How Are We Already Halfway Through 2024?

What a year so far! I like to try to write on here as much as I can, but I’ve had so much going on both as an author and in my personal life. But I won’t bore you with all of those little details.

So, what have I been getting up to in terms of author things?

Well, as it happens, an awful lot!

Audiobooks & A Cover Reveal!

In February, Steel Princess came out in audiobook form, and around the same time I got my gorgeous cover for book 2, Songbird Heir.

I started working with an audiobook narrator for my other series book 1, The Girl Behind The Glass, my dark retellng of Snow White. More news on this audiobook will be coming soon!

Author Events!

So far this year I have attended two amazing author events. I have plans for another potential one in September, but I’m so happy with the ones I’ve been to so far.

Herts Book Festival

In May, I attended Herts Book Festival for the second year running, with some of my author besties. This time it was a full weekend event so my partner and I stayed in a local Premier Inn, right beside a pretty canal!

That was on the evening of the Saturday event, which was an amazing day. I usually sell only a few of my own books, and we did our bundle that we did last year (3 books for 20 pounds!) but added another author so we made it 25 pounds for the four books instead. Still a great bundle! I recommend checking out Ocean Heart (a great mermaid story!), Sorceress of Truth (a romance story with a demon!), and The Guidal series (a dystopian book series with forbidden magic). All great reads! I included Steel Princess in our bundle because we all wanted to put our first books into it, so that if people wanted to try our books out but weren’t sure what to pick, they could give all of our first books a try for a good deal! It worked a charm as we sold quite a few on both days.

On the Saturday, we were right outside Hertford Castle, a beautiful location. There was a marquee with lots of authors, children’s events going on, and all great fun. We were inside the author’s marquee for most of the day, and my partner kept disappearing off to go exploring the town, and coming back to give me snacks and lunch. Bless him! I had lots of great interest in my character art and my book The Girl Behind The Glass on the Saturday, and Steel Princess was a hit on the Sunday. The Sunday was in a lovely arts centre in Ware, and again it was quite busy all day. Had lots of interest in our books and our publishing and writing processes. Best weekend ever!

Then in June, I had another event, all on my own this time!

Brown Books, Luton

In this one, I went to the lovely Brown Books in high town in Luton. I’d reached out a few weeks before, asking if they take indie books, and they offered me the opportunity to do an author event. It was a lovely, cosy store. I had a couple of uni friends come, and met a new lady who bought a copy of The Girl Behind The Glass, and they all sat and quizzed me on my writing process for two hours. It was small and cosy but really lovely.

Writing, Publishing, BookTok-ing, and Book Fairying

This year so far, I’ve been working through Songbird Heir (cover revealed above). I’ve been getting a lot closer to publishing the sequel to Steel Princess. I received my edits from my editor, so I’ve been working through her feedback and that of a beta reader. Great fun so far. But I only get the chance to work on it at weekends because I’m always doing freelance editng work in the evenings.

I’ve also met some lovely ladies through the world of book fairying, and I’ve had a few people reading and enjoying my books from this. I’ve also been doing bookish lives on TikTok.