Easter Gift Idea For Little Ones: Gifts Hub’s Personalised Books

Posted on March 30, 2017 by Catherine Balavage

We were bowled over by Gifts Hub’s Personalised Books for little ones. They come in a gorgeous presentation box, and the books are stunning. The book is personalised on the front and throughout. You can also include a personal message in the opening page.

Journey into the World with “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” Book

Personalised gifting group, Gifts Hub, make these books. We really loved the children’s classic, Journey with The Very Hungry Caterpillar Book. The children’s book is available to purchase on the group’s UK websites, I Just Love It and Historic Newspapers

This new edition stars international-bestselling and award-winning author Eric Carle’s “The Very Hungry Caterpillar”, bringing the iconic caterpillar into the 21st Century for a new generation to enjoy.

Once the book has been personalised, The Very Hungry Caterpillar takes on the chosen name, resulting in the recipient becoming the star of the book. This creates a unique and personalised story for any child, as they embark on a special journey into the world.

Each page has been illustrated and written in homage to author Eric Carle, and his unique drawing and writing style can be seen on every page. Colourful, bold illustrations are teamed with large text to engage and entertain any reader.

The new book can be personalised with a child’s name, which features on the front cover and throughout the copy, and a message, which features on the title page of the book.

A bespoke, embossed pastel gift box has also been produced as a luxury presentation option which is included in the price with any purchase of the new book. The presentation box really takes the gift to another level.

The Personalised Journey with the Very Hungry Caterpillar (I Just Love It) and Personalised Journey with the Hungry Little Caterpillar (Historic Newspapers) books are available to purchase now for £24.99.

Gifthub also have:

Thomas The Tank Engine. A personalised edition of a classic railway series story.

Another beautiful book. Personalised on the front and throughout. This is a great story with wonderful illustrations by C. Reginald Dalby.

We can highly recommend these gorgeous books which are published by Signature Books. They are classic books with beautiful illustrations, all personalised to your child. Frost loves.

Shipyard Girls at War By Nancy Revell Book Review

Posted on March 23, 2017 by Catherine Balavage

Published 23rd March 2017 Arrow

Paperback Original, £5.99 Also available as an eBook

Arrow have a speciality in publishing these sweeping historical novels. It is easy to see why the genre is so popular in general, but also why Nancy Revell’s books are so popular. Researched within an inch of its life; the novel is enjoyably entertaining. A perfect way to spend hours, wrapped up in the characters lives. This is the second book in The Shipyard Girls saga and it is not only just as good as the first, but a perfect continuation. Recommended reading.

The second book in the compelling saga series The Shipyard Girls Perfect for fans of Donna Douglas and Ellie Dean
1941: It takes strength to work on the docks, but the war demands all hands on deck and the women are doing their best to fill the gap.
Rosie is flourishing in her role as head-welder while still keeping her double life a secret. But a dashing detective is forcing Rosie to choose between love and her duty.
Gloria is hiding her own little secret – one that if found out, could not only threaten her job, but her life.
The shipyards are proving tougher than Polly ever imagined, while she waits for her man to return home safely.
Join the shipyard girls as they journey through the hardships of life, love and war.
About the author:
Nancy Revell is a writer and journalist under another name, and has worked for many national newspapers, providing them with hard-hitting news stories and in-depth features. She has also worked for just about every woman’s magazine, writing amazing and inspirational true life stories.
Nancy has recently relocated back to her home town of Sunderland, Tyne & Wear, with her husband Paul and their English Bull Mastiff, Rosie. They live a short walk from the beautiful, award-winning beaches of Roker and Seaburn, within a mile of where The Shipyard Girls series is set. The subject is close to Nancy’s heart as she comes from a long line of shipbuilders, who were well-known in the area.

Some interesting facts:

* During research for The Shipyard Girls, writer and journalist Amanda Revell Walton found that the remarkable women who did some of the most dangerous work in both the First and Second World War have now died with little recognition or praise for the work they did and the conditions they encountered.
* During World War Two seven hundred women worked in the Sunderland shipyards carrying out dangerous and backbreaking jobs, previously only been deemed suitable for men, such as welding, riveting, burning and rivet catching, as well as general labouring, operating cranes, and painting.
* The conditions in which the women laboured were harsh and hazardous, with scant regard paid to health and safety. They also had to contend with constant air strikes by Hitler’s Luftwaffe, and many of the women workers would do so with the added worry that their children were in another part of the town.
* The yards in the ‘Biggest Shipbuilding Town in the World’ produced a quarter of Britain’s merchant shipping at the time, causing it to become one of the most heavily bombed towns during the war.
* It is believed that without the shipyards, the country would have been forced to surrender, as the cargo vessels being built were essential for the transportation of vital food, fuel and minerals, as well as taking troops to wherever they were needed in the fight against the Axis alliance of Germany, Italy and Japan.

WE: A Manifesto for Women by Gillian Anderson and Jennifer Nadel

Posted on March 16, 2017 by Catherine Balavage

WE: A Manifesto for Women immediately caught my eye. As a proud feminist I am always on the lookout to support other feminists and find out about movements. I jumped at the chance to review this book and starting reading it soon after it arrived. My first thought was that it has lots of good quotes, which I love, and my second was the bravery of Gillian Anderson and Jennifer Nadel. It is so honest and beautiful.

This book is needed as 2017 has been a regression of women’s rights and we need to stick together more than ever. We also need to work towards our own happiness. Not everything in the book is for me; I hate being told to meditate for example, but I found the entire book just so full of truth and helpfulness. Even the parts that I thought weren’t meant for me made me think.

I highly recommend this excellent book. It makes you laugh and it makes you happy. It also lets you know you are not alone. Women have to start speaking the truth about their lives and standing up to the things that oppress us. During an appearance on This Morning Gillian Anderson and Jennifer Nadel were subjected to sexist comments on Twitter and – surprise surprise- The Daily Mail because they were not smiling. Welcome to 2017 people. I believe The Daily Mail headline which was targeted at Gillian Anderson had “miserable bitch” in the title. And that is why we need WE: A Manifesto for Women. Join in now.

In their new book, Gillian Anderson and Jennifer Nadel bring us a rallying cry for women to join together and create a female-led revolution. WE shows us simply how, one woman at a time, we can bring about positive change.

WE: A Manifesto for Women by Gillian Anderson and Jennifer Nadel

‘Imagine a sisterhood – across all creeds and cultures. An unspoken agreement that we, as women, will support and encourage one another. That we will remember we don’t know what struggles each of us may be facing elsewhere in our lives and so we will assume that each of us is doing our best…’

So begins WE: an inspiring, empowering and provocative manifesto for change. Change which we can all effect, one woman at a time. Change which provides a crucial and timely antidote to the ‘have-it-all’ Superwoman culture and instead focusses on what will make each and every one of us happier and more free. Change which provides an answer to the nagging sense of ‘is that it?’ that almost all of us can succumb to when we wake in the dead of night.
Written by actress Gillian Anderson and journalist Jennifer Nadel – two friends who for the last decade have stumbled along together, learning, failing, crying, laughing and trying again – WE is a not a theoretical treatise but instead a rallying cry to create a life that has greater meaning and purpose. Combining tools which are practical, psychological and spiritual, it is both a process and a vision for a more fulfilling way of living. And a truly inspiring vision of a happier, more emotionally rewarding future we can all create together…

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Gillian Anderson is an award-winning film, television, and theatre actor and producer, writer and activist. She currently lives in London with her daughter and two sons. Jennifer Nadel is an award-winning broadcast journalist, qualified attorney, writer, and activist. American-born, she lives in London with her three sons.

http://www.wewomeneverywhere.org/

#wewomen

Lisa Jewell I Found You Book Review

Posted on March 14, 2017 by Catherine Balavage

I am going to start this review off by being honest: I found this book a bit scary. Not horror scary, but anticipation scary. That is the biggest compliment I can give to Lisa Jewell. She has written a novel tight on anticipation and suspense. A proper thriller book which can sit alongside Gone Girl.

It was hard to put this book down, even when I wanted to. There are numerous twists and even moments of unbearable sadness. It is a good novel and the writing is done with so much technical talent that I was in awe as a fellow writer. Tightly wound and with enough surprises to keep any reader happy; this novel works on every level. I also loved the cover. It is so lovely seeing a female writers book being marketed to both genders. I can recommend this novel but, as I said, I also found some of it sad. I don’t want to give too much away, but it also leaves you angry at some of the characters.

Recommended.

Everyone has secrets. What if you can’t remember yours?

Lily has only been married for three weeks. When her new husband fails to come home from work one night, she is left stranded in a new country where she knows no one.

Alice finds a man on the beach outside her house. He has no name, no jacket, no idea what he is doing there. Against her better judgement, she invites him into her home.

But who is he, and how can she trust a man who has lost his memory?

Two women, twenty years of secrets and a man who can’t remember lie at the heart of Lisa Jewell’s brilliant new novel.

Lisa Jewell had always planned to write her first book when she was fifty. In fact, she wrote it when she was twenty-seven and had just been made redundant from her job as a secretary. Inspired by Nick Hornby’s High Fidelity, a book about young people just like her who lived in London, she wrote the first three chapters of what was to become her first novel, Ralph’s Party. It went on to become the bestselling debut novel of 1998.

Thirteen bestselling novels later, she lives in London with her husband and their two daughters. Lisa writes every day in a local cafe where she can drink coffee, people-watch, and, without access to the internet, actually get some work done.

Debbie Macomber If Not For You Book Review

Posted on March 13, 2017 by Catherine Balavage

If Not For You is a delightful and engaging novel. Debbie Macomber is so skilled at drawing out the characters that it is impossible to feel like you do not know them. This novel is not a standard girl-meets-boy novel. It is a novel about what happens when something unexpected throws two very different people together. The novel jumps straight into the action and has plenty of twists and turns to keep you occupied. Definitely worth a read.

Sometimes, just one person can change your whole world…

If not for her loving but controlling parents, Beth might never have taken charge of her life.

If not for her friend Nichole, Beth would never have met Sam Carney – a tattooed mechanic who is her conservative parents’ worst nightmare.

And if not for Sam – who witnessed a terrible accident and rushes to her aid – Beth might have never survived and fallen in love.

Yet there are skeletons in Sam’s closet that prevent him from ever trusting a woman again. Will he be able to overcome his past and fight for love?

Debbie Macomber is a No. 1 New York Times bestselling author and one of today’s most popular writers. In addition to fiction, Debbie has also published two bestselling cookbooks; numerous inspirational and nonfiction works; and two acclaimed children’s books. The beloved and bestselling Cedar Cove series became Hallmark Channel’s first dramatic scripted television series, Debbie Macomber’s Cedar Cove, which was ranked as the top program on US cable TV when it debuted in summer 2013. Hallmark has also produced many successful films based on Debbie’s bestselling Christmas novels. Debbie Macomber owns her own tea room, and a yarn store, A Good Yarn, named after the shop featured in her popular Blossom Street novels. She and her husband, Wayne, serve on the

Guideposts National Advisory Cabinet, and she is World Vision’s international spokesperson for their Knit for Kids charity initiative. A devoted grandmother, Debbie and her husband Wayne live in Port Orchard, Washington (the town on which her Cedar Cove novels are based) and winter in Florida.

London Book & Screen Week 2017 unveils programme that goes from Hogwarts to Hygge in celebration of books

Posted on March 6, 2017 by Frostie

David Nicholls, Roddy Doyle and Michael Morpurgo headline the seven-day festival

A Soho awards night with David Nicholls, a very special Harry Potter screening at the St. Pancras Renaissance Hotel London and conversations with Michael Morpurgo and Roddy Doyle lead the eclectic line-up of this year’s London Book & Screen Week (13-19 March 2017).

Produced by The London Book Fair, the seven-day, citywide festival celebrates books – and the films, games, plays and TV programmes they inspire – shining the spotlight on the critical role books play in our creative industries. This year’s programme celebrates the 20^th anniversary of the publication of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone and 200 years since the death of Jane Austen.

David Nicholls, one of the UK’s leading figures in literature, TV and film, will champion the specially curated programme of events as the Ambassador of this year’s London Book & Screen Week. Roddy Doyle will be in conversation at House of St Barnabas – thirty years after the publication of his novel The Commitments.

St. Pancras Renaissance Hotel London will be the spellbinding setting for a very special Harry Potter film screening. All-star comedy troupe Austentatious will return to Leicester Square Theatre to perform an improvised show based on audience suggestions. The show will be preceded by a panel of special guests from the literary world, who will divulge and share their own love for Jane Austen’s work.

Acclaimed children’s author Michael Morpurgo will be in conversation with Owen Sheers, and Deborah Moggach will introduce a screening of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, which was adapted from her novel These Foolish Things.

With Britain in the grip of Hygge fever, Waterstones Piccadilly are putting on a Scandi crime screening, and bringing together Hygge experts Bronte Aurell (The Scandi Kitchen), Signe Johansen (How to Hygge), Louisa Thomsen Brits(The Book of Hygge) and Trine Hahnemann (Scandinavian Comfort Food) to provide wisdom on how to live more Danishly.

The fitness stars of Instagram – who have become publishing sensations – come together for a talk about fitness in the digital age: Faya Nilsson (Fitness on Toast), James Exton (LDN Muscle) and Alice Living (Clean Living Alice).

London’s award-winning LGBT literary salon Polari returns once again to The Light Lounge in Soho for a night of chat and cocktails hosted by Paul Burston, with joyous readings from Sophia Blackwell, Christopher Fowler and VG Lee. The Irish Literary Society are hosting a bumper series of events to showcase some of Ireland’s finest writers.

Jacks Thomas, Director of The London Book Fair and London Book & Screen Week, said:

“It’s wonderful to be working with partners across London to celebrate writers and their work in all its different formats. The line-up of this year’s London Book & Screen Week once again demonstrates the range and depth of London’s creative talent, and how vital books are for all our creative industries.

In 2017, we are particularly proud to present the CAMEO awards in their inaugural year. The Creativity Across Media: Excellence and Originality Awards will identify the individuals who create some of the most successful film, stage, TV and game adaptations, telling inspiring, gripping, life-transforming stories here and across the globe.”

London Book & Screen Week is run in partnership with some of the capital’s highest-profile brands, including London & Partners, the Mayor’s official promotional company for London, which attracts businesses and visitors to the capital and operates VisitLondon.com, the official city guide for London.

The launch night at Soho House, central London (13 March), will also see the awards ceremony for the inauguralCreativity Across Media: Entertainment & Originality Awards (CAMEO).

The festival combines specially curated events with an open sourced strand that anyone can submit to online at www.londonbookandscreenweek.co.uk. To find out more, and book event tickets, visit www.londonbookandscreenweek.co.uk.

LONDON BOOK & SCREEN WEEK 2017

Programme Highlights

Monday 13 March

AUSTENTATIOUS: A SPECIAL EDITION

At Leicester Square Theatre – 7 pm

Austentatious returns to its London home in resplendent fashion. In this special edition, powered by London Book & Screen Week, enjoy a pre-show ample with some special guests from the literary world as they divulge and share their own love for Austen’s work. Panellists include Oxford professor and Jane Austen expert Kathryn Sutherland (Teenage Writings), a member of the Austentatious cast, and more.

Tickets: £12.50: https://leicestersquaretheatre.ticketsolve.com/#/shows/873569690

POLARI LITERARY SALON

At The Light Lounge, Soho – 6.30 pm

London’s award-winning LGBT literary salon returns once again to The Light Lounge in Soho for London Book & Screen Week. Polari began in November 2007 in the upstairs room of a pub in Soho. It is now based at the Southbank Centre, where events are held every month. It tours regularly across the country, and hosts Polari Prize for Fiction, an award handed annually to the best first book by an LGBT author in the UK.

Tickets £5: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/polari-soho-special-tickets-31751988051

Tuesday 14 March

LIVING DANISHLY: AN EVENING OF COSINESS AND SCANDI CRIME

At Waterstones Piccadilly – 6 pm

London Book & Screen Week is collaborating with Waterstones Piccadilly to put on a special film screening, followed by a How to Hygge discussion with Hygge experts Louisa Thomsen Brits (The Book of Hygge), Bronte Aurell (The Scandi Kitchen), Signe Johansen (How to Hygge) and Trine Hahnemann (Scandinavian Comfort Food). Light refreshments will be provided.

Tickets £5: https://www.waterstones.com/events/living-danishly-an-evening-of-cosiness-and-scandi-crime/london-piccadilly

AN EVENING WITH RODDY DOYLE

At The House of St Barnabas – 7 pm

Roddy Doyle is the author of eleven novels, two collections of stories, two books of dialogues and Rory & Ita, a memoir of his parents. He has written seven books for children and has contributed to a variety of publications including The New Yorker, McSweeney’s, Metro Eireann and several anthologies. He won the Booker Prize in 1993, for Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha.

Tickets £15: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/an-evening-with-roddy-doyle-tickets-31889474276

THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL: A VERY SPECIAL SCREENING

At The Charlotte Street Hotel – 6.30 pm

This screening of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel will be preceded by a special interview with Deborah Moggach, whose novel These Foolish Things, was adapted into the hit film. Deborah’s latest novel, Something to Hide, is set in Beijing, Texas, a fictitious African country and Pimlico. She will be talking about the meaning of settings and the writer’s view behind adaptations with the biographer, lecturer, and journalist Anne Sebba, author of nine critically acclaimed books of non-fiction, most recently Les Parisiennes, about Paris from 1939-49 through women’s eyes.

Tickets £18.43: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-best-exotic-marigold-hotel-a-very-special-screening-tickets-31827938220

Wednesday 15 March

MICHAEL MORPURGO IN CONVERSATION

At Bush Hall, Shepherds Hall

Michael Morpurgo, OBE, is the former Children’s Laureate and best-selling author of over 140 books, including Private Peaceful, Kensuke’s Kingdom, The Butterfly Lion, and War Horse, which first performed at the National Theatre in 2007. In this exclusive London Book & Screen Week event, Michael will be joined by Owen Sheers, author, poet and playwright, as they delve into the world of adaptions. This intimate dialogue will see the prolific authors discuss what it means to see the words and world you so carefully composed being lifted from the page and onto the stage and beyond.
Tickets £17.05: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-story-books-screen-stage-michael-morpurgo-talks-narrative-adaptation-with-owen-sheers-tickets-31991195527

FROM FIGHTING FANTASY TO THE WITCHER: HOW NARRATIVE DESIGN IN GAMING ENHANCES STORYTELLING
At BAFTA – 6.30 pm

In the world of storytelling, gaming is unique. Giving over control, it allows gamers to define their own journey within a malleable landscape. This inspires a new growing generation of storytellers in the 21st century across all media. With video game sales in the UK at an all-time high – what is the next chapter? And what is gaming’s mandate as a creative platform in the world of storytelling? Join us for a panel discussion featuring Ian Livingstone, co-creator of Fighting Fantasy gamebooks, Andrzej Sapkowski, the author of the Witcher novels, the writer and digital producer Meg Jayanth, and Chris Gardiner, Narrative Director at Failbetter Games.

Tickets available soon: http://www.londonbookandscreenweek.co.uk/events/

Thursday 16 March

OLGA TOKARCZUK AND DEBORAH LEVY

At London Review Bookshop – 7 pm

One of the most acclaimed Polish writers of her generation, Olga Tokarczuk has won multiple prizes, most recently for her novel The Books of Jacob, which explores an important moment in 18th-century Polish history. Two recent novels, The Books of Jacob and Flights, will shortly be published, for the first time in English, by Fitzcarraldo Editions. Tokarczuk will be in conversation with The Man Booker shortlisted novelist Deborah Levy.

Tickets available soon: http://www.londonbookandscreenweek.co.uk/events/

Friday 17 March

IRISH LITERARY SOCIETY

At Bloomsbury Hotel

The Irish Literary Society are putting on three events at the Bloomsbury Hotel specially for London Book & Screen Week. The Irish Literary Society was established in London in 1892. Among its founders were W B Yeats and Douglas Hyde and other leaders of the Irish Literary Revival.

The object of the Society is to promote the appreciation of Irish literature and culture and to provide a forum for intellectual and social activities in connection with these interests.
Tickets available soon: http://www.londonbookandscreenweek.co.uk/events/

Saturday 18 March

FITNESS IN THE DIGITAL AGE

At SF Studios, Hampstead – 10 am

Now that we’re all making a #fitspo to spread #motivation to our #fitfam, ‘Fitness in Our Digital Age’ will bring together some of the biggest stars in the fitness scene who have built dedicated followings on Instagram and blogs such as Fitness on Toast. In the tranquil setting of SF Studios, north London’s leading movement studio, we host a unique panel discussions featuring an amazing line-up including fitness expert Faya Nilsson and the co-founder of LDN Muscle, James Exton. Their discussion will be followed by an audience Q&A and book signings.

Tickets £13.25: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/fitness-in-a-digital-age-tickets-31997576613

Sunday 19 March

CELEBRATE 20 YEARS OF HARRY POTTER: FILM SCREENING AT ST PANCRAS RENAISSANCE HOTEL LONDON

At St. Pancras Renaissance Hotel London– 6 pm

Grown up Potter fans, rejoice: London Book & Screen Week are putting on a Harry Potter film screening in the spellbinding St. Pancras Renaissance Hotel London. Celebrate the 20^th anniversary of the publication of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone in a setting straight out of Hogwarts. Expect free popcorn on arrival and themed cocktails at the bar. Wands, wizarding robes, hats and broomsticks are welcome.

Tickets: £18.43: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/celebrate-20-years-of-harry-potter-film-screening-at-st-pancras-renaissance-hotel-london-tickets-31874274814

Three Books For February: Our Top Picks

Posted on February 9, 2017 by Frostie

Nothing beats a good read so we have picked three very different books to entertain you this February.

Until You Come Home Ellie Dean

It is 1944 and Anne Black is making the best of a new life in Somerset, but bringing up her daughters so far from their father, her mother Peggy and their real home of Cliffehaven isn’t easy. The safety of Somerset makes separation bearable, until danger strikes and rocks Anne’s world.

Back in Cliffehaven Peggy Reilly is running the Beach View Boarding House with her usual love and warmth. The war is taking its toll however, and Peggy longs to have her scattered family home again. Until then she’ll continue being a mother to all, and maybe even find some time for herself.

As the fighter planes leave RAF Cliffe every evening all anyone can hope is that the war, like the night, will soon be over.

The heart-warming brand new Second World War novel in the Beach View Boarding House series from Ellie Dean, the Sunday Times Top Ten bestselling author of Sweet Memories of You.

A riveting historical book that will have you in tears. But in a good way.

Until You Come Home is available here.

Echoes In Death J.D.Robb

New York at night. A young woman stumbles out on to a busy street – right in front of Lieutenant Eve Dallas and husband Roarke. Her name is Daphne Strazza, and she has been brutally assaulted. Confused and traumatised, she manages to tell them one thing. Her attacker wore a devil’s mask.

As Eve investigates this shocking case, she soon discovers a disturbing pattern. Someone is preying on wealthy couples, subjecting them to a cruel and terrifying ordeal. Worse still, the attacks are escalating in violence and depraved theatricality. Eve and her team are now in a race against time to find the man behind the mask – before he strikes again. But for Eve, this case in particular has unsettling echoes of her own troubled past…

Another book in the great series. Brilliant crime fiction.

Echoes in Death is available here.

New York, Actually Sarah Morgan

Meet Molly

New York’s most famous agony aunt, she considers herself an expert at relationships…as long as they’re other people’s. The only love of her life is her Dalmatian, Valentine.

Meet Daniel

A cynical divorce lawyer, he’s hardwired to think relationships are a bad idea. If you don’t get involved, no-one can get hurt. But then he finds himself borrowing a dog to meet the gorgeous woman he sees running in Central Park every morning…

Molly and Daniel think they know everything there is to know about relationships…until they meet each other that is…

A gloriously fun romantic read.

New York, Actually is available here.

The Business of Books With Jane Cable: David Ledain

Posted on February 8, 2017 by Jane Cable

This week Jane Cable interviews David Ledain about why he believes he can sell more self-help than fiction and why he decided to turn his own experiences into a book. Find out more about David at www.gaydad.co.uk.

I am a gay dad and to protect those I love I write using the penname – David Ledain. I live on the south coast of England and have two sons. When I was going through the process of coming out and separating from my wife, I couldn’t find anything about other gay dads like me, so I wrote a book: Gay Dad – 10 true stories of divorced gay men with kids, living in the UK today.

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

I write fiction as well, and the two different sides to my writing take up a lot of time, but mostly that is marketing and promoting, which some people find dreadful and they are uneasy with. I love the new challenges and surprises that meeting interesting people and talking about my work brings. The first radio interview I did was very daunting, but the presenters are there to get you to talk about your topic, not to bamboozle you as they might a politician. I do try and write something every day, even if it’s only a paragraph or two, or just go back and do some editing.

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

I realised quite quickly, after I had written and published my first book, that I wasn’t about to be giving up the day job to spend my precious time doing what I love, which is writing and researching, as a full-time occupation. What I also learned, having published Gay Dad, was that non-fiction, especially when it concerns true life stories, sells much better than fiction, and this got me to think about how other self-published writers might benefit from telling their own stories and personal experiences to engage more with their audience. I am currently developing this idea with two fellow self-published authors who have also found a much more receptive market in their non-fiction work than they have in their fiction.

What do you consider to be your major successes?

Gay Dad has been, and will continue to be, successful. But I measure success not only in the number of sales and royalties I make, but in the number of times I get approached by radio presenters to come on their shows, editors asking me to write pieces for their magazines, or people wanting to set-up LGBT courses and ask for my input. The greatest feeling is when guys send messages of gratitude for the support they’ve gained from reading Gay Dad and the other men’s stories, and for bringing the subject into the open and making the public more aware of what I believe, is a far more common thing than we realise.

Tell me about your latest project.

I am happiest when I’ve got many irons in the fire and lots going on. Consequently, I have just launched the Gay Dad website www.gaydad.co.uk ; I’m in the process of writing a self-help guide for independent authors to tell their personal stories; I’m writing the third novel in my fiction series and have drafted the storyline for a new series about a gay FBI agent set in the 1950’s. Lots going on, and the different income streams also means I am getting nearer to my dream of being able to make a living from doing the thing I love – writing.

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