welcome…

…to all my secrets on life as a published author

(I’m 7 traditionally published books in and I’ve learnt some stuff 😉)

I blog weekly about author websites, newsletters and life as a writer…

New posts published every Monday 😊

Want to learn more about me and my own publishing journey first?

(includes info on how I landed one of those mythical six-figure book deals!)

Read all about my own journey to publication →

Or scroll down to read all my other posts!

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Some honest thoughts about writing fiction as a career

5 mistakes I made after getting a book deal

Some honest thoughts on book publication days

most recent posts

Charlotte Duckworth 9/10/23 Charlotte Duckworth 9/10/23

30 things I've learnt from 5 years being published: no 10 – the best marketing you can do for your book is write a new one

I believe it was novelist Tracy Buchanan who first told me that the best marketing you can do for your book is to write another one. It really opened my eyes and made me reconsider the hours I spent on social media, desperately trying to break through the noise and drum up some kind of interest in my book.

Charlotte Duckworth 9/9/23 Charlotte Duckworth 9/9/23

30 things I've learnt from 5 years being published: no 9 – publication day is nuts

It’s been five years since my debut novel came out, and I honestly couldn’t remember what I did on the actual day. It’s a whirlwind, a total blur. And so I just went and looked on my phone memories and realised that on my publication day my then three-year-old daughter, my partner and I planted a tree that he had bought me as a celebration present.

Charlotte Duckworth 9/8/23 Charlotte Duckworth 9/8/23

30 things I've learnt from 5 years being published: no 8 – First drafts get harder - but editing gets easier

I thought it might be a good idea to get a bit more technical in today’s post and talk about something to do with the actual writing for a change.

So here’s a revelation I didn’t expect when I started on my one-book-per-year journey: THE FIRST DRAFT GETS HARDER.

Charlotte Duckworth 9/7/23 Charlotte Duckworth 9/7/23

30 things I've learnt from 5 years being published: no 7 – being on submission never gets any easier

You may have been on submission to publishers yourself, in which case I’d suggest skipping this post unless you want to be reminded of the absolute pain and agony of that hideous process.

If not, then stay tuned…

Charlotte Duckworth 9/6/23 Charlotte Duckworth 9/6/23

30 things I've learnt from 5 years being published: no 6 – the writing is the best bit

Following on from my previous post about how writing ruins reading, I thought it might be time for a more positive realisation, before I put any readers here off writing for good.

Charlotte Duckworth 9/5/23 Charlotte Duckworth 9/5/23

30 things I've learnt from 5 years being published: no 5 – writing ruins reading

I am having a lot of fun writing this series of things I have learnt since being published. It’s like all the Thoughts and Feelings I’ve been harbouring over the past five years are finally able to spill out of me.

Charlotte Duckworth 9/4/23 Charlotte Duckworth 9/4/23

30 things I've learnt from 5 years being published: no 4 – editors are overworked

OK so hands up who thought that editors sat around reading books all day and occasionally marking up manuscripts with a red pen?

Charlotte Duckworth 9/3/23 Charlotte Duckworth 9/3/23

30 things I've learnt from 5 years being published: no 3 – A loyal agent is better than a hotshot agent

With each day that I blog, I’m getting increasingly nervous that I’m going to get cancelled but hey, these are my truths and my lived experiences and this is my blog and so I’m GOING TO BLOW THIS SHIT UP! Ahem, share.

Charlotte Duckworth 9/2/23 Charlotte Duckworth 9/2/23

30 things I've learnt from 5 years being published: no 2 – The size of your advance matters

The one thing we all dream of as an aspiring author is the day our agent calls us to tell us that we’ve received an offer from a publisher.

Charlotte Duckworth 9/1/23 Charlotte Duckworth 9/1/23

30 things I've learnt from 5 years being published: no 1 – the author community is incredible

Welcome to my new blogging series! I’ve been thinking for a while about a way I could celebrate my FIVE YEAR anniversary of being a published author, and I figured what might be useful/interesting would be to share 30 things I’ve learnt throughout September - one per day.