Book 2

Well, as I write this book two is going to be available as an e-book or a paperback in ten days’ time. Finally!

Anyone following me on Facebook, Twitter (sorry, X), Instagram etc. must be fed up with being urged to buy A Woman Scorned as you must have bought it already, haven’t you? This, the first in the murder mystery series, was finished years ago. However, as you may already know, it was self-published, then published by a vanity press, then recently republished by myself.

Anyway, here is the story of book two. The friend who gave me the idea for A Woman Scorned sat down with me one day and asked when I was going to start book two. I remember looking at him blankly, for I had no idea what to write! Following on with the theme of a famous quote being the basis of the title, he suggested O What a Tangled Web. After a few minutes we thrashed out a basic outline. Then eventually I finished the book and started to look for a publisher or an agent.

Many publishers will not accept a submission directly from the author, but rather through an agent. The process of getting an agent is as difficult as submitting directly to a publisher. Eventually I decided to get out of the vanity press contract and self publish. So that is how A Woman Scorned, although written some years ago, happens to be recently published on Amazon, Apple Books and Barnes & Noble as an e-book and as a paperback with Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

The dedication in book two is to my husband John, and I call him my first editor. That is because, when I finished the book, I read it aloud to him, so he could critique it and interrupt when he thought something sounded wrong, or could be better. I am very lucky to have his full support and encouragement.

To say a book is ready for publication is not easy. I always want to go through it one more time, a little tweak here, an adjustment there, a frantic check on the timeline to ensure the season is right! However, as always, just as you have to let your children out into the big, wide world, it is time to publish.

But wait! The agony is not over yet. First you have to format the book so that it will be published in the size you want, ensuring that page 1 is the beginning of the story, and not including all the dedication, copyright notice etc. A cover has to be designed and the layout decided. My digital marketer, Libélula Marketing Digital design my book covers, and now I let an expert from the organisation Fiverr format the book and prepare it for print.

So, there we are! In January I made a resolution to publish book two, and in recent blogs I have mentioned that publication is imminent, well now I confirm that “O What a Tangled Web “ will be published in September. I hope you buy it and I hope you enjoy it!