Kill or Die – Ann Evans | #Blogtour Guestpost @annevansauthor @bloodhoundbooks #KillorDie

Published by Bloodhound Books

ebook & paperback:  13 April 2017

With thanks to Sarah Hardy for including me on the tour, and together with the fabulous Noelle from Crime Book Junkie, I’m delighted to be kicking off the blog tour for Kill or Die on publication day. I had this on pre-order as I really like the look of it.   For my turn, I have a guest post from Ann.

The things kids say!

by Ann Evans

Thank you for hosting me on your blog. It’s very much appreciated.

Kill or Die is my first venture into the adult crime scene. It’s my 29th book and apart from four books, the rest have been for children aged 8-11 and young adults. As such I often get asked into schools to talk about books and writing, with the aim of inspiring youngsters to read more and write better stories themselves.

It’s enjoyable, but hard work and very challenging. You always get lots of questions thrown at you and you have to be quick off the mark with your answers. One question they tend to ask – much to the teacher’s horror, is: “How much money do you earn?”

Before the teacher can tell little Johnny not to be so rude, I’ll get them with a math’s question, pointing out that the author only gets a percentage – or a fraction of the book price, the publisher gets a share, the book shop gets a share, the delivery man gets a share etc etc. So, maybe the author only gets 50p… you should see their little faces drop! All ambition of being an author flies through the window. But then you get them to work out how much they get if they sell 10 books, then 100, and then 1,000 etc., so teacher is relieved, and the kids want to be authors again. Phew!

“How old are you?” Is another question they like to ask – again to the horror of the teacher. So I tell them that I first started writing when I was expecting my first baby. And that baby is now grown up – I raise my hand a foot above my head to indicate he’s now over 6 ft, and add – “with babies of his own!” Thirty pairs of eyes widen! Teacher is smiling again.

One story I love to tell them, and which teachers enjoy, as it reiterates everything they’re trying to drum into them, is how hard it was to get published in the first place. Whether I tell this (true) tale at an assembly for the whole school or to an individual class, I always get the same great response which has the kids whooping and cheering at the end.

Firstly, I’ll describe how hard it is to write a book, with all the re-writing, polishing, editing, checking of spelling, punctuation, grammar etc., after which you send it off, and wait – fingers crossed. I ask for a show of hands as to whether they think I got an acceptance letter back – most of them have their hands straight up. Surely that’s all there is to it. One or two nervously put their hands up to say they think it was rejected. I then tell them – back it came with a rejection letter saying, “Thanks but no thanks.”

Groans all around the hall. So I ask them should I give up? Seeing as I have a table full of books behind me, there’s usually a resounding “No!” So I repeat the process, building up my efforts to write a brilliant story, only to be rejected time and again. Getting them to come up with great words to say how I’d be feeling – devastated, miserable, heart-broken etc. But mid way, I’ll point put that whatever you do, you have to persevere and no one is great at anything to begin with. Anyway by the time we reach book number seven, the children are resigned to hearing that also was rejected. When I tell them that was accepted – the cheers raise the roof! A lesson in perseverance.

I can’t imagine I’ll be taking my new book, Kill or Die into school, but possibly a talk with a book club or a group. But do you think I’ll be able to get them all sitting up straight on the carpet, waiting eagerly and quietly for me to begin? Well possibly….

Thank you so much for letting me write this guest post for your blog. And I hope you and any younger readers in the family will enjoy my books.

About the book:

A vicious burglary goes horribly wrong when an elderly victim is killed and
one of the burglars is injured.

In the detached house next door, Julia is preparing to leave her husband. He has let her down for the last time and her bags are packed. Taking their eight-year-old daughter, Lucy, from her bed they set off in the fog.

But on this cold, dark night, fate steps in and these strangers collide.

When Vincent and Nash abduct the mother and daughter, and take them to a derelict house, the situation takes a grave turn.

Meanwhile, Julia’s husband, Ian, is distraught that his wife and daughter have left, and when the murder and burglary are discovered, suspicion falls on him.

For Ian, Julia and Lucy, life is about to become a nightmare.

Can Julia and Lucy escape from the twisted criminals?

What will Julia decide when the choice is – kill or die?

About the author:

I’ve always loved writing. What started as a hobby has now become a way of life. My children’s and YA books have been published by Scholastic Children’s Books, Usborne Publishing, Penguin Australia, Hometown World, Badger Learning and Astraea Press (Clean Reads). Plus there are a number of adults books published under my pen name of Ann Carroll – and more in the pipeline. The Beast published by Usborne won the raring2read category in the Coventry Literary Book Festival 2013. 2017 sees three new books being published, another YA reluctant reader book for Badger Learning entitled Keeper. An historical romance called A Place to Belong, and a crime thriller – working title Kill or Die with Bloodhound Books.
When I’m not writing I do school visits, run workshops and give talks.
My non-fiction career spans the last 30 years which includes 13 years at the Coventry Telegraph as a staff feature writer plus a great many freelance articles on a wide range of topics.

Author Links:  Website   |   Twitter   |  Facebook   |   Amazon UK   |  Goodreads

Kill or Die is available to download from Amazon for just 99p