BLOG TOUR: Trust Me

TRUST ME

by Gemma Metcalfe

Pages: 209 Kindle

Publisher: HQ Digital

Publication Date: March 10th 2017

ASIN: B01M4KBUBM

Summary 

One phone call. Two lives. Their darkest secrets.Lana needs to sell a holiday, fast. Stuck in Tenerife, in a dead end job, she never expected a response quite like Liam’s.Thousands of miles away a phone rings. Liam never intended to pick up, he’s too busy choosing the quickest way to die. But at least someone should know the truth before he goes, even if that someone is a stranger.As time runs out both are drawn to the other, expressing thoughts they never imagined they would share.When you’re about to die will your secrets even matter?

My Advice on Becoming a Published Author 

by Gemma Metcalfe

Since becoming published, people have often asked me for advice on how to write a novel and how to get published. Of course it is a huge compliment, and a little surreal as I too was asking the same questions to authors not so long ago. I always find it incredibly difficult to answer this question because of course I can only really offer my own personal experience. Every author´s journey to publication is personal, and each one will offer different tales of how they got there. However, there is one thing in common with every author. We all fell in love with storytelling, with the written word, and we all picked up a pen, or a laptop, and began to write. 

  My first piece of advice to anybody wanting to become a published author is to do it for the right reasons; because you have a story inside of you that won’t be silenced, because you are thinking up plot lines when really you should be tuning in to your boss´ work presentations. If you were ´born to write,´ you will know about it. It´s like a scratch that you just need to itch, a way of escape from the pressure of life. Do not do it for the money! Believe me, I wrongly assumed myself that a publishing deal was a guaranteed gateway to wealth… I slowly learnt that my presumptions were incorrect. A publishing deal simple gets your book onto platforms such as Amazon, Kobo and iBook’s, and if you have a traditional deal you may also see it in print. Having a book deal does not necessarily mean lots of people will buy it, and royalties on books are pretty low. Of course many authors do incredibly well financially, but it is not something which normally happens overnight. 

  The next big question is obviously how to write a full novel. Many people start their writing career with short stories, and find the transition between two-thousand words and eighty thousand words pretty daunting. I was exactly the same, and there isn’t really a transition formula which I can recommend. The only difference I can think of between ´Trust Me´ and the other novels which sit on my computer unfinished is the story itself. I knew with Trust Me that I had stumbled on something unique, that although the idea was thin when I originally thought it up, it had potential to grow and become something much more complex.

  Then of course there is the publishing deal itself. Many writers enlist the help of an agent first, who works to secure the publishing deal on behalf of the writer. I sent my manuscript to agents and direct to publishers, and in all honesty it was the publishers (HQ digital) who shown an interest almost immediately and I signed a two-book contract with them. They are open to submissions at present from unsolicited manuscripts, so if you have written a novel, why not get in touch with them? 

  So there you are, that is my advice on how to become a published author: Write from the heart, make sure you would like to read the story you write, and send it off to every publisher and agent in the entire world!

Trust Me… If I can do it, so can you!   

Author

Gemma Metcalfe is a Manchester born author who now lives in sunny Tenerife with her husband Danny and two crazy rescue dogs Dora and Diego. By day, Gemma can be found working as a Primary school teacher, but as the sun sets, she ditches the glitter and glue and becomes a writer of psychological thrillers. An established drama queen, she admits to having a rather warped imagination, and loves writing original plots with shocking twists. The plot for her debut novel ´Trust Me,´ is loosely based on her experiences as a call centre operative, where  she was never quite sure who would answer the phone…

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