Return to St Chad’s, Sedgley

Myself, and my mom, Angela Fletcher, who were both first published on the same day, visited St. Chad’s Catholic School this week. The exciting thing about visiting this primary school is that my mom attended there when she was a child! (in the 1950s!)

We did a Key Stage Two assembly, sharing with the children WHY and HOW we became authors. We talked about how our ambition was to become an author but we had never had the confidence or time to try it before. Angela explained how she used to tell stories to her sons when they were little, as they couldn’t really afford books. Only at the age of 77 did she have the confidence to write down her stories and get them published! I shared my recent life changing event- being diagnosed and treated for cancer, as the chance I needed to reach my ambition.

After that, we spoke about HOW we became an author. I provided a step by step guide for the children in case they too wanted to become an author in the future. They were interested in seeing our books and some of the children bought our books too! They wanted to ask several questions:

How did you pick your publisher?

A friend of Angela’s had recently published a book and had researched lots of publishers. He recommended Austin Macauley. We liked the idea of working as a team with the publisher. Austin Macauley are a HYBRID publisher so they were perfect for us. With some publishers you just send your book off but we liked the team effort. We explain how we want the book set out and the illustrations we want and then they present it. We can check it and ask for adaptations until we are pleased with it.

How many books have you written and how many have you published?

I’ve written 6 dog counting books but I’ve only had 3 published so far. I’ve also written a cat and shark book and they are both going through the publishing process at the moment and will probably be out next year.

Angela has ‘Little Red Racing Car’ published and 3 other children’s stories currently going through the publishing process.

Which is your favourite book out of the ones you have written?

My favourite is ‘Counting Springer Spaniels’ as my dog Bella is in it and I really love her!

What if you make a spelling mistake? Do they check it?

Don’t worry about spelling mistakes, or if you struggle with spelling, the editors check it anyway so don’t let that hold you back from becoming an author, if it’s what you really want to do.

What if people say you can’t do it or you're no good?

There will always be people who are negative or don’t like your books. I haven’t really experienced negative comments yet but hopefully I will try not to let it affect me. I think if you are happy with your own book then that is the most important thing. My family and friends have been really supportive so that has helped a lot. Try not to let other people’s opinions upset you.

Do they publish everything you send in?

I’m not sure. They have accepted all the books I have sent in so far but they are something new, that hasn’t been written before. There are things that they tell you not to include in your books, like disrespectful or inappropriate things, and the checks take up to 6 weeks so I think they thoroughly check.

Do you know how many books you have sold?

We know how many we have personally sold. However, we won’t find out how many have been sold elsewhere until 9 months after the release day, which was 21^st February, 2025. We can see our rating on Amazon and at one point my Springer book was rated 12,500 out of more than a million so I was really pleased. Also, I have seen that it sometimes says: ‘only 3 left in stock,’ so that excites me!

Where can people buy your books?

We sell them ourselves but they are available on Amazon, WH Smith and in Waterstones. We are hoping to do a book signing in the Merry Hill Waterstones store.

Apart from going to schools, how else do you promote your book?

We have our own websites that were set up by the publisher: debwood.ampbk.com and angelafletcher.ampbk.com

We have ‘Meet the Author’ posters and also shared our books on Instagram and Facebook, with our friends sharing it for us as well.

What is your next ambition?

I really want to get my cat and shark books published. And I would like to make enough money to buy myself a 5 bedroomed house! I would like to sell a million books. I will continue to have books published, I hope.

The children at St. Chad’s had a list of other books they wanted me to write! They asked me to write about penguins, monkeys, koalas, lions, capybaras, chameleons and a French Bulldog!

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