Recently, A Flight of Saints earned a welcome bit of exposure via Canadian Writers Abroad, a site that champions expat authors via book reviews and interviews. It’s curated by Debra Martens, an accomplished writer herself. We met in London a few years ago when work had brought her husband to England for a few years. I so enjoyed her company, and we’ve since become friends. I have also really appreciated the effort she puts into recognising ex-pat Canadian authors and their work. In her interview with me about A Flight of Saints, we chat about how personal experience can shape a novel—intentionally and unintentionally.
I think you’ll enjoy it. Here’s the link: Of Angels, Nuns, and Pilgrims
A Wee Update
Many of you have asked ‘How’s the book doing?’ My answer is, ‘It’s doing.’ It’s certainly not the sales levels I’ve been accustomed to, but I knew at the get-go that it would be.
It’s not easy selling a book these days, and the difficulty increases a thousand-fold when it’s a self-published work. In fact, A Flight of Saints, which has had as tough a slog as that faced by the novel’s intrepid characters as they hoofed over the Alps to Bingen. Suddenly I’m hearing the song Climb Every Mountain, from The Sound of Music!
The literary world is in a symbiotic relationship with the Big Five publishers: they serve one another. Media reviewers concentrate on what those publishers send them; bookshops only sell books that arrive from the Big Five’s distributors. Even small, supposedly independent book shops are beholden to arrangement. The self-published, therefore, find themselves in a wasteland of rejection, such is the stigma surrounding the self-published book. Even when you don’t see it, you hear it: Tell someone that you’ve published a book, and you’ll hear “Oh!!” (in an excited voice), then tell them you’ve self-published the book and you get “Oh,” (in a low grunt of disappointment and pity). If a self-published book was a scent, it would have notes of a sewer judging by the reception it gets. And yet, I’ve read (and own!) a few self-published books that beat the literary pants off some traditionally published ones. But it does make an author wonder: If a bookstore rejects your self-published book, does your book truly exist?
There’s also the Amazon factor. Some folks just flat-out refuse to deal with Amazon, the big bad wolf of just about everything. And yet, in terms of KDP, Amazon’s self-publishing arm, I can find little fault with it. The product—my product—looks every inch the professionally produced book. Granted, that’s largely down to me: I paid to have A Flight of Saints professionally typeset, designed, and edited by real people, and I commissioned the cover art from a bona fide artist. No AI involved.
However, what’s also down to me is the marketing failure. I worked for years in public and media relations, was in fact raised by a man who was one of the forefathers of public and media relations in Canada, and yet I’m incapable of promoting my own work. Not being savvy with current technology and media (how does one TikTok a book?), not having the money to hire a publicist, and being afflicted with innate shyness and lack of confidence has hampered things. I can be also realistic: perhaps my novel isn’t good enough, or doesn’t strike the right note, or that potential readers might think it’s religious (it’s not; if anything it’s irreligious, even sacrilegious).
All has not been lost, however: I’m grateful for the word-of-mouth promotion, and for the generous reviews readers have posted on Amazon since the book’s release last March. What’s more, A Flight of Saints won an IPPY Award in the religious fiction category (though as stated above I wouldn’t consider it religious). It also received a sweet review in The Tablet, the Roman Catholic Church’s news magazine.
To those of you who purchased a copy of the novel, thank you so much for keeping faith and supporting my work. For those who would like to buy a copy or gift it for Christmas (there’s still plenty of time!), head to Amazon in your specific country. For Canadians, here’s the link bit.ly/3XvMnMe
Merry Christmas to all!
love,
Elizabeth x
Dec. 1, 2025