ORION SIGNS NEW DEAL WITH LIZ FENWICK

The Orion Publishing Group is delighted to announce the acquisition of two new novels by author Liz Fenwick. Kate Mills, Publishing Director at Orion Fiction bought UK and Commonwealth rights from Carole Blake for a good five-figure advance. THE RETURNING TIDE plus one untitled novel, will be published in 2016 and 2017 respectively.

Kate said: ‘Liz Fenwick’s novels capture all the mystery and romance of Cornwall and I’m delighted that we will publish THE RETURNING TIDE next summer, and a further novel after that. She is building a loyal, eager readership and we look forward to growing it further with what promises to be a very exciting novel.’

Liz Fenwick said: ‘The team at Orion have been fantastic to work with and I'm thrilled this will continue for the next two books.’

Carole Blake said: ‘Liz and Orion have been a terrific team for the 3 books published so far. She’s recently delivered her strongest novel to date, UNDER A CORNISH SKY, so this is a great time to be renewing our contract with Orion, and the agency is looking forward to adding to the 11 languages she is sold to so far.’

Growing up in Boston, Liz discovered early on that her best friends could be books. While waiting on a place on a Masters degree, she moved to London to see if life looked different from the other side of the Atlantic. It did and she soon fell in love with an Englishman. Now happily married with three children, she spends as much time as possible at her home in Cornwall.

Liz’s new novel, UNDER A CORNISH SKY is published in June this year.

For more information please contact :

Gaby Young at Orion: gaby.young@orionbooks.co.uk

Carole Blake, at Blake Friedmann: carole@blakefriedmann.co.uk

Liz Fenwick & Sue Moorcroft shortlisted for Romantic Reader Awards

Liz Fenwick’s  A CORNISH STRANGER (Orion, 2014) and Sue Moorcroft’s THE WEDDING PROPOSAL (Choc Lit, 2014) have both been Shortlisted for the 2014 Festival of Romance Romantic Reader Awards. Both Sue and Liz are past recipients of the award – Liz Fenwick in 2013 for A CORNISH AFFAIR (Orion, 2012) and Sue Moorcroft in 2011 for LOVE AND FREEDOM (Choc Lit, 2011).

The Romance Reader Awards are judged by a team of volunteer readers who may have no commercial or other interest in writing or publishing, and the winner will be announced this Saturday, 13 September at the Festival of Romance in Leighton Buzzard.

Praise for Liz Fenwick:

‘A CORNISH AFFFAIR is touched with intrigue and romance, a bewitching, escapist read that is certain to delight readers.' – Jera’s Jamboree

Praise for Sue Moorcroft:

‘I love all of Sue Moorcroft’s books!’ Katie Fforde

Liz Fenwick’s writing tips #Romance14

This blog post originally appeared on the Romance Festival website. The Romance Festival is an online literary festival which took place between the 7th & 8th of June 2014 and allowed people to meet their favourite romantic fiction authors, chat to other readers and writers, and get the lowdown on the best in romance, all without leaving the comfort of their own homes! You can follow the Romance Festival on Twitter here.

Liz Fenwick’s Writing Tips:

1. Have a hero with whom you can fall in love. I have to love the hero, if I don't how can I expect my heroine or reader to?
2. Think conflict…that’s what makes the reader turn the page. Conflict is shouting, it’s when characters have different goals or what they need is different from what they want.
3. Try to write something every day but accept that sometimes this isn't possible. Do not beat yourself up…sometimes the laundry does come first and so does dinner (except when a deadlines is approaching!)
4. As writers we have strengths and weaknesses. Take time to improve your weakest areas until they shine as much as your strengths. Never stop learning your craft.
5. In twenty minutes a day you can write a novel in a year. Five minutes free…a scene can appear. Any spare time can be used. Grab them. My writing time is always disturbed by family and travel, but I embrace this rather than resent it. I do my best writing when I'm stuck on a plane or a train.
6. Listen to your work. I use text to voice software so that the computer reads it to me. This gives you separation from your work and makes editing easier.
7. Writer’s Block – egg timer. Set it for twenty minutes and say you will only write for that time and it doesn't matter what you write. It works!
8. Read, read, read. Read not just in your own genre, read the best sellers, read literary, read history, read biography, read magazines and the news papers. They all tell stories- just in slightly different ways. From this reading you will learn what works and what doesn’t. You will read books that you wished you wrote (and when you do – analyze to see why you felt that way then discover how you can make your writing better). You will read books and wonder what others saw in it - then analyze it. Fill your writing ‘well’ from the women’s magazines and the latest news.
9. Be kind to yourself. No book is ever perfect…even the ones we hold up as perfect. Your first draft is for you only, possibly the second and the third too. Writing a book is not a race. Take a breath and enjoy the journey. Accept criticism. Develop your inner critic but contain it as well. Learn to trust yourself.

Liz’s latest book is A Cornish Stranger. You can find her on Twitter here.

Liz Fenwick does bookshop crawl for 'Books Are My Bag'

In support of the 'Books Are My Bag' campaign for bookshops, Liz Fenwick with her friend and fellow author Brigid Coady visited fifteen bookshops in a day on a mammoth bookshop crawl on Saturday 14 September. They took photographs with booksellers and the special edition bags (shown below). The overall stats for the day included:

• 9.5 hours
• 15 bookshops (including Nomad, Belgravia Books, Village Books Dulwich, Bookseller Crow, Hatchards, Blackwells, Waterstones, Daunts and Foyles)
• 7 books bought
• 6 buses, 4 Tubes, 2 trains, 1 cab
• 1 stop at Pizza Express Dulwich Village
• 1 bottle of Cava (to celebrate the finish at Waterstones High Street Kensington)
• 2 glasses of Prosecco (Village Books and an impromptu book signing)

'Books Are My Bag' is a nationwide campaign to celebrate bookshops. This collaboration between publishers, bookshops and authors is the biggest ever promotion of bookshops. It called on book lovers to show their support for bookshops by visiting and buying a book on Saturday 14th September, and then proudly displaying the campaign's bags.

Both Liz Fenwick's novels are by Orion, who have already commissioned her next two books.

Liz Fenwick’s second novel snapped up by Goldmann in Germany

A CORNISH AFFAIR has been purchased by Goldmann, who also published Liz Fenwick's bestselling debut THE CORNISH HOUSE. Goldmann is an imprint of the Random House Group and one of the largest publishing houses in Germany.

Publication is planned for December 2013.

Liz Fenwick is published in Holland by De Boekerji, Norway by Cappelen Damm, Portugal by Quinta Essencai and in the UK by Orion -- where she was their bestselling debut novelist of 2012.

Liz Fenwick's second novel A CORNISH AFFAIR will be published this month by Orion in the UK, and they have already commissioned her next two novels.

Praise for Liz Fenwick:

'Intriguing with a great sense of place.  The perfect 'Cornish' holiday read.' -- Katie Fforde

 'An intriguing, deeply felt and poignant story, stuffed with insight and observation.' -- Elizabeth Buchan

'The setting for her very enjoyable debut novel, The Cornish House ... makes reading so pleasurable as all of the often heartrending events described are juxtaposed with the beauty of the wild, isolated place that has inspired people for centuries... a perfect holiday read ... Liz Fenwick's novel will delight those who have been there and no doubt inspire those who have not to go there as soon as they can. A gripping, atmospheric, and delightful read.' -- Eleanor Fitzsimmons, writing.ie