Friday 25 January 2019

Mightier Than The Sword



I am a short hop, skip and a jump away from bringing out book 2 in my Daughter of Kali trilogy. The first, Awakening, was published in May 2018.  I started writing the sequel in August. So it's taken me, let's see, five months to complete a 78,000-word novel, edit it, polish it, change the ending, and get it to the point where my agent is happy.

I didn't think that was overly long, but I have recently discovered there are a whole school of writers out there who put out a book a month. A book a month! It takes me that long to decide how my tale will start and finish.

At least I have more knowledge about the publishing process this time round.  It's not easy to sell books -  the Twitter writing community is jammed full of people trying to finish manuscripts, find agents or publishers, or publicise their finished product. Selling books is a brutal business, even though there are many, many immensely talented people out there.  My first Young Adult book has relatively few sales compared to the effort I've put in, and I'm someone with a fairly high-profile platform to begin with. I'm hoping it's a slow-burn thing, and that all of a sudden it will take off. (In case you haven't guessed, I've always been an optimist.)

The actual writing of the book was the most fun part. The marketing, not so much. It's a crowded playing field, especially the urban fantasy genre I write. But I have learned some valuable lessons, so for the benefit of any aspiring authors out there, here are some tips.

1) Start marketing even before your book is published. Put ads on Facebook, Instagram and Amazon. Send out advance copies to bookbloggers and ask if they'll review it. Join Facebook groups and become a Goodreads author. Upload copies to the likes of Netgalley or run promotions on Bookbub.

Bear in mind, nearly all of this costs you money. And even if you are lucky enough to have a supportive agent and publisher like me, you still have to do a lot of your own marketing. Unless you're JK Rowling, that is. I guess she can relax.

2) Covers are all important. You know that saying, don't judge a book by its cover? Well, people do. Immediately and harshly. I left the cover of Awakening to my publisher, and although it's perfectly fine, it's not the image I had in my head. I took a step back because I was a new, first time author and I didn't know better. This time round, with book 2, I'm a bit more possessive about it.


There are websites devoted to cover designs, as well as sites like Pixabay and Shutterstock where you can buy images to use (and many are free).

Sadly, there does seem to be a lack of 'diverse' faces among them. My main character Kaz is a brown-skinned half Indian girl and I'm struggling to find the right image. It's astonishing how many of the faces featured are Caucasian. A quick trawl of pictures logged under the heading 'Indian Girl' brings up either a bunch of wholesome, intellectual-types, or women wearing Bengali dancing clothes. (Or, in a lovely touch of ambiguity, a Native American girl in a feathered headdress.)


3) Don't give up. If you feel you have a book to write, then write it. I have found it's a discipline - not a chore exactly, but you do have to treat it like a job, where you make yourself sit down and write whether you're in the mood or not.

As a TV presenter, I have set work patterns so I tend to write on my days off - usually for six or seven hours straight. Other people write in the hour before they go to work or when the kids are at school. Yet others use their lunch breaks or set aside time at the weekend. One person I know writes between midnight and 2am because that's when she can concentrate the best.

It's totally your choice how you go about writing. But if you're the kind of person who says "I always wanted to write, I just never had time," then my best advice to you is this: make a start. Write the first chapter. Then just keep adding to it. Even writing 500 words is an achievement.

As best-selling author Jodi Picoult says: You may not write well every day, but you can always edit a bad page. You can't edit a blank page. 

So, the next chapter of Kaz Deva's adventures will begin soon. If you like feisty heroines, magical quests and exciting adventures (and don't mind a few scary scenes) then you'll love this.

No release date yet, but I will be choosing some lucky people to receive a free copy to read and review.

If you'd like to receive an advance review copy, add your email address to the comments below and I will be in touch.


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