What a lively and interesting meeting it was on Tuesday. The evening opened with notices and planned events. The Bombshells had manned a cake stall at the BBH Summer Fete at the beginning of the month - a particularly noble effort, (many thanks ladies), on the part of those who were there in view of the appalling weather, and £250 was raised for WI funds. We also had the customary collection of tins for Horsham Matters.
Our speaker for the evening was introduced. Lisa Brace is a local lady, author of two books and a couple of novellas. She was a delightful speaker, vibrant, enthusaistic and full of knowledge of the world of writing and publishing. Whilst Lisa had worked in jounalism and marketing, her career as a writer of novels really started in lockdown. The plot for her story, 'Star Survivor' came to her in a dream featuring Simon Cowell, and she woke up thinking that she had the kernel of an idea for a book. On telling all this to her husband, his response was that she should get on and write it. Lisa's father was a journalist, so she has moved in writing circles literally since infancy. It is said that you can't write without reading, well in Lisa's case, she has read, and still does read an astonishing amount every day. Her grandmother taught her to read, which meant that she was reading long before she went to school and books have remained central to her.
So 'Star Survivor' was written, then revised, and honed, and polished, and sent off to a publisher. Even that process is fraught with obstacles. Publishers have dozens of manuscripts sent to them and the good ones, or rather, the ones considered publishable, are few indeed. And then the actual process of publishing begins and it was astonishing to hear how little control an author has over the final book - even the title may be changed. There are unwritten but very clear rules about the cover - pastel colours and whimsical for chicklit, a handsome couple for romance, dark coloured and brooding for crime novels. Which is all fine, until a book like 'Star Survivor' appears, which doesn't quite fit any specific genre. It is not unreasonable to think that the front cover of a book would be designed in collaboration with the author, but not so. Lisa's sole input was to decide between midnight blue and dark blue for the colour of the nail varnish of the lady on the front cover - who incidentally resembles none of the characters!
Lisa's second novel is historical fiction and is based loosely on the life of Olympic gold medal winner Lucy Morton. We were shocked to learn that exactly one hundred years ago Lucy swam to victory at the Paris Olympics, but not one of us had heard of her. It is an amazing story of passion and determination. Nine months of research was followed by a further nine months of writing before Lucy's story was ready. This time Lisa decided to go down the route of independent publishing.
Lisa explained that an author may receive as little as 10% if the book goes to a publisher, and although there is more support, there is less control. If publishing independently the author has a lot more control and stands to make a larger percentage profit on each book sold.
With a plea from the heart, Lisa asked that having finished reading ANY book that readers should take the time and the trouble to review it (positively)
Conversation flowed on with a barrage of questions and answers, and we ladies learnt huge amounts about the world of publishing before our time with Lisa drew to a close. The meeting ended appropriately enough with a book swap, all of the books being wrapped and spread on a table, so there was no clue as to what we were getting. Book swaps are great fun and often means that we end up reading a book totally unlike our normal choice and thoroughly enjoying it.
We are pictured above with our book swap books and Lisa is pictured below as are her two novels.
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