Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’ve worked in counter-terrorism, marine conservation (saving whales and dolphins) and international refugee policy. I’ve worked on the staff of two Federal Government Ministers – to translate that into American, a Congressman and a Senator, and run the Australian Consulate in England. But through it all I was also an antiques dealer. Today I’m a full-time antiques dealer and writer. I tend to focus on French and English kitchen and country pieces, and I travel to Europe once or twice a year to find new stock. I write feature articles for magazines, I’ve written my first book and I’m currently working on Vols I and II of my second title.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Travel & Shop The World For Free: How to turn antiques & vintage shopping into free international travel condenses 30 years of experience as an antiques dealer and international buyer, to teach an absolute beginner how they can do the same as I do. Every year I travel to Europe for a month once or twice, shopping, sight-seeing, exploring different places and generally having fun. Then I return home, sell all my purchases, get all my money back, so I can do it again. In Part 1, my book takes the reader step-by-step what they have to do: how to plan a buying trip, where to go to find the best buys, exactly what to buy when you get there, how to ship it home, and then how to sell it. Part 2 of the book is less instructional and more entertaining, where I give the full-on ‘travel feature’ treatment to a variety of destinations I’ve enjoyed visiting and shopping at. I’ve met many people who say they would like my lifestyle, and now they can have it, but without all the trial and error I went through as I developed this approach.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Oh I break all the rules of good writing, apparently. I always have the TV on in the background. I sit in the middle of my living room rather than shut myself away in a quiet spot. And I always, always do my research before I start writing. There’s no stream-of-consciousness with me, no “just get it out”, no “done is better than perfect”, I’m afraid. I research, research, research. Then I edit my research. Then I write. And after I’ve written, I self-edit. I know! Shocking! There are many experts who tell us the best way to write, but the best way is the way you feel most comfortable with.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
For this book there was no individual influence, because there is no other book like mine on the market. But something I did bear in mind from successful non-fiction writers is that a bit of humour goes a long way. If you want someone to remember something, make it entertaining and funny. That works on me when I’m trying to learn something new, so I tried to make even the drier aspects of my advice as entertaining as I could. When I get to fiction – because yes I do have a fiction series slowly taking shape in my brain – I really like Daniel Abraham, Philippa Gregory and of course George RR Martin.
What are you working on now?
Right now I’m working on Vols I and II of Little Beasties & How To Collect Them. These books will focus on some of our most favourite real and mythical creatures to describe their interesting and at times downright bizarre social history, and then highlight the vintage collectables that are especially good, that would make a rocking (and hopefully valuable) collection. For these books I’m drawing on my tertiary training as a social anthropologist to write the first half of every chapter – the social history – and my extensive experience as an antiques dealer to discuss the vintage collectables in regard to each animal. Many people have told me they’ll buy these books just on the basis of the Dragons chapter alone, so lucky I’m really happy with that chapter!
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
My Newsletter on my website (www.frenchandvintage.biz) has resulted in quite a few sales of the print version of my book. But what is going to be huge for me is that a national magazine in Australia has asked me to be part of a big promotion they have coming up. That will be target my specific demographic – antiques, travel and lifestyle readers, and I’m very excited by this big break.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
What has led to me getting exposure with major influencers in my field, to the point where they are taking an active interest in promoting my book, is that before I started writing my first book I wrote a lot for local newspapers. And I did that for free, in order to build my writing resume. That gave me some publishing credibility with smaller magazines when I started to approach them. I got a lot of knock-backs, but enough accepted my pitches that I then had even better credibility when I approached the bigger national glossy magazines.
But to get your foot in the door, over all your (considerable) competition, you’ve got to start for free. Local newspapers are often really happy to receive free content they don’t have to edit, and for which you’ve also provided some great photos. And not only do you have to offer great content for free, you have to be entirely reliable. Meet your deadlines, no matter what. Even if the editor contacts you and asks for something at a ludicrously short deadline, meet it. And edit yourself thoroughly. The newspaper editor will then cut your piece to ribbons, which takes a lot of getting used to – I don’t think I’ve ever gotten used to it! – but that’s what newspaper editors do because they have strict space constraints. In fact, having my carefully crafted articles torn to shreds by newspaper and magazine editors is what prompted me to start writing books – then I can say whatever I want, and no-one gets to edit me except me.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
If not now, then when? I’ve followed that advice throughout my professional career, then when I moved into becoming a full-time antiques dealer (giving up a good, regular income paid by someone else, which was a bit scary), and especially as a writer. Get started right now! There will never be the perfect time for anything, so make it now.
What are you reading now?
I’m reading a variety of fiction historical adventure books, and watching a bunch of comparable movies, to help me learn what works best in this genre, what I enjoy the most. So when I start work on my own fiction books I’ll have a better idea of how I want to proceed.
What’s next for you as a writer?
Right now I’m working on Vols I and II of Little Beasties & How To Collect Them. I’m learning all sorts of strange and bizarre facts about dragons, cats, mermaids, elephants, even chickens! It’s a fun writing process, but I really need to up the pace and get them done. After that I’ll be giving the same treatment to a variety of food – the working titles of those volumes are The Foodies Essential Guide to Antiques & Collectables, but I’m sure I’ll come up with something a little tighter than that when the time comes.
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Oooh, tough choice. I love reading. I read every single day. So they’d have to be long books. I’d really like to take the next 3 or 4 of George RR Martin’s Song of Ice & Fire series. I’ve read all the other books, several times, and now I’m waiting impatiently for the rest of the series – just like the rest of the planet. So hurry up, George! I now know from experience that writing can be a slow process, and that life intervenes, but I’m about to be stranded on a desert island and I need those books!
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