Book Bloggers and Reviewers: Anne Williams - Being Anne

Thank you to Ellie Holmes for another wonderful interview in this new series.

I am delighted to welcome Anne Williams to the RNA Blog’s monthly series where we speak to book bloggers and get an insight into their world. Welcome Anne, tell us a little bit about yourself and your blog.

My name is Anne (as everyone will have probably guessed…!), I’m 61 and single, and I live in the

beautiful market town of Wetherby in West Yorkshire. I’ve lived here for over 25 years now - the best decision I ever made - but I’m originally from a village near Bangor in North Wales. I used to be a civil servant, working in project and change management with DWP, focusing on marketing and communications. I was lucky enough to be able to be offered early retirement (and a full pension!) in March 2014, and now spend my time doing all the things I most enjoy.

When I was working, I found I was often too tired to read, but in my retirement I’ve re-discovered my passion for books. I spend a lot of my time reading - what can be better? -   writing about books on Being Anne, and discussing them on-line with blogging and reading friends (or to put it another way, I spend far too much time on Facebook and Twitter!). Much of what I enjoy in my free time is book related - I enjoy running the local U3A Book Group, I’m part of the admin team for the excellent Book Connectors group on Facebook and for LetsDoBooks, and I’m lucky enough to be invited to some of the best book launches and parties. I’ve been a reader for the RoNAs for many years now, and one of my highlights of recent years was attending the awards last year after winning a ticket in the reader draw.

What made you start to review/blog?

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I started blogging four years ago - I’ve been writing reviews for a lot longer, but (following the example of other reading friends) it seemed a good idea to have somewhere where I could pull them together. To begin with it was just a little hobby - reviewing books as I read them, and when I had the time - but after retiring I decided to spend some time building it into something more. I started joining blog tours, doing interviews and features - and people seemed to like reading what I wrote. And I found I particularly enjoyed spotlighting indie and self-published authors who often find it more difficult to get the word out about their books. Although it had over 220,000 views, I thought my old blog - on the blogger platform - looked a bit amateur (and much too cluttered and purple!) so I learned a whole new skill set and relaunched on the Wordpress platform, and I’m really pleased with the new look. I now try to post every weekday, just sometimes at weekends - and I love every moment. 

Has your blog ever won or been nominated for any awards?

I was so thrilled last year to be nominated for the Best Pal Blogger Award at the annual Bloggers’ Bash (the ABBAs) - and quite speechless (well, nearly… words seldom fail me!) when I actually won. It’s an award that meant a great deal to me, an endorsement of the direction in which I’d taken the blog - I’m delighted people voted for me as their “best pal”, and it made me realise that I’m obviously doing something right…

What’s your review policy?

It’s on the blog. under a tab in the header - here - and I do tinker with it regularly. I’d so love to be able to read, review and feature for everyone who asks, but it’s just impossible.

What’s the best and worst thing about running a blog?

Without a moment’s hesitation, the best thing has to be the community I’m part of - bloggers, readers, authors, publicists and publishers are all unfailingly lovely, and I’ve made the most wonderful friends. There’s really nothing I don’t enjoy - except maybe the frustration that I just can’t manage to review or feature every book and author that crosses my path.

I was interested to see you have a monthly book review slot on Tempo FM in Wetherby. Tell us a bit about what that involves.

It’s something that happened by chance, and I so enjoy it! The presenter got in touch for an  interview about the U3A Book Group, and mentioned that she’d been thinking about starting a book review slot. I now pop in monthly and spend a lovely hour chatting with the presenter, Bairbre, just sharing my thoughts on some of the books I’ve read and reviewed.

What do you expect from a writer when they appear on your blog?

No particular expectations, but I do like them to build a bit of a relationship with me before I feature them or review their books. Shares and retweets are always appreciated too!

I know you love to travel – What’s your favourite destination and what trips have you got planned for this year?

That’s a “favourite child” question! In the last ten years I’ve been so lucky to have time on my hands

and to be financially secure, able to pursue my passion for travel. I love my holidays, usually long haul, and particularly enjoy travelling to places where other people might not have been. Last year was Borneo and Singapore, the previous year Chile, Argentina and Brazil - if anyone’s interested in my holidays, I did write an article about them for OAPSchat a few years ago (you’ll find it here). I now have my mum living nearby, and my next holiday will be a cruise we’re doing together - Portugal, the Azores and the Canaries - but I’m already looking for my next exotic destination…

We often ask agents and publishers what they consider to be the next 'big thing' - what do you hope to see in 2017?

I’d like to see them taking the older reader more seriously - mainstream publishers do seem to avoid books that focus on older characters, and, although I really enjoy reading lighter romance, I do find it increasingly difficult to identify with characters in their twenties.

Links:

Blog: http://beinganne.com

Twitter: @williams13anne

 I can certainly vouch for the ‘best pal’ title. Thank you so much for being such a fab guest, Anne.

Ellie Holmes writes commercial women’s fiction with her heart in the town and her soul in the

country. Ellie’s debut release was The Flower Seller. A member of the RNA and the Alliance of Independent Authors, Ellie’s latest book The Tregelian Hoard, set in Cornwall, is the first novella in her Jonquil Jones Mystery Series

Links:

Facebook

Twitter:  

Thank you, Ellie and Anne. 

Members, why not leave a comment for Anne if you enjoyed this interview?

Ask the Industry Expert: Anne Williams

Today Helena Fairfax puts the spotlight on Anne Williams of the Kate Hordern Literary Agency. 

Thanks very much for joining us, Anne.

Please tell us a little about the Kate Hordern Literary Agency, how long you’ve been with the agency, and how you came to join. 

Kate Hordern founded the agency in 1999, after fourteen years selling rights at publisher Victor Gollancz where, as Foreign Rights Director, she worked with authors such as Terry Pratchett and Nick Hornby. Having worked alongside Kate many years before when we were both in our first publishing jobs at Gollancz, I joined KHLA in 2009, after a career break and over fifteen years as a commissioning editor, first at Michael Joseph, then for thirteen years at Headline. I commissioned and edited a number of Headline’s major commercial fiction authors, including the Sunday Times No. 1 bestsellers Sheila O’Flanagan and Lyn Andrews, top 10 bestseller Faye Kellerman and prize-winning crime writers Barbara Nadel, Manda Scott and Caroline Graham (on whose books the TV series Midsomer Murders was based).   Kate is based in Bristol, whilst I am based in North London.

What do enjoy most about your job? And least?

The best thing is the thrill of discovering a new writer whose work I think I can sell. The worst thing is the endless number of rejections I have to hand out to authors looking for agents. The bar for publication is set so high a writer has to be really exceptional and often also have a really exceptional idea behind their writing to stand a chance of making it to publication and I’m aware I’m dashing hopes on a daily basis.   But occasionally I make someone’s day too.

What is it you are looking for when a manuscript lands on your desk? Are there any specific plots or themes you’d like to see?

I am looking for a voice that makes me want to read on, to stay in their world. Genre fiction is all about having a distinctive voice in a recognisable narrative form – being different within a familiar mould. I am specifically looking for good regional saga authors who need to know how to be genuinely poignant and powerful without being hackneyed. Quite a tall order. I think family relationships are sometimes underexplored in these novels – romance plays an important part of course, but the best novels often feature other kinds of relationships too such as those between sisters or mothers and daughters. I’d also like to find a novel that does what Jo Baker’s wonderful LONGBOURN did – tell a classic story from the point of view of a minor character.  She did this beautifully with the PRIDE AND PREJUDICE plot and characters. I’m keen on working class history and also welcome books that show you another way of looking at the familiar. LONGBOURN satisfied on both those counts.

Where do you find your new authors, and how?

Mainly through direct submission, as per our website instructions, but some are referred to me through industry contacts.

What advice would you give someone submitting to you?

Be clear and brief in a cover letter. Let the sample chapters speak for themselves. Make sure your opening is as good as it can be. Find a great title. Suggesting authors you admire and would ideally like to be compared with is helpful. 

What benefits do you feel an agent can offer an author?

As well as the obvious  - giving access to markets an author would struggle to reach themselves, both in the UK and abroad, and improving contract terms, an agent gives an author a context for their journey of publication, helps them to interpret what information the publisher is giving them. They can also shape their work editorially so it is the best it can be before it is handed over to the publisher.

Romance is the biggest-selling genre in publishing, and yet the one taken least seriously by the mainstream. Why do you think this is? And how do you think romance authors can address the negative perception?

The term romance covers a huge remit, and can be both very precise in terms of what is required, or else very loose – 19^th-century literary classics are frequently termed romances. I think the ‘writing by numbers’ image attached to some kinds of romantic fiction has something to do with what you are referring to, as does the historical overpublishing of some sub-genres of it, so-called chick-lit being a case in point. In terms of addressing the negative perception, maybe writers of romance should take themselves a little more seriously – women in particular sometimes downplay what they do, overlaying how they describe their writing with a kind of nervous flippancy. Romantic fiction deals with one of the most important things in life, love, as well as many other issues that, even if lightly handled, are the stuff of everyday existence.

What’s your favourite romance novel of all time?

Well, I love Nancy Mitford’s THE PURSUIT OF LOVE and LOVE IN A COLD CLIMATE. Full of wit, glamour and humour but incredibly poignant too.

Apart from your own authors, which book have you enjoyed most in the past twelve months, and why?

I was very impressed by Elena Ferrante’s DAYS OF ABANDONMENT. She writes with a searing directness that is quite disturbing but riveting.

What do you like to do in your spare time?

Walk on Hampstead Heath, swim (not on Hampstead Heath).

If you could describe your working-day in just three words, what would they be?

Getting everything done.

Thanks so much for your thoughtful answers, Anne, and for taking the time to introduce yourself and the Kate Hordern Agency to RNA members.

Link: 
Kate Hordern Literary Agency

I hope you’ve enjoyed Anne’s interview as much as I did. If you have any questions or comments at all, please let us know. We’d love to hear from you!

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Helena Fairfax writes contemporary romance. Her latest novel, A Way from Heart to Heart, was published by Accent Press, and is set on the Yorkshire moors, near where she lives. Helena interviews authors and writes about books and writing on her blog at www.helenafairfax.com. You can also find Helena on Twitter, @helenafairfax, and a list of her books on Amazon http://www.amazon.co.uk/Helena-Fairfax/e/B00DRBYLO0/

Another great interview, Helena, thank you!

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