Melanie Martins is a girl for all seasons. But this year she has blossomed with a national bestseller.
Somewhere, sometime, you will have seen – either on television, social media, a newspaper – a book with a white cover, black title and a red circle in the middle.
This book, written by Malta-based writer and travel influencer Melanie Martins, is not available in local bookshops. Yet this didn’t stop thousands of readers from getting a copy directly from the author’s website, in turn making Blossom in Winter a national sensation and the fastest-selling book in the country.
“With the current pandemic and self-isolation, people not only prefer to order everything online but they also have more time to read,” Martins says, adding how her website offers free 48-hour delivery of Blossom in Winter nationwide.
“We ran out of stock in the first week we launched and had to ship more books from the UK. We’re running out of stock again and this time we don’t even know when we’ll get more.”
One day while at home, a modern retelling of Romeo and Juliet persisted in my head, and I had to write it down
Despite the overwhelming positive reception in Malta, the forbidden romance between a 17-year old and her godfather sparked outrage in the United States, which led to Amazon refusing to hold stock of the paperback.
"Haters don’t deliver constructive advice. They deliver hate." Melanie Martins“While I have been heavily criticised for writing this book, I never expected I wouldn’t be able to sell the hard copies on Amazon,” she says. “In fact, when I shared the news on my Facebook page, many people from the US were shocked. But I don’t lose hope, and I’m sure one day I will manage to solve this issue with Amazon.”
A travel blogger and influencer with more than two million followers on Instagram, Martins says that she turned her hand to writing romance when a storyline chose her.
“All the content I used to write on my blog and share on social media were related to my travels. But one day while at home, a modern retelling of Romeo and Juliet persisted in my head, and I had to write it down. So I grabbed my laptop and started writing. It was a very impulsive decision and in three months, I had the first draft ready.
“Being my first novel, I struggled with various decisions – whether to write it in the first or third person, in the past or present tense. In the end, I went for multiple points-of-view in the first person and present tense. I found this worked quite well as it creates a deeper bond between the reader and the characters in the story.”
Martins felt confident enough to publish her novel when her editors – who worked for some of the biggest publishing houses in the world – told her they loved the story. But rather than approaching a publishing house, Martins decided to take on the challenge of self-publishing.
“I like to have control over my projects and self-publishing gives you just that,” she says.
“If I had to go through traditional publishing, I would lose control over the storyline, the publishing date, and tracking sales would have been nearly impossible. Self-publishing makes you an ‘authorpreneur’ which combines the entrepreneur mindset while being an author.”
While Blossom in Winter received wide acclaim, it did have its share of harsh critics.
“I don’t focus on them,” Martins says. “The vast majority of readers loved it – and I focus on that. If you allow yourself to be dragged down by negative elements, it will drain you and destroy you. Thomas Hardy, one of the finest novelists to enrich English literature, gave up the writing of fiction because of criticism. I know how to take constructive advice and I’m all about improving as a writer, but unfortunately, haters don’t deliver constructive advice. They deliver hate.”
In fact, Martins is already writing a sequel, Lured Into Love. What should readers expect?
“They can expect a lot of twists and turns, and just as much controversial content as the first book. Let’s just hope this time around, the hard copies will also be available on Amazon.”
To buy a copy of Blossom in Winter, visit www.blossominwinter.com.