Category: Self-Publishing Experiences

Georgian Era Theatre, History, Self-Publishing Experiences

Readings at Stowe Gardens

Ronan Beckman
Stowe Gardens, near Buckingham

I recently (well…last Summer) published a hardback edition of my novel An Actress of Repute. In celebration of the event and to coincide with the first anniversary of the novel being published, I decided to go to one of my favourite National Trust properties: Stowe Gardens in Buckinghamshire. I then ran around the place, filming myself reading chapter excerpts in beautiful, scenic surroundings. I’ve uploaded the links here so that you are able to join me. Forgive my reading style, as I’m not the greatest narrator. But I hope the lovely surroundings will compensate, and you will get a flavour of some of the events and characters in my novel. I hope you enjoy it!

Here’s the introduction to my time at Stowe. For more views of Stowe and to hear more readings, follow the links below.

Chapter 2 Excerpt at the Pebbled Alcove

Chapter 3 Reading from The Temple of Friendship

Chapter 4 at the Palladian Bridge

Chapter 5 Miss Searle goes for an audition. Read at the Gothic Temple.

Chapter 6 Miss Searle meets actress Dorothy Jordan and, unexpectedly, a member of the Royal Family.

Chapter 7 Introducing the main villain – dancer Bella Menage.

Chapter 8 The Johnstones were the ‘Brangelina’ of British theatre.

From Chapter 9, I stay at the magnificent Temple of Concord and Victory for several readings.

Chapter 10 Ballet Director James D’Egville had a disreputable sideline that Miss Searle was unaware of.

Chapter 11 Miss Searle’s mother goes all out to save her daughter’s reputation.

Chapter 12 This theatre South of the Thames performed amazing spectacles, featuring horses, dogs and acrobats, as well as dancing and singing

Chapter 13 Miss Searle is falling for the flirtatious Mr Johnstone.

Chapter 14 Evil Bella Menage continues to be a horrible person, taking great pleasure at tormenting Miss Searle.

Chapter 15 Delightful Madame Volange has a tale or two to share backstage.

Chapter 16 An opening night disaster requires Miss Searle to take charge of the situation.

Chapter 17 There were understudies in Regency theatres. Guess who has their Cinderella moment?

Chapter 18 The moment she dreamed of has arrived…

Chapter 19 Miss Searle is completely smitten by the beauty of a very married man.

Chapter 20 It appears that all is not well with the Johnstone marriage.

Chapter 21 Bella Menage is an expert at being obnoxious.

Chapter 22 A playbill seller has an embarrassing revelation to divulge to Miss Searle’s parents about Elizabeth and a certain gentleman.

Chapter 23 Dangerous secrets find their way into Bella Menage’s hands.

Chapter 24 Elizabeth has to deal with her tiresome little brother.

Chapter 26 Miss Searle’s career is evaporating away before her eyes.

A bit of an historical link between Miss Searle and Stowe.

Chapter 27 Maria Decamp takes up Miss Searle’s cause. Will Elizabeth be brave enough to carry out the plan?

Chapter 28 Mr Cooke was one of Britain’s greatest actors. He was also a hopeless alcoholic. Miss Searle puts the plan into action.

The Temple of Venus was used in filming a scene for the TV drama Bridgerton.

Self-Publishing Experiences

The Scary Decision to Publish

Ronan Beckman

an

Self-publishing can be a daunting prospect. Follow along with me as I discover mistakes and hopefully find some successes!

For over six years I have been working on my novel. I have enjoyed the historical research and spent many hours ensuring that I had the background correct to the best of my ability. I have spent hours in archives and trawling the internet for the most minute details to fill in the background of my characters. But the Covid-19 lockdown finally gave me the kick I needed to complete my work. Now the scary part begins!

What had started as a hobby is now becoming a reality. Do I take the daunting step of releasing and sharing this work with the public? Perhaps I am lacking in confidence. For so long I have wanted to get this story out of my head and ‘out there’. I have decided to self-publish, as I don’t think I could cope with the rejection of agents and publishers. My work is a bit ‘niche’ as well, and may not be everyone’s cup of tea. I’m ok with that, but a traditional publisher probably would not want to take the risk.

I had a good chance to see the workings of the real publishing world through the challenges experienced by an author friend of mine – Anne Doughty. She struggled to get mainstream publishers interested in her Northern Ireland based historical fiction. When she did, it was small publishers. She had untold hours of rewrites, edits and nonstop toil to alter her work to the specifications of her editor. And all for a rather paltry recompense (I remember once she got an advance of £200 after months of grafting). For me, the process of writing was difficult enough. I’m getting older and I don’t have the time to go through the traditional publishing grief.

But quality control is important. I’ve enlisted my own ‘Beta-Readers’ and have taken note of what needs to be reworked and fine tuned. It seems like I have been editing nonstop – and I still manage to find mistakes! And now, I think it is ready. I am feeling very nervous about putting this out – but I do hope people like it as I have at least 4 sequels ready to go swirling inside my brain. I will update this regularly and hopefully all who are interested can learn alongside me – mishaps and (hopefully) successes included!

 

Self-Publishing Experiences

The World of the Self-Promoting Author

Ronan Beckman

It isn’t an area that I really thought about when embarking on my writing journey, but to be a successful writer these days requires a great degree of self-promotion.

I have to admit that I am not at my most comfortable putting myself in the spotlight. For some, this might be no problem whatsoever. Social media has helped to make the job of self-promotion easier. However, I don’t feel that I have an Instagram ready face and I feel a bit uncomfortable at the prospect being under further scrutiny. However, I know from following my favourite authors on twitter that it can be a real pleasure to engage with those who are writing books that interest you. And it gives authors the opportunity to reach out to those who share their interests -their readers. As a self-published author, you cannot rely on anyone else to do the promoting for you. It is all down to you – so it is sink or swim time. Let’s take the plunge!It is important to try to avoid being daunted by social media and try to embrace it. It provides an opportunity to write about other topics of interest. In my case, I get the chance to write about my favourite era in history. With Pinterest and tumblr, I can share my favourite visuals. On YouTube I will get the chance to share my favourite locations to help my readers get a better sense of the places they are reading about in my book. On twitter, I can ask historians for their input on any problematic areas of research that I have encountered. And facebook is an all around great platform for engaging with others. We will see if I can maintain the positive attitude over the next few months! I will be happy to report back what I discover in the world of social media and self-promotion.