Kate Rigby

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’ve been writing for over thirty years and lost count of how many books I’ve written. I’ve had a few small successes along the way. My biggest success was back in the day when my punk novel, Fall Of The Flamingo Circus was published by Allison & Busby (1990) and by Villard (American hardback 1990). It got a good review in a national newspaper and also in The Face. That was my fifteen minutes, I think! Skrev Press published my novels Seaview Terrace (2003) Sucka!(2004) and Break Point(2006) and other shorter work has appeared in Skrev’s avant garde magazine Texts’ Bones including a version of my satirical novella Lost The Plot.

Thalidomide Kid was published by Bewrite Books (2007).

I’ve had other short stories published and shortlisted including Hard Workers and Headboards, first published in The Diva Book of Short Stories and as part of the Dancing In The Dark erotic anthology, Pfoxmoor Publishing (2011)

I also received a Southern Arts bursary for my novel Where A Shadow Played (now re-Kindled as Did You Whisper Back?).

I’m gradually in the process of re-Kindling my backlist, previously published and unpublished work. Most are also available on Smashwords including:

Far Cry From The Turquoise Room
Suckers n Scallies (formerly Sucka!)
Down The Tubes
She Looks Pale
Tales By Kindlelight (a collection of short stories, many of them previously published or shortlisted in short story competitions)
Savage To Savvy – (ABNA Quarter-Finalist 2012)

I am glad I did a lot of my writing years ago as I now have health problems and fibromyalgia. I’m also a bit of an armchair campaigner for social justice.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is called The Dead Club. It’s pretty dark but has – I hope – plenty of black humour as well as surreal elements. It’s still under wraps and not been foisted on the world yet.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Writing is a bit like making a patchwork quilt for me – rather than starting from A to B, I graft in sections or scenes or dialogue as I need them and they grow from there. I do have a basic outline though before I begin.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
A Street Cat Named Bob
Six Dinner Sid
An Embarrassment of Riches (and everything by Gerald Hansen)
Animal Farm
The Book Thief
Hotel World
A Blues for Shindig
Never the Bride
Exchange
Last Orders
Bilgewater
Hi Fidelity
A Room of One’s Own
An Angel at My Table
The Bell Jar
The Swimmer
To Kill a Mockingbird
When the Wind Blows
The Way We Wore
God and the New Physics
Eats, Shoots & Leaves
Empty Chairs
The Ragged Trousered Philanthropist
And many more.

What are you working on now?
I am trying to get some of my ebooks into paperback and also in the process of making my short stories available as e-book ‘singles’

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I tend to use the Amazon forums, Facebook or sites like yours which offer a variety of promotions for indie authors.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Do it because you love it. Enjoy the process and rather than see it as a means to an end see as an end in itself. If you’re looking for instant success or even moderate success you might be disappointed. Keep reading in genre and learn your craft. Don’t rush to get a book out just because the tools are available – take the time to get it professionally edited and proofread.

What are you reading now?

Keri: The Early Years by Kat Ward

Author Websites and Profiles

Kate Rigby Website
Kate Rigby Author Profile on Smashwords

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