My last blog post was dated September 2021, and I was living with the knowledge that my publishers, Bloodhound Books, had recently sold out to an American company, Open Road Media.
I was heartbroken. Seven years of being published by Bloodhound seemed for nothing, and then suddenly, out of the blue, I began to have talks with Boldwood Books. Sales had decreased dramatically with Bloodhound following the takeover, possibly because Open Road aren’t publishers, and I knew I had to move on, to leave the company I could never envisage leaving.
Boldwood offered me a five book deal. The first of those books, One Hot Summer, will be released on 25th August 2022, followed at the end of November by the second of the books, The Family at No. 12. These two books are standalones and couldn’t be more different! The first is a police procedural (not erotica as the title might suggest lol), set in Sheffield and is a tale of arson. The second book is a story of a child, born under appalling conditions and hidden away. It is much darker than my normal offerings, and it came about because I saw an article about a house with no books.
These two books are well on their way to launch, and I have now started the third book, which is book one in a series. The lead character, Matt Foster, is a DI in the police, but when he isn’t allowed to investigate the murder of his own father, he walks away. I am now halfway through the writing of it, have no idea yet where it’s going, but I do like my characters, so that’s a good start. This book will arrive on kindles, in paperback, in hardback, in audible, and large print, in March 2023. There will be two further books in the trilogy, and then I will go back to standalones for a while.
In my personal life I have managed to acquire a great-grandson by the name of William, born 19th December 2021. A proper cutie, love him to bits.
I continue to make journals, make all my own diaries (partly because I need dates setting in stone a long way in front of the current year) and generally love paper crafting. I do lots of thinking about where my stories go next when I have a tube of glue in my hand.
So that’s where I am – twenty books with Bloodhound Books, and now the beginning of the next leg of my career with Boldwood Books. I am indeed blessed.
Anita
Sheffield 2022
Anita Waller 