Romance novelist wins multiple awards
"SilverWood Books was the perfect partner for my self-publishing journey - very helpful, professional and friendly. They were always on hand to answer any queries I had and to guide me in the right direction to produce a beautiful book for the market."
Elly Redding | Author
Author profile
Although she enjoyed scribbling stories as a youngster, Elly Redding’s nine-to-five life didn’t leave much time for writing. Her diverse career included nursing then, later, she was co-owner of a medical translation business for the pharmaceutical industry. As she loved dialogue, Elly started script writing in the 1990s for which she had a London agent. However, she didn’t have enough time to juggle that alongside work and family life. Finding herself with more freedom in the 2000s, she returned to writing with the goal to write a novel.
Her passion for romances was originally stoked by Gone With The Wind which she thoroughly enjoyed, but she couldn’t help imagining different endings for the classic work. For well-loved characters and the ones she began to create, she always wondered: what could happen if life gave you a second chance? Second chance romances have a certain suspense about them, from the mystery as to why the couple split the first time around - and it was on this premise that Elly’s first novel, True Colours, was based.
Once written, Elly submitted True Colours to the 2014 Festival of Romance and won the New Talent award. It gave her the confidence to get the book out there. At first, Elly considered the traditional publishing route, but having been involved in running her own business, she wanted greater control over the process. She decided on self-publishing, but didn’t have time to do it all herself; she wanted a partner to guide her through the process. Through the Romantic Novelist Association, Elly met another romance author who recommended SilverWood Books.
A clear roadmap to self-publishing
Every step in the publishing journey was clear for Elly. "From the start they were friendly, approachable and very professional. I knew exactly what I was paying for and all the options were clear. In life what you most often want, but sometimes don’t get, is a clear roadmap - and SilverWood explained everything, then did everything they said they would."
Elly found the cover design was most interesting because she loves art and wanted to see what someone else would imagine for the book. With True Colours, the first cover which was presented to her was perfect. With the second book, In Too Deep, Elly wanted to reflect the two locations on the cover, so it took more time for SilverWood to develop a bespoke illustration and get it right.
Once the book was ready, SilverWood guided Elly to put it on Kindle herself, so she can manage the eBook sales more closely. "SilverWood are very flexible with the market, allowing authors to do some things themselves. I really like the hybrid idea where they take care of most things, but also give you options. I wanted to do Kindle for the opportunity to learn about it and for the flexibility; plus I can see instantly whether anyone is buying it. If I suddenly decide I want to change a keyword or meta tag for the book, I can do it immediately. Once In Too Deep was set up as an eBook, I joined Kindle Unlimited, so that’s another avenue for sales and it’s great because it tells you how many pages are being read. Taking up the Kindle print on demand option also ensures that your book never goes out of stock on Amazon."
Award wins for both books
To help Elly celebrate, Bedford’s local bookshop owner at The Eagle Bookshop offered to hold a book launch for In Too Deep. Elly says, "The bookshop has some shelves for local authors and they were happy to stock copies of my latest book. It was such a sense of achievement to finish writing my books and have a dream come to fruition. I’m not a plotter, I find that books sometimes take on a life of their own - I’m never happier than when I’m writing and I’m now working on my third book. There’s always a bit of fear too; just because I enjoy the story, doesn’t mean anyone else will. That’s why it was such a boost to get the New Talent award. Then SilverWood came back to me with very positive feedback too."
After winning the New Talent award at the Festival of Romance, True Colours also received third prize in the Independent Author Book Award from "Words for the Wounded".
Having heard about IndieBRAG (Book Readers Appreciation Group) via the Alliance of Independent Authors, Elly submitted her books for review. They both received the B.R.A.G Medallion marking them as high-quality self-published books - on average only 20-25% of books submitted will achieve the accolade.
Elly Redding’s books have also won Chill with a Book awards; both books were given a Readers Award, In Too Deep won Cover of the Month and True Colours was awarded Book of the Month.
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