I'm a traditionally published author of commercial fiction - AMA

[charduck]

I was reading this thread with interest:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/what_were_reading/4342858-AIBU-to-have-had-a-gut-full-of-psychological-thrillers

And I noticed a few requests for an author to do an AMA!

So here I am!

I write psych suspense, have had three novels published, with my fourth out in a few weeks. My last book was a bestseller both here and in the US.

Happy to answer anything I'm allowed to!

Charduck thanks, that's interesting.

I have no identity guesses but congrats and I hope the next book does well!

After you've completed your first draft in 6 weeks (wow), what happens next? What's your process?

And I'm going to confess now that I'm also a traditionally published author- but children's. My agent takes 17% (wtf!). I'm also definitely not a vegetarian.

*bestseller! Wow, autocorrect! Nothing wrong with vegetarians!

How many agents did you query before getting representation? How did you handle it when your first two books didn't sell?

A cheeky second question...

Do you think individual social media presence is essential for book sales? Thanks.

@whitehorsesdonotlie

Thank you for starting this! I'm a freelance copy-editor. I work with some big publishers, including Hachette and Little, Brown, as well as with a lot of self-publishing authors. Could you tell me about your experience of having your book sedited? Do you enjoy it? What do you enjoy most/least about it?

And I love psychological thrillers. Who are you? 😉

Who are your favourite authors in the genre?

I love copy-editors! LOL. Saved my bacon on many an occasion. I mostly enjoy it, I really appreciate the fresh set of eyes because by that time it's very hard to see the wood from the trees (how many naff metaphors!) with your own work. But sometimes I have major timeline issues and I hate sorting them out. You do seriously get sick of reading your own work. And fixing issues can be really hard/dull.

My username is pretty outing...

Loads of favourite authors in the genre... Lesley Kara, Lauren North, Karen Hamilton, Claire McGowan... off the top of my head!

Wow, 3000 words a day, you are making me feel lazy in the extreme! Do you edit as you go, the next day, or leave it a while?

Do you publish under your real name? I am contemplating publishing under a pseudonym but for a non-fiction book, I'm worried that it won't be so attractive without a (my) backstory'...any thoughts?

Come on people, anyone with a wee bit of curiousity and common sense can work out who it is! We're not talking Bletchley Park levels of code cracking here!

@DaisyNGO

Charduck thanks, that's interesting.

I have no identity guesses but congrats and I hope the next book does well!

ah thank you!

@Curioushorse

After you've completed your first draft in 6 weeks (wow), what happens next? What's your process?

And I'm going to confess now that I'm also a traditionally published author- but children's. My agent takes 17% (wtf!). I'm also definitely not a vegetarian.

I'll have Christmas off then start the second draft in January. This book has to be with my editor by end of Jan so it's extremely tight! hyperventilates

Interesting about the 17%. I don't know much about children's fiction.

@Unsure1983

How many agents did you query before getting representation? How did you handle it when your first two books didn't sell?

About 6 but I think I just got lucky with the recommendation thing.

I found it really hard when my books didn't sell. The first time I was OK with it, and still hopeful, but the second time I cried a lot (it was a near miss, went to acquisitions etc but then didn't get through ) and I gave up writing for three years.

@DaisyNGO

A cheeky second question...

Do you think individual social media presence is essential for book sales? Thanks.

No, I think it helps but definitely not essential. More important is where your book gets stocked and how much promo your publisher does.

I was on Twitter for a long time before I got my book deal, but joined Insta afterwards. Have a love/hate relationship with it.

@TwinklyBranch

Come on people, anyone with a wee bit of curiousity and common sense can work out who it is! We're not talking Bletchley Park levels of code cracking here!

LOL this really made me laugh!

@OnwardsAndSideways1

Wow, 3000 words a day, you are making me feel lazy in the extreme! Do you edit as you go, the next day, or leave it a while?

Do you publish under your real name? I am contemplating publishing under a pseudonym but for a non-fiction book, I'm worried that it won't be so attractive without a (my) backstory'...any thoughts?

No I don't edit as I go. I write really quickly but then I do a lot of editing.

Yes I publish under my own name. I think it's super common to publish under pseudonyms but yes with non-fiction, if your personal story/brand is relevant to the book, then publishers will probably want you to use it as it's a valuable marketing asset.

Is this you?: www.charlotteduckworth.com/

I haven’t read any of your books if so but from the synopsis/ blurbs it sounds like I would enjoy them; which of your books are you most proud of/ would you recommend to somebody who is new to your work?

So is this an ad then?

Oh I know who you are, your user name does give it away, I don’t know if you want your identity to be secret though. I’ve read one of your books it was very enjoyable,

Interesting. Yes, your username is very outing 😂. I like your genre but confess to never having heard of you - so you’ve got yourself a new reader.

Oh I love your books - they're very engaging and - my biggest compliment - they belt along!

It's interesting what you say about the pandemic. I'm a writer too (ghostwriter, non fiction) and editors are telling me they want no books about it - but they're publishing a lot of them.

Good luck with writing for many years to come

Oops cross posted someone outed you 😂

OP did say they don't mind being outed. So not surprised the username is somehow outing.

Thought MN frowned upon self promotion?

Thanks OP 😉

I've had the same comment made to me by someone at Curtis Brown but she knows me well enough to try to say what I want to hear!! So it's interesting to hear it from someone else.

@MolkosTeenageAngst

Is this you?: www.charlotteduckworth.com/

I haven’t read any of your books if so but from the synopsis/ blurbs it sounds like I would enjoy them; which of your books are you most proud of/ would you recommend to somebody who is new to your work?

I feel like I should do some jazz hands dancing or something. It is!

The Perfect Father is the one that has done the best by far, but my personal favourite is Unfollow Me which is about Instamums :D. The Rival was my debut and probably the closest to my heart. But I should probably listen to my readers, so I'd suggest The Perfect Father. Thank you if you do try them, I honestly didn't do this to get publicity! Don't want to break any rules either... eek.

Ooh I've not heard of you before but am very tempted to try one of your books now! If this is an ad it worked on me 😄

Argh, I'm sorry. My username was just lack of imagination as I use it for everything. Not deliberate.

Let's stop talking about my books and go back to writing advice!? That's what I started the thread for, I promise.