{"id":35744,"date":"2019-12-08T18:30:51","date_gmt":"2019-12-08T18:30:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thevoiceoflondon.co.uk\/?p=35744"},"modified":"2019-12-08T18:30:51","modified_gmt":"2019-12-08T18:30:51","slug":"not-your-everyday-love-story-faye-clark-on-her-debut-book-trilogy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/not-your-everyday-love-story-faye-clark-on-her-debut-book-trilogy\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cNot your everyday love story\u201d: Faye Clark on her debut book trilogy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cI just decided about 6 years ago now, I was in the bath and had just finished reading a book. I thought it was rubbish, so I said to my husband, you know what I\u2019m just going to write my own.\u201d <\/strong><\/p>\n

Faye Clark, a 45-year-old mum of three from Essex, spent the last 6 years writing what she describes as \u201ca love story with a twist.\u201d<\/p>\n

From her home in Maylandsea, Faye speaks with such enthusiasm and excitement that it is easy to see how much she really cares about her writing. Claiming that she \u201cspeaks as much as she writes\u201d, she tells me how her first book was over 200,000 words long as we start chatting about clothes, food and family before the interview even starts.<\/p>\n

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\u201cJames Bond meets Cinderella\u201d<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Harper’s Fate, the first of the three books, is a story based around average girl, Kate, who finds herself getting caught up in the excitement of her new boss and admirer, Luke Sutton. With the story taking a lot of twists and turns and even a trip to Russia, it\u2019s one not to miss bingeing out on with a cup of tea on a winter Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always said its Cinderella meets James Bond and that will always stick in my head. Who doesn\u2019t want to be shacked up with James Bond saving you and owning nice shoes?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s definitely not what you think it’s going to be, it\u2019s not your everyday love story and so many people have said it\u2019s not what they expected and that it is so much more.\u201d<\/p>\n

But, with mainstream shopping websites such as Amazon almost monopolising the literacy industry, Clark goes on to explain how hard it really is to get her work noticed.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI\u2019m convinced literacy agents don\u2019t exist anymore\u201d<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not like I\u2019m supplying clothes, I\u2019m trying to get people to read a book and people sometimes just don\u2019t have time to do this.\u201d<\/p>\n

She sighs making it clear the process of getting people to read her book is frustrating.<\/p>\n

\u201cI tried to get an agent but kept getting refused. It\u2019s totally subjective, it depends what mood they\u2019re in or whether the manuscript lands in the right hands at the right time. I\u2019m convinced literacy agents don\u2019t exist anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI decided to look into self-publishing and that\u2019s how it really snowballed. But, with self-publishing, there is a cost attached to it and I actually haven\u2019t made a single penny. I\u2019ve actually lost money making it, Amazon take 60% of your profit and the publishing company take 15% because they hold your books for you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Clark explains that she could sell her books directly through her own website and earn 100% of the profit but doesn\u2019t do this because she knows how big Amazon is as a company, and how people are so loyal to it and its convenience.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had to up the cost of my second book just for the Amazon side of it. In the end, I was losing money with every sale on Amazon, but you\u2019ve got to speculate to accumulate. If I sold all the books I have printed, and something came of it, the money I\u2019ve already spent would essentially be like advertising and that\u2019s how I look at it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you were to open a store, you need to have stock, I\u2019m just hoping someone picks it up and thinks, ok this is good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Faye uses social media as her main advertising platform, focusing on her Instagram and Facebook pages. Her Instagram is lit up with aesthetical images of her books, home and family. She creates short montages and graphics to advertise her story in the light she wants it to be seen and likes to share achievements and progress on her work.<\/p>\n

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