Author Archive for Mark Pepper
I have two novels published hardback and paperback by Hodder & Stoughton - The Short Cut and Man On A Murder Cycle. I live on the Murcian coast of Spain with my beautiful wife and daughter. For the past five years I have been working in corporate intelligence for some of the largest companies in the world.
Apple Bites Amazon
I read with disappointment but no great surprise (nothing about big business surprises me any more) two stories in The Wall Street Journal last week. On the 7th we had EU Launches E-Book Pricing Probe, then the next day appeared Justice Department Confirms E-Book Pricing Probe. Of course, there may be nothing to this, but I’m [...]
Talent May Not Out
I expect you’ve heard of the expression “talent will out”. It’s linked most strongly with the acting profession. It’s the sort of encouraging guff you say to someone who is struggling but truly deserves to make it. It basically means – if they carry on acting – their talent is so great it will at [...]
You’re So Vain …
I remember a time when authors who self-published were a bit of a laughing stock. They paid a printing company to run off a certain number of their books, getting a cheaper-per-book rate for a larger print run, but essentially paying in the thousands for the privilege of finally holding a bound copy of their [...]
Freelance My Ass
I don’t have much time for euphemisms. I’m fairly straight-talking and thus like to speak and hear things as they are meant to be spoken and heard. Your writing style may be different to mine, and certain projects will not allow for on-the-nail writing no matter who you are, but my favourite newspaper articles can [...]
FYI
Reading through my fan mail the other day, I saw a letter requesting that I address the subject of acronyms. That, of course, is complete BS and I expect many of you will be wishing I would just STFU. I don’t have any fan mail. Actually, quite the opposite; I am currently stalking several well-known [...]
Broadly Speaking
It’s been some time since I handled a real paper version of a newspaper. I read a lot of news but all of it online. It has been an even longer time since I tackled a broadsheet. One entered our house the other day, though, so I thought I’d give it a go. Whose daft [...]
Pocket Lenses
The older I get, the more easily I am annoyed by little things. My wife has said that many times, but I’m sure I have no idea what she’s referring to. Anyway, I have seen over the past few months several email messages wherein the sender has said they will be “out of pocket” for [...]
Amoebas
Who out there is ambitious about their writing? Who wants to write a blockbuster novel or pen a Hollywood screenplay? I don’t expect anyone will admit to it. That’s okay, I get it. No one really wants to engage when the topic of ambition rears its ugly head. It all seems a bit seedy and [...]
It’s a No From Me
The silly season is upon us. The X-Factor USA – the most potent argument ever for gun control – hit our screens last week. Lord, I hope these people are put through a metal detector before they are put before the judges. They are insane. Even most of the talented ones are insane; they’re just [...]
Mightier Than The Email
I have a website called markpepper.com, yet when I search for “Mark Pepper” I don’t even come out on page 1 of Google. If I searched for “freelance writer”, I think I would probably die of old age before I came across my website. Having a website is essential for any freelance writer, but people [...]
You Could Be A Contender
I’ve been blogging here for nearly 2 years now and for the past 18 months I’ve been pleasantly surprised, if not downright shocked, that I’ve found anything to write about. Writing about freelance writing is really a finite proposition. You can keep tweaking earlier articles, adding new slants and what you believe are fresh gems [...]
WWW – Wanton Waste of Words
First of all, that’s nice alliteration, huh? Anyway, I stumbled across a couple of study reports in my regular daily rounds and couldn’t quite believe anyone would need to know the information contained therein. Well, it’s all good to know, but, unless you’re an idiot, you really should know it already. On the plus side, [...]
Come Over To The Dark Side
When I see a plane flying overhead, my first thought is not oh, look, people going on holiday. No. My first thought is that could crash. It doesn’t help that I used to have very accurate premonitions about air crashes some years ago, and one terrifyingly spooky one about the first space shuttle disaster. But [...]
Plan B From Utter Desperation
The eminently sensible man who is my father always used to ask me when I was trying to get acting work if I had a Plan B. Of course I didn’t. Plan Bs were for people whose Plan As weren’t going to work. My Plan A was to become a famous actor and that was [...]
And The Award Goes To …
This isn’t really about freelance writing. Okay, it’s nothing to do with it. I have spoken before about the effect poor education has on writing skills, but this isn’t even that tenuous. It’s just a funny/sad tale I heard a couple of days ago. The 12-year-old son of a friend of ours in the UK [...]
Hello, Is It Me You’re Looking For?
When I was doing my TV work, I got an interesting and uplifting perspective on the whole interview process from a big casting director. I had expressed my chagrin at the odds against me (or any of the other actors) securing the part, given the sheer number of us being seen by the casting team [...]
Billy No-Mates
Are you a happy, outgoing individual with a pleasing disposition and a great sense of humour? No, I don’t want a date with you. I only ask because, if you are not yet immersed full-time in freelance writing, you should consider how your character may affect your response to the pressures and loneliness of the [...]
Pepper for President
As you know, I am running for President of the United States next year, my hope being that I can be safely ensconced in some deep underground bunker just in time for December 21st 2012, just in case the doom-mongers are right. Clearly, once in power, I will have to retroactively revoke the law that [...]
