Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Success for New Zealand author


After a successful career in the media, Julie Thomas, moved from Auckland to Cambridge last year and established herself as an ebook author. In the past nine months she has uploaded four books to Amazon and Smashwords and through Smashwords to itunes, Sony, Barnes and Noble and Diesel. Her novel, book of short stories, crime novella and book of her father's war letters have sold over 42,000 copies combined, with by far the majority of sales coming from her novel.

'The Secret Keeper' is an 80,000 word novel that sweeps from pre-war Berlin to the present day. It follows the history of a precious del Gesu violin, looted from a Jewish family in Berlin in 1939, then stolen by a Soviet general in 1945, and the quest to retrieve it for the rightful owners. This is story that took seven years to research and write. It's a tale of loss, love, brutality, music and possession - nine tenths of the law, unless you stole it. With over 40 five star reviews and a number one ranking on the Amazon Jewish Literature list for several months (the only Gentile on the list), Julie was delighted with the response to her ebook.

 A month ago Thomas (right) got an email out of the blue from Carolyn Marino, a senior editor with twenty-two years experience at Harper Collins USA. This week she signed a contract to publish the book as a trade paperback under the William Morrow imprint. The book will be released northern summer 2013 in major chains and independents across the USA and the foreign rights will be sold into  English speaking markets, with translations planned into German and Russian. It will also be released as an ebook at the same time across all electronic platforms. Julie's contract includes an option for her next book and she is thoroughly enjoying the process of having her work edited by the vastly experienced Carolyn Marino.


Blog: http://thomasbrowne.wordpress.com/
Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/Julie-Thomas/e/B005LIQYII/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1
Smashwords Author Page: http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/juliethomas

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Any word on the new professor of Creative Writing at Victoria? It's almost certain to be Damian Wilkins, but who knows. Seamus Heaney alas does not have a Phd in creative writing so he's excluded.

Anonymous said...

Damien Wilkins doesn't have one either.