Dear Reader,
This edition of girl with the golden pen is coming to you a few days late because I’ve been nailing down a redesign of girl with the golden pen, which I am excited to announce here.
We are now just ONE month away from the publication of Double or Nothing. To celebrate, I am going to make all four newsletters a month and the entire back catalogue available to all free subscribers at no extra cost from now on. Huzzah! (Or at least I hope huzzah. If you feel like 75% more of me in your inbox is 75% too much, I promise I won’t be offended.)
For those who continue as paid subscribers, and those who would like to upgrade to paying £7 a month, there will be additional fresh content for you as well. What I love about Substack is the chance to create a community, and I hope these new elements will do just that.
Each month, there will be a discussion thread on Substack, where we can all talk Bond and writing and anything else with each other. You’ll also be able to comment on all posts.
There will also be a mixture of:
Exclusive interviews by me with an expert or author I meet on my writing travels. All of my writing is driven by research and I have the opportunity to meet outrageously fascinating people with outrageously cool jobs. I’m excited to share this with you!
Writing tips, exercises and ideas from me and other folk in the publishing industry that will help boost your creativity and take your writing to the next level.
A mailbag newsletter answering a selection of your questions about my novels or writing process – and if you have a question about anything else, if it’s fun I’ll answer it! Just leave a comment under the first newsletter of the month.
Six times a year, I’ll host a Book Social on Zoom where we can all get together and talk writing and reading and all things books.
If you’re a writer, throw your name in the hat and if it’s picked, once a year I’ll read the first three chapters of your novel plus a synopsis and offer feedback in a half hour one-to-one Zoom call.
There’s also a Founding Member tier for £150. If you’d like to upgrade to be a Founding Member, you’ll receive the following:
A personalised signed proof of my next novels
Signed memorabilia produced for the Double O trilogy and A Wild and True Relation
If you’re a writer, once a year I’ll read the first three chapters of your novel plus a synopsis and offer feedback and advice in a half hour one-to-one Zoom call.
If you order any of my novels from Lighthouse Bookshop in Edinburgh via bookshop.org, I will sign it with a personalised message before it’s dispatched to you. Just let me know you’ve placed the order by commenting. That goes for my first novel Testament, as well as Double or Nothing (out Sep 1st, I don’t know if I’ve mentioned that recently?) and A Wild & True Relation (out February 2023).
And once a year we’ll all meet up for cocktails in-person somewhere fabulous! This will be in the UK, likely London or Edinburgh. As a bonus, if I’m abroad and you’re nearby and unable to make it to the UK, we’ll get a party together!
I’ll leave you with some exciting upcoming events.
On August 22nd, I’ll be on stage at the Edinburgh International Book Festival interviewing Anthony Horowitz about With A Mind To Kill, Anthony’s last Bond novel. I was hooked onto spy fiction as a kid by Anthony’s Alex Rider series and I am so thrilled to have this opportunity to talk with him about writing and all things Bond.
On the same day, I’ll be interviewing Joanne Harris and Margie Orford about writing women who confront patriarchal privilege. This is a subject that is important to me both as a woman and a writer. I am really looking forward to talking with these amazing authors about their legacies and their new novels, Harris’ A Narrow Door and Orford’s The Eye of the Beholder.
The Waterstones exclusive edition of Double or Nothing will be for sale at both events, a full ten days prior to general release. I signed three thousand exclusive editions featuring a gorgeous sprayed edge and an essay by me on the legacy of women in Bond. The exclusive edition is already being snagged through pre-orders, so if you want to make sure you get one, pre-order now.
I’ll be travelling the UK – with a hop to Paris – on a book tour in September and October. If you’d like to join me, here are some dates for your diary, with more to come.
September 1st 7pm. ‘Double or Nothing: James Bond and Beyond.’ London Book Launch at the British Library. I’m thrilled to be in conversation with Charlie Higson. You can join in person or via live stream. Book tickets here.
September 8th 6.30pm. Edinburgh Book Launch at the University of Edinburgh. Link to come.
September 12th Evening. Virtual in-conversation event with Staffordshire Libraries. Online only. Link and time to come.
September 13th Evening. Waterstones West End Edinburgh. Link and time to come.
September 17th Midday. Bloody Scotland: Scotland’s International Crime Writing Festival. In conversation with Charles Cumming, Ben Creed and Adam LeBor. In-person and streamed live. Book tickets here.
September 22nd 6.30pm. Mr B’s Emporium of Reading Delights in Bath. In-person – with a glass of wine thrown in! Book tickets here.
September 23rd. Frome Festival. Link and time to come.
September 29th 4pm. Capital Crime Festival: ‘From London with Love – Anthony Horowitz, Kim Sherwood & Charlie Higson in conversation with Samantha Weinberg.’ This one is very special. Book tickets here.
October 2nd. Wigtown Book Festival. Time to come. Watch out here for tickets.
October 9th All day. I’ll be celebrating sixty years of cinematic Bond with the Club James Bond France in Paris. More details to come!
More dates are being lined up all the time, so watch this space…
Lastly, I’ve just been told how many people have already pre-ordered copies of Double or Nothing and I’m blown away. Pre-orders really boost the early life of a book and I’m incredibly grateful. If you haven’t yet, but you would like to pre-order your copy, Double or Nothing is currently half-price on Amazon.
Thank you SO much to those of you who already subscribe and are coming along for this amazing ride. It means the world to me.
From Kim, With Love x