Wise Words: Stephanie Butland
This author has not only published nine heart-warming and brilliant novels which sell by the shed loads around the globe, she has also nurtured writers who have now launched their own careers, myself included.
Her new novel ‘The Book of Kindness’, about a woman abandoned as a baby who discovers that she did have a family, after all, is due to be published in April 2025.
Stephanie’s passion for literature began early. She grew up in Amble and was an only child and first grandchild, so was a great focus of attention and surrounded by books at home and at her grandparents’ house.
She lived on the same street as the library and Stephanie visited regularly. One of her favourite books was Jim and Mary and the Rocking Horse. She also loved Enid Blyton’s stories and the Cherry Ames student nurse mystery series.
She said: “I loved books so much that when I went on a plane for the first time I was bought Mallory Towers and apparently I was so hooked, I never even looked out of the window. As well as reading I was also a keen writer. A teacher once commented when I was tiny that I had used an exclamation mark, which was exceptional for my age.
“I didn’t really work hard for my A levels I was more interested in boys and going to the pub. The type of books I was reading at this point were by feminist authors such as Marilyn French and Charlotte Perkins Gilman.
“My Mam wasn’t sure of the point of an English degree and said what would I be qualified for? Nothing?”
Stephanie did decide to go to college and got a place at Roehampton University. Meanwhile she was writing short stories and getting nice rejections but no real interest from publishers. While at University she said she became a bit of a writing snob and immersed herself in turn of the 20th century American female authors. A particular favourite was The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton. The central character was Lily Bart, a single woman, who was scrutinised and ends up on the margins of society.
She said: “I love this book so much and have re-read it, time and time again.”
“After University I got married and started a family. In any spare time, I wrote plays and joined a group of playwriters. You could get your work read by professionals. An audience member asked to read one of my plays and said my stage descriptions were beautiful that I could be a novelist. The play was then cancelled so I thought ‘Sod it. I’ll write a novel.’
“It wasn’t published but I really enjoyed writing it. Around this time, I got a lovely response about my work from the agent Simon Trewin. He didn’t sign me but it was a good boost.
“When my children were small I needed an income so I began working at the local WH Smith and had the grand title of book expert. I thought this would help me to become an author but it was actually pretty depressing as I spent a lot of time in the basement, where they were many books that were never going to be sold.
“The advantage of this job was that I got to deliver training and as a result became a professional trainer. But in 2008 life knocked me sideways as I developed breast cancer. During my treatment and recovery my friends wanted to know how I was doing so it seemed most practical to do a blog, where they could read about my progress.
“I ended up with a following from all over the world and around 2,000 people, predominantly cancer survivors, read it regularly which for that time was huge.
“At this point in my career I got my agent, Oli Munson, through entering a competition to be represented which was on his twitter feed. This was followed by two books based on my blog ‘How I Said Bah to Cancer’ and ‘Thrive’.
Two fiction novels followed these publications - ‘Letters to My Husband’ and ‘The Other Half of My Heart’.
Unfortunately, the sales weren’t big enough to win her another contract. Stephanie picked herself up and decided to develop an idea she had, to write about a woman called Loveday, who worked in a bookshop. The story was published as ‘Lost for Words’ and it became a bestseller, translated into 12 languages, with over 250,000 copies sold to date and still rising.
This story was followed by ‘The Curious Heart of Ailsa Rae’, ‘The Woman in the Photograph’ and ‘Nobody’s Perfect’.
During the Covid lockdown Stephanie’s editor Eli asked her to try and write a sequel for ‘Lost for Words’ about a bookshop that provides novels to make people feel better during the pandemic. At first Stephanie was reluctant to write it as she thought no-one would want to be reminded of that awful time. The opposite turned out to be true. In its first year ‘Found in a Bookshop’ sold 100,000 copies and is continuing to sell well.
When she’s writing a novel Stephanie prefers to not read work in her own genre and so has enjoyed young adult fiction and sci-fi, such as ‘Graceling’ by Kristin Cashore.
She stopped her training career in 2022 during Covid and began mentoring and supporting writers with services including manuscript assessments.
Stephanie explained she is at a very happy point in her career, “I’m a full-time writer which is what I’ve wanted to do since I was five. Now my ambitions are for the authors I’m working with, to see them succeed.”
Her advice for others is that when challenges come along, it is still a step along the road. The best thing about being a writer is sitting down and actually writing something. Words on the page mean you’re winning.”
The Stand-Up Mam has funny family stories in it, do you have one to share?
When I was five I was given a plate with bread to take outside and throw for the birds and somehow it ended up getting smashed on the floor. This caused hilarity and I’ve been labelled as clumsy ever since which I had also thought was unfair and very cross about. However, on a recent visit to see my son, we were throwing stones into a river and somehow mine ended up behind me on the bank. I had hoped no-one had noticed but no such luck. Everyone thought it was hilarious!