…in both paperback and as an e-book.

Those of you who are regular readers of my blog – if, in fact, I have regular readers! – may have followed my Writing journey, which started with an idea for ‘The Dresser’ which emerged first of all as a short story.  In due course I expanded it to the length of a novella (33,000 words) and then, by adding a third section to it, to a novel (55,000 words).  I then discovered that, these days, novels are expected to fall between 80,000 and 120,000 words.  I have views about this, which I explore in the ‘Reflections’ page at the beginning of the volume combining the three short novels I went on to produce.

I have written about what I did, what I felt, what I experienced and learnt, over the past two and a half year period: in December 2019, just before the pandemic reached us; in August 2020; and in August 2021.  Now, in June 2022, I bring the story up to date.  It’s been an amazing journey.  I’ve learnt a lot. I’ve had moments of elation, and (a number of!) disappointments.  But I am satisfied with where I am now, and am curious about what will happen next. 

I’ve decided that self-publishing has its positive side – at least I am in control and don’t have to make changes to the novels which I would have felt uncomfortable about.  And there is no pressure to produce more, unless I choose to do that.  I am using my networks to get the word out there (email, Twitter, LinkedIn) and hope that those I contact will be responsive.  But only time will tell whether that’s true!  

I am hugely grateful to my husband John who has dealt with the technical side of self-publishing.  I know I certainly don’t have the technical knowhow to take that on myself.  He was also brilliant at reading each novel in its early stages and making suggestions – and he isn’t a novel reader at all (let alone someone who would choose this kind of fiction!)  I am also very appreciative of those friends who have read early versions and given me feedback and sometimes specific ideas which have helped me to review, refine and I hope improve what I’ve written.  I am also extremely grateful to the local publisher I initially approached in early 2021, whose encouragement was crucial to my keeping going.  I pay tribute to these supporters on the Dedication page.

So there is now an e-book and a paperback copy of my three short novels in one volume which is available to buy.  I have chosen to combine them as each is under 60,000 words, and, as I explain, I don’t want anyone to feel short-changed!  The e-book costs £5, which I hope is good value.  The paperback costs more, as Amazon set a minimum price in order to cover the cost of production (and as it contains three novels this is quite a long book). 

As I said in my blog post last August, this isn’t about making money.  But I am proud of what I’ve written and I want to make the novels as accessible as I can – I want them out there for people to try, share, discuss.  For the same reason I plan to record audio versions at some stage, though that’s something for the future. 

I really hope that people will want to support me and buy a copy!  And I hope that they then enjoy at least one of them – the three novels are quite different from each other in some ways, though they explore some common themes, and they’re all about relationships.  They are the kinds of novels I enjoy – perhaps all writers choose to produce the sort of books they would like to read?

So here is the link to the Amazon page where you can buy either the e-book or the paperback.

Thank you for reading this post and for even considering investing in the novels!  

Photo credit: John Berry – the image we use on the front cover