Inspired by her grandmother, a sixties children's TVpresenter, BBC journalist Emma Clark Lam decided to pen her first novel. She talks to Zoe Chamberlain about publishing it on Kindle.

EMMA Clark Lam spent 10 years writing her novel and trying to find a publisher.

Then, when her grandmother – the inspiration for her book – passed away in May last year, she decided to take matters into her own hands.

At the end of last year, she self-published on Kindle and has already sold 100 copies, having many positive reviews posted by her fans.

“I’d read about people publishing on Kindle and thought I love technology, I can handle formatting,” says Emma, 39 and from Sutton Coldfield.

“It was like an epiphany, I knew I could do this myself without the need to go through an agent.

“I’d sent the manuscript to several agents before and had no success.

“One had asked for the full manuscript and had it for ages. I thought this is it but they eventually said they couldn’t take it on.

“When it came to publishing online, I discovered it wasn’t expensive or difficult, and you do get good royalties with Amazon just taking a small chunk.

“There’s no capital, no large print run you have to sell.

“It took a bit of technical nous, but it has been a really exciting project.

“Not only have I written and edited the book, but I have also become responsible for marketing it. I write a blog to help publicise me and the novel. The internet is great for this.

“Amazon’s Kindle store is like Ebay for writers – the Kindle publishing programme is becoming a mainstream method for authors to sell their work.”

The book, A Sister for Margot, is a family saga charting the fortunes of three women – a 1940s actress, a housewife turned career-woman and an orphan.

It is inspired by her grandmother, Sixties children’s show presenter Jean Morton who hosted Tingha and Tucker on ATV, and was fondly known as Auntie Jean.

On the show she entertained guests such as Cliff Richard, and later went on to present regional programmes such as ATV Midlands Newsday and Women Today.

“Nana helped me with the research of the book by sharing her memories of her days as an actress during the Second World War,” says Emma, who has two children Natasha, nine, and Tristan, five.

“I always thought she was terribly glamorous when I was little.

“We talked a lot, I was always interested in her background.

“When I was writing the book, she read lots of it as I wanted her to check it for authenticity.

“She loved it. She was always enthusiastic about everything.

“It inspired her to pick up a pen and start writing herself. It was nice to think that she had inspired me to write and I also inspired her.”

The book cover is an old portfolio shot of Jean Morton, who died in Lichfield at the age of 91.

“Nana’s sight was going by the end and it was hard for her to sit and read big manuscript,” says Emma, who now lives in Henley-on-Thames.

“I’m sad she never got to read it all and that I hadn’t managed to publish it before she died.

“So I decided I wanted to do something about it as a tribute to her.

“It spurred me to get on with it.

“We had always been very close, we thought in similar ways and had similar interests.

“We lived with my grandparents for a while and when you live with someone your relationship becomes more intimate.”

Emma had a globe-trotting childhood, following her parents around the world, living in Indonesia, Abu Dhabi, France and Oman as a result of her father’s job in the oil industry.

Her grandparents lived in Ibiza for years so she spent most of her summers in Ibiza with them and her parents and her brother Tim.

Emma says: “When you’re young, you think whatever you are doing is normal. It’s only as I’ve got older I realised I had an interesting start.

“I think it made me interested in foreign cultures and people from different parts of the world.”

Emma started writing A Sister for Margot before her daughter Natasha was born, cramming a full-time job for the BBC into four days so she could have a day writing each week.

She says: “When Natasha came along I was too attached to her to put her into nursery so I chose to stay at home and work freelance.

“She was a big sleeper so I had chance to work when she was snoozing. It was a perfect existence really.”

Emma was born in Sutton Coldfield, and her parents still live in Mere Green. Her experience of growing up in Sutton has influenced her portrayal of “Solton” – a fictional place in the book.

The novel is about a wartime actress called Maud who falls pregnant out of wedlock, and a modern day woman called Margot on the brink of divorce and depression after losing her sister in a boating accident.

Margot’s orphaned niece Ruby develops a morbid fascination with the past and unearths a secret that touches all of their lives.

Exploring the themes of wasted potential, sibling rivalry and romantic love, the three generations of women struggle to find their niche, while challenging the taboos and social conventions of their time.

Emma has now started writing another book, a thriller set in Jakarta in the 1940s.

* A Sister for Margot is available from Amazon.Visit http://emmaclarklam.blogspot.co.uk to findout more.