Jennie Ensor's Author Website

I’m over the moon that my novel Ghosts of Chechnya (a love story/thriller set in 2005 London) has been accepted for crowdfunding (and publication if that goes well) by Unbound, an award-winning independent crowdfunding publisher (@unbounders on Twitter). They have put out some fabulous books e.g. The Wake, longlisted for the Man Booker prize in 2014 and Terry Jones’ (Monty Python) Evil Machines. Andy Hamilton’s book is being crowdfunded right now (Andy is a comedy scriptwriter/performer – QI, Have I Got News For You; he plays Satan in his Radio 4 comedy Old Harry’s Game).

Here’s a video and information about my book: Ghosts of Chechnya project page

(or from the home page, click Find a Book then ‘Thriller’.) It went up on the site four days ago, much to my excitement. (Spot the dog, anyone?)

My novel will go out as an e-book, part of Unbound’s new digital list, edited and designed to the highest possible standards. However, first I must do what all Unbound authors must do – reach my crowdfunding target.

This is, so I gather, a cherished institution in the Unbound world, though during the middle of the night when I consider how much work I have to do, it seems more like a masochistic initiation ritual designed to sort out the men from the boys.

I will post more on all this stuff another time once have had time to digest it. Suffice to say, in the few days since my video and book info went up my life has transformed into a whirlwind of telling friends about my quest, emailing people about it, pestering my husband to help me and accosting random tall, dark handsome strangers who cross my path (not many, yet). On top of that I must deliver updates  from my virtual ‘shed’ – a wonderful Unbound concept to help their authors get in touch with potential readers and keep their supporters informed of tittletattle and book-related goings on.

Fortunately there’s an Unbound authors group on facebook for sharing the ups and downs of all this. I have already gleaned some useful advice – don’t check the numbers on your project page more than once a day. This will be tough, but I will try.

I’ve had some amazing support so far from writing community friends who used to be on Authonomy, none of whom I’ve ever met in ‘real’ life – and also from some loyal and enthusiastic friends and relatives. A big thank you to all who have pledged so far!

As of today I’ve raised 8% of my target – which isn’t bad in four days. But I still need another 118 pledges, my project page tells me gleefully. Oh dear, had better go hound my bro again…