Writers' News - Champagne moment

Champagne moment

With seven non-fiction titles under her belt, subscriber Deborah Durbin, Bristol, was keen to try her hand at fiction writing. Nine months later, Pink Flip Flops & Champagne was at the printers.

Having read Writers’ News and Writing Magazine for many years, and realising that the market for women’s novels was very hard to break into, she decided to self-publish her novel through Planetree. Pink Flip Flops & Champagne is about two young women who step into each other’s shoes, says Deborah, who got the idea after watching a television life-swap programme.

‘Bo Sanderson is a 24-year old who lives with her family on a travellers’ site in the tiny village of Hewbury. Isobel Barrington is a high-society city girl and heiress to her father’s multi-million pound empire.

‘When Bo and Isobel win a magazine competition to swap lives for two weeks they both jump at the chance.

‘Despite their differences, the two girls soon discover that they have more in common than they first thought and that their lives will never be the same again.’

Deborah’s previous experience of publishing was in mind, body, spirit non-fiction, but she had ‘great fun’ working on fiction, particularly as she could utilise her skills as an artist for the cover illustrations. She maintains that the hardest part of self-publishing is the marketing and promotion, but is already planning a sequel.

Pink Flip Flops & Champagne is £7.99 from Deborah, e-mail: deborahdurbin@fsmail.net

For a wide range of services for writers, visit our links page