Posted in Reading, Writing

My Next Big Thing

I’ve been tagged! And I mean that in a good way…

The authors Debbie Young and Helen Hollick
With Helen Hollick at the launch of “Sell Your Books!”

I’ve been tagged in “The Next Big Thing”.

This is a blog hop in which one blogger answers a series of questions about their work in progress before nominating other bloggers to whom they’d like to pass the baton. It’s a bit like a chain letter, only very much nicer!

I’ve been tagged by historical novelist Helen Hollick, whose books take pride of place on my mum’s bookshelf. Helen was a special guest at the recent launch party for my first book, Sell Your Books!,  kindly hosted by my publisher SilverWood Books – the company that also publishes Helen’s many novels. Sell Your Books! – my Previous Big Thing, so to speak – is a book promotion handbook to help self-published and indie authors to (yes, you’ve guessed it) sell their books. Published less than a month ago, my book has already received some terrific reviews on Amazon.

“Every indie author should have one!” says Helen Hollick.

But now I need to tell you about my NEXT big thing by answering the ten set questions… 

1) What is the working title of your next book?

Until this morning, it was going to be called Forever Young, but then I discovered there are already at least five books on the market with the same title, so it’s time to think again. (Book promotion tip: it’s always worth doing a search on Amazon before deciding on your final title.) So now I’m thinking it will be called Young By Name, for obvious reasons.

2) Where did the idea come from for your book?

The writer and blogger Laura Zera
My online friend, Laura Zera

As well as writing a book promotion blog for Off The Shelf Book Promotions to supplement the advice in Sell Your Books!, I’ve been penning this  personal blog, YoungByNamefor nearly three years. I’ve put my heart and soul into over 200 blog posts and received some lovely feedback from readers. But blog posts are a bit like newspapers: today’s news is tomorrow’s fish and chip wrapper. Old blog posts slip away into the sunset as new posts are added. When one of my regular readers Laura Zera told me recently that I ought to preserve them in a book,  not least so that my daughter can read them when she grows up, I decided that she was right.  So I’m going for it!

3) What genre does your book fall under?

To be honest, I’m not entirely sure. Some posts are sheer humour,  recounting funny things that have happened to me. Others are travelogues. Many are nostalgic bits of family history and memories from my childhood. So that I can get my marketing right, I’m going to have to invest some time in trawling through publishing websites till I hit upon a category that really fits. This will dictate the cover design, blurb, and so on.

4) Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

My late English teacher, friend and mentor Joe Campbell, who was a New Yorker, said that the actress Juliet Stevenson always reminded him of me but I think she’d need to put on a couple of stone, like Renee Zellweger in Bridget Jones, to play the part convincingly. A cross between the national treasures Tamsin Greig and Miranda Hart would be good: intelligence and ready wit under an outer wrapper of social awkwardness. Miranda in glasses and flat shoes but with her hair curled would be about right. For my daughter, Ramona Marquez, the little girl in the BBC TV series Outnumberedwith her hair straightened, would be fine. For my husband, it could be whoever who played the hero in Dr Finlay’s Casebook or Robert Carlyle in Hamish Macbeth to get the accent right. (“Och, no!” I hear him cry. He’d probably nominate a heart-throb such as Johnny Depp. Well, I could live with that!)

5) What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

“These whimsical, witty, moving and memorable observations of family life, written by a Londoner transplanted into the English countryside, are presented in bite-size chunks for perfect bedtime reading.” (With apologies for the excess of adjectives.)

SilverWood Books assisted publishing consultants with author Debbie Young
Team SilverWood with me at my book launch

6) Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

If I had the time and energy to master the technical processes and to organise the necessary professional services such as jacket design and proofreading, I’d do it all myself to save money. But to preserve my time for writing and book promotion, I’m planning to use the services of assisted publishing company SilverWood Books to self-publish. That way, I’ll be confident of a slickly produced, beautiful book that will look at home in any high street bookshop. Yes, it will cost me more, but I think the results will boost sales and so justify the investment.

7) How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

I’m aiming at doing a book for each calendar  year of blog posts, so the answer to that is a year to write the original blog posts. I’ll now need to spend a few days organising and subediting the posts before I send the manuscript to SilverWood.

8) What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

Any collections of essays or articles by bloggers or  newspaper columnists that people are happy to buy to re-read at their leisure in paperback. The best of these are by masters of the art such as Clive James, Alan Coren  or dare I suggest Jeremy Clarkson for those who find his views palatable? Among the younger generation, the actor Michael Simkins, junior doctor Max Pemberton and the wonderful Caitlin Moran are good examples. All completely different personalities, obviously, but each is entertaining and engaging in his or her own way.

9) Who or what inspired you to write this book?

I’ve always written and always liked to make quips about things going on around me, and the invention of the blog provided the right format for me to set all these thoughts down easily in one place. In my hectic daily schedule, in which I juggle different jobs, family life and volunteering, there is no shortage of ideas for new blog posts!

10) What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

There is a serious thread that runs through it about living with Type 1 diabetes – a serious condition that affects both my husband and my daughter. As with my first book, I’ll be donating a percentage of my royalties to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (www.jdrf.org.uk) to help fund research into a cure. Behind my flippancy lies this serious, purposeful undertone.

And now it’s time for me to pass on the baton to these writers whose Next Thing is definitely going to be BIG!

Cover of To The Fair Land, historical novel by Lucienne BoyceLaura Zera – a wonderful Canadian writer living in Seattle, who I first discovered via her compelling blog, before reading her terrific travelogue about Africa. Like mine, Laura’s  next big thing is going to be in a completely different genre to her previous book. Over to you, Laura!

Lucienne Boyce – like Helen Hollick, she’s a historical novelist published by SilverWood Books. She was invited to read her debut novel, To The Fair Land, at the prestigious Cheltenham Festival of Literature this year, and she’s now working on her second novel – but I’ll leave it to Lucienne to tell you all about it!

Sophie E Tallis – a local teacher who has just published her first book, White Mountain, but I have a feeling she has many more Big Things ahead of her!

Thanks again to the lovely Helen Hollick for tagging me – it’s been a pleasure and a privilege, Helen!

Author:

English author of warm, witty cosy mystery novels including the popular Sophie Sayers Village Mysteries and the Gemma Lamb/St Bride's School series. Novels published by Boldwood Books, all other books by Hawkesbury Press. Represented by Ethan Ellenberg Literary Agents. Founder and director of the Hawkesbury Upton Literature Festival. Course tutor for Jericho Writers. UK Ambassador for the Alliance of Independent Authors. Lives and writes in her Victorian cottage in the heart of the beautiful Cotswold countryside.

19 thoughts on “My Next Big Thing

  1. Great post Debbie, and I’m going to be buying it! You have a really engaging way of writing, and I’m looking forward to reading back through the year as I only found you recently. Great title too – Young By Name – and I can’t wait to find out more. I’m thinking of doing a similar thing by using some of my blog post ideas to put together a book of self-publishing advice aimed at the UK market, but it’s just time … 🙂

    1. Thanks, Jo! I’m very conscious that there are very few people who will have read all 200+ of my posts and it would be lovely to have a wider audience for them. I think this sort of book is good bedtime (or bathroom!) reading, fun little bits and pieces to dip into for a few moments here and there.

      I’m sure you’d get lots of takers for your proposed compilation too – there’s at least one similar one out there doing well (Catherine Ryan Howard’s) and no writer can ever have too many writing reference books, can they? 😉

      My biggest challenge will be deciding how to organise my posts – whether chronologically or by subject. Hmm, where’s an indexer when you need one?!

      Seriously, I’m wishing I’d had an index done for “Sell Your Books!” so when there’s a second edition (she says with characteristic optimism!), I may well be knocking on your door!

  2. Great post Debbie! Incidentally I’ve been thinking for some time about turning my own blog into a book, so I’m already finding what you’ve said very useful. Good luck with the Next Big Thing!

  3. Wow, I just love where you’re going with your idea. It’s so amazing what can develop after just a seed is planted. A creative mind at work, for sure.

    I’m very honored that you’ve included me for The Next Big Thing, so thank you for that, though I was tagged once already in September. I’ve done my interview questions already! Here they are: http://laurazera.com/?p=978

    Meeting you online has been a true pleasure, Debbie! Thank you for bringing light to my world.

    1. Laura, it’s a pleasure – and sorry I’d missed that you’ve already done your Next Big Thing! In fact, I had read it but had forgotten the Next Big Thing connection – doh! Oh well, that’s a few hours saved for you, then!
      Will keep you posted about the book – your support has definitely given me the courage to go for it! 🙂

      1. Ooh, how exciting! Thank you!
        I keep spotting your book in the shop window every morning as I drive past on my way to work (that black and white cover really jumps out at the passer by from amid the multi-coloured book fronts!) I’m half way through reading it, really enjoying it although I don’t usually read fantasy, and I will review it as soon as I’m done!

      2. Lol! I know what you mean, I see every day on my way to work…unfortunately they’ve just changed their window display and it’s disappeared! Ahhhh…Nevermind.

        That’ll be great about the review! Do let me know as well when the interview goes on Readathon so I can publicise it. Many thanks Debbie. 😀 xx

Leave a Reply to Laura Zera Cancel reply
https://authordebbieyoung.com/2012/11/14/my-next-big-thing/?replytocom=1131
authordebbieyoung.com
crawl=CC-MAIN-2022-33
195410
application/http; msgtype=response
sha1:XBLOO7PAEMQ227MCMNJLANZNBOZB7PEV
<urn:uuid:faa66243-df9a-4edb-88da-e5a5d82abe98>
2022-08-08T05:02:35Z
192.0.78.240
text/html
sha1:YAVCOWHCFZPECIODKBBSAYNRO445XZKL
<urn:uuid:145678ae-6593-404a-99e2-b23992400b78>
https://authordebbieyoung.com/2012/11/14/my-next-big-thing/?replytocom=1131
response
<urn:uuid:a916feba-eff7-474b-a1b7-4d8cfa3af6fd>
isPartOf: CC-MAIN-2022-33
publisher: Common Crawl
description: Wide crawl of the web for August 2022
operator: Common Crawl Admin (info@commoncrawl.org)
hostname: ip-10-67-67-227
software: Apache Nutch 1.18 (modified, https://github.com/commoncrawl/nutch/)
robots: checked via crawler-commons 1.4-SNAPSHOT (https://github.com/crawler-commons/crawler-commons)
format: WARC File Format 1.1
conformsTo: https://iipc.github.io/warc-specifications/specifications/warc-format/warc-1.1/