Author Spotlight interview with Helen Rowe
I can normally spot a good idea a mile off. If you can hook me in within the first few sentences, then you’ve probably got a really great book on your hands.
I applied this logic in July 2021. At the time, I was a judge for the Page Turner Awards. I was presented with the start of a dozen or so manuscripts. It was my job to pick the perfect candidate for the ‘Writing Mentorship Award’.
Whilst many were good in terms of their content, one particularly stood out. That’s because it was different. Compared to the other manuscripts, there was a disruptive element to the book and a spark of passion that drew me in. Although it wasn’t yet ready to be published, I could see its potential.
This book was Eliminating Poverty in Britain, and the author was Helen Rowe. Helen's book offers a fresh perspective on tackling poverty in a five-year timeframe without raising taxes.
Given the nature of her book and the fact that Helen didn't have a business to support it, we worked together to get her manuscript ready to approach agents and publishing houses. After a few rejections and a lot of grit and determination, around a month ago, I was a guest at her book launch in London!
Sheryl recently interviewed Helen for our latest Author’s Journey Spotlight and you can watch her story unfold. If you prefer, you can listen to the audio here.
Here are some of the takeaways from Helen Rowe's interview.
Helen shares her author’s journey, why she came up with the idea 10 years ago. Helen wrote her book because she was deeply frustrated by society. She said that she had a choice: “I could be angry and moan a bit. Or I could try writing about it”. She shares how this morphed into six years of research and led to writing and publishing her book.
Everything changed for Helen when she won the Page Turner awards. She talks about how this happened and how we worked together to set her up to get her publishing deal with Flint Books.
The conversation talks about the grit and determination she developed, the need to be resilient in the face of rejection, and the power and impact of self-belief. Helen says in the interview: "If you want something hard enough, you'll find a way of getting it...how much do I genuinely want this? How much am I prepared to go out of my comfort zone in order to get this?"
Upon being asked what it’s like to become a published author, she says: "It's been a hell of a learning curve, I have to say. Writing a book is just a stab in the dark in a lot of ways. You are just kind of doing it with passion and hope that it will get published."
You can get your copy of Helen Rowe’s book Eliminating Poverty in Britain here.