Samantha Brownley

DON'T GIVE UP...to all the would-be WRITERS out there. The book shown here is one I wrote a long time ago, and it's the story that secured me my brilliant agent. It wasn't the right thing to get a publishing deal initially, but it's a tale I LOVED writing, with a character I still think about often. Historical fiction is a real passion for me, and I was able to combine it with crime, so it ticked all my boxes. I self-published the paperback, then it got an audiobook deal (narrated by the superlative Robin Laing, of course.) Today, my foreign rights agent agreed the first translation deal for this book. Not everything happens overnight. Very little of my writing career has progressed in exactly the way I thought it would. But if you write what you love, if you bring characters into the world you're passionate about, if your stories burn brightly enough, there is always the hope that one day people will read/hear them. So never give up on your writing dream, even when the going gets tough. Tomorrow is another day.

Head on over to my Instagram or author Facebook page to enter this competition for a chance to win a one year Bert’s Books subscription for a paperback a month (UK and over 18 only). Ts & Cs apply. Good luck!