This blog was written in March 2011. Spoilt (Rich Girl) was published with Night Publishing under the pen name Joanne Ellis. It made number one on the free bestselling list in the US and number 2 in the UK. It had over 100,000 downloads and lots of reviews. Due to Night dissolving and re-branding with new pen name and title... I haven't been able to achieve this again. It may not have had anything to do with the name change... it could be it was just luck, or people didn't like my book so much... It was a different time then. Amazon would choose books to make free and then market them. It got attention due to this and they still paid royalties for the sales. Very very different climate till now but I live in hope that one day I can have success in some way again.
So here is what I wrote during that time with some editing!:
I write adult fairy tales. Perhaps it can be a new genre.
Yes there is always a happily ever after and a formulaic plot but I try to add my own spin. Whether that is anyone’s cup of tea, well I’m starting to find out.
I believe there was a writer within me for a long time but I wasn’t listening. I only wish I realised how much it would become part of me, I would have woken up sooner. But I didn’t. When I started it was rough. No ‘skills’ and a bad memory when it came to grammar, meant I had to learn again. I read how to books, I got advice from writers I admired and I tried to get better. I hope I have. So when my first story went free on a little place called Amazon Kindle I was so not prepared for what would happen.
So from the first moment of plotting out my first short rough draft of my first story to the day I discovered it to be ‘taking off’ as a freebie, three years had passed. I still don’t think I believe it. After many, many hours of reading other amateur’s work (like myself), where I could also learn by reviewing, which in turn helped me to find out how to improve myself, editing and re-writing scenes and the thing I’m worst at, cutting (I don’t write enough as it is), Spoilt was born. My first ‘finished’ manuscript. Was I ever wrong. After being so dumbfounded by winning the ‘First Chapter of the Month’ competition at Night I went through it all again. Editing, rewriting.... My point out of all of this is; I am only a ‘young’ writer but I believe I have stories to tell.
What I got from all this, the most amazing thing of all, was the friends I made. From all over the world I have a community of writers who I can share my woes with and they will pat me on the back, give me a reality check and send me on my way. I can share my news with them and they are excited. I can share their joys and say yay for them. All of that plus many others who support me, always, is how I keep going. Nothing could ever replace that community and what it has done for me and my writing. At the top of that is Tim. I have shouted out for him this week already. When I considered throwing in the towel this week, Tim supported me through every high and low. To him I am the most grateful. (Tim was my editor at Night)
At the end of the day, I was lucky but with that luck came nastiness. I may be an average writer with three stars who disappointed people enough to write bad reviews but 16 bad reviews out of many and out of thousands of downloads isn’t too bad. Maybe the people who haven’t reviewed are enjoying it. That is all I can hope for.
I may write poorly and maybe I should give it away... yet I will still write because I love it. Because the muse comes calling and being in the zone...is unexplainable. I do the best I can to hopefully give someone a few hours escape like reading has been for me.
I have never said I wrote anything but adult fairy tales.
This has been a remarkable journey.
So here is what I wrote during that time with some editing!:
I write adult fairy tales. Perhaps it can be a new genre.
Yes there is always a happily ever after and a formulaic plot but I try to add my own spin. Whether that is anyone’s cup of tea, well I’m starting to find out.
I believe there was a writer within me for a long time but I wasn’t listening. I only wish I realised how much it would become part of me, I would have woken up sooner. But I didn’t. When I started it was rough. No ‘skills’ and a bad memory when it came to grammar, meant I had to learn again. I read how to books, I got advice from writers I admired and I tried to get better. I hope I have. So when my first story went free on a little place called Amazon Kindle I was so not prepared for what would happen.
So from the first moment of plotting out my first short rough draft of my first story to the day I discovered it to be ‘taking off’ as a freebie, three years had passed. I still don’t think I believe it. After many, many hours of reading other amateur’s work (like myself), where I could also learn by reviewing, which in turn helped me to find out how to improve myself, editing and re-writing scenes and the thing I’m worst at, cutting (I don’t write enough as it is), Spoilt was born. My first ‘finished’ manuscript. Was I ever wrong. After being so dumbfounded by winning the ‘First Chapter of the Month’ competition at Night I went through it all again. Editing, rewriting.... My point out of all of this is; I am only a ‘young’ writer but I believe I have stories to tell.
What I got from all this, the most amazing thing of all, was the friends I made. From all over the world I have a community of writers who I can share my woes with and they will pat me on the back, give me a reality check and send me on my way. I can share my news with them and they are excited. I can share their joys and say yay for them. All of that plus many others who support me, always, is how I keep going. Nothing could ever replace that community and what it has done for me and my writing. At the top of that is Tim. I have shouted out for him this week already. When I considered throwing in the towel this week, Tim supported me through every high and low. To him I am the most grateful. (Tim was my editor at Night)
At the end of the day, I was lucky but with that luck came nastiness. I may be an average writer with three stars who disappointed people enough to write bad reviews but 16 bad reviews out of many and out of thousands of downloads isn’t too bad. Maybe the people who haven’t reviewed are enjoying it. That is all I can hope for.
I may write poorly and maybe I should give it away... yet I will still write because I love it. Because the muse comes calling and being in the zone...is unexplainable. I do the best I can to hopefully give someone a few hours escape like reading has been for me.
I have never said I wrote anything but adult fairy tales.
This has been a remarkable journey.