Activity
Mon
Wed
Fri
Sun
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
What is this?
Less
More
The Independent Authors Guild
545 members • Free
18 contributions to The Independent Authors Guild
Jul 12 •
Chalk Dust and Broomsticks by Shirley Midnight
Hello :) I've just published my book 'Chalk Dust and Broomsticks' on Amazon as an E-book for the Kindle. It is a mystery. 'A new headteacher comes to Primrose Primary School on the retirement of Mrs. Ogglesby but it soon becomes apparent that she intends to make changes and the changes she makes are not popular! She is a new broom and sweeps hard, but one of the staff members, Shirley Midnight, also has a broom, which she keeps in a cupboard under the stairs in her pretty cottage in the village of Woodend. Shirley's broom is different - it flies. Shirley Midnight is an important character in my story, but the main character is the school itself. Will it survive all the changes? The book is in the Cozy Crime genre and I am aiming it mainly at teachers or staff who are undergoing changes in their own school. It's nice to be here and I'm looking forward to meeting you all.
0 likes • 15h
@Stephen Jaques Thank you Stephen. Yes a paperback coming soon. Would you like to be notified?
0 likes • 2h
@Rachel Wallis what do you mean by MG?
1d •
📚 Guild Q&A is TODAY at 9:30 AM Central!
Join me this morning for our live Independent Authors Guild Q&A. Bring your questions about publishing, book marketing, covers, interiors, distribution, KDP, IngramSpark—or whatever publishing rabbit hole you’ve fallen into this week. And I’ll also be announcing something new coming to the Guild. 👀 Today — 9:30 AM Central Zoom Link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87354200999 See you there!
0 likes • 15h
I am so sorry I couldn’t be there. Can we watch it back please?
8d •
Book showcase
Barking Orders by Roxy the Cattle Dog. Written from a dogs point of view. I havent owned a dog for many years and wanted my kids to have a dog. It was time to stop going to the dog park without a dog to pat the other dogs. Never had a cattle dog before and an amazing and interesting breed. When I was walking her I often wandered what she was thinking so made up stories in my head. All of the incidents in the "diary" are true with lets just say writers license. Had so much fun writing it and busy working on book 3. Appreciate thoughts on the cover as I recently changed it. Currently available on Amazon and will go wide when my Canadian isbn numbers are issued.
0 likes • 7d
Front and back of my book. 293 pages, if I remember correctly :)
0 likes • 7d
Thank you for your advice Trevor :) I will act upon some of it. The cover design does not have room for more writing on it. In fact I struggled to find room for what there is there and a lot of thought went into it. The Title font is meant to look like chalk. I think it does that very well. The author's name is small because I am still toying with the idea of not putting it on at all. That's a long story, which I have written about in this forum a few days ago. I won't repeat it here. The cover was designed to look good as a paperback and I have a spine to go with it as well, but for now I'm just doing the e-book to test the water. I hope to come out with the paperback nearer to Christmas. I don't have any spare money to spend on the book, unfortunately so it has to be all my own effort apart from the cover. The main character in the book is the school itself, after that it is Shirley Midnight herself, whose journey through the merger between the Infants and Junior School shows the Reader what can happen to all concerned when a big decision is made by those who 'hold the reins'. Shirley Midnight appears in a second story, but it is not about a school. I am working on that at the moment. Yes I am British and the story is set in England. There are descriptive passages all through the story to inform the Reader where we are and how it affects the story :)
8d •
Chalk Dust and Broomsticks by Shirley Midnight
This is my latest book, published in July on Amazon as an e-book (only at the moment). 'When a new headteacher comes to Primrose Primary School in Langwitch, many strange things start to happen, but the strangest of all is on the eve of the Christmas holidays, when a dark figure is seen to be dragging a sack across the school car-park towards the boiler house. Is it Father Christmas with a sack of presents for the children or is it something much more sinister?' The cover was designed for me by www.49thfloor.co.uk and my target audience is teachers, teachers on holiday, anyone interested in the goings on in a school or an institution and those who enjoy the supernatural world. The genre is Mystery, Psychology and Occult. Thank you Lara for giving me the chance to promote my book on here. I hope someone here will be interested enough to buy a copy and if so, enjoy it and give me a review. Thank you :)
1 like • 7d
@Deborah McLaughlin Thank you Deborah :)
0 likes • 7d
@Sonja G Thank you Sonja :)
8d •
What happened to the Book Showcase?
What happened to the Book Showcase? I have never used google meet before and I joined the meet and it showed me no one there. So finally I left. Did I do something wrong?
6 likes • 8d
I posted my contribution in the community, like I thought we were supposed to but I don't see that anyone else has done it? As I understood it, it was a chance that Lara was giving us to showcase our books without offending the rules i.e. selling in this community.
2 likes • 8d
I prepared my post this morning and posted it at 1 pm as requested. I’m happy to keep it like that. 1 pm gmt worked very well for me.
1-10 of 18
@stella-jones-8227
I am a retired book-keeper, finally with time to write and enjoying life.
Active 1m ago
Joined Jul 11, 2026