My ALLi author guest this episode is Jackie Watson, a novelist from North East England. She didn’t plan to become an author, but a vivid recurring dream about a woman arriving in Greece pushed her to start writing. What began as one novel soon became a trilogy, along with a spin-off novella. Jackie writes contemporary fiction about love, secrets, and the unintended consequences of the choices people make.
Listen to the Inspirational Indie Author Interview: Jackie Watson
About the Host
Howard Lovy is an author, developmental editor, and writing coach with a long career in journalism and publishing. He works with writers at many stages of their careers, with a focus on helping them develop their ideas and strengthen their work while preserving their unique voices. He lives in Northern Michigan.
About the Guest
Jackie Watson is an internationally selling contemporary fiction novelist and the author of the four-part Apokeri Bay series. Set primarily on the Greek island of Lefkada, the series includes a trilogy and a dark-romance spin-off set on a cruise ship. Her stories explore love, secrets, betrayal, friendship, family loyalty, forgiveness, and hope.
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Read the Transcripts
Jackie Watson Hello, my name's Jackie Watson. I am the author of the Apokeri Bay series, which is a Greece-based trilogy and a prequel. The trilogy is set on the Greek island of Lefkada, and the prequel is set on a Mediterranean cruise ship. And it all started from a recurring dream.
Howard Lovy: Okay, well that sounds very enticing — that's a good literary cliffhanger for us. Now, obviously you're not from Greece, so tell me where you grew up, and were reading and writing always part of your life?
Jackie Watson: So I grew up in Northeast England. I was born in Newcastle. A lot of people may not know this, but that means that you are called a Geordie. So I have a very distinctive accent, which you can probably hear — that is a Geordie accent. I've spent most of my life in the Northeast, but I have been lucky enough to travel around the world, including Greece. Greece has just got something about it that calls to me.
A Love of Reading
Howard Lovy: You've written about taking weekly walks to the local library and the excitement of choosing books from the shelf. Do you remember what kinds of stories captured your imagination?
Jackie Watson: Yeah, so any stories that could take you anywhere. I went for the typical Enid Blyton ones — not the Famous Five, but things like the Circus of Adventure. It was just that — going to a library and being able to choose books that could take you anywhere and let you do anything. I'm still a massive advocate of libraries. I just think they're absolutely fantastic. I've always loved reading ever since I was a kid, and I still do.
Howard Lovy: Yeah, of course. I don't know what I would've done as a child without libraries. That's amazing.
Jackie Watson: Just brilliant.
Early Life and Career
Howard Lovy: So before becoming a novelist, you had a range of different jobs. Tell me some of your early incarnations.
Jackie Watson: Yeah, so probably like lots of people, I had a Saturday job, a weekend job. I worked in retail, I worked in hospitality, and then I didn't go to university when I first left school, so I worked for the DSS — the Department of Social Security — and I worked for the council.
And then I got bored. There is a theme that runs through my life where I kind of go off and do something, then come back. So I went off traveling to Australia and America when I was in my twenties. I went off to Australia, New Zealand, and Thailand in my thirties. And then I traveled around the UK and Ireland in my forties.
I also went to university as a mature student, and that's when I did marketing. So I've been in marketing for over twenty years. I've worked in manufacturing, I've worked in business support, and I now work for Durham University. I'm not a full-time novelist, like a lot of ALLi members — I split my time.
Howard Lovy: It sounds like your work life interrupted your traveling life.
Jackie Watson: Yeah.
Howard Lovy: And you also kept journals during your backpacking trips. Did documenting your travels help develop your writing voice?
Jackie Watson: Yes. Even way back, even when I was a kid, we used to go on holiday and I would always write a diary about the holiday. And every time I've gone traveling, I've kept a journal as well. I just think it's something I've always wanted to do and felt that I needed to do — just to capture those moments and how you're feeling and what you see, not just the photographs. I just think it means more if you write it down.
The Recurring Dream
Howard Lovy: And then we reached the point in your story where you had this recurring dream about Greece, and it wouldn't leave you alone. Tell me about that.
Jackie Watson: So just so the listeners know — I have a very, very vivid imagination. I'm one of these people who acts out dreams. I talk in my sleep, I walk in my sleep, I jump out of bed. I started having this dream, which was set in the old village scenes in Apokeri Bay, and it just kept going on for months and months and months. And then I started daydreaming about it too.
I always remember reading an article about J.K. Rowling, who said her idea for Harry Potter had just popped into her head. And I thought, well, that could be a book. And I thought, there she is as an example — if it was good enough for her, then maybe it's good enough for me.
Howard Lovy: Good company. So had you been to Greece before the dream?
Jackie Watson: Yes, I've been to Greece lots of times. I've been to quite a lot of the Greek islands and the Greek mainland as well. So I think that's probably what was in my head when I was dreaming — it was very much set in Greece.
I think it's just an absolutely gorgeous, gorgeous country. It's beautiful, the people are great, the food is wonderful — and we're massive foodies. I just think it's that sense of escape. And I love being near the sea as well. Maybe in a former life I was Greek or something, because there's definitely something about Greece that speaks to you, as if you feel just settled there.
Howard Lovy: So you had this dream and that convinced you to actually quit your job and write a novel. That's a big leap of faith.
Jackie Watson: Yes. I have quit my job quite a few times — to go traveling, to go to university. Hats off to people who write when they work full time, and I know people have got kids as well. But for me, if I tried to write and work full time, it was never going to happen. I'd probably get a couple of chapters in and then it would sit in a drawer somewhere and never see the light of day.
So I thought: I'm going to give myself six months, quit my job, and write my novel. I mean, that turned out to be a ridiculous amount of time — I thought I could do it in six months — but I'm very much a believer that you get one shot at life, so you've got to make the most of it. I would much rather take the risk and see where it leads than not, and then look back and regret not doing something.
All the big things I've done — leaving to go traveling, leaving to go do a degree — I've never, ever regretted them, because it just opens up opportunities that you didn't know were there. So I thought, what's the worst that could possibly happen if I quit my job and write this book? Even if it's a complete flop and nothing ever happens, I'm still going to try something, and I'll just get a job afterwards. I also had savings, so I wasn't just quitting with nothing — I did have a safety net. But I would much rather give something a go and just see what happens, because I think the worst thing you can do is look back and wish you'd done something.
The Apokeri Bay Trilogy
Howard Lovy: And this turned out to be not just one book, but a whole trilogy. Give us the thirty-second elevator pitch on the trilogy.
Jackie Watson: So the elevator pitch would be: a feisty young woman goes on holiday to Greece, falls in love with the village of Apokeri Bay. The village is full of secrets, and she does something that ends up giving her one of her own. This leads to unintended consequences which spin out across the trilogy over a period of twenty years. So it's all to do with unintended consequences — doing things with the best of intentions, but things don't quite go according to plan.
Howard Lovy: Sounds interesting. And you've also written a novella which explores some of the characters.
Jackie Watson: Yes. ALLi is really good at giving lots of advice, and the novella very much came from that idea of a reader magnet. When I developed my characters in the trilogy, they all have interesting backstories. A lot of them have rich backstory that doesn't quite fit into the main story. So I thought I would start writing about one of the characters who worked on a cruise ship.
It was only supposed to be a 10,000-word story, but the character decided otherwise — after 10,000 words she just wasn't done. So it ended up being almost 50,000 words. It was great fun. I could introduce a whole new cast of characters, set it somewhere completely different, and try something a bit different. This one's darker — it's a darker romance — and the topic is quite interesting, because when I tell people what it's about, I get two very different reactions. Some people go, ‘Ooh, that sounds really interesting,' and others just look horrified.
I was never actually going to publish it, but then I thought, well, why not? And it's actually sold really well at fairs and events. The first book in the trilogy always sells the most — but actually Agnes, the novella, does really well too, because a lot of people love novellas. That was something I wasn't expecting.
Howard Lovy: It sounds like your characters take on lives of their own.
Jackie Watson: Yes, they definitely do. I know it's all coming from your own imagination, but characters definitely steer you in certain directions — especially in a trilogy. That's why I was never going to write a trilogy. I was only ever going to write one book. And then when I started writing it, I was like, I can't get everything into one book. Some of the characters change dramatically across the three books, and that's great. You just get to explore them a lot more, and the readers get to find out a lot more about them. I can definitely see why authors write in series.
Genre and the Indie Choice
Howard Lovy: How would you define your genre? Is it literary romance? A little bit of both?
Jackie Watson: It's a mixture. Ultimately it's a romance, but I would actually call it a love story — a love story for a place, and a love story for people, not just the standard romance. Because the main character Anna actually falls in love with the village first, and then it's about the connections with the people. So it's very much her journey. There is a love interest, but it's a lot to do with family loyalty and friendship as well.
I wanted to make it something more than just a love story — about how life is messy and doesn't work the way you think it's going to work. I really push my characters out of their comfort zone.
Howard Lovy: Well, it doesn't follow all the romance tropes.
Jackie Watson: Not at all. Which I think has maybe made things slightly more difficult for myself, because you're always told to write in a certain genre as it makes things much easier. But I kind of like making things slightly more difficult for myself.
Howard Lovy: Well, that's the advantage of being an indie author. You can make your own rules.
Jackie Watson: Exactly.
Howard Lovy: Why did you decide to go indie rather than seek a traditional publisher?
Jackie Watson: Probably mainly because I'm incredibly impatient. I'm now in my fifties, but I was in my late forties when I started writing, and I know the traditional route can take a long time. I'm a great believer in taking control of things if you can. So I thought, if I do this myself, I've got a lot more control.
But I was very much determined to do it right. I joined ALLi early on in the process, and I was like: if I'm doing this, I'm doing it properly. Because unfortunately, indie authors can get a bad reputation — some people think you just whack a book together without doing it professionally, which is completely wrong. So I got covers designed professionally, I got it professionally edited and proofread. I did everything right, because if it fails, it's on me. And as a book lover myself, if you're going to write something and sell it to a reader, you've got to deliver absolutely the best you possibly can. If someone hasn't paid enough attention, it just pulls you out of the story.
Howard Lovy: Yeah. It sounds like it worked out. You were a finalist for the Wishing Shelf Book Awards.
Jackie Watson: Yeah, that was amazing. That was the first award I entered, and I'd kind of steered away from awards generally. But you still have to pinch yourself sometimes — oh, I've written four books, I've done this, I've done that. Because if you're a writer, you get so engrossed in what you're doing that you forget how far you've come and what you've actually achieved. So I think it's important to step back sometimes and take stock.
Marketing and Distribution
Howard Lovy: Now what about marketing? Who is your audience and how do you market to them?
Jackie Watson: So I decided to go wide, and that was mainly because I wanted my books in libraries — that was really important to me. So I went down the Amazon route, but also into libraries and bookshops as well. My audience is quite broad. I would say it is mainly UK, because the main character is British even though the story is set in Greece. So I think it naturally resonates more with a UK audience, but the books do sell worldwide.
It's mainly on Amazon, but I sell in bookshops as well — and that's very much me actually physically going into particular local bookshops and doing it that way. I also find that fairs — like art markets and craft fairs — are really good. There are so many fantastic books out there, and I have such a tiny budget, that if I can speak to people face to face and tell them about my book, they're immediately more interested. But the best walk into a bookshop, you're not going to see my book at the front of the shop.
So it's about trying different ways, and a lot of it is about collaboration — finding the right platforms. ALLi is really good at that, and especially with the bookstore coming out as well. I think you just have to be really open to trying different things.
Howard Lovy: Yeah. I'm glad you mentioned the bookstore — that's a new addition at ALLi and we're very proud of it. A great way to feature your books. I'm happy to hear that physically going to book fairs, libraries, and bookstores still works.
Jackie Watson: Oh, definitely. I probably did what you should never do — I literally just walked straight into a bookshop and said, ‘Would you consider stocking this book?' And they said, ‘We'll have a look at it.' And because I'd done everything professionally and to the best standard I could, they were like, ‘Yes, because this stands up against any other novel — you can tell it's been professionally done.'
And I was very, very lucky that the first bookshop I went into, the manager at the time was highly respected in that community. So when I went to other bookshops in the area, they said, ‘Oh, such and such has taken your book — we respect their decision, we'll take it too.' So I was really lucky with that.
And libraries are brilliant — the Northeast council libraries are great. Because it looks really good and it's done properly, all the local councils in the Northeast took my book. And they're always looking to get people in, so if you say, ‘I'm happy to do an author talk, I'm happy to come in,' they'll snap your hands off. Because they can see you're passionate about what you're doing. I would definitely recommend people look at libraries as an option.
And I think a lot of people in the UK don't know about the PLR scheme — Public Lending Rights. If you sign up to it, it's a bit like Amazon and Kindle Unlimited: you get a small amount for every time someone takes out your book. It's managed by the British Library, but some indie authors don't seem to know about it, because you have to sign up yourself. Otherwise, if you just put your books in the library, that's great — you'll get the price of the book — but if anyone takes it out, you're not going to get anything from it unless you've signed up to the PLR scheme.
Howard Lovy: I didn't know that. That's interesting.
What's Next
Howard Lovy: You've come a long way since your beginnings with the trilogy. You've got some spinoffs coming — where are you going from here?
Jackie Watson: The main idea I've got in my head is a supernatural book — it's got angels and demons, and it's going to be set in the Northeast. And I've also got a very strong idea for one of the spinoffs that's actually going to be set in Hollywood as well. So I've kind of started and then stopped, and then… actually, I'm getting married this year, so at the moment things are on hold while I organize a wedding.
Howard Lovy: Oh, congratulations!
Jackie Watson: Thank you very much.
Howard Lovy: It sounds like you still have that travel bug — your books range from England to Greece to Hollywood, so it sounds like your characters have a travel addiction as well.
Jackie Watson: Yes, yes. Which is all good, right?
Advice for New Indie Authors
Howard Lovy: What kind of advice would you give to other authors — especially those who, maybe later in life, want to become an indie author?
Jackie Watson: I would say definitely go for it — but I would caveat that with: it is hard work. It's not easy at all. But I've met some amazing people and been to some great places. If you're prepared to put the hard work in, it's definitely worth it.
I would certainly say you need to respect the reader. You need to do your best work. Definitely tap into organizations like ALLi, because they have such a massive wealth of information — it's brilliant. And the writing community is very, very collaborative. People share and learn from each other. So definitely don't let it hold you back just because it's later in life. If anything, if you're older, you've got a lot more life experience, and I think you're more grounded as well. Just go for it. What's the worst that can happen?
Howard Lovy: Absolutely. Well, I'm glad you're making the most of ALLi too — that's wonderful, that's what we're here for.
Jackie Watson: Yeah, definitely. The conferences you have each year are really good, and there's just so much information. You just find out so much, and it's information you can trust — because let's face it, there's a lot of information out there that is not trustworthy.
Howard Lovy: Yes. Especially these days, with AI sending all kinds of garbage out there. ALLi is a port in the storm.
Jackie Watson: Yes. You need to go somewhere that you know you can trust the information, otherwise you can waste a lot of time doing stuff and then realizing it was wrong.
Howard Lovy: Yeah. Well, thank you Jackie. Congratulations on your upcoming wedding, good luck with your future projects, and as always, safe travels.
Jackie Watson: Thank you very much.
Howard Lovy: Thank you, Jackie. Bye.
Jackie Watson: Bye.
