It's that time of year again where we get to eat hollow lumps of over-packaged chocolate.
Today, I'm going to introduce you to a writer friend of mine who is to Easter what elves are to Santa.
John Bradley is a master of chocolate. He was the man behind the Cadbury's Creme Egg.
I met him at Bristol Festival of Literature a few years back where he was talking about his latest book on the history of Fry's Chocolate:
In the spirit of Easter and all things chocolate, I interviewed John about his writing:
Q1) Tell us about your journey into writing?
My first
venture into writing was after I left the corporate world and was setting
myself up as a marketing consultant. I talked my way into writing a regular
column in an industry magazine on various matters marketing to build some
awareness of myself. Over time, I realised that I enjoyed writing this 700-word
column more than I did doing any consulting that resulted from it. So the next
logical step was write more, consult less, which led to the desire to see if I
could write a book
Q2) What motivated you to write about chocolate?
Every
agent and publisher of non-fiction asks you, "What is your platform of
credibility? Why would a prospective reader think you have anything interesting
or novel to say on the subject?"
Having spent 24 years working for
Cadbury's, it was clear the only platform of credibility I could possibly have
was to write about either chocolate or Cadbury's. As Cadbury's had last had a
decent book written about them in 1931 to celebrate their centenary, I decided
there was a clear gap in the market.
I then had to sell the idea to the Cadbury
Chairman and some of the Cadbury family, plus get a bulk order for books from
the company, before a publisher would even see me. The result was "Cadbury'sPurple Reign" which I reread for the first time recently and was pretty
pleased with it given the constraints of having to get it approved by said
chairman and family, there's not much I would change about it.
My second chocolate book, a history of Fry's ("Fry's Chocolate Dream"
- geddit??) came directly from the Cadbury project.
I'd accumulated a lot of
research material on Fry's because the two companies were intertwined, and
there hadn't ever been a decent book on Fry's.
This one I self-published so didn't
have to get all the approvals and bulk sales. I think it's a better story than
Purple Reign even though it ends in ultimate failure, plus I was able to adopt
a jauntier style more fitting to the category.
Q3) What advice would you offer to other writers trying to sell
their books?
Writing
and getting published are the easy parts, selling is a grind that never ends.
No WI meeting is too small or too far away for you not to load a box of books
in your car and go do a talk. Social media can be helpful, but its big drawback
is you have to be social, which is not my forte!
Q4) If you could give one piece of advice to your 16 year old
self, what would it be?
Work harder. I got through life until I was
diagnosed in my mid-20s with Crohn's disease assuming that being bright was a
substitute for working hard, so I under-performed my potential in school and
uni, and in my first couple of years in Cadbury.
My diagnosis made me grow up
and become much more focused. I tell this story, along with many others, in my
humorous self-help book on being ill, "The Foul Bowel: 101 Ways toSurvive and Thrive with Crohn's Disease", a book I didn't enjoy writing in
the slightest, having to dredge up too many memories I'd rather put behind me.
Find out more about John Bradley and his writing on Amazon
Another writer friend of mine, Ali Bacon, also interviewed John on her blog when he first published Fry's Chocolate Dream. Read it HERE
Happy Easter, and try not to eat too much chocolate!
Amy Morse is an Author + Entrepreneur = Authorpreneur
Find out more about her books and how she works with small businesses to help them grow through writing HERE
http://amymorse.co.uk/
