Category Archives: Book launch

One Step Nearer Publication ~ A New Year ~ A New Beginning

Hi folks.

Just a brief update

The manuscript for my new novel is completed, edited, formatted and ready to go. The cover is being designed as I write this blog and so the aim is that it will be released in January 2027.

Although this book is the sequel to MISSING Past and Present, both of these novels are written to stand alone.

A Reminder about MISSING, Past and Present

Just to remind you, here is a blurb for MISSING:

Betrayed by her husband’s disappearance. Destroyed when her foster son vanished.

Homeless and destitute Dorothy trudged the lanes and footpaths, reflecting on all she had left; her memories. Squatting in an empty farmhouse, she was haunted by the ghost of an 18th Century aspirant nun, who was swinging from the rafters. Inspired out of her reverie, Dorothy began to piece together the nun’s story.

What happened to this Nun? What happened to Gerald, her husband, and also to Ahmed her foster son? Their stories become intrinsically linked in Dorothy’s mind; reality, history and fantasy, blurring at the edges into one.

And Now

I am reluctant to reveal the title as yet, to this my third novel in the Mystery Inspired by History Series, but it tells the next part of Dorothy’s story. Here is the blurb:

Three early 20th century graves in a woodland at Canbury Manor, inspire Dorothy to attempt to unravel their mysteries; while she begins to piece together her own muddled life.

Jamal, Dorothy’s former foster son, is slowly building a new and positive life, of love, friendship, work and study; that is, until his missing brother Ahmed’s unexpected return from Syria.

This is a novel of entrapment, estrangement and tragedy, but also hope and reconciliation, as author Diana Jackson is not afraid to face the multifaceted realities of mixed faith relationships, fear and prejudice.

“And now these three remain; faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”

1 Corinthains 13, 13

Watch this space!

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Filed under Author Diana Jackson, Book launch, Events, Historical Fiction, MISSING Past and Present, Mystery inspired by history series

Can AI help a cash strapped author ~ Q -Which key words does AI suggest for MURDER Now and Then?

I was reading about AI one day and, just as a matter of interest, I clicked on Gemini for the first time (on purpose ~ I’ve done it a few times by accident!) to see what Key words it might come up with for one of my books:

For MURDER Now and Then, Gemini writes:

“To optimize the Amazon KDP search visibility for MURDER, Now and Then by Diana Jackson, you should use descriptive, multi-word long-tail phrases. Amazon allows 7 backend keyword slots (up to 50 characters each). [1]

The following targeted keyword combinations are tailored specifically to the book’s dual-timeline plot, regional settings, and themes:

1. Dual Timeline & Multi-Generational Mystery

  • dual timeline murder mystery
  • interwoven past and present crime fiction
  • cold case 100 years later novel
  • multi generational family secret thriller [1]

2. Setting & Geographic Locations

  • british village cozy mystery series
  • bedfordshire true crime inspired fiction
  • channel islands jersey mystery books
  • small town english countryside murder [1, 2]

3. Plot Hooks & Historical Background

  • unsolved historical murder 1919 novel
  • farmer wife accused husband death book
  • social anthropology british mystery stories
  • world war one aftermath crime fiction [1, 2, 3]

4. Comp Titles & Reader Read-Alikes

  • midsomer murders style cozy mystery books
  • bergerac channel islands crime read alikes
  • slow burn british police procedural novel
  • traditional english village detective books [1]

Amazon Keyword Strategy Tips

  • Do not repeat words that are already in your title (Murder, Now, Then) or author name (Diana Jackson), as Amazon’s algorithm automatically indexes those.
  • Avoid punctuation like commas or semicolons in your backend slots; simply separate the words with spaces to maximize character counts.
  • Combine terms into long strings to fill out each of the 7 slots (e.g., Slot 1: dual timeline cold case interwoven past present).”

WOW, I thought! There’s even a summary for Amazon’s strategy.

What next? On my next post I’ll explore the actual meta data on KDP for this book currently, and how I might update it.

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Filed under Author Diana Jackson, Book launch, Marketing your novel, Murder Now and Then, Mystery inspired by history series, Publishing your novel

Planning Book Promotion ~ Technology or Pen and Paper?

My last post looked at my process for writing a novel back in 2010 – 2013

This post is all about planning promotional activities and marketing.

Blog posts and other plans:

I must admit that I now think on my feet with blog posts. If I have a novel just published I tend to write a series on:

  • The research
  • The locations of the novel, real or imaginary
  • The characters (or those I missed out!)
  • Events, for example sales, book signings or book talks

Otherwise I have a monthly book review, occasional guest authors or anything which inspires or interests me in the book world at the moment.

While reminiscing through my box of notes, research, planning and first draft of my second book I was surprised to see how well I thought ahead and planned my blog posts way back in 2013:

Then even further back in 2010, not long after my first novel Riduna was published by Pegasus, I kept lists of notes regularly:

Even an old post its of personal and house matters too 🙂

I suppose this is a little quaint looking back.

Embracing the technical age

I promise that:

  • I have embraced IT for writing and editing now,
  • but also for scanning research docs. I use the internet for research as well as first source materials too, you’ll be please to know.
  • I keep spread sheets of contacts, possible events and outcomes,
  • and another spreadsheet page of research materials and sources,
  • with another spreadsheet page for a list of experts to request that they read through relevant extracts to give me feedback, to ensure my facts are as authentic as possible. I am indebted to such people who are so kind to give their time in this way.

…but I still use a book diary for recording events by hand too, including blog posts and for planning what to do in the next month.

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Filed under Author Diana Jackson, Blogs, Book launch, Marketing your novel