About the Author

Once upon a time Gail was going to walk around Europe. Then she met a guy. She kept the guy, kissed the travel goodbye.

Now Gail lives, works and writes in old South Wales, and frequently gets mistaken for Clair from New Zealand - no idea why the Clair, but Gail grew up in Kent, and New Zealand is sort of halfway between Kent and South Wales - if you go the long way around.

Gail likes dark and gritty, and softer romantic fiction.

Currently, she thinks the Elaine Blake duology is the most fun to read of all her books.

She's a good girl, that Elaine. Gail thinks she'd get on well with Branwen Jones (The Chair). Not in the least sure what either of these ladies would make of Charlie Bell (The Locked Trilogy), but you might like him. If you like 'sick bunny' - Gail's favourite review so far - you might like to look at The Last Cut Casebook, a collection of some of her short stories.

You might also like Gail's alter ego - Abi Barden. It's fantasy, steampunk and fun over there.

GB's website is gailbwilliams.co.uk and Amazon page is https://www.amazon.co.uk/stores/GB-Williams/author/B075NDVZX4.

Lesson Summary

Morgen and Gail, both from England, discuss Gail's career path, writing both as GB Williams (crime) and Abi Barden (fantasy and steampunk).

GB started writing at a young age, exploring different genres before settling primarily on crime, due to her passion for mystery and suspense. Here are the key points discussed:

• The challenges of creating book titles and covers, with writing being the easier part.
• The process of planning the next book and character evolution from short stories to novels.
• Use of cover designers and preferences in cover design.
• Insights on balancing colloquial language for both native and non-native English speakers.
• Utilising different languages in books and challenges with dictation software.
• Favorite characters and books, completed and upcoming works, and writing style of loose plotting.
• Involvement of structural editors in the editing process.
• Discussion on writing, publishing, marketing books, and organising literary festivals.
• Experiences in publishing methods, marketing strategies, and challenges in promoting work.
• Efforts needed to organise literary events and connect with readers through suitable platforms.
• Developing new storylines for potential book series.
• Importance of authenticity in writing, nuances of editing for different audiences, American versus British English, regional language differences, and cultural representation accuracy.

The conversation reflects on the complexities, joys, and changing landscape of publishing and marketing for writers.