That the luxury-obsessed elites of the 1750s were quite similar to that group of people today. Tell us something unexpected you discovered during your research I like social media, so to me it isn’t a chore or a necessary evil. I write a lot of nonfiction on history and I interact with people on twitter, Facebook, and Goodreads. The reality is everyone is online and authors need to be where readers are. Nor does sending a huge number of ARCs to newspaper and magazine reviewers to build up awareness, because, sadly, print media is spiraling out of existence. Most publicists would actually agree with that too. My books are “traditionally published,” but the classic path to success of bookstore appearances and touring and speaking, it doesn’t work today. What have you found to be the best way to raise awareness of your books? But letting something sit overnight to get a fresh read in the morning is one of my tricks. I fight that impulse myself, as I am not a patient, deliberate person. It’s really important not to submit fiction or publish before something is ready. What we think is coming across with clarity to a reader might not be-that’s where your team can help you. Get eyes on your work and listen to what your beta readers or critique partners say. Any time I could snatch for research or writing or revising. I’d love to have a routine-and even more so, a beautiful writing room or even a nook! I have a full time job at a nonprofit news center and freelance nonfiction assignments, and a family, so I write my books, and The Blue in particular, at the kitchen table early in the morning before anyone is awake, or in bed on the weekends. I brought some of my family history to this novel, as I am descended from a Huguenot settler who came to New Amsterdam (now New York City) in 1665 and my father was a watercolor artist. It’s a spy story and an art story: a young Huguenot woman who longs to be a serious artist gets caught up in a conspiracy to steal the formula for the most beautiful shade of blue ever created from an English porcelain factory in 1758, the middle of the Seven Years War. I jumped to another time period with The Blue.

I followed up my Tudor trilogy with a stand-alone novel set in the eighteenth century. I'm pleased to welcome best-selling historical fiction author Nancy Bilyeau to The Writing Desk:

The blue by nancy bilyeau