Mary Balogh grew up in Wales and, after graduating from university, moved to Saskatchewan, Canada, on a two-year contract to teach high school English. She stayed to marry and raise a family. She was first published in 1985 and quit her teaching job three years later to write full time. A Precious Jewel, first published in 1993, has recently been republished by Bantam Dell as part of a commitment to make her backlist available to her current readership. Read more, including an excerpt from A Precious Jewel, at www.marybalogh.com.

Q: Welcome to Beyond the Books, Mary. Can we start out by telling us whether you are published for the first time or are you multi-published?

A: I am multi-published, with over 70 novels and over 30 novellas published.

Q: What was the name of your very first book regardless of whether it was published or not and, if not published, why?

A: A Masked Deception, 1985

Q: For your first published book, how many rejections did you go through before you either found a mainstream publisher, self-published it, or paid a vanity press to publish it?

A: There were no rejections.

Q: When your first book was published, who published it and why did you choose them?

A: NAL. The book was Signet Regency. A number of publishers had a Regency romance line at the time. I chose NAL Signets because I thought that on the whole their books were the best.

Q: How did it make you feel to become published for the first time and how did you celebrate?

A: Quite euphoric. I was at home alone when the “call” came and for some reason I can no longer remember could not call either my husband or my children with the news. I called my mother in Wales. I had not told her, or anyone else for that matter except my husband, that I had written a book, so the news of the acceptance came as quite a surprise to her!

Q: What was the first thing you did as far as promotion when you were published for the first time?

A: I didn’t, apart from telling everyone I knew. That was not very many. There was no internet in those days.

Q: If you had to do it over again, would you have chosen another route to be published?

A: No. I did everything wrong, but it worked for me. I knew nothing about how to get published. When I had finished my manuscript, I bundled it up with a very short letter and sent it off to an address in Canada that I found inside the cover of a Signet Regency romance. It turned out to be a distribution center. But someone there read the manuscript, liked it, and sent it on to New York. Two weeks later I was offered a two-book contract. If I had gone about things the correct way, the manuscript might still be sitting on a slush pile somewhere!

Q: Have you been published since then and how have you grown as an author?

A: Numerous times. I still write basically the same type of books, but I hope and believe they have improved over time. I believe they are stronger on action and dialogue, a little less given to lengthy interior monologue.

Q: Looking back since the early days when you were trying to get published, what do you think you could have done differently to speed things up? What kind of mistakes could you have avoided?

A: I suppose I might have tried to get out of the small Regency sub-genre and into the mainstream historical genre faster. I might have reached a larger audience and climbed the bestseller charts far sooner if I had. On the other hand, the almost forty books I wrote for the sub-genre still exist and are being republished, as A Precious Jewel is now. And so far the repubs have been well received by my newer readers.

Q: What has been the biggest accomplishment you have achieved since becoming published?

A: The new Huxtable quintet (First Comes Marriage, Then Comes Seduction, At Last Comes Love, Seducing an Angel) has been very successful so far. The first four books came out in the spring of 2009 and spent a combined total of thirteen weeks on the New York Times bestselling list. At Last Comes Love debuted at #2 on the mass market fiction list. Book 5, A Secret Affair, will be out in hardcover at the end of June, 2010.

Q: If you could have chosen another profession, what would that profession be?

A: I was a high school English teacher for twenty years before I quit to write full time. It was a career I loved.

Q: Would you give up being an author for that profession or have you combined the best of both worlds?

A: I gave up teaching to write, though I did both for five years. I had always wanted to write, though, from childhood on. When I thought I could risk giving up teaching to devote myself full-time to writing, I didn’t hesitate, though I suppose I did quail for a while at the risk I was taking.

Q: How do you see yourself in ten years?

A: Alive, I hope. Still writing, I hope.

Q: Any final words for writers who dream of being published one day?

A: Write! That might seem rather silly advice on the face of it. I am always amazed, however, when in company with groups of writers, to discover how many will find any excuse imaginable to stop themselves from actually sitting down and writing—the need to get their lives organized, do some research, read some how-to books, attend more conferences, consult their critique group, etc. The only way to learn to write is to write. The only way to finish a book is to start it and keep going with it. The only way to get published is to write a book that may be publishable.

Hazel Statham lives in Staffordshire, England. She started writing at fifteen and has written on and off ever since. She’s always been fascinated by history and writes mainly in the Regency and Georgian eras, although she has been known to occasionally stray into Medieval times. Writing is a compulsion she just can’t ignore and her work has been mainly influenced by Heyer, Bronte and Austen; although, over the years, she has read many other authors who have inspired her. When she was a child, she often told herself stories and it progressed to committing them to paper to entertain her family and friends. However, there has been gaps in her writing years where marriage and employment have intervended, but now that she no longer works, she is able to return to her first love and that is writing.

Her first two novels were published in 2005. She has been married to her husband, Terry, since 1969 and has a grown daughter and beautiful grandson. Apart from reading and writing historical novels, her other ruling passion is animals and until recently, she was treasurer for an organization that raised money for animal charities. You can visit her website at http://www.hazel-statham.co.uk/ and her blog at http://hazelstatham.blogspot.com/.    

Welcome to Beyond the Books, Hazel.  Can we start out by telling us whether you are published for the first time or are you multi-published?  

This is my second book with Wings ePress.  However both books were briefly published in 2005 by All Romance Books before the company sadly closed due to the owners demise.  I have three more books awaiting publication.  One more with Wings and two with Highland Press. 

What was the name of your very first book regardless of whether it was published or not and, if not published, why? 

The first book I wrote was way back in 1962 and it was called ‘Goldacre’.  I was fifteen and thoughts of publication never entered my head.  I wrote purely for pleasure, as I do now.  Publication is just the icing on the cake. 

For your first published book, how many rejections did you go through before you either found a mainstream publisher, self-published it, or paid a vanity press to publish it?  

I had one rejection before I finally found a publisher.  In the rejection letter they said they would be interested if I changed the story to fit their current needs, but I wasn’t happy with that and instead sought a publisher who would accept it as it was. 

How did the rejections make you feel and what did you do to overcome the blows? 

It wasn’t really a blow and I didn’t see it as an out and out rejection.  I had no great expectation of my work being accepted and had only submitted after being  badgered to do so by the lecturer who headed the writing group to which I belonged. I have always written for my own pleasure and publication had been the furthest thing from my mind.  However, I was thrilled and delighted when it was accepted without any alterations needed as I wanted the story to remain as it was. 

When your first book was published, who published it and why did you choose them? 

All Romance Books were the first publishers to take my work.  I write ’sweet’ and several publishers I looked at were only interested in the higher heat levels.  However, All Romance published all heat levels.   

How did it make you feel to become published for the first time and how did you celebrate? 

I just couldn’t believe it.  It was fantastic.  Suddenly something I had done purely for my own amusement became of worth to someone else.  To celebrate, we all went out for a meal. 

What was the first thing you did as for as promotion when you were published for the first time? 

Self-promotion was alien to me and I found it difficult to put myself forward.  However, I started sending my work out for reviews and was amazed at how kind people can be.  It encouraged me to do interviews and participate in online chats. 

If you had to do it over again, would you have chosen another route to be published? No.  For me, this was the only way to go. 

Have you been published since then and how have you grown as an author? 

When All Romance closed, I submitted the two manuscripts they had taken, ‘Dominic’ and ‘My Dearest Friend’, to Wings ePress who contracted them immediately.  They also took ‘His Shadowed Heart’.  Highland Press has since accepted ‘Consequence’ and ‘Lizzie’s Rake’.  As an author, I have grown in confidence and now write with the intention of submitting my work. 

Looking back since the early days when you were trying to get published, what do you think you could have done differently to speed things up?   What kind of mistakes could you have avoided?   

To be honest, things happened very quickly for me.  I had already written six books before I started sending them out – so the material was there ready to submit to publishers.  My biggest hurdle was a lack of self-confidence and it took me a while to realize that my work could be of worth. 

What has been the biggest accomplishment you have achieved since becoming published? 

I don’t know whether you would think it an accomplishment but although I live in the UK and my work is published in the USA, I was thrilled when the City Council contacted me saying that they wanted copies of my work in all of their libraries and I felt that I had finally arrived! 

If you could have chosen another profession, what would that profession be? 

I can’t think of any profession I would rather follow than being a writer.  However, my other ruling passion is animals and  until recently I was treasurer for an organization that raised money for animal charities.  I would like to have done more in that direction but closure and my health prevented me from taking it further. 

Would you give up being an author for that profession or have you combined the best of both worlds? 

I was still able to follow my compulsion to write whilst working as treasurer, so I guess you would say that I was able to combine the best of both worlds. 

How do you see yourself in ten years? 

Exactly where I am now only, hopefully, with more publications under my belt.  I couldn’t give up being an author as writing is a compulsion I can’t ignore.  It has been a part of my life for so many years that I would be lost without it.  

Any final words for writers who dream of being published one day? 

My advise is to write what you know and care about, otherwise the results could disappoint both yourself and your readers. You have to love what you write so that your readers will too. Don’t be discouraged by rejection, write what is closest to your heart and enjoy the process. Soon you will reap the rewards of perseverance. 

*****

Hazel’s virtual book tour is brought to you by Pump Up Your Book Promotion Virtual Book Tours at http://www.pumpupyourbookpromotion.com/ and choreographed by Jean Lauzier.

Tags: Pump Up Your Book Promotion, virtual book tour, Hazel Statham, My Dearest Friend, Regency Romance