The Witty Ways of a Wayward Woman: It's cheaper than a cup of coffee, lasts a lot longer and has a much sweeter taste

Tuesday, July 1, 2014

It's cheaper than a cup of coffee, lasts a lot longer and has a much sweeter taste - my début novel, The Changing Room

Today, after over two years work, I am launching my début novel, The Changing Room, A British Comedy of Love, Loss and Laughter which is now available as an eBook and in paperback on Amazon.

The Blurb

"Today, I am in the changing room of my life and tomorrow, win or lose, I'll move forward a stronger and wiser woman."

Sandy Lovett's confused mother and chaotic life are having an effect on her waistline. She knows she needs to change her life but doesn't know how until she buys a risqué dress which sets in motion a sequence of life-changing events.

After years as a mother, carer and full-time employee, Sandy quits her job and places her mother in a care home, and life seems on the up. But disaster is never far away for the hapless Sandy as her mother’s obsessions continue to wreak havoc and her husband’s business begins to fail. Short of cash and needing a flexible job, Sandy joins a sex-chat service. At The Beaver Club Sandy discovers a talent for selling telephone sex - a skill she later regrets when she meets unscrupulous local politician and prospective MP, Trewin Thackeray.

The Amazon paperback is 8 x 5 inches, 368 pages on white paper.

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The Changing Room will also soon be available, on request, from bookshops and libraries all over the world. The paperback cover is particularly gorgeous but, if you want to hang on and see if Amazon drop the price from £9.99, I have priced my eBook very competitively at £1.87 ($3.19) for the opening week of my launch to encourage people to jump-in and enjoy the read after that the price will rise. In the US I have also entered The Changing Room into Amazon's matchbook scheme so for an additional $0.99, if you buy the paperback this week, you will be able to purchase the eBook for just $0.99. The paperback cover to The Changing Room is particularly gorgeous and (in my rather prejudiced opinion) knocks the socks off many traditionally published novels. It would make the ideal gift for any woman who enjoys a light read and hopefully a few men too. (They'll probably enjoy the risqué bits!)

I suspect that those of you who have been reading my blog for a while will have a fairly good idea of what you're letting yourself in for if you succumb to my (dubious) sales patter. However, for those of you who are not so familiar with my writing, you'll be getting a full-length novel of Mrs T's unique slapstick comedy (with a little heartbreak thrown in for good measure) a further book-club feature with discussion questions and a Q & A with yours truly and, hopefully, most importantly, a lot of giggles. So all of this fun stuff for just £1.87 for the eBook- which is cheaper than a cup of coffee and less than half the price of a woman's glossy magazine. What a bargain!

The genuine article. The coffee and chocolate covered flapjack are out of sight. My copy of Fifty Shades is under the table and The Daily Mail is lining the cat litter tray.

So there you have it. My novel is finally here. I hope that some of you will be tempted to give it a read. If you do, please do think about leaving a review on Amazon UK as reviews significantly affect Amazon algorithms and my book needs some visibility in order to sell - Mr T has finally demanded a return on his investment that isn't my weight gain. So, as an added incentive, if you are one of the first few people to make a verified purchase on Amazon UK AND leave a review please come back to this post and leave a message (tick the follow-up email option in the comments section so I can contact you) as I will be giving away three signed paperbacks of The Changing Room accompanied by two gorgeous bookmarks and an A4 poster all designed by my wonderful cover artist, Gracie Klumpp, to the first three reviewers linking back here. For the fourth, fifth and sixth people to do the same (purchase in UK, review in UK and comment on this post) you will receive signed paperbacks of A Modern Life and a selection of bookmarks. To anyone else who purchases - I thank you and I sincerely hope you enjoy the read and, if you sign-up to my newsletter, you will receive my next short story direct into your inbox!