Carole Taylor’s a stubborn lass. Even back at school she told everyone that, one day, she was going to write a book. Now, granted, she did get a bit side-tracked raising a family (and with her daughter the deputy head of a London primary school, son a departmental leader in an international bank, I think we can assume she put a reasonable amount of effort into that.)
More recently, there’s been a major health scare with her heart. And now, as well as working part time for a TV production company, her first grandchild’s appeared on the scene … Nonetheless, she never did give up on that book thing and, in the end, didn’t just write one, but five. They’re not only written either, she’s had them all published as ebooks by an American online publisher. So, if any of you out there were thinking it was too late to get started on a writing career – read on.
Carole’s from Yorkshire in the UK. Under the name Kryssie Fortune she writes erotic, romantic fantasy full of vampires, dragons, witches, fae and werewolves. Her books are selling online through Amazon and Barnes and Noble, and one of them, To Wed a Werewolf, has already been featured in USA Today. But she only seriously started putting pen to paper after her heart surgery.
That was touch and go, for a while. One of her valves collapsed, and the odds were stacked against her coming through at all. Somehow though, she made it and, afterward, decided it was time to “Chase some dreams."
Recalling that time she says: “I kept seeing Writers Bureau adverts and, honestly, I thought it was a con. I mean, money back if you fail? Come on!” But her husband enrolled her anyway. And since then? Well, she’s done alright.
Carole’s tutor showed her how to write for ‘specific markets,’ so when she saw a request for stories on the Loose Id website, she knew how to put one together that fit their guidelines. “I didn’t know I was a screamer,” she says. “But when I opened the email accepting my novella, I screamed so loud my husband thought someone was attacking me.”
Now she’s got the best editor – funny, knowledgable and clever. There’s also a team of cover artists who work with her on market friendly designs that she approves before publication. Like all authors, she has to do a lot of her own marketing, and you can check out her Facebook page if you want to see how she’s getting on with that, but her publisher does a fair share of promotional work too. And then, there’s the royalties. She gets paid every three months and says: “I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the size of the cheques.”
So, there y’go. It didn’t happen overnight, and she’s not a millionaire just yet, but Carole Taylor’s star is definitely in the ascendant. “My current favourite authors all write paranormal,” she says. “And one day, I want to be one of the greats.” Well, of course she does. And the way things are going, there’s absolutely no reason why she shouldn’t make it. Sherrilyn Kenyon; David Eddings; Kresley Cole; Kryssie Fortune … sounds good to me.
Keep on writing!
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