Author Archives: Jane Cable

BUSINESS OF BOOKS: TAKE FOUR WRITERS – INTRODUCING ANGELA PETCH

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Hi! … can’t believe I’m on here. I’m excited, apprehensive and honoured to share in this venture.

I love reading. I don’t think you can be a writer without being a bookworm. I panic if I’m coming to the end of a good book and feel bereft until I’m lost in another story. Although I loved English at school, my degree is in Italian. I lived in Rome as a child, worked in Sicily, met my half-Italian husband there and now, in our retirement, we spend six months of each year in Tuscany, where we run a small holiday business. Although I’ve always written, only now that our three children are independent have I been able to settle seriously to the craft. I self-published two novels set in Tuscany and they’ve been taken on by Endeavour Press. Last year I had seven stories accepted by women’s magazines and I enjoy the discipline of this genre too, so hopefully I will sell more in 2018.

However, this year I am becoming a hybrid author and returning down the indie route to self-publish “something completely different”.

In 2006 my best friend discovered she was suffering from ovarian cancer. We did lots together, including hunting for bargains in charity shops and at auctions, nicknaming each other Mavis and Dot. She was extremely brave, but she had her darker moments too and I tried to cheer her up by writing silly stories about Mavis and Dot. They made her laugh and she drew cartoon sketches of the characters, which I still have hanging on the back of our loo door. Sadly, she didn’t recover from this silent killer and I filed away my anecdotes. A couple of years ago I pulled one out to read at a writing group and raised a laugh. So, I decided to develop the stories and put together a novella. There will be illustrations and I’m busy searching for the right artist as I type.

I feel rather wobbly about Mavis and Dot, but I dearly want them to succeed as I intend to donate any profits to Cancer Research. Humour is notoriously hard to pull off and my usual style is literary, so I have to banish the goblin from my shoulder telling me I am writing drivel that nobody will find amusing. My launch date is mid-November, but I know time whizzes by faster than a bargain snatched off a charity shop shelf. So, I need to get down to business. And that is the main cause of my wobbles. Going indie again means getting my act together with social media and marketing. When I see telecom engineers at the side of the road working on control panels, plugging wires into holes, it makes me think of me procrastinating over algorithms, metadata, BISAC codes, author platforms and networking. Which hole should I connect with, – when and how? However, I have also made virtual friends on-line with a whole bunch of supportive authors and bloggers in the past months and, although there’s a mountain to climb, I want to scale this peak.

Time is the thing, isn’t it? And discipline. We are blessed with three children and four very young grandchildren (with another on the way), and when we are in England during our six winter months they keep us busy.   I will stop bleating about that because I know there are many authors who burn the midnight oil and squeeze their writing into fewer hours than I have. Wish me luck, nevertheless. “Live where you fear to live”, said the 13th century poet, Rumi.

 

 

BUSINESS OF BOOKS: TAKE FOUR WRITERS – INTRODUCING LUCY COLEMAN

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New year – new opportunities and a new name! Life doesn’t get much better, does it?

My first book – The French Adventure with Aria Fiction (Head of Zeus) – is due for release on 1 February 2018 and I’m elated! The launch of a new book is usually the culmination of more than a year’s work from penning the manuscript, going through the editing and proofing processes and preparations for the marketing to begin.

Now, this isn’t my first book – it’s my twelfth, full-length novel – throw in a couple of non-fiction titles and three novellas and that’s my writing career in a nutshell. But Christmas 2016 was a turning point for me. I remember going to a Romantic Novelists’ Association chapter meeting in Hereford a few months beforehand and someone raised the subject of submitting to agents. Had it crossed my mind before that? Well, yes, but I didn’t feel ready. I had successfully submitted and signed contracts with Endeavour Press, Harper Impulse and Choc Lit at that stage. The turning point for me was triggered by two things. The first one is that contracts aren’t easy to read and secondly, I was beginning to feel more and more like a team of one doing the best I can to steer my career. But secretly I was longing for a little professional guidance.

Now, I have a fantastic relationship with my editors and their support, nurturing and constant pushing to get me to up the bar has been a blessing. But I felt it was time to find that elusive someone who could help me look at my career on a longer-term basis. Up until that point I’d only considered it one manuscript at a time.

So, literally a couple of days before Christmas 2016 I submitted to three agents and by early March 2017 I had signed with the awesome Sara Keane, from the Keane Kataria Literary Agency. It wasn’t long before I was signing my first, four-book deal with Aria Fiction. As I’m still writing for Harper Impulse as Linn B. Halton, my books for Aria Fiction will go out under my new pen name of Lucy Coleman.

Having Sara in my corner, helping me to work on my finished manuscripts to make them the best they can be and introducing my work to Aria Fiction, has sharpened my focus. I’m no longer thinking one book at a time, but forward planning. As each day passes I’m feeling more and more like a Lucy, as well as a Linn … and 2018 promises to be frenetic, fun and fabulous!

It just took a little over a year in the planning, but it was a year well-spent and I can’t wait to begin promoting ‘The French Adventure‘.

Oh, and throw in the added little flurry of activity as my husband and I moved to a new house, in a new area, on 19th December 2017. A paint brush is never far from my hand these days, so it’s handy that I’m good at multi-tasking. The next stage of the journey is about to begin.

Happy New 2018, all!

BUSINESS OF BOOKS: TAKE FOUR WRITERS – INTRODUCING JACKIE BALDWIN

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Hello everyone! I’m so excited to be sharing with you all the steps towards publication of my second crime novel, Perfect Dead. I’m a Scottish crime writer and live in Dumfries, SW Scotland which is where my series is set. For most of my working life I was a solicitor practicing in family and criminal law but for the last five years I’ve been working as a hypnotherapist which I really enjoy. I’m married and have two grown up kids and two golden retrievers. This is a great area to walk dogs as it has an abundance of forests, rivers and coastline to let them run free. Consequently, I spend a fair bit of time spattered in mud and with twigs tangled in my hair. Don’t be fooled by my author photo!

Writing my second book was very different to writing my first one. Writing a first book you can take all the time in the world. And I did! About 12 years to be precise, including three years when I didn’t write a single word. Friends and family viewed the whole tortured process as a harmless eccentricity. After a final rewrite I sent it to Killer Reads, a digital imprint of Harper Collins. Two weeks later I was holding an acceptance. I didn’t stop shaking until the next day. It was such a shock!

So, to go from that timescale to writing the second book in less than a year took some doing! It didn’t help that last February I developed angina culminating in a blocked coronary artery which required 3 stents in August. I have to say that my editor at Killer Reads was fantastic, no pressure whatsoever. The pressure came from within. Readers were asking for the next book in the series and I didn’t want to let them or my publisher down.

My first novel, Dead Man’s Prayer, I had plotted in advance of writing but, just to make life harder, I started the second novel deliberately with no idea of who had committed the crimes. This resulted in a bad case of ‘saggy middle’ where I had a complete crisis as my plot strands threatened to spiral out of control. It was time to commit and knit it all together. ‘It can’t be done,’ I wailed, adding my echo of despair to all the writers before me. I swear there have been times when I felt the words of this novel were bleeding onto the page a drop at a time, progress seemed so slow. But, to my surprise, and to the relief of my long suffering husband, it all came together in the end.

Perfect Dead will be published in ebook on 15th June and the POD paperback will be available on 23rd August. The action mainly takes place in the ‘Artists’ Town’ of Kirkcudbright, (Kircoobray). DI Farrell is faced with the apparent suicide of a promising young artist shortlisted for a major art prize. Human remains are then discovered on a MoD firing range. Both victims are connected to a shadowy Art Collective. The local police are further stretched investigating a forgery ring. Both investigations are hampered at every turn by secrets people will do anything to keep hidden. DI Farrell and his team are pushed to breaking point as they strive to catch a callous killer before he strikes again, this time much closer to home.

As you read this, I am waiting for my editor’s Notes to arrive so that I can start editing. A rather scary prospect! See you next month!

 

BUSINESS OF BOOKS: TAKE FOUR WRITERS – INTRODUCING CLAIRE DYER

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Being a poet and a novelist I’m often asked whether I prefer one over the other and I always answer that I love them both the same – like I do my two children, obviously! Seriously though, I really do believe both mediums are two sides of the same coin; both set scenes, tell stories and are peopled by characters who I hope are vivid and compelling.

The main differences may seem mundane: in poems the lines don’t always go right across the page, whereas in novels they do and, in poetry we have fewer words to play with, so every word really does count.

That’s not to say, however, that we can’t play with format in fiction and invest our prose with the same attention to detail as we do in poetry – in fact, we should.

Also, I believe that, as in poetry, a novel should have moments of distilled emotion but, unlike with poetry, in a book we can give our readers and characters, for that matter, more instances of down time: conversations about the weather, making tea, going to the shops.

For me, a poem works if it tumbles down the page and takes me with it and I believe a novel works if it draws me in and keeps me held safe in its narrative. I sincerely hope both my poetry and prose do both of these things!

So with this thought I’ll say a few words about my publications. I’ve had two collections of poetry published by the very lovely Two Rivers Press and, although each are only 50 odd pages long, they both took years in the making – each poem, I hope, earning its place in the stories the books aspire to tell. The second book, Interference Effects, came out of my MA in Creative Writing at Royal Holloway and what the poems aim to chronicle is how, as colours vary in a butterfly’s wing depending on the angle at which we view it, our impressions and thoughts about subjects as varied as art, love and loss, marriage and memory, can change when we look at them through different lenses.

I’ve had two novels and a short story published by Quercus and am utterly thrilled that The Dome Press are publishing The Last Day on 15th February. This book has had an interesting genesis. It was always going to be about the three of them: Boyd, Vita and Honey, but it was only on the second rewrite that Vita pushed her way front and centre and waved at me, glasses in one hand, paintbrush in the other and said, ‘Put me in the first person,’ and as much as I loved writing about the other two, it was Vita who called to me the loudest.

Also, during the rewrites, the book changed from being a story about one thing to a story about another: it had the same people and same plot but eventually it revealed its true colours (a bit like a butterfly’s wings!) and it’s been a wonderful experience being part of this evolution.

The title came to me (bizarrely and somewhat prophetically) on the day after the EU Referendum in June 2016 and the more I thought about it, the more it seemed to fit with the fact that we all will experience last days: the last day of school, of work, of love, of life. And, if after every beginning there is an ending, then after every ending is a beginning: after every last day there is a next day and it is this message I hope the book holds at its heart.

https://www.clairedyer.com

@ClaireDyer1

 

BUSINESS OF BOOKS: TAKE FOUR WRITERS

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Sometimes when writing a regular column you get sick of the sound of your own voice. Well I do, anyway. However much you dress it up I am just one author on one career path and although other writers contribute wonderful guest columns to the Business of Books there is no sense of continuity to their experiences and I wanted to remedy that.

So a few months ago I put out feelers in the author groups I belong to on Facebook to see if there were writers with books being published in 2018 who would be prepared to write monthly updates. I wanted to cast the net wide; across genres, across routes to publication and with the new books coming out at different times during the year.

The first volunteer and first to be inked into the schedule was writer of literary women’s fiction, Claire Dyer. Claire has featured in this column before and is a good friend – but she also has an interesting story to tell. Her first two novels were published by Quercus but sadly the second one fell between the cracks when they were taken over and it seemed as though her career had stuttered to a halt. Now with a new agent and a new deal with The Dome Press for The Last Day she is set for an interesting year. And if early indications are anything to go by, a very successful one too.

Given that I’m a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association many of my contacts are in this genre so my next task was choosing a single representative for romance. I have to say that I struggled initially but then one story piqued my curiosity. Linn B Halton, already a successful author with Harper Impulse, was about to embark on a parallel career as her alter ego Lucy Coleman, signed to Aria Fiction. Linn has two feelgood novels out next year but will be concentrating on her July launch for Frost.

Having come through the indie publishing route myself I was determined that this option should be represented, but again the issue was choosing between the impeccable credentials of the volunteers. I had two particularly strong candidates but in the end it came down to genre and as one was another romance writer, the humourist won out and I selected Angela Petch. It was particularly interesting because Angela is better known as an historical novelist (first indie and now with Endeavour Press) and this is her first foray in a new direction. That she was willing to share this potentially perilous journey spoke volumes about her courage and I can’t wait to find out how 2018 pans out for her.

I knew my final author should be writing thrillers or crime, and in an ideal world I’d have liked a debut novelist but none came forward. Whether they felt they’d be too busy trying to navigate uncharted territory or weren’t sufficiently ahead with their social media when I put out the call I don’t know. But in the end it’s worked really well because I’m able to feature Scottish crime writer Jackie Baldwin whose second novel for Harper Collins’ Killer Reads, Perfect Dead, is due out in June.

Over the next few weeks each writer will introduce themselves but in the meantime if you can’t wait to find out more, here are the links to their websites:

https://clairedyer.com/

http://linnbhalton.co.uk/

https://angelapetchsblogsite.wordpress.com/

http://jackiebaldwin.co.uk/

 

BUSINESS OF BOOKS: CLASS OF 2017 – Jane Cable considers the big lessons

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Some writers consider their calling a business from day one – to others it comes as a complete surprise. But asking them to think about it has come up with some real pearls of wisdom we can all share.

On finding time to write:

“I’ve found the trick is to stay focused on the current work in progress while trying to fit all other aspects of my writing around it – and remembering to stop and eat occasionally. I can recommend writing retreats where I find working whilst gazing out to sea from my desk can be a welcome rest from my desk at home!” Elaine Everest

“I have the same commitments as everybody else. I’ve had to be very disciplined and make time to write. I set several evenings a week aside and also write on weekends; I watch a lot less TV than I used to. When I’m working under deadline… I write any spare moment I can, whether it’s during lunch breaks or into the early hours of the morning.” Nikki Moore

On marketing:

“Networking with fellow authors and bloggers, and interacting with readers is so important. It builds relationships, and ultimately I believe that the business of books is about people.” Barbara Copperthwaite

“While I don’t normally spend much on book marketing, I did engage a publicist for my second novel. That probably helped get it into bookstores. It certainly spared me a lot of time and footwork.” Carol Cooper

On running a business:

“I always remember my dad telling me that a new business takes an average of two years to make a profit. I went into self-publishing my books with that in the back of my mind, and very much thinking of it as an entrepreneurial venture. I ensured I had enough money behind me to survive for two years without making any profit at all.” Barbara Copperthwaite

“It’s only recently I’ve converted my way of thinking to writing as a business, so I’m learning and in the process of developing the business model… In its simplest form: keep writing, keep engaging, and keep building my readership.” Laura E James

On diversification:

“I give talks about my writing to groups such as the Women’s Institute and to libraries. Sometimes I’m paid for the talks but they all give me an opportunity to sell paperback copies and also to collect email addresses of readers interested in hearing when my next book is out. I’d like to grow this side of the business in order to get a better return on the amount of preparation required to devise a talk.” Sally Jenkins

“I don’t have a formal business model, but writing full-time has given me the opportunity to take on different projects and I am now beginning to earn from a wider source than book sales. Writing short stories for magazines is a good way to supplement income and I have also taught a ‘writing a novel’ day course.” Heidi Swain

And the final word:

“Keep writing. Be flexible. Be aware of the market. Be dedicated.” Karen King

In 2018 The Business of Books is running a new regular feature on best advice from authors and publishing professionals so there will be plenty more great ideas from the world of words.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Find out more about the authors featured above at:
http://www.romanticnovelistsassociation.org/about/author/elaine_everest
 https://nikkimooreauthor.wordpress.com/
https://www.barbaracopperthwaite.com/
http://www.drcarolcooper.com/
http://www.lauraejames.co.uk/
https://sally-jenkins.com/
http://heidiswain.blogspot.co.uk/
http://www.karenking.net/

THE BUSINESS OF BOOKS: SECRETS OF SEASONAL SUCCESS – Jane Cable takes a sleigh ride with Sunday Times bestselling author Heidi Swain

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How much of your working life does the business of books take up?

The business of books, in one way or another, takes up all of my working life now. Earlier this year I made the leap and gave up the day job to write full-time. I had been gradually cutting down my hours, but going out to work two days a week meant compromising time at the keyboard. I was increasingly feeling that I was spinning one plate too many and something had to give. Nonetheless it was a difficult decision because I loved my job, but following my heart has been the right thing to do.

Now I can write from six thirty to lunchtime and work on guest posts, blogging and interviews in the afternoons. It’s a much better balance all round.

 

What’s your business model to earn a living from writing?

I don’t have a formal business model, but writing full-time has given me the opportunity to take on different projects and I am now beginning to earn from a wider source than book sales. Writing short stories for magazines is a good way to supplement income and I have also taught a ‘writing a novel’ day course. That said, I’m not poised to order the diamond shoes just yet and my priority is, and always will be, focusing on writing novels readers love.

What do you write and what do you consider to be your major successes?

I write commercial fiction for Simon and Schuster, although I prefer the term ‘feel good fiction’. I want my readers to feel whisked away to the fictitious town of Wynbridge as soon as they sit down with the book.

I feel very fortunate to have readers getting in touch every day to tell me how much they love Wynbridge and want to live there, or that they have purchased my book to take on holiday or to give as a Christmas present. For me personally, those messages and tweets are all major successes. What could be more flattering than a reader loving what you have written so much that they take time out of their day to tell you?

I’m also very proud of my two Christmas books. Mince Pies and Mistletoe at The Christmas Market was my winter 2016 release and having listened to readers and friends who had been disappointed by novels which featured ‘Christmas’ in the title but barely covered it in the book, I was determined to pack my pages full of festive feeling. Looking at the response it definitely worked and it wasn’t far into January before my editor called asking if I would consider writing another one!

Needless to say I jumped at the chance. I already had the beautiful setting of Wynthorpe Hall in mind and got to work straightaway. The result was Sleigh Rides and Silver Bells at The Christmas Fair which was published in October and again, I’ve crammed in as much cinnamon and spice as possible.

 

Tell me about your latest project.

I’m now working on my sixth novel which will be released next summer. This one features a Wynbridge resident who isn’t living in the town, but don’t panic. I’m planning for her to visit her friends and family at least twice so there’ll be plenty of opportunities to catch up with the girls from The Cherry Tree Café and The Mermaid Pub.

Thank you Jane for inviting me to feature today and I may take this opportunity to wish you all a very merry Christmas!

 

Since my interview with Heidi Sleigh Rides and Silver Bells at The Christmas Fair has taken the Sunday Times bestseller list by storm and just has to be this year’s most successful seasonal romance. Heidi lives in Norfolk with her wonderful family and a mischievous cat called Storm. Find out more about her here: Website: http://www.heidiswain.co.uk/

 

THE BUSINESS OF BOOKS: JANE CABLE SUCCUMBS TO A LITTLE MAGIC

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Last week I posted the following tweet: “That moment when you start writing and you can’t stop; when you turn off the car radio because the characters are talking in your head; when you take long walks just to spend time with them.”

For me, it summed up the magic of writing and was a joyous expression of my delight at experiencing it again. And what’s more, I hadn’t even realised it had gone away. Had I become too much of a technician? Had I been trying too hard? Disappearing up my own wotsit?

I’ve made my name (such as it is) as a writer of books that are more than just romance. A twist of mystery, a twist of suspense, a twist of the ghostly. Hard to fit into a genre box – and very hard to sell to an agent or a publisher. Believe me – I’ve been there, done that, got the proverbial T-shirt. There was a time when I considered “you write well, but…” would be my most appropriate epitaph.

The stars began to align back in October when I had a manuscript turned down by a publishing house because it was ‘too dark and emotionally intense’. However they made it very clear they’d love another submission from me if I came up with something more escapist and with a simpler pay off.

Seeing the proliferation of ‘heart warming’ stories on supermarket shelves made me step back and seriously consider the market for romance. Of course, it doesn’t take an awful lot more than common sense to see that life is pretty grim for a large number of people at the moment so they want a book to be a happy place to lose themselves. They want familiarity with their fiction: Heidi Swain’s Wynbridge series, Elaine Everest’s vintage Woolworths. In short – they want a comfort read.

But could I write one? Should I write one? After all, my readers expect something different and there are a significant number who buy my books for this reason, even if not enough to make a publisher bite off my hand. While I was mulling this over I chanced across Harper Collins’ Great British Write Off where they’re looking for thrillers and ‘beautiful love stories, particularly escapist settings.’ The deadline was the middle of January; perhaps I should give it a go.

So I started to make a few plans; an outline, some character sketches, a nice punchy opening. Still I prevaricated. In the meantime a friend who would dearly love to write ‘more complex’ (their words not mine) novels, was offered a three book deal for her chicklit. And then an agent who’d been reading my full manuscript came back with a no – but once again made it very clear they’d be happy to read more of my work – without the paranormal element.

On Wednesday morning my husband went away for a few days so I started to write. And write. And write. And live and breathe my characters inside my head in a way I’d almost forgotten. Long walks around the park and up the river. Then back home again to write some more. Researching on the hoof, taking it one or two scenes at a time. Letting the magic flow. 8,000 words of magic in just three days.

In fact, I’m itching to write another chapter now. So if you’ll excuse me…