An interview with Anna Jacobs

by Mary Jo

I’m delighted to have my friend Anna Jacobs as a guest today.  Anna’s books aren’t well known in the US, but in Britain and Australia, she’s a bestseller as well as one of the most borrowed authors in both countries’ library systems.  (And this matters, since unlike the US, authors earn money from multiple book borrowings under the Public Lending Rights schemes.)

Anna is remarkably versatile, having started in fantasy under the name Shannah Jay.  (Those novels are now available as e-books.) 

 More recently she's written many historical novels as well as a number of contemporaries.  Her stories are classified as “romantic” rather than “romances;” in the American genre classifications, they’d probably be considered women’s fiction. 

She’s known for her happy endings (warm fuzzies is how she describes it) and in this day of e-books and free shipping from www.bookdepository.com her books are available world wide.  So—over to Anna Jacobs!

MJP: Let’s start with the present and work back.  Just this week, you have a new historical release called The Trader’s Sister.  Can you tell us something about this book, and about the series of which it’s book 2?

AJ: The four-part Traders series is set in Western Australia, the Orient and Ireland from the mid 1860s to the early 1870s (all of them make sense as single stories, too). I live in Western Australia and I felt its history had been neglected compared to Sydney and the eastern side of Australia, so I’m personally remedying that - and giving readers stories that are a bit different, I hope.

The Trader in question is Bram Deagan, a former groom from Ireland who has risked all to set up as a trader, bringing goods from Singapore to Western Australia. He’s the hero of Book 1. The Trader’s Wife, and is present in all books in the series, but is not the hero of the others. He’s my favourite hero out of all the books I’ve written.
 

The Trader’s Sister tells the story of Ismay Deagan. When her father tries to force her to marry a brutal man, she runs away from Ireland to join her brother in Australia. She meets Adam Tregear on the ship and finally starts to believe her dreams of future happiness may come true.

Before she reaches Australia, however, they’re flung into danger in Suez, Ceylon and Singapore. Dare she tell Adam the truth about who she really is? Does he have secrets of his own? And will her past catch up with her and ruin her new-found happiness?

I’ve loved researching this series. #3, The Trader’s Dream is about Bram’s young aunt Maura, and we sail with her in the flotilla of ships that passed through the Suez Canal at its opening. I’d been waiting ten years to put that incident into a book.

You can read the first chapters of all my books on my website plus information available nowhere else. The Trader’s Sister is at: http://www.annajacobs.com/book.aspx?title=The-Traders-Sister&bookID=64

 MJP: You got your start in historical novels in the “clogs and shawls” style for which Catherine Cookson was known.  (And perhaps she invented it.)  Can you tell us more about that genre?

AJ: I got a false start first with a regency romance called Persons of Rank, which won a $10,000 prize. But that led nowhere as the publisher’s management changed what it was doing.

I got my real start by writing ‘sagas’ (UK style) and ‘clogs and shawls’ is one type of saga. They always involve a working class woman battling the odds - and winning! There’s always a romance, but the stories have several subplots as well as the main one. Authors who write sagas try very hard to get their history right, because UK readers are sticklers about the details and enjoy ‘tasting’ daily life of the times. Sagas usually have a strong regional base, so each saga writer is known for a particular region.

That doesn’t mean the books are overloaded with historical information. My goodness, no! They’re about characters and their relationships above all, with a happy ending romance between main hero and heroine. I sometimes have two or three romances in a book, though. I can’t leave my nice minor characters unhappy, can I? And what is happier than finding true love?

Sagas have been a top-selling genre in the UK for many decades and they’re still going strong. I’m writing sagas for two publishers, both under my Anna Jacobs name. For my main publisher that’s moved towards Aussie historicals; for the other I still write traditional sagas - set mainly in Wiltshire.

 MJP: Your historicals have evolved over the years.  Could you tell us more about that?

AJ: I started off not even knowing I was writing a saga (pre-Internet, less information about). I wanted to write a book about the other people in a Lancashire mill town, not those who work in the mill or wear clogs and shawls. (When I was at school, we so looked down on children who wore clogs!)

So I wrote Salem Street, first in the five-part Gibson Family Saga, a rags to riches tale set in my home county of Lancashire. It was published in 1994 and is still being reprinted regularly.  It’s my best-selling series of all, and is now in ebook format as well as in paper books.

After a few years, since I had moved to Australia, I wanted to try an Aussie (pronounced Ozzee) saga. My publisher was doubtful but gave it a go with Lancashire Lass. It sold really well, so they continued to let me write an occasional Aussie tale. Then the Aussie branch of my publisher got involved and began publishing its own editions, so I write only Aussie tales for them now. I’m loving it. More importantly, so are my readers.

I had also written some historical romances for another publisher in my early days and they’re now out as ebooks. They aren’t like US romances, because they have a stronger, non-romance story line and several sub-plots, but they’re closer to romance than to sagas. One of them, Mistress of Marymoor, is my bestselling ebook of all. It’s a gothic tale set in 1759, with the heroine making a marriage of convenience in order to inherit a house on the edge of the moors, and having to cope with plots against her and her new husband.

And as Mary Jo said, I also write modern ‘women’s fiction’, which is actually starting to sell in the USA. The variety of stories is one thing that keeps me fresh and interested. My latest modern novel Winds of Change, set in both Australia and the UK, and was published in March. Here's an excerpt of the first chapter.  

MJP: On a more personal note, you’re a citizen of two nations—born and raised in the UK, emigrated to Australia, and you now have homes in both countries.  Many British citizens emigrate to other countries for opportunities, particularly the old Empire nations of Australia, New Zealand, and Canada.  And often they later return to their homelands, as our Jo Beverley has done after decades in Canada.  Could you tell us more about this?  And about the joys and complications of living in two countries?

AJ:  We emigrated to Australia in our 30s, with our two young children, and we love living here. We have a house on the water’s edge, where dolphins swim past regularly, and several sorts of parrot fly around our garden. It’s wonderful. But we also love the UK because it has the history and the lush beauty of landscape you don’t get in a much drier and younger country. But we couldn’t cope with the winters and snow (shudder) which were partly why we emigrated. We saved money carefully to buy a second home in the UK.

It’s hard work living in two countries, though. You have to prepare one house to leave - and do a lot of shopping when you arrive to open up the other house. I have to move an ‘office’ as well.

We start preparing for the next change-over the day after a move. Some things are better in each country, so we transport them. Would you believe it, we take our plastic food storage bags from Australia? I know that sounds silly, but they’re so much better. And the Aussies have a truly efficient opener for glass jars of food - we’ve taken several over as presents for family in the UK. We bring things from the UK as well. I love Marks & Spencer underclothes, for instance, and they have much nicer skirts in the UK. I could go on - and on - but you get the idea. It’s amazing what details make life pleasanter.

The flight itself takes 20 hours and is exhausting. I simply cannot sleep on planes, even in business class. It takes me two and a half novels to get through that flight. And about one flight in eight there are problems and delays, so we have to hang around airports or even spend a night somewhere as a new plane is brought. I consider flying the price I pay for a wonderfully rich life.

We both have family in the UK, a sister each above all, and Dave’s mother is still alive at 92. It’s been wonderful reconnecting with our siblings and their children. I’ve even forgiven my nieces for turning me into a great-aunt. (Doesn’t that sound old? How dare they?) And then there’s research and PR and business with my three UK publishers. Lots to do in each country.

 MJP: You’re a very prolific writer, usually doing three fairly lengthy novels a years.  You refer to yourself as a writing addict.  Could you tell us more about that?  (And if it’s contagious, where can I catch it?!!)

AJ: I’m very lucky. I was born without the housekeeping gene, so don’t waste my time on ironing and dusting, and have always paid someone else to do the housework. I focus on what I love most - telling stories. I’m not robust physically, because I have a bad back, I’ve never been good at sport anyway (pitiful, actually) and I don’t enjoy travelling, so what does that leave? Writing or as I think of it, story telling. Oh, and reading, too. I read at least three novels a week.

I’ve found I can write a better story if I push myself on as quickly as possible, then polish it carefully afterwards, so that’s how I work. After 57 novels published, I’m getting faster.

And then there are the characters. It’s partly their fault that I write a lot of stories. Characters from my next book come and haunt me in the half-awake time just before dawn and show me scenes from their stories, demanding to have the story told now, this minute. So I have to hurry up and finish the current book.  That’s my excuse anyway.

Oh, and don’t forget the lovely readers, who want more than three novels a year and write me delightful emails. I can’t do more than three, though. I have a life outside writing and like to spend the evenings with my own personal hero, our daughters and our grandson. And anyway, my imagination fades as the sun sets, I don’t know why.

Really, my life is like anyone else’s. I work hard and that’s how I produce the books.

 I’d like to thank Mary Jo and the Word Wenches for having me on their blog. What a great bunch of writers they are! I hope you’ve found my views of the world interesting. You can find more information on my website at http://www.annajacobs.com

Happy reading!

MJP: Anna, thanks so much for visiting us and broadening our view of historical novels! 

Anna will give a copy of The Trader's Wife to someone who comments between now and midnight Tuesday, so comment away!  Feel free to ask questions about the sorts of books Anna writes.  (But she's on the other side of the world, so she'll be checking in at different times from those of us in this hemisphere!)

 

Mary Jo
 

Comments

[Liz]

Public Lending Rights sounds sensible. Think, but not sure, that US libraries' use of e-books are pegged so that authors get percentage.

[Anna Jacobs]

Public Lending Rights aren't paid on ebooks or audiobooks, only on paper books. It's paid by the Australian Federal Government, not the State Governments. I think you have to be a resident, too. You certainly do for the UK, so I don't get PLR there because I'm not a resident or tax payer.

I think PLR payments are only fair, considering the multiple borrowings for each book. They aren't huge $1.20 approximately per copy of the book in Australia, not paid unless over 50 books are counted.

[Jenny]

Lovely blog, Anna and Mary Jo. I often see Anna's books in the local library and take them home to read. Enjoy them all as well. And I live in Australia. Please, keep up the writing both of you.

[Angela Bell]

became an avid reader of Anna's books about 4 years ago and had to join the local library so has to be able to obtain all of her books and manage to read around 40+in a few months, thoroughly enjoyed everyone of them., and now I read them as they are released. Really lovely blog enjoyed reading it. I also hope to catch one of her talks when she visits U.K. this year.Keep up the good work Anna

[Alison]

I'm impressed by Anna amd her family moving half-way around the world.

[Dee Feagin]

Thanks for introducing me to an author that is new to me, and one that writes about a country that is intriguing as well. I look forward to learning more about Australia.

[Cate S]

I've always been interested in Australia and I'm glad to find another author from there to read... Thanks for the great interview. I imagine you 'to-do' list before moving each time is pages long!!

[Mary Jo Putney]

Liz--

Mary Jo here. In the US, libraries do not pay any kind of royalty to authors or publisher on e-books, but e-books are sold to libraries at higher prices, so the initial royalty is higher. This is one of the many areas of publishing where things are in flux.

Naturally, American authors would love to havea Public Lending Right here, but given the widespread budget restrictions,I don't see that happening any time soon.

[Mary Jo Putney]

I'm glad to see comments from some of Anna's British and Australian readers! Since the Wenches include writers from around the world, we like to reach readers there as well. Anna has a GREAT backlist,t and with the free shipping from thebookdepository.com, it's possible for readers everywhere to sample her books.

[Anne]

I enjoyed this lovely interview and learning about Anna Jacobs and her novels. I have read many of Anna's book and they are all memorable and specal. What wonderful locales, writing and characters that have held me captivated for hours.

[Diane]

The historicals which Anna Jacob's has written are exceptional. I would love to read this new book, Trader's Wife. I enjoy books that are set in Britain and Australia since they have a unique appeal.

[Ellie]

Reading this feature on Anna Jacobs was so interesting. I do know of Anna's enthralling books since I discovered them at our local library and have been a loyal fan ever since. I agree with Anna about housework and sports so what is left except for reading which provides me with entertainment that keep me content. Wishing Anna the best of health and continued success.

[Pearl]

When I am introduced to a new author, Anna Jacobs, who has written such appealing books I am thrilled. I can immerse myself within the pages of all of these amazing sagas which would transport me to another place and time. This British author has opened up new vistas for me and I am pleased. Her travels have been an interesting adventure. Thanks for the book depository where I will obtain Anna Jacob's books.

[Betty Hamilton]

What a wonderful blog! Thank you. Both the UK and Australia have long fascinated me and I have yet to visit either... except for books! Speaking of which, yours sound wonderful. I would LOVE to win a copy of the Trader's Wife. It sounds like a book that would be a great read. TY for the opportunity to win a copy.

[Anne Gracie]

Welcome to the Word Wenches, Anna -- waving from the other side of the continent. Or is that the other side of the world? I never know where you are. Best of luck with your Trader series.

[Laura]

Fun blog, Anna and Mary Jo. Thank you both.

[Erin]

That a wonderfully revealing peep inside an Author's office/lifestyle.

I'm happy to say our local local library seeks out Anna Jacobs books and even advertises new soon to arrive offerings. Thus allowing a 'fight' to join a growing line of fanatical readers.

This week I was lucky enough to get my eyes onto both The Trader's Sister and Winds of Change. What a beautiful reading experience both are.

Anna, I love the way you tease my mind to seek more from the pages of your stories and even bind previous stories via subtle clues. For example, is it only me who is sure the Captain of the Hannah Grey in The Trader's Sister was the Western Australian Neighbour of Lisa in Lancashire Lass? Or am I not permitted to ask these things?

Thank you. Anna for the hours relaxation and the memory of so many warm lovingly crafted stories. --- And Thank you Mary Jo for such a wonderful post.

[Maureen]

That was an interesting post and I can't imagine living in two different countries. The Trader series looks like a good one with a setting I don't think that I've ever read.

[Cara Elliott/Andrea Penrose]

Great interview Anna and Mary Jo. Thanks so much for visiting the Wenches, Anna, and giving us a glimpse into your writing world and traveler's life. The split between Australia and England sounds wonderful in so many ways, but also exhausting! You must be VERY organized!

I really enjoyed hearing about your books and will be joining your growing ranks of readers!

[Anna Jacobs]

Oh, boy! I go off to have my hair cut and permed and come back to a lot of lovely posts that will have me beaming at the world for the rest of the day.

Sorry, Erin, the captain of the Hannah Grey wasn't in Lancashire Lass. If I repeated a name, I'm sorry.

[Anna Jacobs]

I'm still trying to answer everyone!

Maureen, I couldn't imagine living in two countries when my husband first proposed it, and it does take a lot of hard work and organising. But it's a rich experience and I love it.

Also, due to food intolerances, I find travelling and touring a worrying experience, so this way I get to travel, but can still feel safe with food. Actually, they have ice cream in the UK for people with dairy intolerances and so I was able to start eating again occasionally for the first time in 16 years when we first started our dual living. Yum. Guess what I'll be eating next week?

And Anne Gracie, how lovely to hear from you again! Folks, although Anne and I both live in Australia, we're nearly 2000 miles away from each other. This is a huge country.

Thank you to those people who already read my books for saying nice things. I do try very hard to tell a good story. I woke at 3am this morning 'seeing' scenes from my new modern novel. which will give it a better beginning.

[Betty Hamilton]

How exciing it must be to live in two countries. I have always wanted to visit Australia and more recently England. I loved your post. Thank you!!

[Anna Jacobs]

Thank you for your interest, Betty. It is exciting, but it's hard work preparing to change over. Worth it, of course.