November Newsletter - Notorious, Nourish, 'N Bookshops

#SignForOurBookshops

Hello Everyone on this November Monday! It's been a while, nice to see you, you look good, I like what you've done with your hair. Plenty of news in the newsletter, but this first bit is especially for UK and Irish readers so feel free to jump ahead if that's not you!

If it is you, as you know the UK is back in Lockdown, From November 5th to December 1st. With everything shut again in this crucial lead up to the holidays, this lockdown is going to be especially hard on small businesses, which includes bookshops. Bookshops and awesome booksellers are a huge and invaluable support to authors and readers. They do a lot that online only retailers cannot do. They're probably the reason a lot of you found my books in the first place! Booksellers make it their business read avidly and talk passionately about books so that they can match the right book to the right reader beyond what an algorithm can do, they feature books they love to make sure they find their audience, and they host awesome events. I am tremendously grateful for booksellers and bookshops and...

That's why, this Lockdown I'm thrilled to be part of the #SignForOurBookshops
campaign.

What that means is that, in support of bookshops, me, and over 200 other authors, will be sending bookplates to anyone with a UK or Irish address (depending on the location of the author) who buys our books from a bookshop, instead of an online only retailer, during the period of the 4 week lockdown.

Because signed books make great Holiday gifts and you can only get them from bookshops!

To receive a signed bookplate from me, all you have to do is email proof of purchase of any of my books from a U.K bookshop to:

alwynhamiltoninfo@gmail.com

Please aslo include: Your mailing address and any personalised name/message you want, and I'll get that in the post to you ASAP.

You can buy from any bookshop you like, and if you're stumped you can find your local bookshop using the Booksellers Bookshop Finder Map. Or you can shop directly from Bookshop.org to support independant bookstores, and even check out my page here with my books and a bunch of my fave recommended books on it.

And I'll just add that, as a bonus, if you buy my books specifically from my local independant bookshop The Alligator's Mouth you will ALSO receive some exclusive NOTORIOUS VIRTUES swag. And if you buy from Waterstones you will receive some REBEL OF THE SANDS swag.

Now, if you and the other readers in your life already have all my books, there are more than 200 other authors participating. To find out who, you can browse the #SignForOurBookshops hashtag on twitter or you can check out this Bookshops.org shelf which lists many of the titles you can buy and get signed! (Just check each author's social media for details of where to request your bookplate.)

If you're stumped and want some recommendations, here's a handful of them!

Any questions check out Holly Bourne's page on this as she is the main organizer of this campaign!

Books to Nourish

As you have no doubt heard, MPs in the UK have voted against making free school meals available to children outside of term time for the next six months, and the pandemic has hit many families hard. In order to help in any small we cak the book community is running Books to Nourish, a volunteer-run charity auction to raise money for FareShare, the UK’s longest running food redistribution charity. More information on FareShare can be found on its website.

So if you want to help out and win some awesome bookish items check out the list of Auction Lots up for Grabs on Books to Nourish.

For my contribution I have donated Lot 5: A Set Of Signed Books, Lot 6: A Query Critique & Lot 49: Submission Package Critique.

For other items I want to recommend:
Lot 57: A Chat with Molly Ker Hawn (my agent) about publishing etc.
Lot 50: A Submission Package Critique by Agent Gemma Cooper
Lot 32: A Query Package Critique from Agent Juliet Mushens
Lot 98: A Selection of Faber special editions
Lot 124: Cover letter critique from Author/Editor Non Pratt

The Notorious Virtues

I almost titled this "The Notorious Virtues Update" but that would be a little bit of a misnomer. I know the last news I gave everyone was that we were delaying THE NOTORIOUS VIRTUES for a bit and would come back with a new date when we had one...and unfortunately that news has not changed yet. I still don't have a new date for you guys, which is why a new update still hasn't come.

What has changed, and has meant, in part that we don't have a new date at this time, is the whole world. The last NOTORIOUS news from me was announced before the world shut down around a pandemic. At that time, without my crystal ball handy, 2020 seemed like it was going to be a pretty normal year and I assumed we'd have an update for you pretty soon. But a few months later the world changed seemingly over night and The Pandemic has slowed down the entire world of publishing, and has slowed down my writing.

Everyone has had a different experience the pandemic, our key workers have been busier than ever, some stuck at home have been more bored than ever, some have been more productive than ever, most people I know it's been the opposite. Uncertainty and fear and anxiety has made it hard for a lot of us to keep writing fictional worlds while the real one seems to reel unsteadily around us. And so editing and writing and everything I want to be doing to contribute a little bit of joy into the world, and contribute to distracting everyone, has been moving more slowly than I would like.

So I want to say thank you for your patience while I, we all, figure this out, and get through this. As soon as I have an update I will share it. Because more than anything I want to get through this all to the point that this story is ready, and worthy to be shared with you all, hopefully in a better world.