All round the world - with Kate Walker

Hello!  I’m sorry I’m  a bit late with this post . I am suffering with a bit of jet lag!

On 31^st May my DH and I travelled to USA  - to Montana to be exact  - to stay with my very dear friend, Anne McAllister and her family/  We also travelled  further- though Yellowstone park and into Cody Wyoming where  DH had a wonderful time learning all about the Wild West  and studying all the information in the Buffalo Bill Museum Centre.

We only got back on Tuesday and after the l-o-n-g journey home , flying through the night, we were hours  in order to recover., It was that long journey (both ways ) that had me thinking about  how wonderful it is that  through Harlequin, my books reach so many people and readers on both sides of that huge ocean we laughingly call ‘The Pond.’

totally worn out and slept for

For one thing, we wouldn’t have bee heading for Montana if I hadn’t met Anne through my writing – when she was writing for Harlequin Presents too.  And then there are the Harlequin Presents books  on sale in America too.  Finally, when I came home there were  a couple of boxes of foreign editions waiting for me that had been delivered while I was away.

In this picture, there are the Swedish and German  editions of  A Proposal to Secure His Vengeancen    German reprint of The Antonakos Marriage, (I recently got a fabulous Manga edition of this book too. There's a Polish translation of  The Devil and MissJones,  a French edition of  The Married Mistress(as Love and Treason) and an Italian reprint (second time around ) of Kept For Her baby.

I’m always so thrilled to see these foreign editions and reprints of my books. Often they are books that were originally publish five or even more years ago so it’s great to see them having a ‘second life’ in these new editions. But most of all it’s because they remind me of one of the most wonderful benefits of this writing career I’ve had creating romance stories and sharing them with so many readers and friends all over the world.

That long journey to and from Montana reminded me of just how huge this world is and I’ve only visited a small number of places in it. But my books have gone all round the world and they share my stories with so many readers in different countries, different  languages, different time zones.

It’s a thrilling feeling  - and I’m  so grateful to all those readers who have shared in my book over the year. It means so much to me – and I  couldn’t have done it without you. 

Thank you all!

Kate

Old Favourites by Kate Walker

When I first started writing romance all that time ago – December 2014 marks 30 years since I was first published – the books were only available in  bookshops – no internet, no Amazon, definitely no  ebook readers.  They were also only available for that one month they were on sale – and no more.   And not even that if, as the very first book I ever wrote was only available in the hardback version that was known as a ‘library edition.’

So that first book,  The Chalk Line, appeared in my hands – arriving in a parcel  just before Christmas – but I couldn’t see it on the bookshop shelves. And as not every book ever went to America either, it didn’t have a paperback edition until some years later.  Seven years later to be precise, when it was decided to publish the paperback edition in 1991!

And of course on those days, once a book was published  and went on sale for a month, then that was it.  There was no way of getting hold of a copy later. And the only reprints were rare -  they were labelled ‘Bestsellers’  and possibly   reprinted a few years later – if the original book sold well enough to merit it. But when you were up against the greats like  Charlotte Lamb, Anne Mather, Penny Jordan,  you often didn’t get a chance at that.

I was thinking about this when  I realise that Harlequin have released a whole bundle of my earlier books in new ebook formats  since the start of this year.  It’s a thrill to see older books -  Wife For A Day (originally published 1998) or The Married Mistress (2003) coming ‘back to life’ so to speak in new Kindle editions so that new readers  - or readers who have been looking for these titles for some time – can now get copies of them at  the click of a mouse.  These books were only

in  Reader Service when they were first released so they were on general distribution for anyone to get hold of them

It’s been a thrill to see these ‘resurrected’ books selling too – I discovered The Married Mistress  in the top 20 bestsellers on Amazon – not bad for a book that is over 10 years old! But perhaps the best thing has been that  the covers are been renewed as well, where they were needed.   I always liked to cover of The Married Mistress  -  but the original artwork for Wife For A Day was -  well,  strange. . . I mean – look at the heroine’s hair. The new edition is much better, much more like the characters I had in mind.

It’s an amazing feeling, after 30 years writing and being published to find that my older  books are now getting this new lease of life – and coming back revitalised and revived.  It’s something I could never have imagined all those years ago when The Chalk Line first came out – just goes to show that nothing stands still – particularly not in publishing.  

What about you: Do you like the way the older books are being re-issued – are you glad to have a chance to grab at books you never read before – or revisit old

favourites? Are there any romances you’re particularly looking forward to seeing – or would like to see republished in this way?

Titles coming up  for me  are  the reprinting of  The Good Greek Wife in a 3 in 1 special collection titles Eligible Greeks: Sizzling Affairs.

My next full length novel will be  A Question of Honour (or Honor!) published in M&B Modern and Harlequin  Presents in  June.  The idea  for that came from my own family history - but I'll tell you more about that   nearer to publication time.

You can find out more about me and my books one my website  or on my blog where all the latest and most up to date news can be found.

Something Old, Something New . . . with Kate Walker

July is a special month for me.

July 14th sees the anniversary of the day when I married my husband, more years ago than I care to admit to. No – actually, I don’t mind telling you – it was 37 years ago. I know that, as romance readers and writers, you’ll be almost as happy as I am to know that our marriage lasted and that we’re still celebrating those anniversaries. After all, that’s what we all read and write romance for, isn’t it? To assert the value of a happy ever after for our characters. And it’s what we’d probably all dream of for ourselves.

When I married all those years ago, I never dreamed that by the time I was celebrating my 37th anniversary, I’d be where I am now. That as well as those 37 years with my DH, I’d also have 25 years of being published behind me. 25 years, 59 books (57 romances and two ‘How To’ writing romance guides), it’s something even I don’t quite believe when I look at it. But it crept up on me quietly – one year at a time for my marriage, and one book at a time for my publishing career. So naturally at this time of the year, I think of that old saying about the ‘good luck charms’ you have on your wedding day. ‘Something old, something new. . .’ And that saying also applies to my writing career this month, You see I have something new in the shape of my latest book being published, and something old which is the re-issue of some books from my past – one from almost way back at the beginning of my career.

The new one first. In the UK this week there is the publication date of my newest Mills & Boon Modern Romance, The Good Greek Wife? Just this afternoon I saw it in the bookshop – that’s always so exciting even after all this time. It’s one of the real of this job, and one I never grow tired of. Just seeing my book there on the shelves, newly printed and published waiting for readers to come along and buy it, is a real joy.

But it’s also exciting when the older books come round again and are reprinted, or re-issued in different forms. This week I received some foreign editions, translations of my books, and one of them was a Korean edition of Game of Hazard, the second book I had published, way back in 1986 – and the first title that ever went to America. And then I was told that some of my older titles have been put into ebook so that they are easily available in this format all over again. It’s like seeing old friends come back into my life as I found that The Married Mistress and Their Secret Baby are on sale all over again. They brought back memories for me too – memories when those books were first on sale and what I was doing back then.

On the 14th I’ll be recalling memories too, of course. Memories of that July day when I started out on my own Happy Ever After. My husband and I will look back at our younger selves and smile at how far we’ve come – and hope that there will still be lots of ‘somethings new’ ahead of us for us to enjoy.

I hope that’s how it will be for you too – something old and something new. And a happy ever after in real life as well as in the books you read.

Have you got a special ‘something old’ that you want to remember? Or ‘something new’ that you’re really happy about? As I’m celebrating both the publication of my new book and my anniversary – and when I celebrate I love to share – I have a signed copy of The Good Greek Wife? to give away to someone who comments.

Kate Walker's current release for Mills & Boon Modern Romance is a little bit unusual. The Good Greek Wife? is part of a four book mini-series that retells classic Greek myths updating and 'modernising' them into a romance form. The mini-series is labelled The Greek Tycoons - Legends are Made of Men like These! The Good Greek Wife? is a retelling of the story of Odysseus and is out on July 2nd.

The Good Greek Wife? will not be published in The Greek Tycoons collection in Presents Extra until October but Kate's last Presents title The Konstantos Marriage Demand, with another sexy Greek hero is still available .

You can read how Kate approached this challenge of writing The Good Greek Wife? on her web site . And you'll find all her most up to date news on her blog.

WINNER ANNOUNCEMENT:

Sid the cat was up early this morning and ready to go at the cat treats and pick a name for the winner
And the winner is Practimom!
Practimom please send me your name and postal address to kate AT Kate walker.com and I'll organise your prize.