Jane Ellyson's Blog, page 2

Another Festival of ideas

Jennifer Byrne in conversation with Bryan Brown

Snapshots from Byron Writers Festival, 2024

Words can be limiting in describing experiences. I know that’s a strange thing for a writer to say.  It’s how I feel when I try to explain the buzz from the Byron Writers Festival. I’ll try to share a few insights. 

I loved the historical reveals, the clever conversations and the occasional burst of song. Indeed, I was chuffed to join Kate Ceberano, and hundreds of others in singing, ‘I will survive’, when we were exploring The Power of Creativity. Actor, author and all-round-lovable-larrikin Bryan Brown, observed ‘the warmth from the festival that makes you feel good.’ 

One of the hardest things about the festival is choosing between the sessions. There are five events running concurrently across seven slots each day. Topics discussed included: politics, poetry and pain; grief, grace, governance and grassroot activism; media, moguls and monsters. (There may be tautology in this last phrase). Also, writing crime and killing for country, and love, brotherhood and status anxiety, to name but a few.  

Most patrons were grey-haired and left leaning. I was clearly hanging out with my tribe as I sat in in the winter sunshine, on Saturday anyway, nodding gently and occasionally chortling. I loved learning more about other writers’ processes for crafting characters and creating complex plots. As always, it was good to be introduced to authors I’d not yet been acquainted with. My pile of to-be-read books has grown exponentially because of my weekend at the beautiful Bangalow Showgrounds.  It was time well invested and I’m already looking forward to next year’s conversations and to meeting more Australian storytellers. 

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What would you take into the wilderness?

Above image taken by Martin Schalter on Unsplash photos

The global popularity of the Alone Tv series, has many folks imagining how they would fare in such a challenging ‘survival of the fittest’ situation.  Would they be able to build a secure shelter and hunt for food?  Would they be comfortable spending so much time alone? Are they closer in character to Edward Michael “Bear” Grylls or Walter Mitty? From the competitions run already we know that some contestations only last a day while others can hold on for seventy days. I’m thinking here about Woniya Dawn Thibeault who survived 73 days by herself, building a shelter out of tree branches, hunting for food with a bow and arrow and surviving fierce winter storms. She survived for 10 weeks off of 10 snowshoe hares, 10 squirrels, one grouse, and quarts of berries. In the process, she lost a third of her body weight.

Obviously if you wanted to enter the Alone competition, or simply to go into the wilderness by yourself, you’d need to give serious consideration to what tools you’d take to support your safety, survival, and comfort. Factors influencing your decision would include the terrain, climate, and weather conditions of your destination. For example, will you be in the desert, forest, mountains, beside a river or in a coastal area.

In Alone with a Tasman Tiger, Sebastian Ward is told he can only take ten items. This is what he selects.

1.          knife with belt carrier

2.          lighter

3.          water container

4.          saw

5.          sleeping bag

6.          cooking pot

7.          head lamp

8.          tarp

9.          fishing line and hooks

10.        axe

You can learn how he, and indeed the other five contestants, go in securing a shelter, finding food and managing interactions with wild animals, when they are dropped in the wilderness in Western Tasmania with their ten items. Did they choose wisely? Will they last longer than a week? The clock is ticking for them all.

Night sky image from Joe Leahy on Unsplash

Available for pre-order here.

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What inspired me to write Alone with a Tasman Tiger?

I’d always had difficulty writing a novel beyond 40,000 words because that was how long it typically took to get the idea out of my head and onto paper. Knowing that I had to write a story of at least 70,000 words to enter the Hachette Richell Prize competition, I decided I needed to combine a few stories to make the word count. This created a wonderful challenge as I pulled the stories together.

Writing Alone with the Tasman Tiger allowed me to combine three story ideas that were each compelling in their own right. First was my fascination with the Alone TV series showing on SBS in Australia, where competitors are dropped in the bush and have to build a shelter, find food and manage the inevitable loneliness that will come.

I had been particularly enthralled by the Australian edition of Alone set in Tasmania and by one of the winners, Gina Chick who had a strong affinity with the bush.

The second interest, driving Alone, was that of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race.

It’s a grueling offshore race that can take from 50 to 100 hours and where a crew has to work closely together as they battle the high winds and strong waves from Sydney Harbor to Constitution Dock. I was interested in knowing what that experience was like and read a number of sailing books prior to writing Alone.

And my third interest came from my love of thrillers like Stranded by Sarah Goodwin, Outback by Patricia Wolf and Furious: Sailing into Terror by Jeffrey James Higgins James. I’ve also enjoyed reading the James Bond stories by Ian Fleming although I think the leading character James Bond, is tired, misogynist and well past his use-by date. I’ve reinvented the concept with two feisty female sleuths; Galina Ivanov and Charlotte Harmon.

I’ve also been intrigued by all the chatter about microwave technologies used as a weapon and the resulting Havana Syndrome, an illness affecting diplomats, intelligence officers and military personnel around the world. So there’s a nod to this devastating technology and a need for our sleuths to outsmart the Russian spies.

I relish reading books that draw you in quickly, continue with the fast pace and have twists and reveals up until the last chapter. I’d love to know if readers thing I have achieve this in Alone.

Alone with a Tasman Tiger is currently available for pre-order on Amazon. I’ll let you know in September if I’m long-listed for the Hachette Richell prize.

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November news

End of year holidays are quickly approaching with many thinking about books on their TBR list. I’ve read a couple of good books lately. There’s romance in both, but that’s not the book’s main genre. There are elements of heartache, family, friendship and mystery.

I know I’m late to the party, but I’ve only just finished It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover. Admission here. I resisted buying it because domestic violence was a story element. However when I saw that it was listed in the top 100 best-selling novels in the US, I thought, gotta read this. And I’m pleased I did. The characters are beautifully described and I loved the device of Lily revealing her back story through her unsent letters to Ellen DeGeneres. Such an unusual story and then you get to the end and read the author’s notes to learn that a great deal of the storyline was influenced by her own life experience. I hope one day to write this well. Highly recommended.

Fantastic premise for a story starting with Alice, our protagonist, staring at the body of her dead husband – except it isn’t him.

Excellent first two acts exploring a relationship from two perspectives. There were so many warning signs that Alice kept ignoring.

I couldn’t put The Man She Married down, and kept rushing through all my daily life so that I could return to the world of Alice and Dominic.

However, I think that Act Three let the reader down as it whimpered to an ending. A few too many non-relevant scenes, reducing the fast pace, and I felt like the accident remained unresolved by the end. Still, I recommend the book.

Many thanks to those readers who purchased Over Byron Bay while it featured in a Book Bub Deal. Since I last wrote I’ve released An Extraordinary Wedding.

‘It’ll be a very simple wedding Mum. Nothing extraordinary.’

If only…

I’m trying hard to stay focussed and write a few books and then to release one each month, but I get so excited once the story’s told and the cover’s made. It’s just too hard to not press the publish button.

So please help holde me acountable for the next three action-adventure-romantic-suspense novels that I have on the go. The first one is tentatively titled Alone and is set in Tasmania, Australia.

The romance is between two contestants on a reality TV show where the person who lasts the longest in the wilderness, wins $250,000.  Sound familiar? But in my story, one of them disappears. I openly admit that my inspiration came from watching the TV series, Alone, and that I may need to change the title to Away. We’ll see.

And the book after that is also a TV series inspired creation, along the lines of Farmer wants a Wife. I’m loving the plotting. Probably the best bit of the writing process.

Walking tours in South of France

Summer scenes in Antibles

The Côte D’Azur, more commonly known by English speaking folk as The French Riviera, is a favourite holiday location for many. It’s easy to see why. There’s a magnificent rocky coastline with many dramatic vantage points, and secret swimming holes. A plethora of historic towns and villages in gorgeous shades of pink, orange and yellow. You can stroll along the promenade des Anglais in Nice or trek in the majestic Mercantour.

I wrote Substitute Child while I lived in Mandelieu la Napoule. This town in nestled between their famous neighbour of Cannes and the rugged Estérel mountains. I made sure that my heroine visited many of my favourite places and I’ve documented two walking tours, so that you can follow her journey. These tours are through Antibes and Cannes.

Walking tour of Antibes

Antibes old town – Such a beautiful place to explore on foot

Walking tour of Antibes

1. Start at the Ferris wheel beside the port of Antibes on Avenue De Verdun.

2. Walk alongside the ramparts (old walls) of Antibes down to the far end of the port. There will be hundreds of leisure craft gently bobbing in the water.

3. Walk back towards the wall and under the archway taking the left turn up Av. de la Salis. You will enjoy the same wonderful views back to the port and across La Gravette Beach that Jacques showed Charlotte.

4. Continue along this road for another twenty metres and enjoy looking over to the Cap d’Antibes.

5. After fifty metres stop at the Picasso museum and then wind your way through the narrow streets back to Cours Masséna

6. I recommend you stop at the Antibes Provencal Markets to take in the smell of flowers and spices.

7. Then follow Rue Sade down the hill until you emerge into a large town square. I recommend you, pick up a gelato and then enter Rue Thuret.

8. Follow Rue Thuret until the end where it joins Boulevard d’Aguillon. Turn right and you will be a few steps away from the Hop Store, where Charlotte, Mason and Scott enjoyed their first drink together. (Let me know if the sign, No kissing in the bar unless with staff, is still there).

In Cannes, home of the Festival de Cannes

Walking tour of Cannes

1. Start at the Palais des Festival et des Congres at the end of the Croisette. Look at the hundreds of handprints of movie stars who’ve left their mark while visiting the city.

2. Walk along the Croisette taking in the sparkling Mediterranean on your right and the stunning hotels on your left. You could walk a long way here taking in the wonderful seaside ambiance. I propose you cross the road and take Rue Mace up to Rue D’An[1]tibes. The shops may tempt you, but I suggest continuing up Rue Chabaud until you come to the pedestrianised street of Rue Hoche. You will see a number of lovely cafes on this street.

3. Continue along Rue Hoche until you reach Rue de 24 Août and turn left and walk back down to Rue d’Antibes.

4. Turn right and walk a few hundred meters down this shopping street then turn right at Rue Louis Blanc. Walk three blocks and you will see the Marche Forville on your left.

5. Walk through to the end of the market and turn left at Rue du Docteur Pierre Gazagnaire, walking down to Rue Felix Faure which joins Rue Georges Clemenceau. Turn right here. Take Rue du Barri to walk up to the castle to view the city of Cannes and Îles de Lérins.

6. When you walk back down the hill the same way, walk across Rue Georges Clemenceau and down to Quai Saint-Pierre. You can walk along the waterfront, to the large carpark where you can take a boat out to Îles de Lérins. I would suggest you visit Ile Sainte Marguerite if you are pressed for time. You’ll not only be able to visit the forest where Scott and Char[1]lotte were held captive, but also the cell which was home to the ‘Man in the Iron Mask’.

On Ile Sainte Marguerite

And if you want to pack action filled reading with a touch of romance for your holiday on the French Riviera, pick up a copy of Substitute Child.

https://storyoriginapp.com/universalbooklinks/486c867c-f9a7-11eb-8717-9bffda9d3254

Feeling blue? Need a little nonsense?

View from the Reef Hotel on Hamilton Island

With lockdowns everywhere, many are feeling trapped and depressed. I think that we could all do with an activity that takes us somewhere beautiful, where we vicariously participate in a heart-pumping adventure, perhaps across shark infested waters and deep into critter-ridden bushland.

If you’d like to come with me on this journey, I suggest picking up a copy of Nonsense in the North.

This is the last book in the Northern Rivers series and I had such fun writing it. Charlotte and Scott have quite a few hurdles to overcome.

‘So what kinda trouble did Charlotte get into this time?’ you ask. Well, Ms Wyatt is 100% doing the rescuing in this instalment and needs to draw on all the knowledge, contacts and tenacity she’s developed since she left Australian shores to collect that bottle with a message inside.

The story starts in Port Vila, Vanuatu and quickly moves to beautiful Queensland, Australia.

A too-good-to-be-true sailing trip results in Scott’s disappearance from waters near Hamilton Island. Now considered by police to be an integral part of an international drug smuggling operation, Charlotte relies on a sympathetic police officer and an aboriginal tracker named ‘Nonsense’ to travel deep into Cape Conway, to disrupt a drug exchange and to find her Scott, improving their chances of a happily-ever-after. All the while helping plan her best friend Miranda’s wedding to Mason.

Pick up your serve of escapism here. It’s a feel good story, with a distinctive Crocodile Dundee flavour.

Missing in Myanmar arrives July 4

Cover photo taken by Matan Levanon

July 4 is celebrated as Independence Day in North America. Because of the significance of the break from a controlling power, I chose this day to release the fourth book in the Northern River series, Missing in Myanmar. The book was live written as the Generals took over on 1 February 2021. I observed what was happening from Australia with alarm. I drew on wonderful memories of a cycling tour in southern Myanmar in early 2020 to craft the story. Here’s an overview.

Charlotte Wyatt wasn’t sure what she was letting herself in for when she agreed to be available for occasional information gathering activities for the Australian Securities Intelligence Organisation. Her first assignment comes at the end of a holiday in Thailand. Having just said goodbye to her boyfriend, who has taken a job sailing from Port Vila in Vanuatu to Bundaberg in Australia, Charlotte Wyatt is intrigued by the opportunity to go to Myanmar to gather information about a missing person.

With the help of a mysterious librarian, she finds the information she was sent to retrieve, and then, just as she’s making plans to return, the lights go out in Myanmar and the military takes over. With a reluctant passenger, Charlotte runs checkpoints and dodges bullets, in a race to the border.

It’s a fast-paced read. Perfect reading for the independence day long weekend.

Your copy here.

Roman Roulette rocks Charlotte’s world

Roman Roulette book cover and photos from Unsplash

COVID19 killed my Sicilian scouting trip.  I’d been so looking forward to sailing from Naples to Sicily as a part of the research process for writing and investigating vineyards and cafes which would feature in my book, Roman Roulette.

Small details make stories richer and Over Byron Bay and Substitute Child benefited from my detailed local knowledge of the locations where all the action happened 

If you’ve read Substitute Child, you’d know that it concluded with Charlotte Wyatt stuck in Rome, and like her, I was stuck in Australia. Unable to fulfil the next stage of my plans, I turned to Google,as one does, to identify the places where my lead characters would argue, plot, fight, dance and escape from.

In Substitute Child, we watched Charlotte struggle with her identity and what she wanted for her life. When a curious opportunity puts her on a world stage and in grave danger, she acted boldly. You’ll need to read the book to see what she did and what happened as a result.

In Roman Roulette, she needs this new found courage and higher order planning skills as she looks for a friend who’s gone missing. Inadvertently caught up in the international slavery trade and forced to choose between several unbearable options, Charlotte embarks on a bold plan to save the women captured by The Monk, and in doing so, to save herself.  I particularly loved writing the scenes at the old theatre in Taormina and look forward to going there, once we are out of lock-down, and gazing at Mt Etna and out across the Tyrrhenian Sea.

Roman Roulette goes-live on Amazon on June 15 2021.  You can pick up your copy here

Boy from Bangalow has arrived

Delighted to report that in response to feedback from readers, I’ve written a prequel to Over Byron Bay titled, the ‘Boy from Bangalow‘.

Main street of Bangalow in northern New South Wales, Australia

It’s a short story providing insight into Melissa and Andrew’s relationship from their early days at university. Here’s the cover.

The centrepiece of the story is a debate held during orientation. The topic is that The pen is mightier than the paintbrush. Andrew is arguing for the affirmative and does a masterful job. But don’t underestimate Melissa!

Who wins you ask? You’ll need to read the book which you can pick up for free when you join my newsletter list.

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Social media tips for romance writers

Centre image taken by @abdu27 on @Unsplash. Other snaps taken by me.

I was chuffed to sit down with Book Marketing expert Katie Sadler, to chat about about how she helps romance writers to find and engage with their readers through social media. Katie has great experience in this area having worked for HarperCollins, Quercus and Ebury Publishing, I started by asking her …

What sort of social media campaigns have you been involved with?

A couple that stand out to me were working on the launch of HarperImpulse, which was a romance digital only list I worked on when I was at HarperCollins. We did the entire thing online, and had almost no budget to do so. We launched authors then who are now selling hundreds of thousands of ebooks and whose physical books are in big supermarkets here in the UK. It’s really exciting to think that that all started off the back of us building the authors and the brand up via social media. 

Another that stands out is the recent launch for Peter May’s Lockdown, which is a crime novel he wrote 15 years ago and which he couldn’t get published because the idea of London completely closing was too unbelievable. We launched this entirely online because due to the pandemic, there weren’t a lot of other options! And it has been a huge success. From the minute we announced it, it went into the Amazon bestseller chart, and it was on the Sunday Times bestseller list here in the UK for weeks.

There have been loads of others, as a lot of what I do working with authors in-house at Quercus, as well as with the authors I work with directly, is to do with social media marketing and how people can use content to connect with and grow their audience, and then sell to them without feeling gross!

What were the characteristics of the most successful campaigns?

There are a few things that stand out for me about these two campaigns I mentioned, which I think could be applied to campaigns at every level.

Firstly, there is the idea of community. So, one of the things that made HarperImpulse successful was that we focused in on community at the absolute core of what we were doing. The authors were all connected to one another in a private Facebook group, and were encouraged to support the titles that were being published. This DID have downsides, mostly to do with boundaries – people messaging you on Facebook late at night asking about promotions, people comparing their activity with others’ etc, but on the whole, it was a really great way for them to get to know one another and to use their collective platforms to raise one another up.

We also had a community of book bloggers who we would send images and assets to regularly, who were first in line to download new books as they were published. We built really strong relationships with those bloggers, as did the authors, and it meant that whenever we shared anything online, we knew that there was going to be a group of people who were going to amplify that for us and spread the word further.

For Lockdown, we had an author with a very significant following already, so that always helps, but this was SUCH a contentious book and we had very little time to prepare the ground. We launched it the week that everyone was sent home from work, and I think the week after that, Boris Johnson was sent into hospital. So, it was very topical, sometimes it felt like it was too close to home.

But it kind of goes back to the community thing again – this book came out of a suggestion from one of the people in his community. ‘You should write a book that’s set during the pandemic’ – someone suggested. And he remembered that actually, he already had! 

For an individual author, I cannot stress enough that building relationships with your community is so, so key. Support them, get to know them – treat them like people, not just faceless ‘followers’ – engage with them.  

And those that failed – what did you learn from that?

I think sometimes there are books where getting the messaging right can be hard. So – what is the thing that people actually want to get when they read this book? What would make them intrigued enough to actually click through to read more? What is going to make them hit buy?

For some books, like with Lockdown, that messaging, once you get it clear, really hits the mark and you’re golden. But for others, you’ll try one thing, nothing. So you try another thing, nothing. It just means that you need to keep experimenting and trying different angles, but sometimes you kind of run out of steam, especially if you’re in house and you’ve got eight other titles that you’re working on that month! 

OR, sometimes, you see something absolutely flying on social media, then they get to the Amazon page and literally no one is buying the book! That shows me that there’s something that needs changing on the Amazon page in terms of the cover or the description or getting more reviews, but it’s harder to pinpoint exactly what needs changing, so can take longer to get right.

What’s key to engaging with readers?

Engaging with them. As in – a lot of people expect people to engage with their content because they are sharing great content. But it’s when you start going out and engaging with what they are putting out into the world AND sharing that great content that you can start to see shifts in how much engagement you get.

How much attention do traditional publishing houses pay to marketing through social media channels?

A lot. Most of the campaigns I work on, particularly now when other routes are not actually even available to us, are supported by Facebook advertising. So that’s paid-for stuff. 

But getting authors who are able to talk about their writing in a natural way is a gift. It’s not just about saying ‘my book is out now, buy it’, it’s about taking people on a journey to get to know you, discover how you write, what you write about, what inspires you, what blocks you have around writing – it’s letting people in a bit, and making them feel invested in what you do. Having an author who is able to do that makes a huge difference to the results.

And publishing’s own social channels are so important, more important now than ever. Building up direct relationships with bloggers and Instagrammers and booksellers are all SO important these days, and social media is where they (and you!) are able to do that best.

So Katie if there were three things you wanted authors to take away today – what would they be?

Seek out your readers. Go out and actively seek your readers, and get to know them. Start interacting with your local bookshop manager. Build a relationship with bookstagrammers who like your kind of book. Don’t spam them with your content, but engage with them about what they are sharing. This a) makes social media a much nicer place to be and also b) really helps you when you DO come to have a book to launch, be able to reach out and say ‘just wanted to let you know my new book is coming out next week, I would love it if I could send you a copy to review on your Instagram page or feature in your shop’ or whatever it might bePlease set up a mailing list! Social media is wonderful for building up relationships, but the number one way to drive actual sales online remains email. You don’t need to send out essays every week, but figure out a schedule that works for you and give people a reason to sign up, and you’re good to go.Promote yourself. Most authors I have ever worked with, apart from non-fiction business book type people, but sometimes them too, hate promoting themselves. But by not promoting what you do, you are doing a disservice to yourself, and also to your potential readers. Think of the good things they will get from your book and how it will help them. These are heavy, heavy times right now – romance books feel to me like they are a public service! We NEED escapism. We can’t travel anywhere physically – we NEED to travel in our minds. Focus on your readers’ needs rather than your fears, and hopefully that will make things a little bit easier.

Thanks Katie. I received so many insights from our conversation.

I wish other writers of romance the best with their efforts to increase their discoverability and engagement with readers.

Want to know more about book marketing? You can find Katie at https://katiemorwenna.co.uk/ 

Katie Sadler is also Katie Morwenna