Archive for category Events
First Five Pages Competition
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Competitions, Events, Short Story on September 25, 2025
The lovely people at Farnham Literary Festival have asked me to publicise their Farnham’s First Five Pages Competition. 
Entrants must submit the first 5 pages of their novel plus a 250-word synopsis. The novel does not already have to be finished. There is no set theme or style of writing, but entries should be unpublished and original.
The prizes are:
First place – THE PARIS PRIZE FOR FICTION (sponsored by best-selling author B.A. Paris) – £1000 and a critique
Second place – £300
Third place – £200
There is a £10 fee per submission and entrants must be unpublished (self-published is acceptable).
Closing date is Wednesday 31 December 2025 – so plenty of time to get writing!
As always, please check the full terms and conditions before entering.
Good luck and enjoy!
Farnham Literary Festival also a run Flash Fiction competition if something shorter is more your thing.
Book Club Day UK 2025
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Books, Events, Lifestyle, Resources on September 11, 2025
September 11th is Book Club Day in the UK.
It’s a time to share and highlight the joy of being part of a book club and to encourage new clubs to form, so that more people will discover the social connections that discussing a book can bring.
I led a library-based book club for eleven years, stepping down only recently due to time pressures. But I’m remaining a member of the group because I love hearing all the different opinions generated by just one book. Invariably, we have someone who loves it and someone who thought it was so bad that they couldn’t finish it, plus all shades in between. And as an author, the experience helps me to accept that, without a doubt, some readers will hate my books while others (fingers crossed!) will like them.
There are a multitude of different types of book club: some concentrate on a particular genre such as crime, in others members take it in turn to choose the books, in my group the leader chooses our monthly book from the book group stock held within the Birmingham library system, in some groups the wine is more important than the literature and others bring together neighbours in a particular street.
If you’re looking for recommendations for your group, here are a few that my group has read and discussed with gusto:
The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett – the late Queen visits a mobile library.
Mr. Two Bomb by William Cole – a man witnesses the atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont by Elizabeth Taylor – an elderly lady in the late 1960s joins several other older people as a permanent resident in a hotel.
Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid – a 1970s pop band and their lead singer.
Elevation by Stephen King – a man is mysteriously losing weight.
As a group leader, I always found it helpful when a book had a list of ‘Discussion Questions’ included at the end. We didn’t work prescriptively through the list but it was good to have a jumping off point to get the conversation buzzing. During the final edits for Out of Control I drew up a list of discussion questions and was delighted when my publisher, Choc Lit, agreed to include them at the back of the book. 
I’m too nervous to try out the book and the questions with my own group (and I think my presence would sugarcoat their comments!) but if anyone tries Out of Control with their group, I’d love to know how you get on, whether the questions help and whether there are any other topics that the book leads you on to?
What I Learned at the Lichfield Book Extravaganza
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Events, Promotion on July 15, 2025
A few months ago I discussed the pros and cons of authors paying for tables at book fairs.
Meeting the Deputy Mayor of Lichfield at the Book Extravaganza
That post was based on the experiences of other writers. I’ve now taken part in one of these events as a stallholder. Here is what I learned:
1. A tall pop-up banner proclaiming your name, genre, book titles etc. is not essential. Individually they look professional, but space around the stalls can be limited, meaning the banners crowd each other out. I don’t have a banner and don’t plan to get one in the near future.
2. It’s essential to be able to accept both cash and card payments. I downloaded the Sum Up app onto my android phone in order to take card payments – this app doesn’t require the purchase of a separate card-reading device. I practised at home to ensure that I knew where on the back of the phone the customer needed to tap their card/phone. I had a couple of failed payments on the day but discovered that closing the app and starting again solved the problem. Sum Up takes a very small commission on each transaction. Also ensure you have a cash float in order to give change to those who hand over a £20 note.
3. Very few people will stop and peruse your table of their own free will. Make eye contact as people pass your stall and then immediately engage them in conversation; a question about the weather, compliment their outfit, bag etc., make a general comment about the event or whatever else pops into your head. Then lead gently into the books on your table. But accept that a lot of people will ignore you or not be your target reader. As with the rest of the publishing industry, you need a thick skin!
4. Have an ‘Event Special Offer!’ to attract people’s attention and act as a conversation opener about your books. This helped me a lot.
5. Make friends with an adjacent stallholder – you will need someone to watch your table when you go for a toilet break or in search of a cup of tea.
6. Take enough food and drink to last the whole day to reduce the amount of time you spend away from your stall.
7. Have business cards and bookmarks to give out.
8. Take a tablecloth plus book stands and an easy to see price list. I noticed that the few stalls with books just laid flat on a bare table attracted the least interest.
9. When someone buys a book, encourage them to join your email list either by displaying a QR code for direct online signup or by taking down their email address on paper to manually add later. I regret that I forgot to do this!
The Lichfield Book Extravaganza was a success for me (as well as a learning experience). I sold twenty books which more than covered my costs and I enjoyed the day. I will do this event again because it was fairly close to home, but I would think twice about travelling a long way unless it was for something special.
Please leave a comment if you’ve had experience of similar events?
Excitement and Nerves
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Events, Lifestyle, Successes on June 16, 2025
Have I got news for you!
Choc Lit Authors before the Joffe Summer Party
My publisher, Choc Lit (an imprint of Joffe Books) has signed me to write two more novels!
Both books will feature a later-in-life romance as part of the storyline. The first book has a working title of Because You’re Worth It and follows Michelle, who inherits a mysterious fortune from her mother. Michelle must embark on a journey of self-discovery and learn that it is never too late to trust her heart. All being well, this will be published in summer 2026. The second book, which currently has no plot and no title, will follow in summer 2027.
This has made me extremely excited but also slightly anxious. I have to provide my editor with the manuscript for the first book by 1st December this year and I’ve never written to a deadline before. It’s like being back at school with that pile of homework that needs to be done always at the back of your mind.
Watch this space for how I get on!
In other news, last month I went to the annual Joffe summer garden party in London. The picture above is me (second from right under the window) with several of the other Choc Lit authors in the pub beforehand. It’s the second time I’ve been to the party. This time I was more confident and made a point of searching out everyone in the Choc Lit/Joffe team who’d had a hand in making my books a reality. I got to meet the lovely Kate Ballard who, along with Becky Slorach, the head of Choc Lit, gave me great editorial advice on Out of Control, which was published earlier this year. I also spoke to the lovely people who deal with marketing and social media and those who format both the Kindle books and the paperbacks. It really does take a whole team to make books happen!
Final bit of news: My second short story collection, Hit or Miss?, was chosen as a June Amazon Monthly deal. This means the Kindle version is only 99p until the end of June, so now might be the time to indulge yourself (!) The book challenges the reader to decide which of the short stories were competition or magazine hits and which failed to land on the right editor’s desk at the right time.
Book Fairs
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Events, Markets, Promotion on February 15, 2025
Book Fairs appear to be growing in popularity. These are gatherings of large numbers of authors for the purpose of signing and selling books to the reading public. Authors pay for a table at these events. Sometimes readers have to pay an entrance fee and sometimes the events are free entry. 
These are not the same as Literature/Book Festivals where there is a program based around authors speaking about their books. Nor are they the same as events like The London Book Fair which is principally for the publishing industry, not the reading community.
There has been some discussion amongst the members of the New Street Authors Collective about whether Book Fairs are financially worthwhile. Tables usually cost upwards of £25 with those located in prime spots, and thus receiving the most footfall, priced higher. Many events cost significantly more than that. Adding in the cost of travel, parking and food and drink increases the financial outlay even more. Depending on how much authors charge for their books, the profit per book over cost price may be around £3. The sheer number of authors at these events means that competition is fierce and therefore the number of books sold may well only be in single figures. This means that many authors won’t make money at these events.
I’ve never attended one of these book signings and so I asked my fellow writers what the attraction was, given that they were likely to end up out of pocket.
F. D. Lee – “You don’t get many sales but more often than not you do get fans and fans will be loyal to you whatever you do.”
Dawn Abigail – “For me it’s a question of having some ulterior motive, i.e., Do I want to go, irrespective of how much I sell? If so, then sales are just a bonus.”
Jill Griffin – “It’s a good way to meet other authors and share information.”
Lee Benson – “I enjoy meeting people in the flesh and, at the shows I’ve attended, I’ve always sold books as well as getting school performance bookings and meeting other authors who want to be interviewed for my radio show and vice versa.”
The attraction of Book Fairs for authors is not wealth and riches – we all know that the average writer earns a pittance from his work – but the social aspect of mixing with other bookish people and comparing notes.
If you’d like to dip your toe into this world, whether as an author or a reader, here are a few places to try:
Book Extravaganzas (Midlands) organised by Rosie’s Retro Bazaar and Fantom Publishing
Book Signing Events in the UK A range of genres and locations
UK Book Signing Events Private Facebook Group
Conferences and New Directions
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Events, Lifestyle on August 16, 2024
There isn’t a writer in the world who doesn’t sometimes (or most of the time!) feel dispirited, discouraged and disappointed about the words they are producing (or not producing) and about their writing career in general. The best way to combat this is to come out into the world, blink hard in the bright light, and then TALK TO OTHER WRITERS.
Flying the flag for the Birmingham Chapter at #RNAConf2024
I spent the whole of last weekend talking to other writers at the RNA 2024 Conference. We commiserated with each other about what a tough and fickle mistress the publishing industry is. We clapped and congratulated award winners as they received their trophies. We exchanged tips and advice for navigating the writing world. And we followed each other on social media so that we can continue to champion each other in the coming months.
We were also bamboozled by a plethora of information from wonderful speakers. We filled our phones with pictures of their bullet-pointed slides and scribbled down nuggets of sage advice.
And, on Saturday night, we let our hair down and danced like no one was watching! And no one was watching – everyone was too busy waving arms, gyrating hips and booming out the song lyrics.
If you get the chance to go any sort of writing conference (or to a gathering relating to whatever passion floats your boat), please go! You will find your tribe. Like me, you’ll come home feeling a whole better (and totally exhausted!)
Everything I learned at the conference is now pointing me in a new direction for my books. It’s going to take a long time to come to fruition so I’m not going to jeopardise anything by revealing it yet. But watch this space!
A new direction that I can tell you about is an occasional new series on this blog, to be called ‘Five Questions About Writing With …’ It will reveal the lives and tips of a variety of writers across different genres. First up will be Sarah Rodi who writes Viking Romance for Mills and Boon. Stay tuned!
Finally, I’ve been playing around with Canva and produced a graphic for my very first novel, Bedsit Three. What do you think?
Bedsit Three is a psychological thriller featuring family relationships and it is now free to read on Kindle Unlimited for the first time ever! And only 99p to buy.
A Bit of Glamour!
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Competitions, Events, Poetry on May 24, 2024
Contrary to popular belief, an author’s life is more hard slog than glitzy glamour but once in a blue moon we do get the chance to raise a glass and to nibble canapes. One such occasion arose this week for me – my first ever publisher’s party.
All the Joffe Books partygoers!
Joffe Books (of which Choc Lit are part) held a garden party in London to celebrate their tenth birthday. It took place at the swish Six Park Place next to Green Park. We Choc Lit authors met in a pub beforehand and made our grand party entrance en masse (safety in numbers!).
There were bubbles, nibbles and lots of chat. 
It was great to meet the Joffe/Choc Lit team in person and put faces to names. The weather stayed dry, if not exactly warm and there were ‘going home’ presents of a Joffe birthday mug and tote bag. But the best takeaway of the evening was the feeling of camaraderie between the Choc Lit family of authors and the knowledge that though we may write in our individual garrets, others are going through the same trials and tribulations as us.
Finally, a competition I spotted (that’s right, I haven’t quite unsubscribed from all those newsletters!):
New Writers are running a free-to-enter poetry competition with the theme of ‘Summertime’. Poems can be up to 20 lines long and the closing date is 20th June 2024. First prize is £50 and publication on the NewWriters.org.uk website (and the inaugural issue of the New Writers Anthology) plus a copy of Jordan Hamel’s debut poetry collection.
How to enter: Send entries as attachments (MS Word or PDF) to competitions@newwriters.org.uk and use “Summer Poetry Competition” as the subject of the email. Use your poem’s title as the file name (avoid calling it ‘Summertime’). Ensure your name or other details are not written on the entry (and no need to add a word/line count).
Now all we need is the sunshine back for some summer inspiration!
Some of the ChocLit authors enjoying the party vibe!
On the panel . . . with cupcakes!
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Authors, Events, Promotion, public speaking on February 27, 2024
Despite having researched tips for panel events for Public Speaking for Absolute Beginners, I’d never actually taken part in such an event until last Friday night when I was part of a Women’s Fiction Panel. I sat alongside the charismatic Kim Nash and the fabulous Florence Keeling at The Museum of Cannock Chase. 
Kim was a very able chairperson with a wonderful flow of writing-related conversation starters which showed differences and similarities in the way the three of us approach our work.
Florence is a pantster who sallies forth with no definite plan about where the story is going. I plan but mostly veer away from it once the characters start appearing on the page and I realise that what I planned for them won’t work with their personalities.
Kim lights a candle on her desk to signal the switch from working at home in her day job to embarking upon her ‘writing time’. Florence doesn’t have space for a dedicated writing area and so you’ll find her on the settee with the laptop on her knee and a Harry Potter film on TV as background. I work in the smallest bedroom in silence – any music or radio noise is too distracting.
Kim and I write the first draft without reading back and editing what we’ve done the day before. Florence edits each section as she goes.
Florence and Kim both started writing initially as an escape from tough times in their lives. I got addicted after seeing my name and contribution in print on a women’s magazine letters’ page and receiving a cheque in the post for my trouble.
Florence and I have each self-published several books, as well as having novels traditionally published.
A very exciting part of the proceedings were the cupcakes(see above!) Each one sported a little cocktail stick holding one of our book covers – fantastic!
Did I learn anything about panel events?
If you’re worried about your mind going blank when faced with a question (as I was!), ask the chair for a list of possible question areas in advance. I felt more comfortable knowing the subjects that might be covered. This is also gives you chance to think about how you could turn a question around if it’s one you might find awkward.
Remember to talk to the audience. It’s OK to glance at your fellow panelists occasionally but the audience wants to see your face and hear your answer! Without the audience there would be no event.
If the venue is plying you with tea and coffee, don’t drink too much before the event starts – a toilet visit part way through the discussion might be frowned on.
Find out what the arrangements are for selling books. The lovely Press Books and Coffee Shop kindly attended my event to sell copies of all of our traditionally published books. But I only discovered later that I could have taken my self-published books to sell directly as well.
Relax. It’s not the Spanish Inquisition! The rest of the panel are human too and it’s always a lot of fun talking about writing and books with others who are passionate about the subject.
All Change at Jenkins Towers …
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Competitions, Events, Lifestyle, Non-writing, public speaking on February 6, 2024
There’s been a bit of stuff going on around here lately, which is making my long held vision of becoming a fulltime writer hover on the horizon. This is NOT because I have suddenly hit the New York bestseller lists and the money is pouring in, although as I write, Kindle Direct Publishing for Absolute Beginners has an orange ‘bestseller’ flag in Amazon’s Electronic Publishing category – which may have disappeared by the time you read this.
119419479 © Monkey Business Images | Dreamstime.com
My current situation has arisen because of redundancy from my part-time job in IT and being at very high risk of losing my library position as well (due to council cuts). On top of this, the gearbox in my old car is making clunky noises and will cost more than the car is worth to replace. So, there’s been a lot to think about and not a lot of writing or blogging has been happening.
However, I have not been totally idle. I’ve been preparing an author talk based around the inspiration for Little Museum of Hope. The first outing for the talk is Friday 9th February at Mere Green library in Sutton Coldfield – I’m keeping my fingers crossed that it will be well received!
And on the evening of Friday 23rd February I will be taking part in a Women’s Fiction panel at the Museum of Cannock Chase, organised by the lovely Kim Nash. It’s the first time I’ve been involved in a panel event so it will be an interesting experience.
Moving away from my life, I’ve spotted an unusual ‘competition’ for historical fiction writers from Sapere Books. On their website are a selection of outlines for historical fiction series. Choose one of the briefs and write a synopsis and the first three chapters of the first book in the series. As the prize will be a contract for a five-book series, ideas and outlines for the next four books in the series are also welcomed. The competition appears to be open to all writers, published or unpublished but do check all the details. The closing date is 31st May 2024.
Finally, if you enjoy reviewing WWII sagas, take a look at Helen Yendall’s latest book on Netgalley. I think it might tempt you!
Three Free Opportunities for Writers
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Competitions, Events, Resources on January 16, 2024
Over the last couple of weeks I’ve come across a few free opportunities for writers.
119395801 © Pras Boonwong | Dreamstime.com
Firstly, Indie Novella is offering a nine week online writing course free to successful applicants. It starts on 30th January 2024 and the deadline for applications is 29th January 2024. It is a self-paced course with learning material and writing exercises posted each Tuesday. Participants will have until Sunday night to complete each short assignment and interact with other writers on each exercise. Participants will have access to the learning materials for the entire course and beyond. At the end of each week Indie Novella editors will provide their feedback on a handful of assignments. Applications can be made now via the Indie Novella website.
Secondly, author, Freya North, is running a series of Instagram Live chats with writers on a Wednesday at 1 pm. Seek Freya out on Instagram, where she is @freya_north_author and find out who she’s talking to next.
Thirdly, here is an opportunity for new writers that has been bouncing around social media for the last couple of weeks. The Peoples’ Friend magazine is offering one lucky writer a £10,000 writing bursary! Unfortunately for me, entrants must be amateur, unpublished writers.
To enter, submit a short story of up to 2,000 words in the genre of either romance, thriller or comedy. The closing date is Monday 5th February 2024.
As always, read all the terms and conditions before entering.
Finally (and unfortunately this is not free!), those interested in cracking the short story market might find the short story collection, Hit or Miss?, useful. It contains a range of short stories and invites the reader to play magazine editor and competition judge in order to work out which stories were successful in print or competition and which didn’t quite hit the mark.
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