So you want to write a book... Carol Clements
Hello everyone, it’s so great to be given the opportunity to blog with the Authors Electric!
As this is my first blog, I’ll give you a rundown of what makes me tick.
I’m a mother to three grown ups, and two enormous dogs named Bear and Baloo, they’re Black Russian Terriers and weigh 65 kg and 44 kg respectively. I spend a great deal of time wiping up dribble, from the dogs, not the grown up kids!
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| Baloo the baby! |
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| Bear the big boy! Nearly three years ago now, my husband and I decided that we had really had enough of our jobs, the state of the country and the weather, so we upped sticks from the UK and moved to central France. As such our Great French Adventure began! We bought a rundown granite stone farmhouse and embarked on restoring and renovating it. When we arrived we couldn’t speak French and didn’t know the area but the kindness of strangers is real and our French neighbours have been fantastic. This was how the house looked when we moved in!  The move afforded me to finish what I had started, namely the rest of my first book. I had begun to write whilst still in the UK, but working in a special school for students with social, emotional and behavioural difficulties left me exhausted and there never seemed to be enough time to let my mind peruse the plot, let alone write it. I might add, it was never the students that wore me out, rather the expectations of the Department of Education.
Writing the book was, with hindsight, the easy part. If I had a genie in a bottle, my wish would be for an editor, formatter and marketing specialist!
Cue the end of August, I typed ‘The End’, with a flourish at the foot of the page, and then the really hard slog began. Editing.
Being a retired English and Academic Writing teacher, I have a very beady eye for grammar and punctuation errors. Couple that with a bevy of friends that were proofreading for me and, after at least 20 read throughs by me, I was happy with the final manuscript.
I had decided to use KDP to sell my book. There were endless YouTube videos and Kindle had many ‘How to’ pages, which on first viewing, seemed easy enough to navigate. Boy was I wrong! I was trying to format my manuscript into the right set up to upload it, much hysteria ensued and noisy crying. Unfortunately, for me, there were a lot of mathematical requirements involved, margins, trim sizes…more words that evoked terror in my numerically challenged brain. Luckily though, my marvellous husband suggested that I download a magical software that actually does all the brain strain for you.
Atticus! That’s its name, I haven’t been reading ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ again.  So, with formatting software on my computer, I was able to set the manuscript up, so it resembled an actual book! I watched many YouTube videos on how to upload a book to Amazon Kindle. There’s more to it than you would imagine. I had to pick the right keywords, so that when people search for my book, it will pop up before their eyes. I also had to pick the right category or genre, you can only have two on the list, so it was a toss-up as to which ones were more important. Finally, I thought I’d researched enough and took the bull by the horns and uploaded the cover artwork (thank you Libby Hagger! One of my grown ups) and the content.
And then I waited…
Around 3pm in the afternoon, the email arrived, announcing that the Kindle version, at least, was ready to download!
Since publishing, I’ve concentrated on marketing on Instagram and Facebook. I’ve clearly got some very supportive friends and it took off like a rocket. The subsequent months have seen it slow down, but I’m slowly networking with book reviewers and it’s still selling, albeit slowly. Using the Kindle Unlimited option with Amazon has opened the book up to people who subscribe to Kindle Select, and I get paid per page read! As I live in France, options of book signings and such are limited, my main audience is the UK and the USA. It has travelled as far as Australia and Tasmania, Germany, India and Norway, so can I call myself an international selling author? Yes I can! The book is an urban fantasy, set in the modern day with some flashbacks to the main protagonist’s childhood. Magic is weaved throughout, seven women’s stories of misogyny and how they overcome it.
Here’s the link for anyone who would like to have a look. https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/2958482014?ref_=cm_sw_r_cp_ud_sem_0X9V6SD3NH8G9T885SX7
Or if you would like to check out my website, delving into many magical moments, you can find me here.
Maybe you’re a secret DIY enthusiast, in which case you might like my blog:
So that’s me. I look forward to writing, working and reading with you all.
Take care, and I’ll be back with you next month. |
Comments
You'll find many different writers on here. Personally, I'm a retired teacher of just about every phase of education. I publish articles - and on here autobiographical pieces which venture into autofiction. I think you'll get lots of support from the group with whatever you want to do.