Authors who help Authors: Pauline Barclay and Chill with a Book

The last post in this mini-series about supportive authors discussed reviews for historical fiction but of course, not all fiction fits into that category. This week I'm delighted to welcome as my guest Pauline Barclay, the instigator and owner of Chill Awards and a prolific author in her own right.

AW: Welcome to the blog Pauline!

PB: Hello Annie, a HUGE thank you for inviting me to your wonderful Blog and asking me talk about my other baby, Chill Awards for independent authors. I hope I don’t get too carried away... 😊

AW: I'm sure you won't! Enthusiasm is always catching so please feel free to tell us all about what you do. Firstly can I ask, what inspired you to set up Chill with a Book Awards and how does it work?

PB: Chill Awards is for independent authors and is designed to shine a spotlight on amazing books from indie authors. I have always tried to find ways to help others and especially independent authors. After a great deal of thinking, checking various sites and noting that many awards for authors excluded independent authors, I set up Chill Awards in September 2016. Chill Awards is a Readers’ Award. Each book in the Award Programme is read by an equal number of readers. Each reader answers five questions and rates each question between 1 – 5 (5 being a resounding, yes). Depending on the final total, from the evaluations, a book, if awarded, will receive either a Readers’ Award or a Premier Readers’ Award. Comments from readers are encouraged. All comments as passed onto the author, but I must stress, that all readers are only known by me. Readers are anonymous to authors and to each other.

Anyone wishing to submit a book should go to Chill Awards’ site and fill in the form with the details of their book and name / pen name. 

AW: Why do you think that independent reviews are so important for Indie Authors especially?

PB: Independent authors are responsible for everything about the publication of their book from editing, book cover design to marketing. They are on their own to bring their book to the widest audience possible, so recognition from readers is an endorsement of their hard work. Awards and reviews offer an author another tool to promote further their book that is competing with many thousands.

AW: It is so good to know that such avenues are open for authors. I happen to know that Chill with a Book isn't the only way you help authors though. Can you tell us a little about some of the other features/series on your blog? 

PB: If I can, I like to help authors in anyway I can. I help people with proof reading, help with writing and many other aspects if I can. Inviting wonderful people to my Blog is also something I love doing. To make it interesting, I try to come up with different ideas for authors to participate. The latest feature on my Blog is, Coincidences. (AW: I'm thrilled that my own Coincidence story will be featured in this series!) I have asked guests to write a short story on a coincidence in their life. This feature has been amazingly received and there are all fantastic stories, one or two will have the hairs on the back of your neck rising!  

AW: I can't wait to read those! Meanwhile, what about your own writing? Can you tell people a little about your own books; anything new in the pipeline for 2021?

PB: I have seven books published and whilst the stories are emotional, they will always leave the reader with a feel good feeling. Two of my books were inspired by true events; Magnolia House, my debut novel and The Wendy House. I met the people behind these stories and whilst my books are fiction, the idea for each book came from the people, who, by telling their tale, made me cry and brought out the writing in me to share their story.

As for something new, I have written over 35,000 words on a new book, but for now I’ve had to put it to one side. I have started a novella, but we will see. The nightmare of our lives does not always bring out the best creativity in me at times, but I plan to keep working on getting these two stories finished… one day!

Once again, Annie, thank you for allowing me to chatter about one or two of my passions!

AW: Thank you so much for talking to me today Pauline and for all the work you do to support other authors.

Readers can connect with Pauline:

Website: www.paulinebarclay.co.uk

Blog: http://paulinembarclay.blogspot.com

Instagram: @paulinebarclay

Facebook: https://facebook.com/pages/pauline-barclay/121242304590624

Chill Awards: www.chillwithabook.com

And you can learn more about one of her characters on a post we did a while ago, about fictional characters and their occupations

 

Characters and their occupations - 12 authors introduce

Today is traditionally 'Labour Day' in the UK. I asked 11 other authors to introduce one of their characters and their occupation. I hope you take instantly to this varied group and all the buy links are there if you want to read further. (If? Of course you do! 😉)

Pauline Barclay
Hello, I’m Dor, I’ve been asked what my occupation is, my girl says I’m a scrubber, she’s a cheeky mare! Ok, I’m a cleaner and have four jobs that have me rolling my sleeves up! Not glamorous, but it pays the bills, just! One of my cleans is an office, you wouldn’t believe how office folk leave the place, and the little bleeders like their morning joke! I’ll be putting my coat as there’re strolling in. “Lucky you, we’re starting and you’re off to put your feet up.’ I won’t say what I’d like to reply, but with three other places to muck out, it ain't polite! They might all look down their beaks at me, but at the end of the day I was the one who wiped the smile from their faces because sometimes it happens!


The Birthday Card
Web Site
Blog Site
Facebook
Twitter: @paulinembarclay
Instagram @paulinebarclay

Cryssa Bazos
Elizabeth Seton comes from a long line of herbalists and has a talent for the healing arts. Ever since she was a little girl in Weymouth, she planned to follow in her mother’s footsteps and continue to care for the sick who came to their door. Until civil war reared its ugly head and a community was left divided. With her family destroyed, Elizabeth uproots herself to live with her widowed aunt, a healer in her own community. Under the guidance of her aunt, Elizabeth once more explores her art by creating simple syrups, tinctures, salves, and purges. Snakeweed for the ague, willow bark for pain, king’s claver for consumption, and take care not to trod on moonwort lest your horse cast a shoe. The tools of her trade, mortar and pestle, scales and stills, transform herbs and roots into medicine, while her aunt’s receipt book captures generations of experience. 

Traitor’s Knot buy link
Website: https://cryssabazos.com
Twitter (@CryssaBazos)
Facebook

Anna Belfrage
Name: Adam de Guirande, protagonist of In The Shadow of the Storm. Occupation: Knight. Excels at the broadsword, is more than capable with a lance but will admit to being less of an expert with bow and arrow—he has archers to handle such. Recently wed to a lady who is not quite what she seems to be and is finding married life comes with numerous challenges, one of which is having a new person wiggle her way into his heart. Will do anything for his lord and master, Roger Mortimer, which does not necessarily endear him to King Edward II who considers Mortimer a rebel and his greatest enemy. But knights as loyal and honourable as Adam are hard to come by so hanging him may be a waste. Or maybe not—after all, WHO is he loyal to? That perfidious Mortimer or his king? 
Find out more about Anna on her website, check out her Amazon page and connect on FB and Twitter.

Buy In the Shadow of the Storm

Kathryn Gauci 
Sophia Laskaris is a couturier in Constantinople during the last years of the Ottoman Empire. Born into a family of professional embroiderers, she is a woman who is not only creative, but has a head for business too. Her grandmother, Dimitra, one of the first embroiderers to gain the patronage of the Sultan’s family and who took her business to great heights throughout the empire, was the guiding light in her life. Sophia opened up her couture house, La Maison du L’Orient, in Pera, the fashionable European district in the city, at a time when European fashion was becoming popular, but she continued to create designs based on the oriental look and was admired by Parisian designers such as Paul Poiret. She was highly educated, speaking several languages, and politically astute. With the outbreak of the Balkan Wars in 1912 and WWI, she used her work to not only aid Turks in distress, but to gather information for the Greeks who were seeking independence. When the situation deteriorated, she was forced to flee Turkey and reinvent herself as a seamstress in Athens. After the Germans occupied Greece, she drew on her previous background to aid the Resistance.

Buy The Embroiderer 
Website 
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram

Susan Grossey
My narrator Sam Plank’s occupation – that of magistrates’ constable – is central to his life and to my books.  Magistrates’ constables existed for only a short period of policing history: they were used in London during the two decades or so after the Bow Street Runners and before the Metropolitan Police, which was the 1810s and 1820s.  At that time there was little concept of investigation of crime, and none at all of detection.  If you were the victim of a crime and had some idea who had done it, you took your complaint to the local magistrate.  If he thought your claim had merit, he would task one of his constables with executing a warrant to bring the accused in for questioning.  Of course, “my” Sam is much more curious than that and makes a great deal more of his role, taking a particular interest in financial crimes…

Website 
Blog 
I tweet as @ConstablePlank
Monthly Newsletter (for updates & offers) 

Helen Hollick
I was elected King of England in January 1066. It was an honour I did not want, but who else is there able to protect this noble land from those who want to steal our wealth and the Crown for their own?
King Edward died without a son, the only other of royal blood is but a boy with no experience of battle or government. To be King I must ally with the Northern Earls, so I must take their sister to be my Queen. She is a comely lass, but I have a handfasted wife, my beloved Edyth, mother of my children. So, I set her aside for the good of England, for stability and prosperity. Hah! Being King is a privilege you say?  I swear it is not. But I will do my duty and all I can to protect you, my people from the  threatening tyranny of Normandy. Or die trying.

you tube trailer:
Website
Newsletter Subscription
Main Blog
Amazon Author Page 
Twitter: @HelenHollick

Charlene Newcomb 
I thank Mistress Annie from Westminster’s kitchens who invited me here today. I met her when nobles gathered to crown the new king. I was wearing my fancy clothes—stolen, of course—pretending to be a page. Mistress Annie knows I’m a thief living on the streets, sleeping in the eaves of St. Paul’s or here at Westminster many a night, but she doesn’t fault me. She feeds me and my friend now and again, best chicken in garlic and onion sauce served alongside the best gossip. We hear the king, the one called Lionheart, is gathering an army for a pilgrimage to Outremer. Streets of London or camp follower—not much different. Being good with dice, I can win a coin or two. We might pick up some work. I can brush down a palfrey, and Little John is handy with needle and thread. And if we cannot work, there’ll be pockets-a-plenty to pick. 
—meet young Allan and Little John in Men of the Cross


Find Char’s books on Amazon & connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.

Amy Maroney
Artist, healer: Miramonde de Oto was a woman of many skills. Raised in a convent in the medieval Pyrenees, she learned healing remedies from the “mountain folk” and worked during her adolescence in the convent’s infirmary. In her childhood, she used bits of charcoal to draw on the marble step of an old well. When she learned to write, she was tasked with copying and illuminating manuscripts in the convent’s library. Eventually she graduated to painting portraits, thanks to an exceptional art teacher. It wasn’t until catastrophe struck the convent that Miramonde would go on to use her talents in the wider world—and unlike most women artists of her time, she even got paid for it. 

The Girl from Oto is available on Amazon UK and Amazon US
Get a free prequel novella to The Girl from Oto and find Amy’s Blog here. Connect with her on Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and Facebook

Alison Morton 
Jobs for the girls? Aurelia Mitela has always known she would serve her country in some way; she’s a bone-and-blood Roma Novan, member of a leading family with military commanders, diplomats and councillors among her ancestors. She becomes all three eventually, through AURELIA, NEXUS, INSURRECTIO and RETALIO, but is locked in bitter opposition with her lifelong enemy. Passionate and complex, she will do anything to protect both her daughter and her lover, but despite her innate strength she is crippled by self-doubt.

Soldering requires hard physical and mental training which needs persistence and a love of the life of camaraderie, tough decisions and quick and cool judgement in trying circumstances. In a softer way, so does a diplomat’s life! But being a councillor to a weak ruler requires the toughness of mind and an ability to suppress frustration, something that Aurelia doesn’t always achieve...


Amazon author page  
Buying link
Website
Website link to Aurelia specifically

Elizabeth St John 
Nan Wilmot
aka Anne St.John Lee Wilmot
The Countess of Rochester

Job Title: 
Spymistress to Charles II

Qualifications: 
Ambitious multi-talented outgoing individual with wide-ranging contacts across both Parliamentarian and Royalist departments. Highly skilled in project management, sales, marketing and procurement. Exceptionally discreet, trustworthy and decorous.  Fluent in English and French, with proven communication skills, especially in translations and multi-media. Experienced in multiple coding languages. Good social skills, conversant with inter-departmental protocols and processes and an ability to integrate smoothly within existing teams. Successful problem-solver, works well under stress. A valuable addition to any organization. 

Remuneration: 
Land, rents, livestock, jewelry, titles, perquisites, patronage, manors, arranged marriages, gold.
References: 
Charles II, Oliver Cromwell

Buy at
Amazon and Here
Website

Marian Thorpe 
Sorley (Lord Somhairle of Gundarstorp, to give him his full name) is a scáeli, in the language of Linrathe.
I adapted scáeli from scéalaí, Irish for storyteller. Like the skalds of Scandinavia and the bards of Celtic Britain, Sorley is a historian, a genealogist, a musician and a teacher. He and other scáeli’en hold the collective knowledge of their people. He studied long and hard to reach this position, learning songs and stories since childhood, followed by five years of study under a senior scáeli, then years of wandering, collecting songs and stories to add to his collection. Finally, he sat a formal exam of set pieces plus his own compositions, and built his own ladhar (a lyre) as well. Scáeli’en may wander for years, be attached to a noble house, or be appointed to a Ti’ach, a college, as Sorley is at the end of the series.

Buy Empire's Reckoning
Website
Twitter

Annie Whitehead
Æthelflæd - known to her family as Teasel - has quite an important job. She’s not only the daughter of Alfred the Great, she’s also destined to become ruler of an Anglo-Saxon kingdom. Not her father’s realm, but the neighbouring kingdom of Mercia. These two kingdoms are the only ones left in England still holding out against the Danish ‘Vikings’. Despite all expectations, Æthelflæd becomes a queen in all but name. And there’s the rub. Her job is that of queen, but she doesn’t have the official title. She has to learn to live with a husband for whom she doesn’t initially care, discover how to win over the people of Mercia, and, oh yes, protect Mercia not only from the ‘Vikings’, but, ultimately, her own brother. And all this without an official job contract.

Buy To Be A Queen
Website
Blog
Twitter

Discovering Diamonds and Chilling with Books

So, you've written your book. You've published your book. And, unless you are one of what must be a very rare breed, you are now flip-flopping between thinking you've produced the best story that ever appeared in print, or the worst since man picked up a stone and started scratching on the walls of his cave.

What you need is a critical eye. You need to submit your book for reviews. Oh, so easy to say. Frequently though, you'll find that if you're self-published, many review sites will not accept your work.

Once upon a time, the Historical Novel Society ran two review schemes; one for traditionally published books and one for 'Indie' books. Not only did it offer to review, but there was a system which meant that each month a few books were chosen as Editors' Choice books and were put forward for Book of the Year.

This was a boon for Indie authors. It meant that not only did they get a review by highly respected reviewers, but they had the chance to win a prize.

Following some structural re-organisation, the HNS decided recently to combine their two review schemes and whilst they do continue to accept submissions from Indie authors, there is no longer a chance to be put forward for Indie Book of the Year.

However, there are a couple of places where you can send your book where you'll not only get an unbiased review but also get the chance for book of the month, and year.

The first of these is for historical fiction and is run by Helen Hollick, who used to be Managing Editor of the HNS Indie Reviews. At Discovering Diamonds, she has a team of highly professional, experienced reviewers who take their job - although they are all volunteers - very seriously. If a book is accepted for review it will be given a considered appraisal and if deemed outstanding, it will be declared a Discovered Diamond and put forward for further awards, such as Book of the Month. The blog is fantastic, with guest posts, articles, and even a competition for book cover design.

Helen was adamant that when the HNS revised its policy that there should still be somewhere for Indie Authors to get a 'stamp of approval' which is otherwise so difficult to come by. If you don't know Helen, she is a globally successful author of several books: an Arthurian Trilogy, an Anglo-Saxon series, and now a series about Jesemiah Acorne, who features in the Sea Witch Series. Helen has also written non-fiction books. She is one of another rare breed, that of successful author who will do almost anything in her power to help, support and encourage upcoming authors.

Find the submission guidelines HERE

Another great place to send your book is Chill with a Book. They won't review, but they will send your book out to a number of their team readers who will then assess the book according to certain criteria. If your book passes all these, it will be awarded a Chill with a Book award and, again, there are also monthly and yearly awards, as well as a special award bestowed by its creator, Pauline Barclay. Chill accepts books of - almost -all genres.

Chill with a Book also offers a book cover design award. Pauline is an author herself; another one who 'pays it forward'.

Find the submission guidelines HERE

Both Helen and Pauline work closely with Avalon Graphics, where designer Cathy Helms takes time from her work of designing quality book covers to help with judging competitions and designing logos.

More about Avalon Graphics

So, if you are an Indie Author - or indeed a Traditionally published author, submit your book/s. Not every book gets accepted, and even those which do don't necessarily win a Diamond or a Chill logo. But this just means that these are marks of quality, awarded after careful consideration by people who really know what a good book looks like, inside and out.