His Hidden Wife Hits Amazon Top 50!

I apologise in advance for the fact that this is going to be an incredibly excitable post... for many reasons.

The first is that a week ago, my fourth psychological thriller, His Hidden Wife, was published by Bookouture. That's four books in just over two years! I have to admit that although I was passionate about this book, it was a hard one to write. So much so that when I handed it over to my editor, I knew something was off but I was too close to it to know what it was. 

There were two parts to the story (a present day story and a story set twelve years earlier) narrated by different people. After a week or so, my editor came back to me and told me she knew what was wrong: the story set in the past wasn't necessary. It needed to come out. Yes.. all of it!

I could have cried but my lovely editor had worked with me on my three previous books and got it right so I knew I had to trust her judgement. I had to have faith that at the end of it, my book would be a stronger one even though the amount of work needed seemed overwhelming.

So began several weeks of structural edits, followed by several more of line edits that were almost as hard. They were, by far, the most difficult edits I've had to do for any of my books and I'll be honest and say that, at times, I wondered if I could do it. I even wondered, at my lowest point, whether after I'd finished, I'd ever want to write another book. 

But I carried on and eventually saw the light at the end of the tunnel. When I'd finished, I read the new version and thought: Do you know what? This isn't bad at all.

Thank goodness I wasn't the only one to think so because, a week on from publication day, His Hidden Wife has become an Amazon Kindle Top 50 bestseller (peaking at #43). It is number one in the Hot New Fiction charts in both the UK and the US and has sold more books in the first week than I ever could have imagined.

The picture at the top of the page is of me signing books for my local bookshop. I have to pinch myself to believe it! At the moment they're only taking phone orders from customers but I'm looking forward to taking some photos in the shop once they open again. It's a gorgeous little bookshop and one I share with Julia Donaldson (who lives in the same village) who can often be found signing her children's picture books in school holidays.

My books have always done better in the UK than in the US so it was particularly gratifying to find that the book raced up the Amazon charts across the pond as well. I am so very grateful to everyone who bought and shared and reviewed as I certainly couldn't have done it on my own.

You can buy His Hidden Wife here

This was the second publication day I've had in lockdown so I knew that I wasn't going to be having a huge celebration. Instead, I had a mini publication party with my friends via Zoom, drank Prosecco and scoffed the delicious cakes and biscuits my publisher sent me.

And what of the next book? Let's just say it's going well and when it's published at the end of the year, I'm hoping I'll be able to celebrate in (non-lockdown) style!
 

My First Lockdown Publication Day!

Last week was a very exciting week for me! Why? Because on Wednesday, I celebrated the publication of my third psychological thriller, 'The Bride'. Although of course, because of lockdown, this publication day was very different to my others.

Contrary to what readers of your novels might think, most of an author's day after the book has gone 'live' isn't spent hanging around bookshops stroking your cover or sitting on the Richard and Judy couch (okay so that doesn't happen now but I still imagine it). Instead, it's spent on social media: posting the news, sharing other people's posts, re-tweeting and thanking all the lovely well-wishers who have taken the time to message you their congratulations. It's very tiring on the typing fingers and mentally challenging trying to keep up with it all as the last thing you want to do is offend anyone.

Flowers from my husband

What I've done in the past to manage my day, is allow myself time to meet up with friends at lunchtime. For the launch of What We Saw, I had a sneaky pub meal with writing buddy, Tracy Fells and for We Were Sisters, I had a beach walk with fellow Bookouture author, Liz Eeles.

I also had evening celebrations - a small one involving Prosecco with local friends for the first novel and a full-blown book launch at the local bookshop for the second. Both fabulous occasions.

There was nothing like that this year of course but I still managed to raise a glass of Prosecco to 'The Bride'. Instead of meeting in real life, my friends and I had a publication day Zoom celebration... almost as good! This was followed by another celebration with my husband and daughter.

Strangely, it was the most relaxing publication day I've had. Nothing to organise and only myself to please!

The following day, I did  something a little more out of my comfort zone. I was invited to be one of the authors at Noir at the Bar Edinburgh. Under normal circumstances, this would involve going to a real bar (I'm all for that!) and speaking to a real audience (not so happy about that!) but, with lockdown in place, it was going to be completely virtual.

I spent most of the day preparing. From the way I was behaving, you'd have thought that it was an all day event not just a ten minute slot but I hate being taken by surprise (it's why, when I was a teacher, I never liked supply teaching). Can you believe I worried about what to wear, what extract of my novel to read, what questions I might be asked and even which room in the house looked least like a hoarder live there (we've emptied my daughter's flat and her things are everywhere!).

By the time I got to speak, I could have done with a real bar, but as often is the case when you stress about things, the event was lovely. In fact, the host couldn't have been more welcoming, there were no trick questions and I didn't make a complete fool of myself thank goodness. If you like, you can watch it here.

So now all the fun and games are over and I've allowed myself to wind down a little. I've nearly completed the first draft of the next novel and am looking forward to working on it before submitting to my editor.

My fingers are crossed that come December I'll be able to have a proper launch for the next book but, in the meantime, the sun is shining, my roses are blooming and I'm feeling proud to have published three novels.

If you'd like to read The Bride, you can buy it here: Amazon

Publication Day - The Truth

Two days ago, my second psychological thriller, We Were Sisters, was published and, of course, I'm delighted. Before I was published, I had an image of what publication day would be like: lounging around in silk pjs basking in the glory or drinking champagne in a bubble bath, surrounded by flowers from my well-wishers.

But what is publication day really like?

You really want to know? Well, okay, here it is. Publication Day... the truth (beware... it's not for the faint-hearted!).

Diary of a Publication Day

5.15 a.m.  Wake up. Check social media in case my social media manager, Noelle, has also woken early and decided to plaster news of my publication across the sites (even though it doesn't go 'live' until 7.15 p.m.). She hasn't.

6.15 a.m.  Repeat.

6.30 a.m. Wonder why husband is still asleep. Why isn't he up making me a celebratory cup of tea?

7.10 a.m. Desperate for tea but scared to get up unless I miss something.

7.15 a.m. Check Amazon. Why does my novel still say 'pre-order'? Check phone and see that my clock is a minute fast.

7.15 a.m. (again) We Were Sisters has been published. Ta da! Yippee! Wait for the euphoria to hit. It doesn't.

7.16 a.m. My publisher puts up posts on Facebook and Twitter. Share and re-tweet.

7.17 a.m. Decide that this time round I will won't thank everyone personally for their messages of congratulations. A 'like' will suffice. It's my day, I shall relax and enjoy it.

7.18 a.m. Start to thank everyone personally for their messages of congratulations.

7.19 a.m. Repeat.

7.20 a.m. Repeat.

8.00 a.m. Check Amazon rankings. Have I hit the #1 spot yet? They haven't moved.

8.01 a.m. Rankings must be broken. Refresh page. No change.

8.05 a.m. Check my first Amazon review. It's a disappointing 3*. But, never mind another one comes in... it's also 3*.

8.10 a.m. Decide that everyone hates me and my book.

8.12 a.m. Check reviews again. This one loves it. Decide they're only being kind.

8.20 a.m. Continue to re-tweet, share and thank.

8.30 a.m. Repeat.

8.50 a.m. Repeat.

8.45 a.m. Wonder if there's another way of saying 'thank you'.

8.50 a.m. Consider putting merci beaucoup then decide it's pretentious. Anyway, I'm not French.

9.00 a.m. Get out thesaurus.

10.00 a.m. Re-tweet, share, thank.

11.00 a.m. Repeat.

11.15 a.m. Repeat.

12.00 a.m. Start to feel a bit stir crazy. The walls are closing in. Wish I had arranged to have celebratory lunch with writing buddy Tracy like last time.

12.10 a.m. Decide I could open the celebratory bottle of Prosecco my husband's bought me before remembering he hasn't.

12.15 a.m. Re-tweet, share, thank.

12.20 a.m. Repeat.

12.30 a.m. Repeat.

1.00 p.m. Feel hungry but am scared to make a sandwich in case I miss something.

1.30 p.m. Run to fridge, grab a piece of cheese and two tomatoes. Check phone to see if I've missed anything. I haven't.

1.40 p.m. Check Amazon reviews. Someone has entitled their review 'Gripping Thriller'. Decide my book is probably the best ever written.

1.45 p.m. Check again. Someone had entitled their review 'Predictable'. Decide my novel is the worst ever written and everyone hates me.

2.00 p.m. Re-tweet, share, thank.

2.10 p.m. Repeat.

2.20 p.m. Repeat.

2.30 p.m. Start to feel I've got caught up in Groundhog Day. Google it because I can't remember the lead actor's name.

2.31 p.m. Click back onto Amazon in case I've missed something. I haven't.

2.32 p.m. Start talking to myself. Wonder if I'm going mad.

2.33 p.m Message writing friend Liz. Tell her I think I'm going mad and make her go for a walk by the sea.

3.00 p.m.  Walk helps. Tell Liz book is rubbish and everyone hates me.

3.10 p.m. Resist urge to check Amazon ranking.

3.20 p.m. Resist urge to check Amazon ranking.

3.30 p.m. Resist urge to check Amazon ranking.

3.40 p.m. Miss what Liz has just said to me as I'm too busy resisting the urge to check Amazon ranking.

3.50 p.m. Feel better after walk. Check Amazon ranking. It hasn't moved. Feel worse.

4.00 p.m. Come home to find huge tin of hand-baked biscuits and cupcakes from my publisher Bookouture.

4.10 p.m. Check Amazon ranking. It's moved up. Have a couple of celebratory cakes.

4.15 p.m. Check ranking. It the same. Have a couple of commiseratory cakes.

4.20 p.m. Wonder if eating four cupcakes, a chocolate chip cookie and a chocolate muffin might have have been greedy.

4.25 p.m. Feel sick.

4.30 p.m. Re-tweet, share, thank.

4.40 p.m. Repeat.

4.50: p.m. Repeat.

5.00 p.m. Repeat.

5.30 p.m. Think I might have finger strain from the re-tweets and thanks. Wonder if I should see the doctor. Decide I can't. She'd only laugh at me and, in any case, if I leave the house I might miss something.

6.00 p.m. Go to FitSteps. Resist urge to check Amazon Ranking.

6.20 p.m. Between rumba and jive check Amazon ranking.

6.21 p.m. Feel bad for checking.

6.30 p.m. Check again.

7.30 p.m. Wait for husband to come home. Wonder how big the celebratory bouquet will be.

7.45 p.m. Husband comes home. Pretend not to care that there's no bouquet.

8.00 p.m. Go for celebratory meal. Drink Prosecco. Wonder why my fingers are stiff when I pick up my glass.

9.00 p.m. Feel a sense of achievement at not having felt the urge to look at my phone.

10.00 p.m. Fall into bed. Smile because I've realised something. I've had another book published... and it's a good feeling.

If you'd like to read the novel that caused me to eat my weight in cupcakes, you can buy it from 

Amazon here. And it's only 99p!

It's Publication Day... I Did It!

It's Publication Day for my debut thriller, What She Saw, so you will have to forgive me if I'm a tad over-excited! 

I still can't believe it.

It was a year ago when I received the email from my editor, Jennifer, from Bookouture (although, of course, I didn't know she was going to be my editor then). And this is what she had to say about the novel I'd submitted just four days earlier:

'I just spent a glorious weekend reading it and I think you've written an absolute page-turner.'

Could we arrange a time to chat on the phone?

We had that phone call the next day and, when I was offered a two-book deal, it didn't take much encouragement to say yes. Bookouture had, after all, been top of my list of publishers. 

Up until that point, having my novel published had just been a dream. But now, a year later, it's become a reality and I couldn't be happier.

It's been a busy year with many rounds of edits and a new book to write but there have been many wonderful milestones: the day I first saw my cover, the day I held the paperback in my hand for the first time, the day I heard the audio clip, my first five star review. But nothing has been as exciting as waking up to the announcement that my book is now 'out there'. Ready to be read by people I've never met or heard of... not just my family!

So I hope you'll join me in my celebrations, share my news if you'd like to and maybe even buy yourself a little present!

Here is the blurb.

How far would you go to keep your daughter safe?

Everyone knows Leona would do anything for her daughter, Beth: she moved to Church Langdon to send Beth to the best school, built a business to support them and found the perfect little cottage to call home. They hike together, shop together, share their hopes and fears. It’s the relationship every mother dreams of.

But Leona never talks about why they moved to the Lake District.

She’s never told Beth anything about her father.

She says Beth should never speak to strangers. She says Beth doesn’t need friends.

She’s only trying to protect her daughter.

When Leona answers the phone one morning, her heart stops as she hears a voice from her past. 

She’s given her daughter everything, but now she must tell her the truth. And once it’s out, can she keep her little girl safe?

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