Christine's Weblog

At the weekend, I was at the Tolkien Society seminar. The subject was 'Women in Tolkien' and the various papers had many interesting insights. More than half those attending were female, which refutes the general view that Tolkien buffs are mostly male.

I had a very pleasant surprise when a couple of the attendees made a special point of telling me how much they liked 'Trial of Cyrhision' - they had read the shortened version published by the TS Writers' Group. I couldn't help thinking, that virtually everyone who reads my books does really like them; the problem is persuading people to give them a try! There does seem to be a perception among readers that unless a book is published (in print) by one of the 'big name' publishers, it must be somehow inferior. This is not the case - major publishers are very conservative, and for a good but unknown author to get published by one of them is like winning the lottery. Still, an ebook like mine can stay around for a long time - indeed, for ever - so I live in hopes that word of mouth will eventually have its effect!