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 →
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30 things I've learnt from 5 years being published: no 22 – genre snobbery is real - and annoying
Gah I am so scared of turning this into a rant. But oh-my-goodness, I was not prepared for the genre snobbery when I first got a book deal.
30 things I've learnt from 5 years being published: no 21 – there will be times when it all feels hopeless
I’ve said before that I hate the massively overused rollercoaster analogy when it comes to having a career as an author, but I’m afraid that it’s so unbelievably perfect that I must bring it up here once again.
30 things I've learnt from 5 years being published: no 20 – (your) social media doesn't sell books
Let me start this post by saying that, contrary to popular belief, I don’t hate social media. I know I tend to give it a hard time but you might think I’m a bit of a hypocrite in doing so, because, as you might have noticed, I’m all over it myself.
30 things I've learnt from 5 years being published: no 19 – there is hope after bad track
Not sure what ‘bad track’ means? Let me enlighten you. There’s a clue in the adjective: ‘bad’. And ‘track’ is just short for ‘track record’.
30 things I've learnt from 5 years being published: no 18 – you can write in another genre
Perhaps today’s post is obvious, but I thought it was worth talking about anyway. A lot of the writers I speak to feel very nervous about ‘branching out’ or leaving behind the ‘brand’ or genre that they’ve started writing in.
30 things I've learnt from 5 years being published: no 17 – it's important to take stock from time to time
I believe that the thing that makes authors able to author is the thing that also means we are never satisfied. In order to finish a book, you need so much willpower, focus and determination and you basically have to be really, really hard on yourself.
30 things I've learnt from 5 years being published: no 16 – you will need to do some exercise
There are some writers out there who like exercise. If you are one of these rare, mythical creatures then this post is not for you and you can just (literally) jog on by feeling smug and blessed.
30 things I've learnt from 5 years being published: no 15 – getting ARC copies is amazing - and stressful
If you’re a writer then you’re definitely a reader. If you’re not a reader, then I’d go so far as to say that you can’t be a writer. Sorry. The two are mutually inclusive.
30 things I've learnt from 5 years being published: no 14 – lots of authors hate their covers
Can I start this post with a little disclaimer, in case my publishers are reading?! I just want to state here that I have only ever hated one of my covers, and that was the original cover for my second book.
30 things I've learnt from 5 years being published: no 13 – Harrogate Festival is amazing
I appreciate this is a bit of a UK-centric post, when so many of my blog readers are based in the US or elsewhere, but I’m sure you’ll have your equivalent festival so hopefully it will still resonate.
30 things I've learnt from 5 years being published: no 12 – it's OK to take a break
I know it might sound as though I’m contradicting myself with today’s post, as I know a few days ago I said that the best marketing you can do for your book is to write another book, but bear with me…
30 things I've learnt from 5 years being published: no 11 – your author website matters (ha!)
Full disclaimer here: I am a website designer. You might already have realised that from the rest of the content on this website but if not, I am! And I love it. I build websites specifically for my fellow authors, and it’s the perfect complement to my writing career.
2023 Squarespace navigation updates
Hello! Another short but sweet post today to let you know that Squarespace has been making some major changes to the back-end navigation, which might mean things look a little different when you log in to update your author website.
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.
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.
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.
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…
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.
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.
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?
✨ 30 things I’ve learnt from 5 years being published ✨
September 6 2023 marked 5 years since my first book was released 😲
To celebrate, I shared a new post about what I’ve learnt from being published EVERY DAY throughout the month.
Enjoy!
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