Book Launch ~ The Brontë Cabinet: Three Lives in Nine Objects, by Deborah Lutz

New on Amazon UK and Amazon US

An intimate portrait of the lives and writings of the Brontë sisters,

drawn from the objects they possessed.

In this unique and lovingly detailed biography of a literary family that has enthralled readers for nearly two centuries, Victorian literature scholar Deborah Lutz illuminates the complex and fascinating lives of the Brontës through the things they wore, stitched, wrote on, and inscribed. By unfolding the histories of the meaningful objects in their family home in Haworth, Lutz immerses readers in a nuanced re-creation of the sisters' daily lives while moving us chronologically forward through the major biographical events: the death of their mother and two sisters, the imaginary kingdoms of their childhood writing, their time as governesses, and their determined efforts to make a mark on the literary world.

From the miniature books they made as children to the blackthorn walking sticks they carried on solitary hikes on the moors, each personal possession opens a window onto the sisters' world, their beloved fiction, and the Victorian era. A description of the brass collar worn by Emily’s bull mastiff, Keeper, leads to a series of entertaining anecdotes about the influence of the family’s dogs on their writing and about the relationship of Victorians to their pets in general. The sisters' portable writing desks prove to have played a crucial role in their writing lives: it was Charlotte's snooping in Emily’s desk that led to the sisters' first publication in print, followed later by the publication of Jane Eyre andWuthering Heights.

Charlotte's letters provide insight into her relationships, both innocent and illicit, including her relationship with the older professor to whom she wrote passionately. And the bracelet Charlotte had made of Anne and Emily's intertwined hair bears witness to her profound grief after their deaths.

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About the Author

Deborah Lutz lives in Brooklyn. She is an Associate Professor of Victorian Literature and Culture in the Department of English at Long Island University, C.W. Post. Her scholarship focuses on material culture; the history of attitudes toward death and mourning; the history of sexuality, pornography and erotica; and gender and gay studies. Her writing has also appeared in numerous journals and collections, including Novel: A Forum on Fiction; Victorian Literature and Culture; The Oxford History of the Novel in English, and Cabinet. She has been interviewed by the New York Times, Salon, New York Post, Dublin's News Talk Radio, The John Batchelor Radio Show, and The History Channel. Find out more at http://deborahlutz.com/.

Book Review ~ The Goldfinch, By Donna Tartt

Available on Amazon UK and Amazon US

Donna Tartt’s third novel, The Goldfinch, won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2014, so I must admit I read it partly out of curiosity. At nearly eight hundred pages it is quite a marathon, like reading two books back-to-back, so was it worth it, when I have such a long list of books to read? I was expecting a ‘coming of age’ novel but this is so much more.

Bleak and depressing in parts, I’m not giving too much away to say it starts with the untimely death of thirteen year old Theo Decker’s mother. She was one of two, perhaps three likeable characters in the book, replaced by a succession of troubled – and troubling companions, so I shared his grief at her loss.

I read in a Telegraph interview that it took Donna Tartt ten years to write. She says, “So many people say to me, why don’t you write books faster? But working that way doesn’t come naturally to me. I would be miserable cranking out a book every three or four years. And if I’m not having fun writing it, people aren’t going to have fun reading it.”

Did I have fun reading it? On the back cover The Goldfinch is described as a ‘a gripping page turner’. Several times I found myself turning back and reading a page again to see if I had missed something. Rich in metaphor, coincidence and serendipity save the plot on more than on occasion. Readers have to work hard to understand character motivation and often shocking action is interspersed with long, indulgent passages. The Goldfinch reminds me there really are no rules in novel writing. For that reason, I have to say yes.

Tony Riches

Guest Post ~ Jacaranda Wife, by Kendra Smith

Available on Amazon UK and Amazon US

Katie and Tom’s marriage is in trouble. As is their bank account. So when Tom tells Katie that they need to talk, she knows it must be about one of two things. Either he has found out about her kiss with her best friend’s husband, or they are in even worse debt than she thought. What she was not expecting was for him to tell her that his boss is sending him to Australia. Permanently. But the home-loving mother of two from London realises it might just be what they need to save their marriage. Trouble is, she doesn’t much like heat, can’t swim and hates spiders. Does Australia provide the spark they need?  And which side of the globe will she decide to call home? 

How did my writing start?

I think I can honestly say that writing has been in my blood for years. As I stapled my fingers together instead of the school magazine, aged 14, I knew I wanted to write. I’d just found out that the glossy school magazine was closing. So I took it upon my 14 year old self to do it alone. I’d write, edit and draw – yes, draw, no iphones to take pictures in those days – my way into ‘publishing’; a pupils’ version of the magazine. 

It worked. I gave birth to a magazine in the secretaries’ office amidst the photocopier jamming and plasters (see stapled fingers, above) and my writing career began. After that it was the university newspaper, followed hot on the heels by various magazines, from trade titles to, finally, women’s magazines, where I found my niche writing features and editing copy. It was where my heart lay. Or did it?

There was one night (breastfeeding, circa 2am) that I was reading Allison Pearson’s fantastic novel I Don’t Know How She Does It – that I remember thinking, through a sleep-deprived blue haze that maybe,  could I do this book thing too? I might even have woken my husband to tell him my wonderful idea.

The whole kit and caboodle, however, didn’t turn into reality for many years as I had tiny infants who insisted that Mummy play Lego, or vomit over the keyboard as I tried to wind them, so I gave up for a bit. But not for too long. After child number three was born, and by which time we were in Australia, I wondered if I could distil these thoughts, ideas, frustrations and, to be honest, the sheer volume of traffic in my head into something of a book. And I did. As the baby slept, I typed. After all, there’s only so much creativity in cutting ham sandwiches into wonderful, exciting and you-will-damn-well-eat-this shapes, isn’t there?

What resulted – after quite a steep learning curve of editing, manuscript reviews and re-writing, was my first novel, Jacaranda Wife.

Kendra Smith

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About the Author

Kendra Smith's writing career had its roots in magazine journalism: she has worked for Cosmopolitan in Sydney and OK! Magazine and the BBC's Eve in London. She has written for Woman & Home, Delicious and New Woman and had a regular humorous parenting column in Prima Baby and Junior. She has also remained very calm whilst editing multi-stage customer magazines in contract publishing. In the brief moments of boredom between emigrating to Australia and back again and moving house five times with three children, she wrote her first book. Kendra was born in sunny Singapore and educated at boarding school in sub-zero Scotland, culminating in a degree from Aberdeen University. She has lived in Australia three times: the last time with her family of three boys under eight. With dual Australian-British nationality she currently lives in Surrey with her husband and children. Jacaranda Wife is her first published novel and she is watching the word count grow in book #2. Find our more at her website www.kendrasmith.co.uk and find Kendra on Facebook and Twitter @KendraAuthor.

Guest Post ~ The Beaulieu Vanishing, by K. E. Martin

New on Amazon UK and Amazon US

May, 1473: Two years after his victory at the Battle of Barnet, Edward IV's enemies are stepping up their attempts to bring about his downfall. Into this uneasy climate the King's loyal brother, Richard of Gloucester, despatches Francis Cranley and Sir James Tyrell to Beaulieu Abbey where his mother-in-law, the Countess of Warwick, has been in sanctuary since her husband's death at Barnet. Tasked with bringing the Countess to Middleham, they encounter difficulties when the Countess's young attendant disappears. As he sets out to find her, Cranley uncovers subterfuge, murder and a conspiracy with the potential to unleash mayhem across the land.

Why I wrote The Beaulieu Vanishing

My love affair with historical fiction stems from childhood when my sisters and I would pounce on the library books our mother brought home. Thanks to authors such as Jean Plaidy, Norah Lofts and Anya Seton, I was soon familiar with the kings and queens of medieval England and from an early age could recite the names and dates of key battles and other historic events. Fascinated by the rich tapestry of English and European history, I knew that one day I would sit down and write a historical novel of my own. Given my keen interest in the Wars of the Roses, that was always likely to be my starting point. 

  

Several decades later, having relished the experience of writing The Woodville Connection, my debut novel featuring 15^th century sleuth Francis Cranley, I felt encouraged to continue Cranley’s story. Set within the confines of a remote Lincolnshire manor, the bulk of the action in the first book unfolds over a few days in December 1472. It was a deliberately claustrophobic setup but for Cranley’s second outing, I wanted to mirror my hero’s personal development by broadening both the landscape and the timescale.

In order to do this, I went back to my treasured history books to remind myself what was happening in England in 1473. Since Cranley’s close friend and benefactor is Richard, Duke of Gloucester (Richard III in due course), I paid particular attention to events that impacted on Gloucester’s life. When I discovered that this was the year his mother-in-law, the widowed Countess of Warwick, was allowed to leave sanctuary at Beaulieu Abbey in order to live with Gloucester and his wife at Middleham Castle, a story idea took root.

I always find it easiest to write about places I know or have at least visited so I liked the fact that Beaulieu was not much more than an hour’s drive from my home. I was already familiar with the pretty village from previous visits but realised I knew virtually nothing about the history of the Abbey. To rectify that, I bought a rather wonderful book written by a learned Cistercian monk called Dom. Frederick Hockey, and spent several happy weekends poking about the New Forest, scribbling notes and taking pictures of anything with a connection to the Abbey.

At this point the novel’s plot was incomplete but a chance discovery in Hockey’s book gave me the key to the rest of it. Without giving away spoilers, I learned that Beaulieu Abbey was once closely associated with X, a place I happen to know quite well. By coincidence, in 1473 something happened at X which was important at the time although it is largely forgotten today. Picking up the strands that led from the Countess of Warwick to Beaulieu Abbey and then onwards to X, I triangulated a plot that mixed established fact with a smidgeon of conjecture and a hefty dollop of imagination. The result is a story that puts Francis Cranley and his comrades in the thick of the action, travelling hundreds of miles and putting their lives in danger as they seek out the truth about the disappearance of a young gentlewoman.

Although it’s never a good idea to plan too far ahead, ideally I would like to write another two Cranley novels in order to complete his story arc. Perhaps story arc is an overly grandiose term to use for my vague ideas. Nevertheless, when I began work on The Woodville Connection I already knew how the last book would play out. For me, the intriguing part is getting Cranley from the first situation to the last. Thus, while my primary aim in writing The Beaulieu Vanishing was to produce what I hope is an exciting and enjoyable read, my secondary motivation was to move Cranley closer towards his ultimate destiny.

Kathy Martin 

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About the Author

Kathy Martin has been writing since she was a teenager. While historical fiction was always her goal, she honed her writing skills by working for a number of different publications before starting work on a novel. Her first real success came in 1987 when she was a runner-up in Cosmopolitan's ‘New Journalist’ competition. This was followed by a long stint writing for and editing various magazines, most of them relating to the antiques and collectables hobby. In 2007 Kathy was approached to write a book about the history of the teddy bear. She followed this up with biographies of two of the UK's best-loved soft toy manufacturers. In 2011 she was finally able to turn her attention from the world of collectables to focus on her first love, historical fiction. Her Who's Who in Women's Historical Fiction - a handy A to Z guide to some of the most interesting characters in female-penned historical fiction - was published in 2012 and one year later, The Woodville Connection, her first historical novel, was published under the name K. E. Martin. A murder mystery set in 15^th century England, it introduces the character of Francis Cranley, an illegitimate young man raised as unofficial foster brother alongside Richard, Duke of Gloucester. Handsome, clever and handy in a fight, Cranley is sent by Gloucester to prove the innocence of an old soldier friend accused of murdering a child. As he investigates the crime in the claustrophobic atmosphere of Plaincourt Manor, Cranley’s safety is put in jeopardy as he discovers much more than he had bargained for. The Beaulieu Vanishing, the second Francis Cranley novel, was published in April 2015. This time Cranley is investigating the mysterious disappearance of Eleanor Vernon, a young gentlewoman living in sanctuary at Beaulieu Abbey with the widowed Countess of Warwick. Find out more at kathy's website www.kemartin.co.uk and find her on Twitter @KathyMartin001.

Book launch Guest Post ~ The Improbability of Love, by Hannah Rothschild‏

Available on Amazon UK and Amazon US

Annie McDee, alone after the disintegration of her long-term relationship and trapped in a dead-end job, is searching for a present for her unsuitable lover in a neglected second-hand shop. Within the jumble of junk and tack, a grimy painting catches her eye. Leaving the store with the picture after spending her meagre savings, she prepares an elaborate dinner for two, only to be stood up, the gift gathering dust on her mantelpiece. But every painting has a story – and if it could speak, what would it tell us?

Inspiration for Writing The Improbability of Love

The book was inspired by my own love of art.  When I was a child, I followed my parents around galleries, making up stories to relieve the boredom I initially felt.  If only the paintings could talk!  And as I grew up, I found solace in paintings through those tricky teenage years, and became ever-more intrigued by their histories; the stories behind the story.  Since then, this idea of the twists and turns in the lives of great paintings developed into The Improbability of Love.

How we value art is a theme I keep coming back to – after all, paintings are just paint and canvas at the end of the day.  But we see that prices are in fact index-linked to desire: how much someone wants to own and treasure them.  Art is definitely an obsession for many – a pseudo religion almost – and that drives people to do extraordinary things. These extremes of behaviour are a novelist's dream.

It is this desire and passion that carries the heroine of my book, Annie, on her adventure through this wonderful and sometimes murky world, and we are taken along with her on an exploration of desire and loneliness, and the wonder and improbability of love.

Hannah Rothschild‏

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About the Author

Hannah Rothschild is a writer, a filmmaker and a company director. She also serves on boards of various philanthropic trusts and museums. Her biography, 'The Baroness', was published in the UK, USA and seven other territories. Her first novel, The Improbability of Love was published in May 2015. Her features and interviews appear in W, Vanity Fair, The Telegraph, The Times, The New York Times, The Spectator, British and American Vogue. Her documentaries have been shown on the BBC, HBO and at film festivals including Telluride, the London Film Festival and Sheffield. Working Title and Ridley Scott optioned her original screenplays. In August 2015 Hannah became Chair of the Trustees of the National Gallery and is the co-founder of the Artist on Film trust, a trustee of the Tate Gallery and Waddesdon Manor and a Board member of the Creative Industries Federation. For more information visit Hannah's website www.hannahrothschild.com and follow Hannah on Twitter @RothschildHan. 

Special Guest Post by Tanisha Williams of ChatEbooks

“Congratulations for thinking outside of the box.” This is one of the many positive feedbacks I received while in the process of testing the market for my latest business venture, ChatEbooks. ChatEbooks is a social networking platform and a marketplace for buying and selling books online. The idea for ChatEbooks was inspired by several factors: (1) A desire to respond to the comments left on Amazon by individuals who had read my ebooks online; (2) A longing to connect with my readers to answer questions regarding the contents of my books; and (3) A desire to receive a higher percentage of my book revenues and to have immediate access my earnings.

As a self-published author of two non-profit ebooks 501c3 In 12-Steps and Simple Internal Controls, I am fully aware of the outstanding opportunity that the Internet has afforded. In the days before the digital revolution, self-publishing was somewhat frowned upon as a type of "vanity press", where authors sought to finance their own publishing efforts due to an implied lack of public interest in their book. Today, the advent of the Internet and e-reading devices has changed the entire landscape of the publishing industry, opening up doors for thousands of would-be authors to get their work into the marketplace for little to no cost.  In fact, any author wanting to self-publish a book can present his/her work to a potential audience of millions of people with only a few clicks of the mouse.

According to research conducted by Hugh Howie, a prolific and highly successful self-published author, the earnings of self-published authors have actually surpassed those of authors who have signed with the big five publishing houses. However, it is important to note that only a relatively small percentage of self-published authors earn the lion's share of the royalties by selling their books online. A survey of over 5,000 authors conducted by Digital Book World concluded that a mere 0.6% of self-published authors earned over $200,000 in 2013, and roughly one-fifth of the self-published authors surveyed earned nothing at all. While the number of extravagant success stories will always be in the minority, this does beg the question as to what may be the "missing ingredient" that keeps many self-published authors from achieving breakthrough success. 

This is where I believe ChatEbooks truly begins to stand out as a digital publishing platform. Although there are many publishing platforms that allow you to upload/sell your ebooks online and receive reviews from readers, there are none that offer anything in the way of establishing true connections with your readers through social interaction.  ChatEbooks is unique in that it offers not only the ability to self-publish your book, but it also leverages the power of social media to connect authors with their readers in an unprecedented manner.

If you are an avid ebook reader, other platforms may allow you to leave a detailed review of an author's book, but you won’t be able to provide feedback directly to the author, and then have that author respond in kind. This is the type of interaction that ChatEbooks provides to its users. ChatEbooks harnesses the strengths of social media to help authors and their readers engage and connect within the context of the selling/reading experience.  Having this kind of direct access to the authors whose work you have come to appreciate and support is nothing short of a book lover's dream. 

If you are aspiring author in search of a platform for selling your books online, you will definitely appreciate the benefits of using ChatEbooks. You’ll retain complete control over the pricing and distribution of your books, keep 100% of the revenues from your sales, and you’ll have immediate access to all of your earnings.  More importantly, the unique social media interactivity offered by ChatEbooks is a benefit that can pay great dividends in the form of referrals and recommendations. It’s no secret that word-of-mouth is still the most powerful form of advertising, and by offering your readers a personal connection to your work via ChatEbooks, you open the door for them to share your work with their network of friends. This can produce more fans of your books, and more revenues for you!

It is easy to see why ChatEbooks is the ebook publishing platform of choice for authors who are looking to expose their books online to a diverse audience.  With the myriad of advantages that ChatEbooks offers, it only makes sense to join and begin taking advantage of this powerful self-publishing platform.

Tanisha Williams

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About the Author

Tanisha Williams is a California native who currently works as an Audit Supervisor with the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.  Her latest business venture, ChatEbooks, was launched in September 2014 to create a platform for connecting readers and authors.  For more information please see /www.chatebooks.com and find ChatEbooks on Facebook and Twitter @ChatEbooks.

Setting Up Amazon Author pages

Your Amazon page should be an important part of your ‘author platform’ – yet many authors don’t bother. It may be they are so busy writing they really don’t have the time but it's easy to do and here are my ten top tips:

1. Create your own Amazon author page

This only takes a moment to do. Once you have an Amazon Author account and at least one book published on Amazon, simply visit https://authorcentral.amazon.co.uk/ or https://authorcentral.amazon.com/ (US) and follow the instructions. You probably have short author ‘bio’ and a suitable picture somewhere already. (I’ve seen research suggesting that readers like to see a picture of the author, so try to resist using a book cover, as I have seen some people do!) Readers can click on any of your books and be directed to the Kindle store where they can download the book in less than a minute. Also, any time you update your biography or claim a new book through Author Central, About the Author will update on Kindle giving your readers access to the most recent information.

2. Make sure all your books are linked to the page

Amazon leave this to you as they can’t always be sure which are your books. Simply click on the ‘Add More Books’ button and search for books you've written by title, author, or ISBN and add them. While you’re there you can also click on any of your books to check and add information about them.

3. Copy and paste your details to the other Amazon countries

Unfortunately, updates you make to any Amazon site don’t automatically find their way to the other twelve countries – but all you need to do is copy and paste the bio and update your list of books and add videos when you have the time. (I use Google translate to understand the prompts on the non-English sites – but would appreciate help from anyone who can help translate my German and French pages.)

4. Add your promotional videos

Promotional videos can bring your author platform to life and your Amazon pages are a great place to showcase them. Unlike some sites, you actually need to upload the video, rather than just add the YouTube embed code or link. You can ‘manage’ the order they are displayed and easily update them. I have had feedback from readers that they made the decision to buy my book after seeing the video, so they definitely work!

5. Link to your blog

Your writing blog can be linked to your Amazon US page with an RSS feed. This isn’t currently available on the other country sites and sounds more complicated than it is but really makes your page more dynamic, as well as bringing more readers to your blog. There are plenty of tutorials of how to do it – Amazon’s guidance is HERE.

6. Link to your Twitter feed

Assuming you are using Twitter as an author, this is a great way to engage with your readers. All you have to do is add your Twitter name and your most recent tweet will be displayed on your author page.

7. Create your personal Author Page URL

Your Author Page URL is an easy to share link to your Author Page on Amazon.com. You can use your Author Page URL in blog posts tweets. On your Profile, click add link next to Author Page URL. You can add any text up to 30 characters but it’s good to secure your author name before anyone else does. Check out my author page at this easy to remember url: Amazon.com/author/tonyriches

8. Update with forthcoming events

If you have any events such as book signings or talks you can share them on your Amazon page under ‘Events’. (Try to remember to keep them up to date though.)

9. Start a ‘Customer Discussion’ in your author forum

Readers can also visit your Amazon Author page to post questions in a dedicated ‘forum’ section at the bottom of the page. This doesn’t seem to be a well-used feature and I’ve only recently started experimenting with it but anything that helps you to engage with readers has to be a good idea.

10. See 'Customers Also Bought Items By...'

And finally… under your bio you can see a list of other authors your readers are interested in. I find it helpful to see who these are and what I can learn by looking at their books.

If you have any more ideas on how to improve Amazon Author Pages please comment below :)

See Also:

Twitter for Authors ~ Ten Top Tips