blogging | Judith Barrow

Debbie Young's Writing Life

(Why my imminent book launch is an embarrassment to my daughter – a post originally written for the November issue of the Tetbury Advertiser)

Revealing the new cover of the paperback edition, to be launched on 13 November

Mummy, I never gave you my permission to put my picture on the cover of a book!”

So said my daughter Laura when I showed her the proof copy of my latest book, “Coming To Terms With Type 1 Diabetes”, to be launched in paperback this month to mark World Diabetes Day (14 November).

It’s a lovely photo that captured her unawares, looking characteristically dreamy, described by her doting grandpa as “St Laura”.

Now that Laura’s at secondary school, I’m probably on borrowed time for posting her photos online or for writing about her exploits in public. I’d hate to become an embarrassing parent – to which her retort would probably…

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SM4 Writers

The Spanish edition of The Istanbul Puzzle

Writing a bestseller – with sales of over 100,000 – is both an art and a craft. The skills of a writer and the techniques of marketing need to be applied. Here are some of the the things I learned on my fourteen year journey to seeing The Istanbul Puzzle translated into 10 languages with sales of over 112,000, including ebooks, at my last royalty statement.

1. Write a series. Readers like to have more than one book to read if they like the main character (they should like them too). And price the first one real cheap, once you have another one out, to get people reading with a low entry cost.

2. Write about popular themes. Love, adventure, crime are all popular. Reveal something too. Your voice will come through in the things you reveal.

3. Write shorter. 50-70k words is okay these…

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