New release – now available for pre-order

When a book comes out it makes all the years of hard work – and yes, sometimes it can takes years! – worthwhile. In about a second of seeing the front cover (such a brilliant moment), all that fades away and you’re left with a beautiful thing that’s testament, certainly not just to your own work, but to everyone else’s too – the publishing team, editor, proofreader and, of course, friends who helped and supported you along the way.

Until I had a book published, I must confess to having no idea about the amount of time and knowledge that went into it from everyone involved. Now I know, it makes me so grateful to everyone who made it possible.

With Little Village of Second Chances – my new book, which is available now for pre order – I got an opportunity for the first time to write an acknowledgements page. I’ve dedicated each of my past books to someone special, which is great, but it can be difficult choosing one when so many deserve a mention. That’s why it was so nice to write the acknowledgements page this time – to say thank you to everyone. My palms are slightly sweaty now as I hope I didn’t forget anyone.

That’s the acknowledgements, but what about the book? Probably the best way to give you a flavour is to share the blurb. Here it is:

Surely everyone deserves a second chance?

Ex-fireman and edible flower farmer Shay McGillen has plenty of reasons not to give Sarah Pickering even one chance when she turns up in his small Yorkshire village. After all, she is only there to try and convince him and his fellow villagers to sell up so her company can build a bypass. If Sarah thinks she can make Shay give up his farmhouse and his business, she has another thing coming!

But when an unexpected blizzard leaves Sarah stranded in Shay’s home, he soon realises that they are far more alike than he could have ever imagined – and perhaps both of them deserve a second chance …

If you like the sound of Village of Second Chances and want to read the full story, you can pre-order through Amazon here: https://smarturl.it/9wvutt

Is it fair that celebrities have fiction books published?

More and more celebrities are bringing out works of fiction. From TV presenter Holly Willoughby and actress Ruth Jones, to gardener of the small screen, Alan Titchmarsh and journalist Fearne Britton – a whole lot of celebrities are writing books and having them published.

Our nation’s obsession for celebrity means that a well-known name sells. And in the cut-throat world of fiction-writing, publishers, unsurprisingly, love a guaranteed seller.

I can understand perfectly why many excellent writers find this terribly frustrating. Their work, which is every bit as good as anything created by a celebrity author, may never get noticed—or even published—whereas if they were famous, well, it would likely be a very different story.

Celebrities, especially those who write children’s books, when approached with this objection, will often cite that anything that gets children reading is a positive. Hmm, maybe. But if their work wasn’t published, then someone else’s would be. Awesome kids books would still be published and children would still read.

Celebrities’ books will often get pride of place on bookshops’ shelves. They will almost always be supported with a huge marketing budget, and the celebrities often have copious opportunity to promote their books through media appearances as broadcasters are receptive to having these stars appear on their shows.

The same cannot be said for most authors, or wannabe authors, who don’t possess the privilege of the celebrity status.

From this blog, I think it’s pretty clear I’m not a fan of a celebrity author who has been published purely on the basis of their popularity in an area other than writing. Of course, if a celebrity is a brilliant writer, and there are no doubt many who are, then they should have every chance of being published, just like everyone else—but wouldn’t it be nice if that’s what it was; a ‘chance’ rather than a certainty? What if everyone had to submit their manuscripts anonymously, so they were judged on merit rather than on the popularity of the writer?

Working in PR, I realise this is an idealistic viewpoint, which will never be realised. Because celebrity rules. Because money rules. This means talent often takes a poor second place, and it means celebrities have a huge advantage over the average writer.

For these reasons, I would rarely opt to read a book penned by a celebrity. I prefer the idea of making a celebrity of a previously unknown writer because their work is awesome!

Having said that, my son, who ‘quite likes’ reading, enjoys David Walliams’ books. And I have to say, so do I! We’ve just returned from the theatre—the third David Walliams’ show we’ve seen based on his kids’ books. Billionaire Boy, just like Gangsta Granny and The Midnight Gang, was a good story, great fun and contained lots of colourful characters.

So, some celebrities do create fantastic books, no doubt. I just wish this didn’t have to mean there’s less room for the unknown author who, due to the already rich and famous celebrity bringing out a book or few, might sadly always remain unknown.

The Best Bit

The best bit of a new book coming out in my opinion is definitely seeing the front cover art for the first time. It can be a breath-holding moment if you’ve got a definite idea in your head about what it should look like. It could even be disappointing if the end product isn’t what you envisaged. I’ve been very lucky with all the books I’ve done so far in that they’ve all exceeded my expectations.

In my eyes, The Wild Rose Press has done another great job with my next book (to be released 23rd September). I had a really strong idea as to what I wanted to see on the cover of The Curse of Camelot – an erotic mediaeval novella – and it wasn’t exactly like the piccie above, which I think is a lot better than what was in my head.

With some publishers – The Wild Rose Press being one – you can submit notes as to what you’d like the cover to look like. Of course, unless you self publish, the publisher will always have the final say, although it’s important to remember that, in the vast majority of cases, the publisher does know best what sells!

For the Curse of Camelot I knew I wanted a close up of the main character, Guinevere, with a focus on her eyes. I imagined it would just be her, but the cover artist Diana Carlile added the knights in the background, which I think is a really nice touch.

Unless you’re with a publisher who photographs models for your book cover, your artist will normally work with stock imagery and will therefore be limited by the photos available. This means they can’t do things like show the characters from a different angle, or change their outfits.

When I see the email with the cover art attached pop into my email, it’s always with mixed feelings of excitement and trepidation that I open it. Thankfully, I’ve always loved the result, and this one’s no exception. I was very happy when my son said about Guinevere, “She looks like you, Mum.” I was all smug for a minute till he quickly added, “Just a hell of a lot younger”.

The Curse of Camelot – release date announced!

It seems like ages ago I put the final full stop on my latest erotic novella, which had at the time a working title of ‘Guinevere’. I loved writing the story, as it was my first historical/fantasy, and I didn’t hold back at all on the story line or the graphic descriptions.

I wasn’t sure whether a publisher would accept it as it is rather on the racy side to say the least, and is definitely not for readers who prefer a sweet romance, but the lovely folk at The Wild Rose Press took it (after confirming it fitted within guidelines), worked hard at getting everything tip-top and have today given me a release date of 23rd September.

My editor suggested a title change to ‘The Curse of Camelot’, which I thought was miles better, and patiently put up with all my changes, even the last minute ones where I realised I’d made some very stupid mistakes!

The artist is busy working on the front cover now, and I really can’t wait to see it. It’s nerve-wracking as for a change I have a particular idea how I’d like it to look, so I’m hoping she shares my vision. The same designer at The Wild Rose Press created the cover for The Virgin’s Gamble, Ice Hot and Secrets of the East Wing, and I love all of those, so I have every faith this one’s going to be great too!

The Curse of Camelot will be available to purchase on e-platforms (at 30,000 words it’s too short to print) from various websites including Amazon.

A Quick Good News Flash

It really perked me up last week when I received an email from the Ulverscroft Group saying they’d like to make one of my books into large print. As one of the leading worldwide publishers of large print, this was a great privilege, and it’s nice to know that one of my manuscripts will be available for a whole new audience.

The book in question is ‘Saving Alice’ which first came out in April this year as a My Weekly Pocket Novel. Pocket Novels are only on the shelf for two weeks (although I believe they can be back ordered online through the My Weekly website), so it’s great that the book will soon have a new life.

Who knows – one day it might even be available from the library. That would be a good day!

https://www.ulverscroft.com/

An ambition realised – well, two!

It’s been a good week in my writing calendar. When you’re busily trying to write your next book, it comes as a wonderful surprise when you get a copy of your last book through the post – all front covered and ready to read!

Saving Alice has been published by the same people who create the magazine My Weekly as one of their fortnightly Pocket Novels. It’s a sweet romance about a woman who is asked by her ex-husband to help him fight a custody battle for his young daughter – the child she could never give him.

I can’t wait to see it in the shops, but it’s only on the shelves for two weeks until the next one is out so I’m imagining racing around all the WH Smiths and Tesco just to find one who stocks it so I can get a glimpse. I’m going to cry if I can’t find it. : )

The second piece of awesome news I received this week is my first ever novel, The Virgin’s Gamble, which was published in print last year, is now available on Audible. I love audio books, so this is a huge personal ambition of mine. The narrator, Fiona Honan-Bowes has done a tremendous job bringing the characters to life.

I hope you had a good week too and that next week proves even better…!