Rachel Abbott
| Rachel Abbott | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born |
Sheila Rodgers 1952 (age 63–64) Manchester, England |
| Pen name | Rachel Abbott |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Nationality | British |
| Period | 2011–present |
| Genre | Fiction, crime, thriller |
| Notable works |
Only the Innocent Sleep Tight |
| Website | |
|
www | |
Rachel Abbott (the pen name of Sheila Rodgers, born 1952)[1] is a British author of psychological thrillers. A self-publisher, her first three novels have combined to sell over one million copies, and have all been bestsellers on Amazon's Kindle store.[2] In 2015, she was named the 14th bestselling author over the last five years on Amazon's Kindle in the UK.[3]
Early life
Abbott grew up near Manchester, England.[4] She worked as a systems analyst, and then founded an interactive media company, developing software and websites for the education market.[4] She sold the company for around £5 million in 2000. Following the sale, she moved from Lancashire, England, to Italy, where she restored a 15th-century Italian monastery that for a time she and her husband operated as a venue for weddings and holidays.[1][2][5]
Career
In 2009, Abbott decided to write a book about an average, everyday woman put into a situation where she had no other option but to commit murder.[4] It took Abbott 18 months to write the first draft.[5][6] In November 2011, after it was rejected by several literary agents, Abbott, then 59, self-published her first novel, Only the Innocent, on Amazon, under her pen name.[2][5] The book sold slowly at first, with sales taking off after Abbott put together a strong marketing campaign.[7][8]
Abbott followed up Only the Innocent in 2013 with The Back Road and in 2014 with Sleep Tight.[6] Her fourth novel, Stranger Child, was published on February 24, 2015.[9] Later that year, she published the novella Nowhere Child, which has the same characters as Stranger Child.[10] In 2016, she published her sixth novel, Kill Me Again.[11] Her five novels and one novella all focus on relationships and crime, and all feature the same detective, Chief Inspector Tom Douglas.[6] Abbott has described the character as "a genuinely honest, nice guy who just seems to be attracted to the wrong women."[12]
Working with an agent since 2012,[2] she self-publishes in the UK, and through a publisher in North America.[13] Her books have been translated into seven different languages.[9]
By 2015, Abbott's first three novels, all self-published in the UK, with the first two published by Thomas & Mercer in the US, had combined to sell one million copies. All three have been bestsellers in Amazon's Kindle store.[2][6][12] By March 2016, she had sold two million books.[11] In 2015, Abbott was named Amazon's most popular independently published author in the UK;[14] she is Amazon's number one e-book seller in crime and thriller writing.[9] Also in 2015, she was named the 14th bestselling author over the last five years on Amazon's Kindle in the UK, after first publishing on the platform in 2011.[3][14] For the year 2015 (through August), Stranger Child was the most borrowed book from Amazon UK's Kindle Owners' Lending Library service, and number 11 on Amazon UK's list of best-selling eBooks of 2015.[15][16]
Personal life
Abbott and her husband divide their time between the Le Marche region of Italy and the island of Alderney, one of the Channel Islands.[1]
Bibliography
| Title | Publisher | Publication date | ISBN |
|---|---|---|---|
| Only the Innocent | Thomas & Mercer / Black Dot Publishing | November 15, 2011 | ISBN 978-0-9576522-1-7 |
| The Back Road | Thomas & Mercer / Black Dot Publishing | March 3, 2013 | ISBN 978-0-9576522-0-0 |
| Sleep Tight | Black Dot Publishing | February 24, 2014 | ISBN 978-0-9576522-3-1 |
| Stranger Child | Black Dot Publishing | February 24, 2015 | ISBN 978-0-9576522-4-8 |
| Nowhere Child (novella) | Black Dot Publishing | October 29, 2015 | ISBN 978-0957652255 |
| Kill Me Again | Black Dot Publishing | February 17, 2016 | ISBN 978-0957652262 |
References
- 1 2 3 Fred Redwood, “Ruined monastery was just what we’d been praying for! And after £1m rescue mission, it’s a stunning home with its own golf course,” The Daily Mail, March 21, 2015.
- 1 2 3 4 5 Dalya Alberge, “Crime writer hits killer 1m sales – with no publisher,” The Sunday Times, February 8, 2015.
- 1 2 Hannah Furness, "Retiree who wrote novel for fun joins world-famous authors on bestseller list," The Daily Telegraph, August 5, 2015.
- 1 2 3 "Contemporary Authors Online". Biography in Context. Gale. 2014. Retrieved February 2, 2016.
- 1 2 3 Smita Mistry, “I Spent 14 Years Plotting a Murder!” Woman's Own, p. 38.
- 1 2 3 4 Khaleda Rahman, “Self-publishing author says she ‘astounded’ after her crime thriller which was rejected by literary agents sells one million copies,” The Daily Mail, February 7, 2015.
- ↑ Lisa Campbell, "EL James tops five-year Amazon Kindle chart," The Bookseller, August 5, 2015.
- ↑ Ben Falk, "How I Used My Retirement To Become Kindle’s Bestselling UK Author," Yahoo! Finance, September 7, 2015.
- 1 2 3 “Bestselling writer in Alderney celebrates fourth novel,” ITV Report, February 24, 2015.
- ↑ Emma Lazenby, "How to write your first book and get it published: 10 insider tips," bt.com, December 11, 2015.
- 1 2 Rachel Abbott, "14 hour days, marketing and dealing with snobbery: my life as a self-published bestseller," The Guardian, March 30, 2016.
- 1 2 Caroline Carpenter, “Self-published Rodgers hits a million in sales,” The Bookseller, February 9, 2015.
- ↑ “Rachel Abbott: ‘Self-publishing means the success of my books is entirely down to me,” The Guardian, July 2, 2013.
- 1 2 Alison Flood, "Kindle turns five: independent women thrive in ebook bestseller charts," The Guardian, August 5, 2015.
- ↑ Stefan Kyriazis, "Female authors whip the men' asses after writing 18 OUT OF TOP 20 bestsellers in 2015," Daily Express, August 26, 2015.
- ↑ Alison Flood, "The Girl on the Train tops Amazon's UK ebook sales this year so far," The Guardian, August 25, 2015.