There are some authors whose books you just know you are going to love. For me, Helen Matthews is one such writer and so I am thrilled that she has been willing to share an extract of her new book, If I Were You, which was published by DP Books only a couple of days ago. I'm sure you'll be as excited to read it as I am when you have enjoyed this taster. The Blurb If I Were You  – a gripping standalone psychological thriller from Helen Matthews. Dark, emotionally charged and sharply...

I genuinely feel that if you have put in all the work required to complete and novel (congratulations) it is a shame if it wastes away in your cupboard or on your computer. Therefore, I happily share the routes to publication with you in the hope it will help gain your book a larger audience. I previously dealt with vanity press, hybrid press and self-publishing. Now let’s look at traditional and independent publishers.               When people talk about traditional publishers, they are...

Let me start at the very beginning. You will often hear people say - everyone has a book in them … This is not true. Others will tell you – I’m going to write a book when I retire … Most of them don’t. This is because writing a book is a marathon, not a sprint. It takes months of creativity, weeks of editing, time to work through the comments of beta readers and the editor and ends with continual marketing. So, if you have completed writing a novel and whatever state it is in or stage it is...