Tag: Welcome to Whitsborough Bay series

The one where I celebrate a book birthday for Seashell Cottage and All You Need is Love

Jessica Redland Author10 Comments

This month, I’m celebrating two book birthdays.

Today – 12th March – is three years since the final book in the Welcome to Whitsborough Bay series came out, freshly edited and re-released by Boldwood Books. As all the books in this series were released in quick succession over a two-month period, it’s really a celebration for all of them.

This rapid release was a game-changer for me as it helped build a readership with a thirst for the next part which was quickly satisfied. Making Wishes at Bay View was released on 14th January 2020 with both New Beginnings at Seaside Blooms and Finding Hope at Lighthouse Cove out on 20th February, concluding with Coming Home to Seashell Cottage on 12th March.

Less than two weeks later, the UK went into the first Covid lockdown. I don’t know about you, but it still feels like some strange dream looking back at that time. I find myself thinking, “Did that really happen?” Such peculiar times.

I’m convinced that going into lockdown massively helped the sale of this series because readers were seeking escapism and non-readers were turning to books for the same reason. New Beginnings at Seaside Blooms went into Prime reading in the May and shot up the Kindle chart, peaking at #14 and staying in the Top 100 for roughly four months. To this day, this remains my highest position in the UK chart across all my books. Still hoping one day for a UK Top 10. Pretty please!

Three years on, the four books continue to sell steadily. All of them have exceeded 50k of sales with the bestseller, as you’d probably expect, being the first in the series although there are only 5,000 sales separating book 1 and book 4 which makes me so happy as it means that readers have typically gone on to read all four books rather than reading one and not going any further.

I have to pinch myself that the books I’ve written have managed to hit sales levels like this, especially after such a tricky start. I was originally with a publisher who struggled to make an impact and ceased trading after book 4 was released. The sales figures I had with them were:

  • Book 1 – 379 in 18 months (was a novella at the time but is now a full-length novel)
  • Book 2 – 1,316 in 18 months
  • Book 3 – 699 in 6 months
  • Book 4 – 72 in 3 months

Bit different, eh? I then released them as an indie author and sold very few so I still do a double take and count my blessings big time every time I get my sales figures. I’m eternally grateful to my amazing publisher, Boldwood Books, for completely turning things around for me.

The reviews/ratings never cease to amaze me and I am so thankful for readers who take the time to share the book love, whether that’s in review format or just a rating. It makes a massive difference to authors in making a book more visible, and the written reviews can be such a boost of encouragement when self-doubt sets in … which it frequently does for all authors I know!

Across Amazon and Audible, reviews/ratings have passed 21,000 (16.5k on Amazon and approaching 5k on Audible).

New Beginnings at Seaside Blooms will always be a very special book to me because it’s the first book I wrote. It was inspired by something that happened in my personal life which I thought would make a great premise for a story and got me writing. The main character, Sarah, needed two friends and as soon as they started to develop, I realised they had stories of their own to tell and a trilogy was born. Then my original publisher asked me to write a short story to give away for free before we released the first book. I’m not good at writing ‘short’ so a prequel novella came out. When I was an indie author, I felt there was more story to tell and wrote a sequel. The two were then combined to make one full-length novel.

Although Seaside Blooms is really special to me, my favourite book in the series is Coming Home to Seashell Cottage. It’s full of twists and turns and is also more emotional than the others in the series. While writing that book, I felt as though I’d truly found my voice and the type of author I wanted to be. I’m very proud of that book.

And, of course, the setting of Whitsborough Bay opened a flood of ideas and my twelfth book set in this fictional coastal town is out next month with plenty more still to come.

The first book after the Welcome to Whitsborough Bay series celebrated a birthday yesterday too but I actually forgot about it because it was also my husband’s and dog’s birthdays so it had slipped my mind that there was also a book birthday. And, as I’ve mentioned the dog, here she is yesterday with one of her birthday gifts.

All You Need is Love was my first brand new indie release and, after a fresh edit through Boldwood, came out on 11th March 2021 so happy 2nd birthday to that story.

Although these books (using different titles) are officially older than this, I made a decision to use the Boldwood re-release dates for book birthday celebrations rather than the original release dates because those are the ones that had the impact. All the books floundered before Boldwood came along.

This is also a really special book to me and remains one of my favourites of all the books I’ve written. It was the first time I wrote a dual perspective story and I really loved the challenge of that. I’ve written another eight dual perspective stories since then and even one with three points of view – The Secret to Happiness.

If you’ve read any of these books, I hope you’ve enjoyed them. Do you have a personal favourite?

Thank you and enormous grateful hugs to Boldwood and all the amazing readers and listeners who have supported these books.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Big hugs
Jessica xx

The one with the 3 Audible UK Offers

Jessica Redland Author3 Comments

Hi there, and a warm (or should that be cold?) welcome to December? Have you put the tree up yet? I’d normally have done it this weekend but I can’t. I have a submission deadline tomorrow evening on Summer Nights at The Starfish Café and am way behind where I’d ideally be. I’ve written nearly 40k words of it in the last week, bringing my word count up to 77.5k so far but there’s still a long way to go. My poor editor has already been warned that the words will be there but they may be a jumbled mess full of typos and plot holes as I won’t have had the chance to read it at all. Still, it’s better to have a messy manuscript to edit than no manuscript at all, right?

Anyway, because I have a miracle to pull out of the bag before tomorrow night, this is just a very quick stop by to let the Audible fans among you know that a whopping THREE of my books are on the 2 for 1 credit sale on Audible UK which started today. The countdown is on and it ends at 11:59 pm on Sunday 11th December.

The offer is on:

  • A Wedding at Hedgehog Hollow (book 4 in the series)
  • Chasing Dreams at Hedgehog Hollow (book 5 in the series)
  • Finding Hope at Lighthouse Cove (book 3 in the Welcome to Whitsborough Bay series although book 1 and 2 – Making Wishes at Bay View and New Beginnings at Seaside Blooms are FREE on Audible Plus)

I’ve mentioned about the Welcome to Whitsborough Bay Series having the first two books free on Audible Plus. The first book in the Hedgehog Hollow series – Finding Love at Hedgehog Hollow – is also free on that programme, as is Christmas at Carly’s Cupcakes, Starry Skies Over The Chocolate Pot Café and The Secret to Happiness.

There are loads of other amazing reads from Boldwood authors included in the current 2 for 1 promotion so, if you take advantage of all three of mine, I’m sure you’ll find something fabulous for your fourth pick.

Happy listening! I’m off to bury my head back in my book. Hubby, if you’re reading this – a cup of tea would be lovely!

Big hugs
Jessica xx

The one where Coming Home to Seashell Cottage is on an Audible UK Daily Deal

Jessica Redland AuthorLeave a comment

Hello again! Just stopping by very quickly to let you know that Coming Home to Seashell Cottage – narrated by the fabulous Lucy Brownhill – is currently available on Audible UK for the phenomenal bargain price of £1.99. Woo hoo!

This is the daily deal so it’s available at this price TODAY ONLY (Thursday 29th September 2022) right up till 11.59pm and you can find it here. 

Coming Home to Seashell Cottage is book 4 in a 4-book series so is best read after the others but the extra great news is that books 1 and 2 (Making Wishes at Bay View and New Beginnings at Seaside Blooms) are both FREE in Audible Plus so there’s only book 3 – Finding Hope at Lighthouse Cove – needed to complete the series and some listeners might have already bagged that on a recent deal.

Having said that, it is a complete story and there’s enough backstory given that you could read it on its own if you really wanted … but why not go for the full series and really get to know the characters and the gradual build-up until you discover what Clare has been hiding in this series finale? The blurb’s below.

This is my very first Audible daily deal so I’m really excited to see where this audiobook ends up in the charts. We’re only at lunchtime and it’s already in the Top 100 at #67 and likely to climb higher as the chart position impact of deals like this usually hits at the end of the day or even the following day. Eek!

Please do spread the word if you know any Audible listeners. Thank you xx

Big hugs
Jessica xx

Coming Home to Seashell Cottage

For Clare O’Connell, home is where the heart aches….

Since the age of 16, Clare O’Connell has lived her life by four strict rules:

  1. Don’t talk about Ireland.
  2. Don’t think about Ireland.
  3. Don’t go to Ireland.
  4. Don’t let anyone in.

And so far, it’s worked well. She’s got a great career, amazing friends, and she’s really happy. The future is all that counts, isn’t it?

However Clare is about to realise that you can run from the past, but you can’t always hide from it.

When her boss insists she travels to Ireland for work, Clare finds herself drawn back to the village of Ballykielty – the home of her family, and the home of her secrets. The one place she vowed never to return to again.

With the door to her past now wide open, the first three rules have gone out of the window. Will Clare stick to rule number four

Can she be brave and face up to her family and the demons of her past? 

An emotional novel of family, friendship and dealing with your past from top 10 best seller Jessica Redland.

The one where I’ve joined Book Aid for Ukraine

Jessica Redland AuthorLeave a comment

Book Aid for Ukraine is an online auction which has been set up to raise funds for British-Ukrainian Aid who support “people suffering from the war and humanitarian crisis in Ukraine by aligning UK and Ukrainian efforts [by providing] assistance to vulnerable individuals who have been physically, mentally or socially disadvantaged, including the injured and wounded, orphaned children, the elderly, internal displaced persons, refugees and families who have lost their main earners” (quote from their website found here).

Authors, publishers, agents and various others involved in the publishing industry have donated a variety of lots from signed books and bundles to advice and mentoring packages. There are a whopping 347 lots available to bid on and there’s something to suit all tastes.

You can read more about the auction here which, at the time of writing this, has already raised over £37,000 in bids and donations (as you can pledge on the site without bidding on a lot). In addition to this, publisher Pan Macmillan will match the highest bids so this figure will significantly rise.

Bidding has already started and the auction ends on 20th March at midnight GMT. There’s a countdown running online.

I’ve donated 2 lots.

LOT 1 – Books

The first is a UK-only one of signed paperback copies of each of the 4 books in my ‘Welcome to Whitsborough Bay’ series. I can also dedicate these. This lot can be found directly here. The books in the series are: Making Wishes at Bay View, New Beginnings at Seaside Blooms, Finding Hope at Lighthouse Cove and Coming Home to Seashell Cottage.

LOT 2 – Zoom Call

I am also offering a Zoom chat for contemporary romance/romcom author or aspiring author: I’m offering a 1-hour Zoom chat to anyone who is writing or is interested in writing a contemporary romance/romantic comedy novel or series. My particular areas of speciality include characterisation, building a setting (particularly a coastal or country one) and writing a series although I’m happy to discuss other aspects of writing.

This lot is available internationally and can be found directly here.

Several author friends have donated lots and I hope the auction helps raise some valuable support. Please do take a look and spread the word to friends and family. Thank you.

Big hugs
Jessica xx

The one where Making Wishes at Bay View makes a 2nd birthday wish

Jessica Redland Author3 Comments

I’m celebrating a book birthday today! Making Wishes at Bay View – book 1 in the Welcome to Whitsborough Bay series – is celebrating its second book birthday today. Woo hoo!

14th January 2020 was the start of a quick-release schedule for the four books in the series aimed to create an appetite for my writing and build my readership. Book 2 and 3 – New Beginnings at Seaside Blooms and Finding Hope at Lighthouse Cove were released in mid-February with the final book, Coming Home to Seashell Cottage out in mid-March.

It’s so strange to think that two years ago today, we were merrily going about our business, aware of the news of some flu-like bug that had taken hold in China, but with absolutely no idea of what was about to hit the world. A few days after book 4 was released, the UK went under restrictions around travel and working from home. Lockdown.

But we’re not here to talk about that! We’re here to celebrate!

Making Wishes at Bay View was the second title of mine to go into The Works and the first one I signed there which was a fabulous moment. In fact, so lovely that I got to do it twice as they had a second batch in when I went in to sign Finding Love at Hedgehog Hollow stocked a little later (which is why I have 2 different masks on in the pics below).

I’ve seen it in two of my local garden centres too – Irton Garden Centre (British Garden Centres) and Dean’s Garden Centre – although I was too chicken to alert staff to me being the author and ask if they’d like me to sign them. Actually, that’s not true. When I first spotted it in one of the garden centres (won’t say which), I mentioned in a nervous garble that I’d written it and the sales assistant couldn’t have been less interested. I walked out mortified and really wished I hadn’t been brave and spoken up.

Looking back, it’s very possible she didn’t actually pick up what I’d said as we were all getting used to the world of mask-wearing and how muffled it makes the voice. Yes, that definitely could have been it. I’ll go with that!

I had the exciting news this week that the Welcome to Whitsborough Bay series hit the New Year with more than 185k sales. Each individual book has sold over 40k copies with Making Wishes at Bay View out int he front with 53k copies. My wish is for the other books to make it over that 50k hurdle and to reach the 200k mark for the series. What a special moment that will be.

It was interesting looking at my sales figures as my best selling individual book is Finding Love at Hedgehog Hollow. I’d never totted up sales figures across each series but I always imagined that the Hedgehog Hollow series had sold the most because it seems to be the one most readers talk about. I was therefore surprised to see that the Welcome to Whitsborough Bay series was significantly further ahead. Granted, all the books in the W2WB series have been out longer and book 4 in the Hedgehog Hollow series has only just been released so it’s not quite a level playing field but, as I say, it was a surprise. A pleasant one. I sometimes feel sorry for these books because the hedgehogs get so much love and I’m so proud of them and love the stories. Great to see that they’re holding their own!

So happy birthday to Making Wishes at Bay View and thank you to anyone who has bought/borrowed one or more book in this series. As ever, I’m so very grateful.

Big hugs
Jessica xx

The one where Whitsborough Bay Harbour looks so pretty

Jessica Redland AuthorLeave a comment

On Monday night we took our dog, Ella, for a walk along Scarborough’s South Bay. The less commercial of the two bays – North Bay – is actually my favourite but South Bay has the pull of the harbour and the lighthouse and both of these look so pretty lit up at Christmas.

So I won’t witter. I’ll just show you some photos of Scarborough aka Whitsborough Bay looking all Christmassy and gorgeous. They’re not the best photos in the world – still haven’t mastered taking them on my phone despite having had the same phone for years – but it should give you a feel anyway…

Big hugs
Jessica xx

For the Whitsborough Bay fans, you see the shops/cafes/pubs all lit up? Behind that is the Old Town which is mentioned in several of my books. Seashell Cottage which appears in the Welcome to Whitsborough Bay series is in the Old Town and Jake from Snowflakes Over The Starfish Café lives in Lighthouse View there.

The large building above left is The Grand which is The Ramparts Hotel in my books (and very much a 5-star hotel which The Grand hasn’t been for a long time). The arcade next to it with the red lights is The Olympia which appears in my second Starfish Café book, Spring Tides at The Starfish Café (out 5th April) renamed as the Golden Galleon.

The one where most of my books are 99p on Kindle UK TODAY ONLY

Jessica Redland AuthorLeave a comment

Hello and welcome to Boxing Day. How was Christmas Day? If you were celebrating, I hope you had a fabulous time.

I’m really excited today as seven of my books are on a very special offer on Kindle UK. It’s known as a ‘gold box’ and is only available on a Sunday for eBooks. To be eligible for a gold box offer, an author must have at least six books with the same publisher and they need to have been retailing at £2.99 for at least two months before the 99p gold box deal is secured so that readers are genuinely getting a good offer.

You can usually spot which author has a gold box deal because, late on Sunday afternoon and into Monday morning, those books are usually doing very well near the top of the Kindle charts. This is because they’re featured in the Kindle newsletter and on the daily deals pages and heavily marketed by Amazon themselves.

Yesterday, there was a special Christmas day gold box on the Cadfael series of books by Ellis Peters. At one point yesterday evening, I spotted a whopping 19 of the 21 books in the Top 50. Wow! That’s serious chart domination! They’re still riding high this morning as I’m writing this although they’re back up to the £3.99 price now so they’ll drop position later. There’s always a lag in the sales figures having an impact on the chart.

Unusually, today’s gold box is a joint Boldwood Books one with Jennifer Bohnet who has four of her titles in the deal alongside my seven and it looks like another Boldwood author, Rosie Clarke, has a daily deal with Stormy Days on Mulberry Lane.

My gold box books are:

  • Making Wishes at Bay View (Welcome to Whitsborough Bay book 1)
  • Finding Hope at Lighthouse Cove (Welcome to Whitsborough Bay book 3)
  • Coming Home to Seashell Cottage (Welcome to Whitsborough Bay book 4)
  • Starry Skies Over The Chocolate Pot Café
  • Finding Love at Hedgehog Hollow (Hedgehog Hollow book 1)
  • New Arrivals at Hedgehog Hollow (Hedgehog Hollow book 2)
  • Family Secrets at Hedgehog Hollow (Hedgehog Hollow book 3)

We’re not really sure why book 2 in the Welcome to Whitsborough Bay book – New Beginnings at Seaside Blooms – wasn’t selected alongside the rest of the books in the series but it’s less than £6 for the full four-book series, even paying full price for that title, which is still a great deal.

With book 4 in the Hedgehog Hollow series – A Wedding at Hedgehog Hollow – out on 6th January, this is the perfect time to catch up with the three books in the series so far but only pay the price at which one book usually retails. Even though each book in this series is a complete story, it’s a far richer reading experience starting from the beginning and watching the characters develop across the series.

All my Christmas/seasonal books are on a 99p offer at the moment too, although not part of the gold box deal. These will probably stay at 99p until at least the end of December but the gold box is ONE DAY ONLY. There is a slight possibility that Starry Skies Over The Chocolate Pot Café may stay at 99p a little longer as Amazon had been price-matching that to an Apple Books offer but I wouldn’t take that chance:

  • Snowflakes Over The Starfish Café
  • Christmas Wishes at the Chocolate Shop
  • Christmas at Carly’s Cupcakes

So you can pick up a whopping TEN of my books on Kindle UK for only 99p each today – £9.90 total.

For another £7.77, you could add in the three books that aren’t on offer just now – New Beginnings at Seaside Blooms, All You Need is Love and The Secret to Happiness meaning you’d have the entire Whitsborough Bay collection and Hedgehog Hollow series released so far – 13 books – for £17.67, averaging £1.35 each. SUPER BARGAIN!

You can get to my Amazon UK author page here where you’ll be able to find all my books.

I’ve seen so many of these gold box deals secure astonishing chart positions, albeit for a brief window of time, and I’m trying not to get too excited about the idea of seven books in the Top 50 together or even Top 20 success. My absolute dream would be a book in the Top 10 in the UK. I’ve managed that in Canada and Australia but #14 is the highest I’ve had in the UK Kindle charts with Seaside Blooms when it was on a Prime Deal last year. None of the other books in the Welcome to Whitsborough Bay series have been in the Top 100 so it would be amazing if they got there.

I’d be ever so grateful if you could share the news if you’re UK-based or have friends/family in the UK who might like to take advantage of this offer. Wishing Rosie Clarke all the best with her daily deal and Jennifer Bohnet every success with her four gold box books. Go Boldwood!

Big gold hugs
Jessica xx

The one where two of my audiobooks are on a Black Friday deal

Jessica Redland AuthorLeave a comment

If you have been anywhere near your emails or social media this week, you will have been bombarded with Black Friday deals. Some are bargains, some not so much. But Boldwood and Audible UK have a definite bargain this week.

Four audiobooks by Boldwood authors are available this week for only £3 each. Two of my titles are included:

  • All You Need Is Love
  • Coming Home to Seashell Cottage (book 4 in the Welcome to Whitsborough Bay series)

And there are two other fabulous Boldwood titles:

  • Life’s a Beach by Portia MacIntosh
  • Prisoner by Ross Greenwood

The offer started on Monday and my two books immediately stormed the Top 100 which was amazing to see. I caught screen shots of Coming Home to Seashell Cottage at #77 and All You Need is Love at #90 although my sales history shows that they made it as high as #70 and #86 respectively on Monday.

I don’t know if the offer ends at midnight on Friday or whether it will continue over the weekend so best grab it before the end of Friday to be sure. Don’t forget, a whopping 6 of my titles are available for FREE as part of the Audible Plus programme. Portia and Ross also have audiobooks in the Audible Plus programmes, as do other Boldwood authors.

Happy Black Friday!

Big hugs
Jessica xx

Discover 6 of my books on Audible Plus

Jessica Redland AuthorLeave a comment

At the end of July, Audible launched a new programme for their UK subscribers called Audible Plus. This programme was rolled out in the USA previously and is all about giving subscribers additional free unlimited content so, if you’re an Audible user, do check it out.

The Audible Plus catalogue consists of thousands of carefully selected audiobooks, podcasts and Audible originals which subscribers can listen to as many times as they want for no additional charge.

Audible say: “The new Plus Catalogue offers an exciting opportunity to introduce more audiobooks, podcasts and Audible Originals to members, on top of their credits. New and existing members will be able to discover more titles for the first time at no extra cost, which we believe will increase member listening and allow them to discover new authors or similar genres and themes. The Plus Catalogue provides extra content our members will love, and forms part of our ongoing commitment to present value-added offerings to consumers.”

I’m really excited to have a whopping SIX out of my twelve titles included in this special programme from day 1:

  • Making Wishes at Bay View (book 1 in the Welcome to Whitsborough Bay series)
  • New Beginnings at Seaside Blooms (book 2 in the Welcome to Whitsborough Bay series)
  • The Secret to Happiness
  • Christmas at Carly’s Cupcakes
  • Starry Skies Over The Chocolate Pot Café
  • Finding Love at Hedgehog Hollow (book 1 in the Hedgehog Hollow series)

I hope that this will introduce new listeners to my worlds of Whitsborough Bay and Hedgehog Hollow who will perhaps go on to use their usual credits to explore my other titles.

Let me know if you’ve discovered any fabulous new listens through this programme.

Happy listening!

Big hugs
Jessica xx

I’m Kobo’s Author of the Month

Jessica Redland Author3 Comments

Are you a Kobo user? If so, there are some amazing deals available for you on my books throughout August as I’m the Author of the Month! Eek! I’m so excited about that.

You can click into the Kobo page here to see all the offers together but I’ve popped some screenshots and summarised them below…

BUY ONE GET ONE FREE

There’s an amazing buy one get one free offer on ELEVEN of my 12 titles. Within this, three titles are currently on offer at 99p:

All You Need is Love

Making Wishes at Bay View

Family Secrets at Hedgehog Hollow

My latest release, Christmas Wishes at the Chocolate Shop, is £1.99 and the remaining seven titles are £2.99 so, if my maths is correct (always a bit risky!), you can get all eleven of these for £13.94.

START OF A SERIES ON 99p OFFER

The first book in the Hedgehog Hollow series, Finding Love at Hedgehog Hollow, is NOT part of the BOGOF offer but it has been reduced to 99p.

Here’s a special message telling Kobo readers all about the Hedgehog Hollow series.

YOU CAN GET ALL MY eBOOKS FOR LESS THAN £15

Add in this 99p offer and I believe you can buy all 12 of my books for only £14.93. What a bargain!

If you’ve never read any before, do check out the ‘My Books‘ section on my website to find out more about the connections between the books as some are in a series and some are best read in a certain order to avoid spoilers, although they’re not strictly part of a series.

And if you want to see if you like my writing, why not go for the first book in the Hedgehog Hollow series on its 99p offer as a starting point, although bear in mind that the BOGOF offers will only run for August.


BOOK OF THE MONTH

Kobo are kindly promoting my latest release, out last week so here’s a bit more about that which you can find here. It’s not officially the ‘book of the month’ but it’s on the page with it so that’s good enough for me!

If you’re a Kobo reader, I hope you dive in and enjoy your trips to Whitsborough Bay and Hedgehog Hollow.

Happy weekend and happy reading!

Big hugs
Jessica xx