The House Swap

Psychological thriller number 24!

Sep 08, 2024

I sent my next book off to our copy editor on Friday. Called The House Swap, it’s set partly in Provence in the South of France and partly in Knightsbridge, London. Two super luxury settings… or perhaps not! I’m hoping it will be published at the end of November or beginning of December.

It’s taken me longer than normal to write this book, not least because of major life events, such as my husband’s cycling accident, selling our house and buying a new one (more on that at a later date!) and various other health issues. Normally I juggle writing and life reasonably well, but for some reason this summer was hard. Of course I also had my mid-book wobble. My wonderful editor, Jan, knows exactly how to sort that out! We have a fabulous working relationship and I’m hugely grateful for her support.

The House Swap is my 24th psychological thriller and 29th published book. In addition to the 24 psychological thrillers, I’ve written one self-help book, one biography, one women’s fiction novel, one collection of short stories and a novella. I reckon that’s about 2 million words. Good heavens - I really must have verbal diarrhoea!

As The House Swap features a French vineyard, it seemed rather apropos that we found a little booklet in my late father’s study called The Woman’s Journal Pocketbook of Wine. Published, I assume, around 1950, it makes for hilarious and very non-pc reading. This extract is a fine example. It made me chuckle, and I hope it will you too!

Another article is entitled, Starting A Cellar. It states, “Don’t be too ambitious at the start. Three dozen bottles is about right, and do not bother to keep sherry, port, or brandy. You can buy them as and when you want them.” Mmm - do you have 36 bottles of wine lying around your house? We certainly don’t!

There are some things that I thought would get easier the more I wrote, such as the self-doubt. Wrong. A few of my books have almost written themselves, ones that I’ve sent off into the world feeling reasonably confident that they’ll do alright. Not necessarily well, but alright. And then there are some novels that I’ve deeply doubted.

The thing with writing books is, despite understanding the formulaic necessities of thriller writing, there are zero guarantees. Just because my editor and I think I’ve written an interesting book with a shocking twist, doesn’t mean you’ll think that. Just because my publishers like the front cover and Netgalley readers give it the thumbs up, doesn’t mean you will. Just because you’ve rated my book five stars, doesn’t mean the Book Blogger on Instagram with 100k followers will. She might trash it. And then despite all the best marketing efforts, the book will dwindle on Amazon, never gaining any bestseller tags, maybe hooking in my regular readers but never reaching new pairs of eyes.

And that’s what authors and publishers the world over are desperately seeking: new readers. When I’m writing my books I don’t think about who might read them. I’m swept up in the story and my characters’ voices speak so loudly, I have to get their words down on the page. Despite having a background in marketing, I really don’t want to do any marketing for my books. To the surprise of some, I’m an introvert and I’m quite happy spending my days alone just with my laptop and dog for company! Of course I have to do some marketing - even if it’s only showing up on social media and sending out emails to my early readers to thank them for their reviews. I know I would reach more new readers if I took to TikTok - but heck, I really don’t have time to be posting every day, and who wants to see my middle-aged face? I love my Facebook Group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/mirandarijks - please join!) but beyond that… I’m afraid I’ve wimped out. I’m curious to know what you think fiction authors should be doing to connect with readers.