Dale Hurst – Author - Dale Hurst is an author, journalist and broadcaster.
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Dale Hurst – Author - Dale Hurst is an author, journalist and broadcaster.
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Progress Report — January 2020

22 January 2020 No Comments

Back after a bit of a hiatus, what writing-related news do we have for you?

Sorry I’ve been away for a bit, but there was so much going on in December as you can imagine. And, aside from my work on HQB Media, which takes up a lot of my time, my main priority was just getting on with revisions for the second Berylford Scandals novel. Given I originally wanted a Christmas 2019 release for that book, we are grossly behind schedule there.

In the meantime, the good feedback has continued coming in for Lust & Liberty, as illustrated below.

Reviews compilation Jan 2020

This is always so nice to see! Amazon reviews are very important, so if you’re reading this and you have already read by first book, please leave your feedback here.

Anyway, it’s been a couple of months, so let’s catch you up.

HQB Media

Brand-new stories, both written and filmed, are coming out around now in the online magazine I write and edit. Nothing in the way of podcasting to report, unless you missed our hilarious Christmas specials. Even got a quote of mine from one of the earlier episodes emblazoned on an apron — made quite the impression as a Secret Santa present. The format for the podcast is changing for the next season, starting in March. So if you’re a regular listener, keep your eyes out for that.

The Berylford Scandals: Sin & Secrecy

First thing to report is — EIGHT. CHAPTERS. LEFT. So close to the finish line I can practically smell it! However, a lot of the remaining workload is original story, rather than revisions. As you can imagine, if the words aren’t coming, that makes the job so much more difficult. We have just killed off and buried one beloved major character. And now we’re tying all the plot points together to build up to the fate of the second. They have by this point amassed so many enemies in Berylford; the question is will they survive as the plot comes to a crescendo?

Now looking at a (hopeful) release at the end of February. Already have a cover artist lined up and might even arrange for a book trailer. Some celebratory content is planned either way, so be on the lookout.

The Future of Berylford

I get a lot of readers asking how many stories are planned for The Berylford Scandals series. Given I have made it pretty clear that the next book I plan to write will not be a Berylford story. The answer is I have no set number for Berylford. At the moment, I have six “main” scandals planned, plus a series of Christmas novels. And then on top of that, there’s no real limit. Short story collections and standalone novels will be set in and around Berylford. One such story, the plot and characters for which I planned during December, is a horror-mystery novel tentatively entitled The Wraxhill Grave Robber. Like the sound of that? Feel free to ask me more about it!

For more news and content or to get in touch, please follow my Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages.

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Reading time: 2 min
Written by: Dale Hurst
Blog

Progress Report – November 2019

24 November 2019 No Comments

Time for the monthly report. What’s gone on in this mixed bag of a November…?

First of all in our report… the biggest news is that we FINALLY hit that all important century on Lust & Liberty sales. Of course, in the grand scheme of things, 100 copies of a book is not a huge amount. But for a self-published first novel with very little marketing beyond word-of-mouth and the occasional social media post, that isn’t bad going. Bearing in mind, as I’ve said in previous posts, that most self-published authors don’t even sell 50 copies of their first book at all, much less 100 in just over a year!

In celebration of this milestone, I decided to run a little giveaway:

This report includes the fact we hit 100 copies of Lust & Liberty. These are the celebratory giveaway details

Quite simple really. And lots of exclusive free stuff being given away. Some of the sample chapters from the next two books have not been released publicly at all — namely those of You Can Hear Chopin from the Attic. The reason there’s two chapters being given away there is because the first is not very long and serves more as a setup for the second.

So, if you’re interested in winning that, just follow any one of those social media instructions. Literally all you need to do. Links to my social media channels are all available at the foot of this article, by the way.

Moving on now, here’s the progress report for the last month.

HQB Media

It has been yet another period in which journalism work has had to take priority. But I have tried to relate some of my work to my capacity as an author, in particular in some episodes of the HQB Media podcast. Whether that’s discussing ideas for new stories, general inspirations for Lust & Liberty or interviewing up-and-coming authors. I’d recommend having a listen as the feature has proven very popular so far – many have regarded them as both interesting and amusing. Which is what we were going for, after all.

Expensive Tastes

There’s also been some movement in my old food blog Expensive Tastes. Particularly a video I reposted from HQB Media, showing a professional bartender making a cocktail. It used a specific brand of gin, so I tagged the distillery, who in turn reposted it to all their followers. In short, it has revamped my desire to run that blog, but I think I will do so a little differently moving forward. More on that to come, though.

The Berylford Scandals: Sin & Secrecy

Revisions on the sequel to Lust & Liberty continue. We are, on paper, nearing the end. But a number of changes I have decided to implement at this late stage will require a lot of original additions. But that’s proving to be part of the fun, I think. Even better though, I’m having ideas for scenes and chapters that are allowing me to tie pre-existing loose plot points together, and set up events that were, otherwise, just happening. The Christmas release will no longer be feasible — I am hoping, at the rate I’m going, to have a finished final draft ready before the New Year, with a mind to publish in early 2020. Stay tuned with that!

New Idea

The base inspiration for You Can Hear Chopin from the Attic came from a dream. And recently, another vivid subconscious vision inspired something which I think will serve as my fourth book. I’m not giving any details away yet (there’s not much to tell at the moment!) Just be aware that the cogs are already turning for future projects.

For more news and content, please follow my Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages.

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Reading time: 3 min
Written by: Dale Hurst
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About me

Dale Hurst is an author specialising in historical fiction, mystery, crime and black comedy.

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