{"id":1602,"date":"2015-11-13T09:45:31","date_gmt":"2015-11-13T09:45:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/development\/?p=1602"},"modified":"2015-11-13T10:28:20","modified_gmt":"2015-11-13T10:28:20","slug":"being-a-successful-writer-is-not-all-about-publishing-books-amanda-thomas-eliot-1979","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/development\/2015\/11\/13\/being-a-successful-writer-is-not-all-about-publishing-books-amanda-thomas-eliot-1979\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Being a successful writer is not all about publishing books’, Amanda Thomas (Eliot, 1979)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Amanda Thomas (Eliot, 1979), who graduated from Kent in 1983 with a BA (Hons) in Italian, is a non-fiction author and journalist based in Hertfordshire. Her latest book Cholera: The Victorian Plague<\/em>, which took two years to research and write, has just been published by Pen and Swords Books, and explores the story of the disease that devastated Victorian Britain and brought about major changes in sanitation and society.<\/p>\n

\u2018I have a fanatical love of history, and always loved language, literature and words. I have written stories since I was a very small child – I even produced my own newspaper at one stage!\u2019 says Amanda.<\/p>\n

Upon graduating from Kent, Amanda\u2019s experience of working as Features Editor on the University newspaper Incant<\/em> enabled her to secure her first job with a small, specialist magazine publisher in London.<\/p>\n

Three years later, having obtained a position in a mainstream magazine publishing house, she decided to take a side-step and began work with a PR company that specialised in television and music, and was involved in the launch of satellite television in the 1980s.<\/p>\n

After becoming a mother, Amanda joined history societies locally and in the Medway Towns in Kent where she was born, and was asked to create a journal to support the Medway Archives and Local Studies Centre in Strood. \u2018It was as Editor of The Clock Tower<\/em> that I began to establish myself in the heritage sector, commissioning and writing articles and getting to know people. I wrote \u2013 and networked \u2013 prolifically\u2019 explains Amanda. \u2018But it was only when a distant cousin asked me why some members of our family had disappeared in Lambeth in the late 1840s that I became interested in the cholera epidemics of the 19th century.\u2019<\/p>\n

Following an article in The Clock Tower<\/em>, Amanda was commissioned by the American publisher McFarland to write the book The Lambeth Cholera Outbreak of 1848-1849<\/em> (2010).\u00a0\u2018The publication of the Lambeth book created a lot of opportunities\u2019 says Amanda. \u2018I worked on a programme in Series Ten of the BBC\u2019s Who Do You Think You Are?<\/em> and The Flying Archaeologist<\/em> on BBC4, in which I also appeared. I continued writing about 19th\u00a0century social history, including a piece for Your Family History<\/em> magazine on the Lambeth cholera outbreak for the publishers Pen and Sword. Following this, their book division commissioned me to write Cholera: The Victorian Plague<\/em>, which was published in September this year.\u2019<\/p>\n

Amanda has since agreed to write further titles for Pen and Sword, including a book called The Non-Conformist Revolution<\/em>, which will explore dissenting entrepreneurs in the 18th and 19th centuries.<\/p>\n

Amanda believes her work in PR has greatly benefited her career as an author. \u2019Being a successful writer is not all about publishing books. There are very many careers where a good writer can use their skills. Journalism is the obvious one, but it is important not to overlook jobs such as PR where the ability to write clearly and well is essential. Best-selling, high-earning writers are rare, and if you are lucky enough to have a book published it helps to have networking and marketing skills which equal your ability to write\u2019 she explains. \u2018I am also fortunate that my husband, David (Rutherford, 1978), supports me – he also patiently listens to my rants on things like infectious disease and social injustice!\u2019<\/p>\n

The best piece of advice Amanda has ever been given was by Willie Landels, the Editor of Harpers and Queen<\/em> magazine in the 1970s. \u2018When I was at school I wrote to him asking how I could become a journalist and he kindly invited me to his office in London\u2019 explains Amanda. \u2018His advice was to \u201cNever stop writing,\u201d though I would add to that – take every opportunity and never lose sight of your dream.\u2019<\/p>\n

Amanda<\/a> will be signing copies of Cholera: The Victorian Plague<\/a><\/em> at Rose Lane Waterstones<\/a>\u00a0in\u00a0Canterbury on Saturday 28 November 2015 from 11.00.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Amanda Thomas (Eliot, 1979), who graduated from Kent in 1983 with a BA (Hons) in Italian, is a non-fiction author and journalist based in Hertfordshire. … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34788,"featured_media":1603,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[118124],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1602"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34788"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1602"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1602\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1617,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1602\/revisions\/1617"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1603"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}