I’m bethlewis over at the blue place and I’m there far more than I am here. Or I’m on instagram BethLewis.author
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Beth Lewis
@bethklewis
Writer. The Origins of Iris, Wolf Road, Bitter Sun. CHILDREN OF THE SUN out now. Shortlisted for the Glass Bell Award and Polari Prize She/her 
Beth Lewis’s posts
Honest author moment:
I’ve been promoting Children of the Sun relentlessly over the last few weeks with interviews, articles and reviews.
It publishes in two days and despite all the incredible reviews, Waterstones will not be stocking it in their stores.
Fellow authors: Do you find it hard to keep banging the drum about your books, especially when it feels like you're the only one doing it?
🚨#GIVEAWAY ALERT 🚨
The shortlist is being announced in 2 weeks, to celebrate I’m giving away THREE SIGNED COPIES of my longlisted novel, #TheOriginsOfIris.
To enter: RT and follow. UK only I’m afraid. Closes Sunday 8pm.
Pls spread the word!
🚨#GIVEAWAY ALERT🚨
To chase away these dark, cold winter days, here is the SUNNIEST book of 2023. I’m giving away TWO SIGNED PROOFS of my next book, #ChildrenOfTheSun.
To enter: RT & follow. UK only I’m afraid. Closes Saturday 28th 8pm.
Pls spread the word! ☀️
#YoureInvited
The power of Twitter!!!
I’ve just been told that thanks to this absolutely incredible support, the hardback is getting a reprint before it’s even published 😱😱😱
(Still not in Waterstones but good news is good news)
Thank you thank you thank you
☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️
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Honest author moment:
I’ve been promoting Children of the Sun relentlessly over the last few weeks with interviews, articles and reviews.
It publishes in two days and despite all the incredible reviews, Waterstones will not be stocking it in their stores.
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This shows the booksellers there is demand for a title and they are more likely to order in copies.
Being an author right now is really tough and I’m glad we’re finally starting to speak honestly about it.
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This is obviously a huge blow. But it goes to show how difficult this business can be.
If you go into a bookshop looking for Children of the Sun (or any book) and it’s not there, please please please ask the bookseller to order it in.
The baby has landed. On her due date, no less. She is Theodora, first of her name, daughter of dragons, stealer of sleep.
☀️Publication day!☀️
CHILDREN OF THE SUN is finally here!
"A cult book with a difference" - the Guardian.
Thank you to everyone who has pre-ordered, tweeted, reviewed, and liked. I'm so proud of this book and I really hope you all enjoy it ☀️
linktr.ee/beth_lewis
Not sure how we managed this but my child, who turned 2 last month, has taken to happily going to bed, lying quietly in her cot until we leave the room, whereupon she belts out ABBA songs for twenty minutes then falls asleep.
I just…
#Giveaway time! To celebrate pub day, I'm giving away a SIGNED, DEDICATED SET of all 3 of my books so far: #TheOriginsOfIris, Bitter Sun and The Wolf Road.
To enter: RT, follow, and send me your fav space-related pic 🔭🪐☄️👩🚀🚀🛰. UK & Ireland only. Winner picked on Monday!
When I was 12 (!!) I wrote a fantasy novel. Of course I designed the cover first. Check out the publisher. Dreams do come true. #keepwriting
BOOOOOKS!!!
Paperback copies of IRIS have arrived and they are *chef’s kiss* stunning. Thank you for making a beautiful book. I hope lots of people pick it up!
🚨COVER REVEAL KLAXON!! 🚨
Delighted to finally share the cover for my fourth novel, CHILDREN OF THE SUN.
How far would you go for a second chance?
Preorder #ChildrenoftheSun☀️ now
amzn.to/3uhXo4Y
Proud of my country for the first time since the referendum.
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MSNBC reports that Britain's anti-Trump protest was the largest against any foreign leader, ever in the country's history. (and Britain has a long history!)
The hilarious and super rude is doing a #book with ! Beautiful birds + obscenities. Buy it. It's ridiculous and will make you smile for days. unbound.com/books/effin-bi
£20 a month to solve a problem that doesn't exist. Another 'innovation' to prey on aspiring authors? Feels like it.
thebookseller.com/futurebook/mym
To celebrate #WorldBookDay and #BitterSun, it's #Giveaway time! RT for a chance to #win one of three SIGNED paperbacks of my first novel, #TheWolfRoad. I'll be picking three winners on Friday at 8pm! 🐺📚
Oh my god, I’m totally overwhelmed by the support. I’ve been out trying to take my mind off it all and come back to you amazing folks. I’ll reply properly in the morning but thank you 🙏🏻
🚨NEWS! 🚨 I am thrilled to be joining for my next two books. This has been a hell of a journey. Had a baby, switched agent AND publisher, moved jobs (not at Unbound anymore), moved city, wrote a book, edited another, all in a pandemic.
Exhausted but very happy!
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"Her imagination is thrilling, employing different literary devices and genres to tell incredibly human stories with every book", @HodderStudio scoops two titles from @bethklewis, starting with The Origins of Iris. See more: bit.ly/34ytHQN
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I do hope this is followed up by direct apologies to the women of colour you ignored and who have since been subject to torrents of racial abuse. Your silence and complicity helped enable their attackers. Please take responsibility for your actions in this.
#BitterSun is out next week! 😱 To celebrate, it’s #Giveaway time! RT far and wide for a chance to #win one of three SIGNED hardbacks! I’ll be picking the three winners on Friday at 8pm! ☀️📚
I would like more people to read my books… How do I get more people to read my books? 🤷🏻♀️
Two further thoughts:
It's not just debuts. My debut was great, it was publishing book 3 that utterly destroyed my mental health.
And secondly, I'd be interested to hear what the think about this.
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According to a survey conducted by The Bookseller, 54% of authors found the process of publishing their début book negatively affected their mental health, while just 22% described a positive experience overall.
Read more here: buff.ly/3oFOv5H
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To repeat:
#Writer: YOU DON'T NEED TO PAY TO SUBMIT YOUR WORK TO AGENTS. It won't help you. It won't get you submission to the top of the pile. It won't make an agent look more favourably on your book.
Go to an agent's website, click Submission Guidelines & do what it says.
Spent the whole day writing in my local Waterstones cafe so it would’ve been rude not to buy a book. And I got a cracker. Look at those spredges! Cannot wait to dive into Caro’s story, .
Here we go!
Thank you for letting me scribble on books.
There is one where I got the date wrong so whoever gets that wins a prize.
🚨🔥COVER REVEAL!🔥🚨
Here is the paperback of THE ORIGINS OF IRIS, my third novel. I ADORE this cover! If you like love stories, wilderness survival, dopplegangers and raccoons, this is for you.
Pre-Order!
Waterstones: fal.cn/3nIzH
Amazon: amzn.to/3ObwZyI
Asked my toddler what she wanted for Christmas. She looked at me thoughtfully, then in a very serious voice said:
"Blue."
This is the greatest thread twitter has ever seen. 👇👇👇
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The confusing parts of Lord of the Rings start to make a lot more sense when you realize it's actually just a transcribed #DnD campaign. THREAD:
150%? Screw that, I want to see 200%.
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People, the ridiculous has happened and the Effin’ Birds book is 131% funded. unbound.com/books/effin-bi
But why stop there. Can we do 150%?
So thrilled to be joining David’s incredible list. David and Goldsboro have always been hugely supportive of me and my books so I’m so excited for this new chapter.
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Welcome, @bethklewis I can't wait for people to read your brilliant new novel. twitter.com/DHHlitagency/s…
🚨Calling all #bookbloggers!🚨
Upon opening a forgotten box I discovered 6 proof copies of Iris! I would like these to go to good homes so if you’d like one, please yell! If you know someone who might like one, yell at them!
#BookTwitter #ownvoices #LGBTreads #BookReview
Brexit is a tragedy. If you voted for it, dear god don't tell me, we're not friends, you've taken away my future for a lie written on a bus.
2:08
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I am delighted to finally be able to share with y'all the brilliant cover for #BitterSun, out June 14th. All about the darkness at the heart of a small town and the four kids who uncover it.
What dya think? ☀️📚
Question for #writers, have you ever had an idea for a book that you keep putting off because you don’t feel skilled or experienced enough to write it?
I need Jeff Goldblum to do a guest spot in #TheGoodPlace as Michael’s more successful older brother.
To celebrate #PrideMonth I'm giving away 3 SIGNED PROOFS of my latest novel, #TheOriginsOfIris, out 19/8.
To enter: RT, follow, and send me your best picture or emoji of a raccoon 🦝🦝🦝. UK & US welcome. I'll pick winners on Saturday!
Also, preorder! bit.ly/OriginsofIris
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UPDATE: I am delighted to say that Waterstones placed a late order and CHILDREN OF THE SUN will be in some stores.
Thank you so much for the support, this has made my week. You guys are awesome ❤️🥲
(If you can’t find a book in store, do ask the bookseller to order it in)
Amidst all this buzzy #frankfurtbookfair news, I have some bookish news of my own.
I HAVE A NEW AGENT. Delighted to be represented by at DHA. So excited for this new phase in my career and new direction in my writing.
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That thing where you have a new idea for a book but are promoting one, editing another, waiting to submit a third, and halfway through writing a fourth... dear god.
I've got to the point in the book I'm writing where I write the #pitch. This is a mini-synopsis. More like teasing jacket copy than a full-on breakdown. This is a super useful exercise for me because...
Started writing a book during lockdown 1 to keep myself busy. Nearly a year, two more lockdowns and over 130,000 words later, I wrote The End. I certainly kept busy 😳
So this happened...
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Unbound hires The Times’ commissioning books editor Fiona Wilson and Titan Books’ managing editor Beth Lewis: bit.ly/2qf9Sad
Dearest #bookbloggers, if anyone is keen to get their grubby little mitts on a sexy proof of THE ORIGINS OF IRIS (out in August), there may be a few left without a home, hurry though! #books #Goodreads #booklover #TheOriginsOfIris
bit.ly/OriginsofIris
Lovely morning at with a giant stack of IRIS’s.
Reader, I defaced these. Please buy one.
goldsborobooks.com/product/the-or
FINALLY ordered my very own mug. This one 👇 because it's completely true. effinbirds.com/collections/mu
AHHH!!! Utterly thrilled and honoured that #TheOriginsofIris has been longlisted for the #PolariPrize2022. I've been an admirer of this prize for years and to be among those names (Alan Cumming! Stella Duffy! *swoon*) is just everything.
LOOK MUM!
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Replying to @PolariPrize and @suzifeay
Congratulations to the #PolariPrize2022 longlist:
C+nto & Othered Poems - @JTaylorTrash (@SaqiBooks)
Address Book - @NeilVBartlett (@InkandescentUK)
Rocksong - @DrNourrr (@VervePoetryPres)
Lullaby Beach - @stellduffy (@ViragoBooks)
🌟✨Book Birthday!✨🌟
Iris, Other Iris & the bastard raccoon are out in the world in a beautiful new jacket! 🥳
If you like #LGBT love stories, wilderness survival and what ifs, this is for you.
Order now!
Waterstones: fal.cn/3nIzH
Amazon: amzn.to/3ObwZyI
Fancy a bit of reading with your 11 o'clock cuppa? I've written this piece for on how it feels to be the 'Other Mother' and how difficult I found being a parent after my daughter was born. (and yes, that's me and my little girl)
This is always how I do my final edit stage. Pen to paper to catch those clunky sentences and sneaky typos. Last pass then off it goes. This book is different for me, a new genre and direction but still me.
#amwriting #BookTwitter #editing #WritingCommunity
I am in so many meetings today but I have ten minutes before the next one to shout it's PUB DAY!! YAY! IRIS is out in the world! Buy it! Add it to Goodreads! If you see it in a bookshop tweet me! Send me pics of raccoons and telescopes!
✨✨✨🔭🔭🔭
I’ve now finished #Yellowface and have THOUGHTS. I have never read anything so fast. Fantastic stuff.
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I am all of 15 pages into Yellowface and dear god, it’s so brutally on point it hurts 
🚨 ONE WEEK TO GO! 🚨
There is still time to pre-order CHILDREN OF THE SUN (linktr.ee/beth_lewis). There will be a giveaway of finished copies as soon as I get them!
Here is a little about what you expect from the book...
0:18
I've been overwhelmed by the outpouring of support following my grumpy tweet. Readers, bloggers, authors, you're the best and you make all this worthwhile 😘
Read this thread and for the love of God, don't vote Conservative next week. twitter.com/bookshaped/sta
You can get your very own obscene phrase on a Bird with the , Be in the Book! Level. But be quick, there is only ONE left. #hurryup unbound.com/books/effin-bi
100%! You bloody lovely lot. Over 900 (!!) of you have pledged to make this incredible book by happen. THANK YOU. unbound.com/books/curious-
YESSS! A Curious History of #Sex by the indomitable has hit 80%. Let's give it that last push up to 100%. unbound.com/books/curious-
Butts butts, so many butts! Ever wondered why Mario's butt is drawn that way? Or why Borderlands' Ellie proudly displays a flower on hers? WONDER NO MORE. You need this book.
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You can now pre-order a copy of Things I Learned From Mario's Butt, a coffee table book of video game character butt reviews I have been working hard on for the past several months unbound.com/books/things-i
Ahhhhh!! Proofs of #TheOriginsOfIris have landed and they are stunners! I am both excited and terrified to send this story out into the world. I love Iris as much as I love Elka and I hope you all will too.
More info and preorder here: bit.ly/OriginsofIris
The cat (or at least its front paw) is out of the bag. I'm writing more books! There will be a big announcement soon with juicy plot details and all that exciting stuff but for now, introducing my new book home, Hodder Studio!
My toddler’s heartbreaking realisation of the day:
“I can’t fly! I don’t have any magic!”
*cries uncontrollably*
Parenting is never boring, I’ll give it that.
In just a sniff less than three months my third novel, #TheOriginsOfIris will be published. This means you’ll be seeing A LOT more from me. I will be shamelessly plugging, nagging you to preorder, doing giveaways and showing off that BEAUTIFUL COVER. Oh look, here it is again.
“A cult novel with a difference.”
☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️
Thrilled with this review for CHILDREN OF THE SUN. My first ever Guardian review! Thank you!
5 days to go!!!
Publishing Twitter has been a trash fire these last few days with some questionable behaviour by some bestselling authors. This isn’t acceptable. Bullying is never acceptable. It’s publishing ffs, not the mafia.
It’s my birthday today and the best present you can get me only costs 99p!
The Origins of Iris is 99p! It’s a book about a woman who flees her abusive wife and meets another version of herself. WILD meets SLIDING DOORS ❤️
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End of rant.
tl:dr - Don't use manuscript submission services. Ever.
GIF
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Just to expand on an early point. Writers are not *entitled* to have their work published just because they have written it. Writing a book good enough for trade publication is HARD WORK, it takes research, dedication, professionalism and humility...
I am struggling with motivation to write at the moment. I’ve had a bad week, one of the worst in fact, and I know writing will make me feel better but I just… can’t.
Any motivational tips?
Today marks a WHOLE YEAR since #TheWolfRoad was published. What a crazy, dream-come-true year it's been, thank you all for your support!
AHHHH LOOK!!! What a gorgeous pile of proofs! I can't wait to get my hands on them and see Alexandra's fantastic cover in all its glory. If you want to get your grubby mitts on one, there is a giveaway over on bit.ly/2Fjc7FR #BitterSun
Buckle up, kids, there’s a thread 🧵 coming…
So a seemingly innocuous article was posted on the Bookseller this morning about the hot trends of Frankfurt Book Fair. One of those was LGBTQ+. We’re a trend, everyone, lucky us. 1/?
All I can hear right now is my wife giving our daughter a bath and my daughter laughing so hard she’s got hiccups. Pure joy. 🤩
Very excited for the publication of BITTER SUN, out today! ☀️
You can read the first chapter here: bit.ly/2LkHUoG and you can buy it here: amzn.to/2Hf9dyh or, preferably, in your local bookshop.
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Passive voice has its place and shouldn’t be avoided just because.
Hello sexy!! 🤩 Cor, these are even more beautiful in person. This means people are actually going to read it *gulp* #BitterSun ☀️
I have the utmost respect for Joanne and her work with the SOA. My tweet was a genuine question about what the SOA made of these findings.
Post your book cover with your favourite one star review…
“Read this on my kindle. I wish I had bought a physical copy so I could burn it.”
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Post your book over with your favourite one star review …
“This book made me hate reading’ twitter.com/NJSimmondsbook…
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Bit late sharing this on the twits because I WAS AT A SPA THIS WEEKEND celebrating nine wonderful years married to this woman. Happy anniversary 😘
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#Writers, please, don't do this. You don't need to and you shouldn't. It's lazy. Do your own research into agents. Submit to them directly. There is no shortcut to publication and any platform asking you to spend £20 a month is bordering on a scam.
So incredibly proud of my wife, for showing her amazing #photography at the #LondonPhotoShow. Go see it at the Bargehouse Gallery in the Oxo Tower.
Last day to get The Origins of Iris for just 99p on #Kindle! It's SLIDING DOORS meets WILD, all about second chances, regrets, love and what ifs.
amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08
