Thank you to everyone following Poppy and Artie on their journey! Like the reviewers below, I hope you enjoy the adventure and I would love to hear your thoughts if you leave your comments.
It has been a whirlwind and so I have taken today to record it all, up to date. My website designer, to whom I’m very grateful, set up the blog for me and has had to teach me how to use it.
I am very grateful to my publisher, Sarah Houldcroft, of Goldcrest Books, for her fantastic support. www.goldcrestbooks.com
I would like to thank the awesome Abbie Hulson Art – www.abbiehulson.com – for her fabulous concept illustrations. I explained my ideas to Abbie and she took them to a whole new level I hadn’t even considered. For example, in the novel, the world comes to Hong Kong in 2008, so Abbie created Hong Kong as the world, with the three-day-event horse and rider jumping over it, combined with the August heat. On the other covers, you will see the Hong Kong waterfront skyline, with the three-day-event horses and riders jumping over it.
This journey started three weeks ago, as of yesterday, when Instalment(s) One: Lockdown in Hong Kong 2008 went online on Amazon Kindle. Instalments are available FREE on Amazon Kindle Unlimited; to buy UK: @99p; Int: @$1.23. At the same time, this website went live, and will constantly evolve on this journey.
One week ago, Instalment(s) Two: In The Wake Of The Storm went online on Amazon Kindle.
The paperback(s) will be available on Amazon as print-on-demand. They will also be published as printed paperbacks, which will be available on this website and also through all good bookstores, including specialists in equestrian books. I don’t know what the Amazon print-on-demand price will be, but the printed copies will be at the generally standard price for a paperback @£7.99.
Links to these publications are:
My publisher, Sarah, told me that Ride Like The Wind is available in any country where there is Amazon. The Int. link above is to Amazon.com
RIDE LIKE THE WIND has been divided into four online instalments, followed by paperbacks, in two parallel series: 18yrs + and Under 18yrs.
One: Lockdown In Hong Kong 2008 – 18yrs+
One: Lockdown In Hong Kong 2008 – Under 18yrs
Two: In The Wake Of The Storm – 18yrs +
Two: In The Wake Of The Storm – Under 18yrs
Three: Dark Horse – 18yrs + (Photo soon)
Three: Dark Horse – Under 18yrs (Photo soon)
Four: The Sun Shines on London 2012 – 18yrs + (Photo soon)
Four: The Sun Shines on London 2012 – Under 18yrs (Photo soon)
Printed Paperbacks:
RIDE LIKE THE WIND – 18yrs + (Photo soon)
RIDE LIKE THE WIND – Under 18yrs (Photo soon)
Dates of Publication:
Instalment(s) One: Lockdown In Hong Kong 2008 – out now!
Instalment(s) Two: In The Wake Of The Storm – out now!
Instalment(s) Three: Dark Horse – online Monday 6th July 2020
Instalment(s) Four: The Sun Shines On London 2012 – online Monday 20th July 2020
Paperbacks – published Monday 3rd August 2020
This publishing journey… I have been published before, but never online publications and I have never done a blog before. I have also never been on social media outside of my Facebook personal page, so I have had a lot of new things to learn in the modern publishing requirement of going public on social media.
If you look for me on social media, here are the links/titles. It would be great if you ‘Like’ ‘Follow’ my new media:
Charlotte Sergison: Author/Filmmaker Facebook Page – https://www.facebook.com/CharlotteSergison/?epa=SEARCH_BOX
Twitter: CharlotteSergi1
Instagram: charlottesergison
Because I hadn’t been published online before, I didn’t know what to expect. Instalment(s) One; Lockdown In Hong Kong 2008, went online on Monday morning, 8th June 2020. On Wednesday morning, at breakfast time, less than 48 hours later, my son-in-law asked if I had seen Amazon. When I looked I was totally shocked. The 18yrs + version was No. 1. Amazon Hot New Releases in 4 categories. This was later joined by the Under 18yrs version at No. 2. Also, Instalment One was successful in Amazon Best Sellers Chart. It was No. 2. in Best Sellers in Equestrian Sports.
The situation was similar with the publication online of Instalment Two: In The Wake Of The Storm. It should have come online on Monday, 22nd June, but instead it surprised me by popping up early on Sunday, 21st June 2020. Following the success of Instalment One, on Tuesday morning, less than 48 hours after it had gone online, it too had shot up to the top of the Amazon Hot New Releases Charts and leapfrogged Instalment One. Instalment Two was at No. 3. in two categories; No. 4 and No. 6, in other categories. This meant that both Instalment One and Instalment Two were both in the TOP 10 Amazon Hot New Releases Charts.
RIDE LIKE THE WIND is a fictional romantic drama, based on real events and experiences. Although the story is a (fictional) romance, because it includes real equestrian sporting events, it has been categorised under several equine categories, which are included in the story.
RIDE LIKE THE WIND begins at the 2008 Beijing Olympic equestrian events, held in Hong Kong, and ends at the 2012 London Paralympic Dressage. Out of respect for the real people there, I have changed their names, mixed up their details and fictionalised them, so that for almost all, not one fictional character represents one real person. Into these real events, I have woven a fictional thread, with main fictional characters who were not there in reality and what happened personally to them, didn’t actually happen to them.
The events in Hong Kong were in August, Hong Kong’s hottest month, and in the middle of Typhoon Season. Tensions were high in the Olympic Village and at events. Just 48 hours before the Opening Ceremony, the entire city and all outlying districts, including the Olympic Village and Olympic Stable Blocks, were in lockdown in the path of Typhoon Kammuri.
RIDE LIKE THE WIND is an international story, with 42 teams representing their countries, and so the characters in the story are international, including the hosts in spectacular Hong Kong. However, the story mainly follows the British Three-Day Event Team, the GB Team and their rivals.
There is a precedent. Jilly Cooper’s Riders was an international bestseller. This was a story about the British Showjumping Team at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. This became a 1993 TV movie.
I have been in discussion with the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and they are very supportive of my novel(s). As promised to the IOC, at the end of the novel I have listed the real names of the Medal Winners and the countries they represent. As mentioned by one of the reviewers, people think it should become a film.
There is an additional note. Officially, all equestrian medal winners from the 2008 Beijing and 2012 London Olympics are void. This is because there is evidence of doping and the list of medal winners will remain void until investigations have been completed. This has already been happening with athletes as with retesting of samples from 2008 & 2012, medals of those found to have taken banned substances have been removed, lower-placed clean athletes have been bumped up the order and medals re:appropriated to them. Now, that is also happening with the equestrian medalists.
These are the chart successes of the instalments so far:
Instalment(s) One: Lockdown In Hong Kong – 18yrs + and Under 18yrs at No. 1. and No. 2, in Amazon Hot New Releases Chart in Horse Racing:
My publisher, Sarah Houldcroft, of Goldcrest Books, captured both Instalment One’s – 18yrs + – success with Goldcrest’s publishing logo:
RIDE LIKE THE WIND Instalment One – 18yrs + – was No. 1. Amazon Hot New Releases in Horse Racing:
Beating the horse referred to as ‘the greatest ever racehorse,’ the great Frankel:
RIDE LIKE THE WIND Instalment One – 18yrs + was No. 1. Amazon Hot New Releases in Equestrian sports:
Again, beating the great Frankel – the racehorse who never lost a race – into second place:
RIDE LIKE THE WIND Instalment One – 18yrs + was No. 1. Amazon Hot New Releases in Horse Race Betting:
Again, beating the great Frankel – the racehorse who never lost a race – into second place:
RIDE LIKE THE WIND Instalment(s) One – 18yrs + – at No. 1. and Under 18yrs at No. 2. beating the great Frankel into fourth place in Amazon Hot New Releases in Horse Racing:
RIDE LIKE THE WIND Instalment One: Lockdown in Hong Kong 2008 – 18yrs + – was No. 2, in Amazon Best Sellers in Equestrian Sports:
Apart from RIDE LIKE THE WIND Instalment One: Lockdown In Hong Kong 2008 – 18yrs + – reaching No. 2. Amazon Best Sellers in Equestrian Sports, it’s chart success was No. 11; No. 19 and No. 24 in Amazon Best Sellers Charts:
Two weeks later, RIDE LIKE THE WIND Instalment(s) Two went online and within 48 hours had also shot to the top of the charts. Instalment Two – 18yrs + was at No. 3 in 2 categories, No. 4 and No. 6 in others, leapfrogging Instalment One – 18yrs + – so they were both in Amazon Hot New Releases Top 10:
RIDE LIKE THE WIND Instalment Two: In The Wake Of The Storm – 18yrs + – at No. 3; Instalment One: Lockdown In Hong Kong 2008 – 18yrs + – at No. 8 Amazon Hot New Releases in Horse Race Betting :
RIDE LIKE THE WIND Instalment Two: In The Wake Of The Storm – 18yrs + – at No. 6; Instalment One: Lockdown In Hong Kong 2008 – 18yrs + – at No. 10 Amazon Hot New Releases in Equestrian and Animal Sports eBooks. Again, both have beaten the great Frankel into 12th place:
RIDE LIKE THE WIND Instalment Two: In The Wake Of The Storm – 18yrs + – at No. 4 in Amazon Hot New Releases in Horses:
Apart from RIDE LIKE THE WIND Instalment Two: In The Wake Of The Storm reaching No. 3; No. 4; and No. 6 Amazon Hot New Releases, it also was successful in the Amazon Best Sellers Charts Top 100 in 3 categories:
REVIEWS:
Reviews are so important and so very much appreciated by authors, because it tells us that readers enjoy the story. Here are two fantastic reviews:
‘Ride Like The Wind is like Gone With The Wind, and what we mean by that is that it is EPIC!’ David McCaffrey, author of The Warmest Place To Hide and co-owner of BNBS publishers.
‘I really enjoyed the adventure of Ride Like The Wind! Despite enjoying a totally different discipline than the riders in the book, I was totally enthralled and the way Charlotte had written the story line I really did feel part of the lives of the lives of the people in the book. It was really entertaining and in my opinion would make a great film.’ Kathryn Ellis – equestrian sports: Trotting Racing; Sport Endurance.
WOW! WOW! WOW! Latest news! Oh my gosh! I was thinking of going to bed and I thought I’ll just take a look to see what is happening on Amazon! Incredible! RIDE LIKE THE WIND Instalment Two: In The Wake Of The Storm – 18yrs + – has followed the path of Instalment One: Lockdown In Hong Kong 2008 – 18yrs + – and is No. 1. Amazon Hot New Releases in 2 categories and No. 4. in another!
RIDE LIKE THE WIND Instalment Two: In The Wake Of The Storm No. 1. Amazon Hot New Releases in Horses:
RIDE LIKE THE WIND Instalment Two: In The Wake Of The Storm No. 1. Amazon Hot New Releases in Horses:
RIDE LIKE THE WIND Instalment Two: In The Wake Of The Storm No. 1. Amazon Hot New Releases in Horse Race Betting:
RIDE LIKE THE WIND Instalment Two: In The Wake Of The Storm No. 1. Amazon Hot New Releases in Horse Race Betting:
RIDE LIKE THE WIND Instalment Two: In The Wake Of The Storm No. 4. Amazon Hot New Releases in Equestrian and Animal Sports:
RIDE LIKE THE WIND Instalment Two: In The Wake Of The Storm rising in the Amazon Best Sellers Charts Top 100 in 3 categories:
Recent Comments