Annie Elliot

Writing a book is one thing. Finding its readers is another. For a new author, particularly in a market as crowded as publishing, the task of making a book known can be almost as demanding as writing it. With no previous experience in the field, debut author Annie Elliot has taken that part of being a novelist in the 21st century unusually seriously, and brought considerable imagination to it.

The range of Annie’s activities this year has been remarkable. In promoting her novel Mr and Mrs Charles Dickens, which brings Catherine Dickens out from the shadow of her famous—and famously abusive—husband, she has appeared at the Charles Dickens Museum, Bleak House and Gad’s Hill, as well as at an astonishing number of literary festivals, libraries, bookshops, Dickens societies and Women’s Institutes. She has travelled to Denmark for a Dickens symposium, spoken online to overseas audiences including the Southern California Dickens Fellowship, appeared on radio, and performed as Catherine Dickens at book signings.

She has also created a website announcing forthcoming appearances and recording those already past. This brings together reviews and endorsements, talks, performances and broadcasts, as well as photographs that are as entertaining as they are newsworthy. For a new author to create a website around a book, and then use it so purposefully, is rare.

Annie’s original aim was to tell a story that she felt had been overlooked: that the Dickenses’ marriage contained far more that was positive and loving than Charles, as he and Catherine grew older, was willing to acknowledge. What makes Annie’s efforts so striking is her understanding that writing the book was only the beginning. Since publication, she has continued to give readers reasons to become interested in Catherine’s story, both for itself and for what it says about Victorian life, marriage, society and the way Dickens has been understood.

That is why we are delighted to make Annie Elliot our Author of the Month. Her achievement is not simply that she has written an absorbing, carefully researched novel. She has built around it an impressive programme of public appearances and online activity, and has taken responsibility for finding and building a loyal following.

We invite visitors to marvel at her book, of course, but also to marvel at her website. It contains much that cannot be conveyed in an Amazon description, say, or a conventional author biography, and is an exemplary illustration of a writer developing her subject. It is also a very good example for other new authors of what can—and sometimes needs to—be done in today’s highly competitive publishing marketplace.

Annie—congratulations!

Visit: https://annieelliot.co.uk