We had the chance to interview the author of the newly released  Children's book ' The Roper Twins: Bath Time Battles with Nan ' to get to know what the behind the scenes was like when she was writing.

This book is a hilariously charming and loved by all ages. Have a giggle as you join the Roper twins on their journey against nan and the 'big' bath.

You can find The Roper Twins: Bath Time Battles with Nan here, we are inviting reviews on Amazon, please leave your review here.



What inspired you to write about the bath time battles you faced with your grandchildren?

I think it was the sheer determination of my granddaughters to have their own way. We literally could not get them near the bathroom, let alone the bath for months, without major tantrums.
It became apparent that other parents and carers go through this battle with their young charges too.
So the main inspiration was to provide great bedtime reading (as bath-time usually precedes bedtime), which the adult could relate too, while giving them hope that the battle will end and peace will one day be restored.



How long did it take you to write the book? Did you set yourself a time limit to finish the
book by?

The book was written very quickly and just flowed. There was no writer’s block, planning or
research required because I had personally lived through the situation. There was no time limit set.
In the final page of the book Nan is sitting watching the twins peacefully playing in the bath. There was a similar scene in my own bathroom on the day I won bath-time battles. As soon as granddaughters were in bed and asleep I sat down on my laptop and the story just flowed out.



Where is your favourite place to write? Do you have a specific place or anywhere you fancy
at the time?

​My favourite place to write is in my conservatory. It is great to be able to look out at the garden, hear birds singing. I live in an area where there are a lot of fellow Creative’s and musicians so in the summer there is also often the sound of live music from my neighbours’ gardens. This can often set the right mood for book and song writing, which I am known to do too.



What do your grandchildren think of the book? Have they read it? If so, did they enjoy it?

As we know the twins are very clever twins, (anyone who has read the book will see what I did there LOL). However they are not reading yet or I would enrol them for Child Genius (snorts with laughter!). They love the pictures and having the book read to them though. As far as they are concerned the characters are not Jade, Courtney and Nan. They are Destiny, Briony and Mummy-Nanny!!



Have you got any plans to write more children's books? Maybe to continue with ‘The Roper
Twins’?

I am being asked to write more Roper Twin books so a series, if I can find the time, is likely.
However apart from The Roper Twins I have no plans to write other children’s books. However I have plans to write more books for an older reading audience so watch this space.

With our new series 'Q n A With A:' we have previously had Amber, our Editorial Assistant in the hot seat, today we have the Executive Publisher at ETA Publishing House LLP and author of The Roper Twins: Bath Time Battles with Nan, Cauline Thomas- Brown.

Cauline has very kindly taken the time out of her busy schedule to answer these questions for us, it've so interesting to get a sneak peak into the jobs  at ETA Publishing House.



What does your job involve?

Often when I meet someone for the first time, I’m asked the common question, “What do you do?”
Most often my reply is, “I’m the executive publisher at ETA Publishing House.” Of course, that’s my title and not what I do. But it’s an easier answer to give than to try and briefly describe what I do at ETA Publishing House.

I doubt that many people know what an executive publisher is as most publishing companies have their publisher/s report into a senior executive. It is less common to have two such senior roles combined and carried out by the same person.

As executive publisher at ETA Publishing House, my role is to oversee the entire operation with responsibility for the overall management. As we are an LLP we have partners not directors. I’m the senior partner which is equivalent to a chief executive office, if you will, of the publishing house and I am responsible for the financial health of the operation which spans two book publishing imprints and one music publishing imprint.

In terms of what I actually do as executive publisher, some of my responsibilities include overseeing all hiring and firing, creating and managing the overall budget, setting the ethos of the books and music we acquire to publish, ensuring customer needs are met, seeing that sales goals are met, keeping expenses in line and making certain the publishing house has an presence in the global English speaking marketplace.

An executive publisher, like the head of any other operation, is only as good as his or her team.


What is my team like?

I work with a young dynamic and highly talented hard working team of people at ETA Publishing House.

My design team has a standard of excellence that makes the work they contribution to the books we create, worthy to be used as Publishing Industry Benchmarks. Anyone looking at the artistry of our illustrations, the quality of our books and the uniqueness of our book covers will know that I am not exaggerating.

My management team has a passion for books and cutting edge 21st Century technologies that keep us at the forefront of inventive and high quality book production. Because of this, though we are at the smaller end of the medium sized publishing company spectrum, we land a big punch in the traditional and hybrid publishing industries!

My team enjoy what they do and enjoy doing it for ETA Publishing House so I count myself blessed to have the team I work with.

Our acquisitions editor, Liz Amore, reports direct to me and is responsible for acquiring books that will be commercial successful and her team is involved in the whole editorial process.
Our newly promoted publishing admin director, Monica Williams, reports direct to me and is responsible for all our financial reporting, royalties’ management and contractual areas. Her team is involved in all non production areas of the operation.

Our music imprint director, Dale Thomas, is a partner in ETA Publishing House and heads up ETA Music, Boundbymusic Entertainment Ltd and he and his team are responsible for all areasof music. Dale reports direct to me in relation to music publishing matters.
Several other managers or executives over other departments also report directly to me.

We are very proud to champion remote home working and our current remote working team members report direct to me.

Last but by no means least we also run ongoing paid Internship placement and fast track
management programmes and two of our current Interns currently report direct to me.


How long have you worked at ETA Publishing House?

I am proud to be the visionary and the original founding Partner. So of course I have invested in and worked with ETA Publishing House from the very beginning. It is wonderful to have been here when we approved our first book manuscript in 2010 and to have been the publisher and editor of that first book publishing project.


What is your favourite ETA Book?

Whatever the book genre, category or reading audience every book bearing the ETA Book
imprint aims to inspire, motivate, educate and entertain. I really believe that what sets an ETA Book apart from any others is that each one has a moral behind the story or deals with a social or every day issue or activity.

Our children’s books open the eyes of youngsters to such things as environment; the animalkingdom; right from wrong; growing up and much more. With emphasis on adventure, fun and discovery the readers and listeners have their eyes open to wonders that cannot help but encourage them to learn and grow and become book lovers.

Our books for older reading audiences always have a deep seated message of hope and
endeavour prompting the read to reach and strive. All the time looking at everyday life in a way that not only entertains but encourages discovery, success and the desire to overcome
obstacles along the way. The books are laced with humour, pathos and all the emotions and experiences life can through at us.

I have personally read and rubber stamped every book we have published regardless of genre. So you can understand why I have no favourite because they are all books I would have on my own or my children’s or grandchildren’s bookshelves. Above all I am personally invested and feel that I have as personal a stake in their success as the authors who wrote them.


What’s next for you and ETA Publishing House?

We are very keen to become a market leader in the area of Hybrid Publishing so this will be a key strategy delivered through our Ally Books Publishing Imprint in the coming months and years.

Our ETA Books imprint is our flagship book imprint/brand and we want to improve on our
position in the global marketplace and have our books appearing in more Best Seller lists.

For our ETA Music imprint we continue our commitment to making clean and wholesome music compositions and lyrics available in the music industry and to the end listener. In coming years we will be pushing to hear more of our music used in TV, film and advertising.

As for me I hope to remain the executive publisher for many years to come and be instrumental in driving the organisation to bigger and better things.



Thank you Cauline for your time and great answers! If you want to see ETA's books then you can find them here.

,  want to thank Kerry for her great questions and if you want to see more from Kerry you can find her links below...
Blog
Twitter- @sparkle_kerry
Instagram- @sparkle.with.kerry
​Facebook

Cauline Thomas- Brown is the author of 'The Roper Twins: Bath Time Battles with Nan!' rated 5 stars, Hardcover Edition published March 2017. Paperback coming in September 2017

Click on the book cover at the bottom of this blog to find out more about the book buy a copy or leave feedback if you have already read it.


What influenced your new book 'The Roper Twins: Bath Time Battles with Nan!'? 

It is said that writers should write about what they know. The battle written about in this book was a real one.
My twin grand-daughters right out refused to be bathed separately and then
refused to be bathed in the big bath. Bath times were a battle for months.
It is bad enough dealing with a single child but imagine twins. I was frantic!
When they finally accepted the big bath it was such a relief that I literally sat at my computer and committed the whole battle to paper.

What flowed from my fingers to the key board and beyond was originally a very funny short story aimed more at adults and told from a much more adult perspective. So it was really initially more about getting the whole matter off my chest.
I shared the story with friends and family who were thoroughly entertained by it. It was also very clear that my granddaughters loved it too even though they were too young to understand that they had influenced the story!

As it became clear that the book appealed to all ages the real decision was whether to stick with an older genre or tailor it to children. My granddaughters second birthdays were just around the corner so in the end I made the decision to adapt it into a
picture book and dedicate it to them.
​The result is a picture book I hope my granddaughters and other children will treasure.


Were you anything like the Roper Twins as a child? I'd love to hear an anecdote! 

I definitely did not have their dare devil personalities. I still clearly remember the first time I ventured up the stairs and was then too petrified to come back down, even backwards.  The memory of my mother rescuing me is still very vivid. LOL!
The twins’ father on the other hand was very much like them. I remember him attempting to climb up a massive mirror fronted wardrobe to get to something on the top. The result was not pretty and we ended up at Accident & Emergency when we surfaced he had received his first stitches!


How did you get started as a writer?

My mother was an avid reader and she passed that and her love of books onto me. Deep down, I always felt that I had at least one book in me.
I made a couple of false starts and I went as far as to start a creative writing course, which I still haven’t finished. Even working for Penguin Books didn’t bring out the writer in me.

It is when I was doing voluntary work mentoring young adults most of whom had natural creative writing talent but lacked the confidence to do anything with their talent. I more or less just fell into helping them to gain confidence by getting them writing and sending what they had written to me.
Some of the work was very good so with their agreement I set up a daily blog on MySpace as a platform to publish their work.

As you can imagine sometimes their confidence failed them and I found myself writing fill in pieces so that we met our daily publishing commitment. The blog
grew in popularity. People loved the humour in my writing and the way they could identify with the items I wrote.
​The obvious next step was to compile the best of these short stories into a book.

Since then writing has become an integral part of my creative and working life. I am still very much a publisher first and my main objective is very much to provide authors
with a traditional path to publishing their work. My work until now has focused on non-fiction.
The Roper Twins: Bath-Time Battles with Nan is the first children’s book I have penned. From early indications I am very likely to write some more books about The Roper Twins as readers seem keen to know how they will deal with other changes thrown at them in their unique and mischievous way.


What does a typical day look like for you?

As I mentioned I am a Publisher which involves managing team of people and publishing processes. So my typical day is ultra busy and filled with lots of meetings with editors, designers, illustrators, authors and the other people involved in creating quality books.
My writing is part-time however fortunately for me when I do author a book the writing process is quick and the words just seem to flow. So it is very much more a form of relaxation and release than work per se.
​
On more glamorous days I am attending book signings, events, interviews and the occasional award ceremony.


Describe your workspace 

Lots of books and piles of paper everywhere! There are also various reading devices and computers on the go so that I can read books in all the current formats.
The best way to describe it is organised chaos.


Tell me 3 interesting things about you

Now that’s a difficult one. What I think is interesting will probably bore the pants off others. There a lot of things that have happened in my life but that is for another time.

So for now here are three that don’t need a book to do them justice…

1. I used to share the Ice with Olympic Gold Medallist Robin Cousins at the Silver Blades Ice Skating Rink, Bristol.

2. I trained as a Pianist but gave it up in favour of Ice Skating.

3. Over the years my nicknames have been Raquel (after Raquel Welch not Raquel from Only Fools and Horses), Dallas (after Sue Ellen from you guessed it Dallas) & Dancer because I love to dance but cannot follow choreography (so I was never going to be a professional dancer)!
I’ll leave you to guess why the first two nicknames attached themselves to me. LOL!

What is your favourite quote? 

The one that always springs to mind first is ‘The pen is mightier than the sword!’ so that really must be my favourite.


What are the best and worst things about being a writer? 

The best thing about being a writer is the privilege of impacting the lives of others. Whether I am writing non-fiction or fiction and want my work to bring hope and inspire!
For me there is no major downside to being a writer however I know that for the majority of writers it is very difficult to earn a living wage from their writing talent.

On a personal note every writer wants every reader to love their work and expects 5star reviews. Anything less can be a bitter pill to swallow. ;-)

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This post was written by Eleanor Smith, you can find her own Blog here.
If you are creative and love writing you can feature a Guest Post on our Blog, to find out more or to send your draft post to us you can email Amber, here.


Hey, I'm Eleanor, a beauty book and lifestyle blogger and I am really excited to talk about my reasons why reading is a good hobby! Reading is my favourite thing to do and I thought I would share some of my reasons why it is a good hobby to have.

1) Relaxation.

Reading is something I love to do to relax on an evening before I go to sleep. It really relaxes me before I have to go to sleep and settles me down. It’s a lot more relaxing than watching T.V or browsing social media!

2) Distraction

Sometimes life can get a bit too much and it can be really nice to escape into a different world and just take some time to chill out before having to face the day.

3) Passes the time

I spend a lot of time on trains and since I can no longer listen to headphones, I love reading on trains in order to pass the time! Reading is a massive saviour from boredom and I always carry a book in my handbag in case I am hanging around in a waiting area or I need something to cure my boredom!

4) Teaches you new things

One of my favourite things about reading is because it means I get to learn new things! Even from non- fiction book’s you learn new vocabulary.

And they are a few of my favourite things about reading! If you enjoyed this post you can find me at:
www.littleblogsfromlittlepeople.blogspot.co.uk​

The third and final ‘Fun Facts about Twins’ is here, we really hope you enjoyed these posts as much as we did.

Did you know?
Twins can sometimes be born weeks even months apart. The Guinness book of record for the time between births of identical twins is 87 days, nearly 3 months. Another case that hit the press in 2012 was of non identical twins born 208 days apart and in two separate years. 
That’s CRAZY!  Who knew that was a thing?

Did you know?
The term “twin” derives from the ancient German word “twine” meaning “two together”. 
I didn’t know that! 

Did you know?
Though rare non identical twins can have the same parents yet appear to be of different races. In most cases one or both parents will be racially mixed. However this can occur with same race parents. With advances in DNA testing the full ethnic mix of the children can now be identied. 
Wow! You learn something new everyday...

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That’s all the facts that we have for you, we’re sad that the trio of posts have come to an end.
These fact’s have been inspired by the newly released The Roper Twins: Bath Time Battles with Nan which you can purchase here. 


For a limited time we are also inviting 4* & 5* ratings along with your comments on Amazon, FOYLES and ETA Webstore, in exchange for a free copy of the E-Book Edition. If you are interested simply click here and we'll get your free copy over to you.

4 Fun Facts About Twins!


The Roper Twins: Bath Time Battles with Nan is a newly released Children’s book that has been loved by all ages! 
Rated 5 stars, The Roper Twins is sure to be the next best thing when it comes to Children’s books, but how much do you know about twins?
Did you know....
40 Percent of twins invent their own special language. The made up “languages” often disappear soon after childhood, once the children have learned a real language. 

Wow!


Did you know?
Apart from their fingerprints, identical twins are 99.99% identical on a DNA level. 

I certainly didn’t know that..


Did you know?
Male twins will not have twins unless their wives have the ability to produce two eggs. 

That’s so interesting...

Did you know?
Twins are twice as likely to be left-handed than singletons. 
So cool!


Well, I definitely didn’t know that much about Twins! Did you?


To hear all about the Twins in their bath time battles with their nan you can purchase the book, The Roper Twins: Bath Time Battles with Nan here.

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