Join me on THURSDAY 1ST FEBRUARY, 8PM GMT for an update on the progress of my next book The End of Dragons with two people who have actually read it! The very splendid Ian W Sainsbury and Julian Barr are not only amazing authors, but they are also beta readers for The End of Dragons and they will be joining me in a spoiler-free chat about what they thought of the book.
There will also be updates on…
The launch team for The End of Dragons
The recording of the audiobook
The cover art
And the latest on The Corn Bride, the fifth Witches of Woodville novel
It’s all go! So do please join us for a chance to quiz me and Ian and Julian about the new book, their books, the meaning of life and anything else that might be rattling around your noggin!
Here’s tonight’s livestream with an update on the sequel to The End of Magic, THE END OF DRAGONS…
This is the first of a series of live monthly updates in the run-up to the publication of THE END OF DRAGONS in May 2024.
Yes, you heard that right: I’ve written a sequel to THE END OF MAGIC, something I said I’d never do. Stay tuned to discover how you can be one of the first to read THE END OF DRAGONS before anyone else and for free!
Here’s the publication timeline (when the sound cut out on the vid, I was basically reading this out loud, so you didn’t miss anything):
And this is where you lovely people come in.
I’m building a launch team for THE END OF DRAGONS.
Members of that team will receive an advanced reading copy of the novel in the hope of an honest review.
A few basic terms and conditions…
I can only offer digital copies: eBook, Kindle, PDF. I can’t do print copies. Sorry, I know many of you would prefer print, but it’s too costly.
Also, this will be the version that goes to Julian for proofreading, so you’ll see all the typos and other errors that he’ll see (that’s why we call them proof copies in the UK).
Why? Because if I’m going to email you this stuff, then I want to ensure that your private email address is safe and the best way to do that is via the newsletter. It’s all GDPR approved and you can unsubscribe at any time.
And the Woodville Village newsletter is lots of fun: it’s where you can download all sorts of free short stories too, and it’s run by the Woodville Village Library’s head librarian Araminta Cranberry who is totally a real person who loves the Witches of Woodville books, but disapproves of all the swearing and violence in my other works.
Oh, and if you’ve not yet read THE END OF MAGIC, or you fancy a digital re-read then you can get a special reviewer’s copy of that too.
I’m going to send an email tonight at 9pm UK time with all the details, so sign up now!
And just to reassure readers of THE WITCHES OF WOODVILLE that I’m hard at work on a draft of THE CORN BRIDE, which is scheduled to come out in Spring 2025.
NEXT MONTH…
Next month I’ll be updating stuff like pre-order links, new cover art for the End of Magic and End of Dragons, and audiobook versions of both books and maybe even a special guest. Exciting stuff! Until then, happy reading!
In the first of a series of monthly live catch-ups I’ll be outlining what lies ahead in 2024, the year of the dragon! Yes, there’s going to be a sequel to The End of Magic called The End of Dragons, and this will be where you can find out how you can read it before anyone else. I’ll also give updates on the next Witches of Woodville book and more. And because it’s a live stream you can ask me questions, too… (And yes, I’m aware that the artwork for this event makes it look like my head is growing out of the horizon… I think it’s a fetching new look). See you soon!
Merry Christmas! That’s if you celebrate, if not then Happy Monday! Mondays have been ‘New Podcast Day’ for the last seven and a bit years, and today marks the release of my last ever episode of The Bestseller Experiment as co-presenter. Why am I leaving? I explain myself in full here. And rest assured that this isn’t the end of the podcast: Mr D will continue and it’s going to be amazing.
What will I be up to in the meantime? Well, stand by for an update in the New Year. Until then, here’s our special Christmas episode where I share some of my favourite moments, outtakes, and we get a visit from a very special elf…
Can’t think of a better author to wrap up 2023 on the Bestseller Experiment with than Mike Gayle. He’s celebrating 25 years of his amazing debut novel My Legendary Girlfriend and he’s got a new one out, A Song of Me and You. We chat about keeping warm in the winter (we’re middle aged writers, so this is relevant!), how to make unlikeable characters engaging, and the really important lesson he learned from being the agony uncle for the teen magazine Bliss in the 90s…
It’s always great to have a guest on the podcast who was a listener who got a book deal, and Luke Chilton described himself as a “hardcore fan” when he dropped us a line pitching to come on the show. How can we turn down a request like that? Also, I had the pleasure of giving Luke feedback of an early draft of his debut novel ‘Don’t Swipe Right’ when it was called ‘Ex’. It’s a cracking read, a thriller with heart and humour and the rights have been sold in over ten countries and Luke has had the most amazing reviews.
Here’s the episode with our chat, and also enjoy the moment where I make a very inappropriate joke about the Joy of Sex with Mr D…
Mark Stay Writes 