It's publication day for A Forever Home at Honey Bee Croft
Happy publication day to me, happy publication day to me …
My first of three releases in 2025 is out today. It's book 25 for me. Twenty-five! When I started writing my debut novel – New Beginnings at Seaside Blooms – way back in 2003, I had no thoughts of publication. My only goal was to see if I could get to the end of one book. Writing a book is incredibly hard and it takes a long time. Over the next ten years, there were so many moments where I thought I never would get to the end, but I did. And somehow managed to do it a further 24 times. Not quite sure how!
A Forever Home at Honey Bee Croft is the third and final book in The Bumblebee Barn Collection. It's a complete story which can work as a standalone book but the richer reading experience comes from reading the trilogy in order. Actually, with this series, the richest experience is by reading the Hedgehog Hollow series in order first and then The Bumblebee Barn Collection as this is a spin-off series and characters from Hedgehog Hollow do appear and continue their stories … but plenty of readers have read these without reading HH first and have followed and loved the stories.
I've shared the blurb at the bottom of this post.
I've got a really busy day ahead of me. I was up early changing my profile and header pictures on the socials and normally my day would be spent mainly on social media sharing posts and thanking readers and authors for their best wishes. This morning I was in a 90-minute Zoom meeting and then hubby is taking me out for a celebratory lunch so I'll be catching up on the socials late this afternoon instead.
The blog tour has already started. Thank you to Rachel Gilbey from Rachel's Random Resources for organising it and all the wonderful bloggers/reviewers who are participating. So grateful for your support.
I had a lovely surprise first thing when I checked the Apple Books UK chart and spotted A Forever Home at Honey Bee Croft at the #2 position in the overall paid chart and #1 in Fiction & Literature. Woo-hoo! The Amazon charts don't tend to see an impact until early evening on publication day so nothing to report there yet. The last time I got into the Amazon UK Top 100 on publication day was a year ago when A Breath of Fresh Air was released and made it to #75. It had over three times as many pre-orders as A Forever Home at Honey Bee Croft has received so I'm not anticipating a Top 100 charting today.
Yesterday, I had a lovely catch-up with the super talented authors and fabulous friends Sharon Booth and Eliza J Scott. We usually meet at a lovely cafe called Betton Farm on the outskirts of East Ayton near Scarborough where the food is great and the staff are really friendly.
I'd seen a news article just last week saying a Paddington Bear statue had been installed in East Ayton so Sharon and I went for a little drive afterwards to see if we could find him. He's in a lovely position on a grassy area with a couple of benches overlooking the river and castle. I took a copy of A Forever Home at Honey Bee Croft with me just in case Paddington was willing to pose with it. He decided it looked like a fabulous read and, after we left, he removed a marmalade sandwich from under his hat, plonked himself down on one of the benches and immersed himself in the story. Or at least that's what happened in my imagination.
Isn't he wonderful? The surroundings are lovely but the weather really doesn't do them justice. I'm aiming go back one day in the spring when it's sunnier and the trees are in bloom. I might see if Paddington wants a copy of my May release then!
In other news, our PLR statements came through yesterday. PLR stands for Public Lending Right. Each year, a small sample of libraries around the country are chosen and the number of times an author's works (in any format) are borrowed from that sample of libraries is collated. The author then receives a small payment for each of those loans. It therefore doesn't reflect all borrows but it is very welcome additional income.
My titles were borrowed 16,218 times across the sample of libraries in the July 2023 to June 2024 period which was a 12% increase on the previous year, which was great to see. I was curious as to which titles were borrowed the most and discovered that the first and second place were extremely close with only one borrow difference. First was A Wedding at Hedgehog Hollow with 1,221 borrows, second was Spring Tides at The Starfish Café with 1,220 and third was The Start of Something Wonderful with 1,077, although that didn't have a full year of borrows so might have been higher if it had. The Start of Something Wonderful actually had the most borrows of any individual format with the eBook being borrowed 601 times in the sample.
Healing Hearts at Bumblebee Barn and Summer Nights at The Starfish Café were 4th (1,036 borrows) and 5th (984 borrows) respectively. Summer Nights had the second most individual format borrows with the regular paperback being borrowed 480 times in the sample. The third most popular individual format borrow was the regular paperback of Finding Love at Hedgehog Hollow with 461 borrows.
A New Dawn at Owl's Lodge was the lowest with only 88 borrows but was only published 6-7 weeks before the royalties year ended so it didn't have time to make much impact. It'll be interesting to see where that book places next year.
I'm so grateful to everyone who borrows my books in whatever format from their library. It's such a valuable way of supporting your favourite authors financially (no income = no more books) as well as supporting the amazing resource that libraries are. A huge thank you to all the amazing librarians out there who champion my books to their readers – you absolute superstars.
As an aside, did you know there's no scheme like this for library borrows overseas? There's a PLR scheme in Ireland (thank you, Ireland) but if a reader borrows a book anywhere else in the world, UK authors get no income from it aside from the tiny royalty payment on the initial purchase of the book or audiobook if it's in a physical format or one purchase of the digital version. I must admit, I massively struggle to get my head around this one. Months of work consumed by thousands of readers around the world for free is definitely one of those things that make you go hmmm. Hands up who now has that song playing in their head? (*raises hand*)
My publication day biscuits arrived yesterday from Boldwood Books, made by Enchanting Bakes, so I had a photo shoot with them and am having to resist the temptation to eat them now or I'll ruin my celebratory lunch.
Thank you to anyone who has pre-ordered, bought or borrowed A Forever Home at Honey Bee Croft. I really hope you enjoy the story. This is goodbye to the Yorkshire Wolds and the Hedgehog Hollow and Bumblebee Barn worlds which feels a bit strange but it's time to move on. I still hope to write a prequel to the Hedgehog Hollow series telling Thomas, Gwendoline and Terry's stories but that won't be until 2026 or 2027 if indeed it happens. I need to be sure that I find the right story to do justice to that wonderful trio and I only have loose thoughts in my head at the moment.
For those who have read the Hedgehog Hollow series, I think (hope!) you'll find this a really satisfying conclusion to the whole Yorkshire Wolds world. Excited (but nervous, as ever) to hear your thoughts.
Big hugs
Jessica xx
Escape to the world of Bumblebee Barn and Hedgehog Hollow with MILLION-COPY BESTSELLER Jessica Redland for this brand new, feel-good romance of family, friendship and hope!
New friends, new life, new love…
Single dad, Joel Grainger, is devoted to his little girl, Imogen, doing all he can to be a key part of her life. But with Imogen’s mum being ever more difficult and Joel’s job suddenly in doubt, he’s worried that everything is about to change. Joel has given everything to Imogen, and he doesn’t regret it, but maybe he’s lost himself along the way…
Since her dad’s heart-breaking dementia diagnosis, Poppy Wells has been struggling and desperately needs a break. An opportunity to stay in gorgeous Whisperwood Farmhouse nestled in the Yorkshire Wolds and a stone’s throw away from Bumblebee Barn couldn’t be more perfect. Finally able to breathe, Poppy begins to see a new life ahead, a place where she can heal her broken heart and be part of something special. But can she ever leave her beloved dad to get the happiness she craves?
When Poppy and Joel meet there’s an instant connection. But with both of them at a crossroads, a future together seems impossible. Can they find the strength to overcome their challenges to secure their forever home together?
A BRAND NEW, uplifting standalone novel, guaranteed to put a smile on your face!