In 2010 Ruth Livingstone started walking around the coastline of the British mainland, which just goes to show that you don’t have to dust off your passport to become a travel blogger and publish a book about your adventures. We simply need to open our front door and start exploring.
Ruth shares her walking exploits on her blog and a new beginner’s walking guide that tells you everything you need to know about exploring the coast of England. There’s no need to don your hiking boots for Ruth’s next journey – get comfy and let’s find out about Ruth’s writing and self-publishing journey. ~~ Jay
Author Interview: Ruth Livingstone
How would you describe the type of books/genre you write?
I write fiction and short stories, but am better know for my non-fiction, and particularly for my walking blog at www.coastalwalker.co.uk and for my book about hiking the English coast. I published the book last year, and it’s called “Walking the English Coast: A Beginner’s Guide”.
What motivated you to start writing?
I wanted to be writer when I was a little girl, but became interested in science at school and spent most of my adult life working very hard as a doctor and a mother. When my family grew up, I decided it was time to pursue my writing ambitions and enrolled in a creative writing degree. My aim was to write fiction, and I now have a couple of novels almost-ready to be published. But, in my fifties, I also set off on a long-distance walking adventure, and so I fell into non-fiction writing almost by accident. I kept a blog of my hiking expeditions and found people enjoyed reading about my trips and wanted to know more.
What was the journey like that you went on to get your books published?
Having failed to get an agent interested in my novels, I decided against the traditional route for my walking book. To be honest, I couldn’t face the work involved in endless rounds of submissions, nor the heartbreak of each rejection. And, I already had hundreds of followers of my walking blog, and a readymade audience for my book.
By chance, I went to a writing conference and secured a one-to-one with an editor who helps writers self-publish. I got on very well with the lady I met, and hired her company to get my book up and running. This means I had help with copyediting and proofreading. I think it’s vital that self-published authors get the basics right. Spelling and grammar really do matter!
What publishing elements do you most enjoy and most like to avoid, and why?
I enjoyed having the support of an editor. She was enthusiastic and helpful, and imposed deadlines that forced me to actually finish the project. (I’m very good at starting new writing projects, but not very good at finishing them!) She also suggested a number of changes, and her advice definitely improved the quality of the book.
Although I had previous experience of setting up a few shorter works for self-publishing via Amazon, I wanted this book to look great as a coffee table book. It needed colour photographs, boxed text, and diagrams. This made the formatting complicated, and I decided to pay the company to do the formatting for me.
Like many independent authors, I’m not very good at marketing. I want to write, and when I’m not writing, I want to go walking, or spend time with my family, and marketing seems a chore.
With the hindsight of being a published author, anything you would have done differently?
The standard advice for independent authors is to never attempt to design the book’s cover yourself. Although I supplied the photographs, the cover for “Walking the English Coast” was designed by the company I’d hired and, in retrospect, I’m a little disappointed with it. I think I could have done a better job myself, because I have a good eye for design and am used to manipulating images.
I chose to print the book in an unusual format, larger than normal, because I wanted the book to stand out and to look different. This was a great idea, but meant postage costs were higher and I had to spend more on larger envelopes. In future, I would choose a size that could be posted (in the UK) as an ordinary letter.
Print costs were more than I anticipated too, because I was using colour photographs. In my ignorance, I thought the cost of colour printing would depend on how many photographs you include. In fact, the cost of colour printing is mainly determined by the quality of the paper you need for colour reproductions, and so it doesn’t really matter if you have 5 photos or 50. The costs are pretty much the same. If I’d known that at the beginning, I would have included more photos and illustrations in the book.
What tips or advice would you give an aspiring indie author who is looking to self-publish?
I would say go for it. Always hire a professional editor, both for copyediting (which involves improving the structure of the book and making the text flow better) and for proof reading (which involves checking punctuation, grammar and spelling).
When deciding the size and shape of your book, think of the likely postage costs in your area, and make your choice wisely.
You must put your book on Amazon. I print and distribute my book through Ingram Spark, who were cheaper than Amazon for colour printing in the UK. But I made sure my book appeared on Amazon too. Why? Whether you love Amazon or hate it, the fact is that Amazon is the number one online retailer for books, and you are crazy not to take advantage of that.
What marketing or promotional tools or techniques do you use to reach your readers?
My blog at www.coastalwalker.co.uk is my prime marketing tool for my walking book. The blog has been going for over 7 years now, and it takes time to build up an audience. I do spend a good deal of time on social media, and make occasional references to my books and other published work. For my target audience of middle-aged would-be adventurers, Twitter and Facebook are the most useful platforms. In addition, I’ve written a number of guest blog posts and featured in a several magazines.
What impact do you want your books to have on your readers?
I hope people who read “Walking the English Coast” will be inspired to get up and get out hiking. I really want my book to encourage women to undertake solo expeditions, and to inspire people who don’t do much exercise to consider walking as a life-enhancing and exciting activity.
If I can turn from a couch potato into an experienced coastal walker, anybody can.
What is your latest book about?
The book I’m writing at the moment is a sci-fi novel for young adults. It features a strong female protagonist who has been horribly injured in an accident, and is trying to rebuild her life. She is assigned to protect a scientific laboratory in space, a mission she expects to be boringly humdrum, until the laboratory is attacked… and she discovers there is a traitor on the station.
What’s next on your writing journey?
After I’ve finished and independently published my sci-fi novel, I’m going to write another non-fiction book about my experience of walking the Wales Coast path. This was a fantastic hiking trip, and I have thousands of wonderful photographs to choose from. After that… maybe a book about walking in Scotland… or another sci-fi novel… or both!
About the Author
Ruth Livingstone is a retired doctor. Seven years ago, she decided to walk around the coast of mainland Britain, very slowly, in stages. She maintains a successful blog at www.coastalwalker.co.uk and published a book last year, “Walking the English Coast: A Beginner’s Guide”. She also writes novels and short stories, and has had articles published in a variety of magazines.
- Blog: www.coastalwalker.co.uk
- Facebook: @RuthLivingstoneWriter
- Twitter: @ruthlesstweets
