1 February 2024
Good morning everybody, from a somewhat miserable looking Sheffield. It was a glorious sunrise, but now it is a very grey Thursday lunchtime.
So, where am I as regards my career, and how are my books doing? The truth is my books are doing remarkably well and my career is trundling along in the way that I want it to trundle, especially now I have made changes within my working life.
Since 2015 I have been writing a minimum of three books a year, and loving the time spent at my computer. However, in January I had my 78th birthday, and although I don’t feel 78 I have decided to cut back a little so I can do other things I enjoy doing.
In addition our hospital visits with Dave have increased so I made the decision to produce two books a year until I say enough is enough. My contract with Boldwood now stipulates a book to be with them by 30 April and 31 October every year, and I feel a huge sense of relief for doing this.
My twenty books that are with Bloodhound are still selling well despite them all being quite old now, and when I see the likes of Beautiful, 34 Days, Malignant and Gamble regularly climbing the charts, my heart beats a little faster. It beats especially fast when Winterscroft, my favourite of them all, climbs even one place higher!
My Boldwood books now number six, with the sixth one about to launch in April 2024 and entitled The Girls Next Door. It is the story of four women, not linked genetically but linked by being born on the same street within a six month period, and who have lived almost as sisters from birth.
The Family at No.12, which was my second book with them, rose to #2 in the UK Kindle charts, and #49 in the US Kindle charts, and has so far sold 121,000 copies. I have a certificate and a bottle of champagne to prove it! The Couple Across the Street is catching up fast with 76,000 copies sold.
My third and fifth books with Boldwood form the first two parts of a trilogy series, and I am currently working on part three. The first two are Fatal Secrets and Fatal Lies, and although this new one doesn’t have a title yet I think I can feel confident it will be Fatal something or other. The series comes under the general umbrella of the Forrester Detective Agency, set in the Gleadless/Ridgeway area of Sheffield, and I’m definitely going to miss these characters when this book is finished.
My eighth book will be standalone, will be with Boldwood by 31 October this year, and I currently don’t have any thoughts in my head about this book at all. This is nothing new – I don’t plan, I rarely know the ending of a book until I reach it, and even then it usually takes me by surprise. But does that really matter when they reach #2 in the charts?
So, I hope that’s filled everybody in – my website has changed slightly in that all my books now have both UK and US links to buy the books, because to my surprise it seems my sales are split 50% in the UK, 40% in the US, and the other 10% is the rest of the world.
Thank you for reading my waffle, happy 2024 to all of you, and enjoy the summer when it finally arrives. I’m so ready for it.
Much love
Anita
Anita Waller 