It only took ten months or so, but I’ve finally put together an audiobook trailer for Colony. Just in time for NaNoWriMo 2018!

Read by the wonderful Alex Ford (who I would highly recommend for your audiobook projects, fellow novelists), Colony is now available on Audible. Use these links for a free month’s trial in the U.S. and UK.

For those who are interested, I put this together using Canva to create a couple of images, downloading the Retail Sample from the ACX (Audible Exchange) control panel, and then mashed these together in iMovie on my phone. It took a few hours, largely because I had no idea how to do any of this when I started out this morning. Next time, I imagine I’d get something like this together in less than an hour.

Anyone who knows me well knows that I turn a bit… odd in November. For the last six years I have committed to National Novel Writing Month and spent the 30 days of November furiously writing a first draft of a new novel and having conversations with imaginary people who I just created out of thin air. So, on November 1st, 2017, I sat down with the same intention: write a first draft of a totally new novel — no plan, no built world, no character studies, just pure pantser creativity and fun. This time around, though, something is different. I’m failing NaNoWriMo this year and that’s OK. [Read more…]

Welcome to my new website!

Although life continues to be delightfully busy, I finally carved out the time to corral multiple facets of myself into this XYZ project.

Ostensibly, this site acts as a way to showcase the novels already out in the world, and my new novel, Colony, which will be out later in 2017. Colony is currently available for pre-order as an eBook, with the paperback edition available to order on September 15th. I’ll also post the occasional screed about writing, book promotion, and related miscellany.

If we’ve not met before, and you want to know more about what I do, head on over to the Author and/or Projects pages. You can also check out some reviews of my work, and a handful of interviews over on the Press page. If you’d like to talk to me about an interview or other press coverage, or would like a review copy of any of my books, send me a message at L [at] leighmatthews.xyz. Thanks!

And, if you like what you see, please consider supporting my work through Patreon.com, and by following me on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Highlights include plenty of photos of a rather stern-looking border collie, as well as the occasional giveaway announcement.