It’s an
up and down life, this writing business: feast and famine, highs and lows, and
the constant pull between nurturing your creativity and producing what pays the
bills.
My
rights in the Sprite Sister books have been reverted: now there is no
Piccadilly Press behind me. I have to navigate my own way. Ahead are the huge,
and potentially choppy, waters of digital publishing: few 7-10 year old readers
– my market with Sprites – are yet buying e-books. Still, I wouldn’t swap it,
this writer’s life, and the freedom of sailing one’s own little boat.
My
summer has been spent re-editing the first five Sprite Sister titles for
publication as e-books for Kindle, along with a second edition of print-on-demand
paperbacks. I have found it a relatively restful experience to focus on stories
that are already written, and to further refine them. I have also reconnected
with the plots – have been able to pick up the thread once again. That itself
is useful with one more title to write. With that I will be done, and bring the
Sprite Sister series to a close.
There
is a certain satisfaction in this. First, because there is a lot of me in the
stories. The experience of writing Sprites has been fun and a way of
reconnecting with my childhood adventures. Second, the seven Sprite Sister books
will represent a good body of work: over 200,000 hardback books sold in Germany
and sales still going strong. The complete series has potential for a
children’s film or play. I have my eyes on the Japanese and American markets.
But it
is time to move on. Autumn is coming and the air is cool. New stories beckon
and I feel the need to write for the adult market. My little boat sits head to
wind: I can’t see which way to go yet, but I can feel the pull of a new
current. Soon, I will bear away on a new tack and be off once more.
Meanwhile,
here are the first two titles of the new Sprite Sisters e-books. By the end of
this year, I expect to e-publish all seven books. Just waiting for the
illustrator to design the covers! Question: what does one call the image for an
e-book – as it isn’t a ‘jacket’?
Sheridan Winn is a
freelance journalist and author of the Sprite Sister books – see www.sheridanwinn.com
The Circle of Power and The Boy With Hawk-like Eyes are available on Amazon Kindle.
The Magic
Unfolds, The Secret of the Towers, The Ghost in the Tower and New Magic
will be available as e-books this Autumn.
