📖 AUTHOR STORY 📖 Francesca Catlow

Francesca Catlow wrote her first novel during COVID lockdowns while taking care of her newborn baby, her injured mother, and her chronically ill husband.

“I fantasized about escaping to Corfu, so, while breastfeeding my baby at 4 am, I started writing The Little Blue Door and set the story there. I didn’t stop for four weeks until the first draft was complete.”

Driven by a dream of earning a living as an author but too impatient to wait for a traditional publishing deal, she turned to a vanity press. Unfortunately, they did a poor job preparing her book for publication.

After much effort (and a few tears), she regained her publishing rights and decided to give her novel the proper chance it deserved — starting with a brand-new cover designed by Reedsy’s Andrew Davis.

From there, everything changed.

Her sales jumped from a few hundred copies to thousands, making her an Amazon Top 50 Bestseller and a 2023 Kindle Storyteller Finalist.

Her books are now stocked in bookstores, and she’s been invited to signings at Waterstones and indie bookshops. Often set on the beautiful island of Corfu, they continue to receive glowing praise. Despite the initial challenges, she achieved her dream of becoming a full-time author.

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🌟 I enjoy reading and posting these success stories because they are a reminder of what we are all capable of. Like many of us, these authors started from nothing. No knowledge, no audience, no experience. But they made it happen anyway.

You can do the same.

You don't have to wait for someone to give you an opportunity; create your own!

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📖 AUTHOR STORY 📖 Francesca Catlow