services your online contacts recommend. Then, suddenly, a much lower cost alternative pops up in a search results page and you’re lured away.

At such a low price it’s too good a deal to pass up. You give it a try; after all, you only have a few dollars to lose.

What could possibly go wrong?

Effective content is priceless, cheap content could cost you everything

Invariably when you buy at a “too good to be true” price it ends up being… well… too good to be true.

The customer experience turns out to be marginal. The product breaks. The service doesn’t live up to the promise. The quality is mediocre. The after sales service is non-existent. Disillusioned and disappointed you go back and buy one of the more expensive, high-quality options on your original short-list.

Most of the time it doesn’t really matter. When you’re buying something like a spare USB headsets, online social media monitoring, on-demand training or downloadable software you simply move on… down a few dollars, a little disgruntled, but none the worse for wear.

Unless of course you made the mistake of buying (and then using) cheap content.

Balancing unprecedented content demand with finite resources

Demand for content has reached unprecedented levels. In a digital landscape where content is pivotal to business success, you and your team (if you have one) are under pressure to create, create, create. But you only have finite time and resources at your disposal, and there are so many other things you need to do.

A cheap source of readily available content can be very alluring. But think carefully before you head for the rash of “freelancer for a dime” sites out there. There’s a reason the rates are so low!

I don’t care what anybody tells you, there isn’t a professional writer worth hiring who will deliver a blog post, landing page or any other piece of decent online content for the $5, €10, £20 the purveyors on these sites promise. Nobody! Nowhere! Nohow!

Your content IS your reputation; don’t short-change yourself

The big problem with cheap content is that it sucks. And when I say sucks I mean it really sucks.

When you publish content to your online platforms it becomes a direct reflection of your business, your brand, your values. In the battle to win attention, build trust and establish enduring relationships with customers the content you publish IS your professional reputation.

In the quest to attract customers, boost social sharing, future proof search rankings and improve online results, diluting your reputation by using sub-par, bargain-basement content isn’t something you should flirt with, even in passing.

Quantity is good — but don’t sacrifice quality

Publishing a lot of content can get attention, it’s true. Research shows that businesses publishing more content to their blogs and other online platforms tend to get more traffic. But what those studies fail to take into account is what happens next.

Traffic, in and of itself, is a pretty useless metric for online success.

Visitors only turns into something of value to your business if they like and engage with the content they find when they reach your site, and then take the next step… whatever that is.

Publishing content for the sake of it is a pointless exercise. Every piece of content you create should have a purpose, and every piece needs to deliver value for your audience AND for your business.

More content is better… but only if it’s aligned with strategic business goals, gives a true reflection of your organisational values, and delivers genuine benefit to potential customers. A lower volume of high quality content is ALWAYS going to be better for your business than pages and pages of mediocre, poorly constructed drivel.

DIY or professional content writing

So should you pay to hire a top-flight freelance writer to create your copy for you? Well, that depends.

For a specific project, when you need a crucial piece of content to really sing, absolutely. Good writing isn’t cheap (if it is cheap, run away… run away fast!), but it is a worthwhile investment for critical core content — as long as you:

1. have very clear goals for what you want to achieve with that content
2. understand your audience intimately and
3. can communicate both of those things clearly to your chosen writer

(and if that’s you, drop me a line about your content project here)

But for more regular content, writing it yourself is not only a viable option, it’s the preferred option.

That may sound like odd advice for a professional writer to give, but it’s absolutely true. In many situations it’s much better to write your own content than to hire somebody like me to do it for you.

Writing your own content takes time, sure… and at first it can be really hard to do. In the end though going through the process of crafting your own content forces you to think things through, develops your own authentic voice, gets you closer to your customer’s needs and reveals how best to align those needs with your business goals. The result: content that delivers value on all levels.

So I suggest you save the professional writer for special content projects. For regular content like blog posts and social media updates work on improving your own writing skills. It’s a much better long term investment.

Never risk your reputation with low quality content

Your reputation is hard-won, but easily lost. Cheap, low quality content is a sure fire way to undermine that reputation… and the cheaper it is, the more it’s likely to cost you in the long run.

If you’re going to pay for content, go for quality over quantity. Pay more for a better writer who knows his or her craft and understands how to create valuable content that speaks to your particular audience AND reflects your business in an authentic and engaging way.

For the long term, think about investing in your own content writing skills. Find your own voice, learn to develop your ideas into material that truly resonates with your customers. Do that, and you’ll be well on your way to a successful online business.

Author Sir Terry Pratchett dies aged 66

I don’t normally post about news here, but feel compelled to this afternoon.

I’ve just found out through the BBC Breaking News service that renowned fantasy author Sir Terry Pratchett, has died aged 66. You can read the breaking news story on the BBC website here.

Terry Pratchett delighted millions of fantasy readers around the world with his clinical observation and clever Discworld parodies of real world themes. His inimitable style will be sorely missed.

“The world has lost one of its brightest, sharpest minds,” Transworld Publishers’ Larry Finlay.

He was also an inspiration to many writers out there — aspiring and successful — myself included.

Here’s a final tweet from Terry Pratchett’s official twitter account following the announcement of his death this afternoon:

The End.

— Terry Pratchett (@terryandrob) March 12, 2015

I could go on and on, but don’t want to labour the point here… I just felt compelled to post something after hearing the news, and to wish Terry’s family and friends every sympathy in their loss.

Terry Pratchett, RIP!

Image credit: Luigi Novi [CC BY 3.0 or CC BY 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

“Empire”… the first in my new epic fantasy series, The Bantara Chronicles, is available today, and every Friday until the end of January 2015, for FREE in the Kindle store at Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com.

If you enjoy Fantasy Fiction, like strong female leads, relish epic power struggles, elves, assassins, political intrigue, action and much more besides, you’ll love Empire. Grab your free copy today, or any Friday this month.

Here are the links….

Download from Amazon.co.uk  |  Download from Amazon.com

Please leave your feedback on Amazon

I hope you enjoy reading Empire as much as I enjoyed writing it… don’t forget to head back over to Amazon and leave a review once you’ve finished to let me, and other readers, know what you thought.

If you’d like to keep up-to-date with news about the book, news, offers and other writing related stuff you can subscribe to the Bantara Chronicles Mailing list using the form below.

What is CongRegation, I hear you cry?

“Congregation or #cong14 is a one day ‘un-conference’ social media gathering taking place in Cong, Co Mayo on Saturday November 29th 2014.Congregation 2014. This is the second year of the event with over 50 people from all over Ireland taking part in 2013. Entry is earned again this year with an on the day focus on the sharing of insights and building of relationships.”  – www.congregation.ie

You can’t buy a ticket to CongRegation, you have to “earn” your place by writing a blog post on or around the topic of social media, and get it accepted for inclusion. I first heard about the initiative in 2013, when organiser Eoin Kennedy approached me and asked if I’d like to participate. Unfortunately I was going to be away speaking at another event, but I was sufficiently intrigued to contribute a blog post anyway. You can read “Social media is child’s play” here.

This year I missed out on CongRegation again.

This time I was even further away — coming to the end of a four month trip around Australia and South East Asia with the family. As I did last year I decided to submit a post anyway. “Three in a bed: the complex relationship between search, content and social media“, written on-the-road in Loas, seemed to strike a chord with readers.

Interesting. @WriterCJ #cong14 post was tweeted 131 times. pic.twitter.com/NnK0nisG9L

— Congregation (@congregation13) December 1, 2014

Most read #cong14 posts from the top. @WriterCJ, @JBBC, @enormous, @maryrose, @dermotcasey, @BrianGallahad, @noreenhenry, @Spiderworking,

— Congregation (@congregation13) December 9, 2014

Following the tweets for the event from afar, and reading subsequent accounts of the event from around the web, it seems I missed an enjoyable and productive day in Cong. As I wasn’t there, I can’t let you know what it was like… but here are a few people who can: check out these posts by Eoin Kennedy (the event organiser), Dermot Casey and Aisling Nelson. And of course there are all the #cong14 tweets.

Congratulations to Eoin on organising such a successful event.,, I really hope I can make it in 2015.