UK: Vicky Ball’s advice to other aspiring authors? ‘Just write!’

London: An aspiring author who went viral after selling two books at an event has described seeing her novel climb up Amazon’s bestseller charts as “amazing” and “unbelievable”.

Vicky Ball, a 48-year-old from Colchester, showcased her two novels, one titled Powerless and the other Abandoned, at an authors’ event on Tuesday at Galleywood Heritage Centre in Chelmsford.

“Sold 2 books 😁😁,” she wrote on X afterwards, which she described as positive because: “I’ve done some events where I haven’t sold any.”

Ball’s X post has now had more than 24m views and 745,000 likes. Her novel Powerless, a thriller with “lots of twists”, shot up the Amazon bestsellers charts in subsequent days – and is now No 3 in its “teen and young adult fiction on sexual abuse” list.

Speaking to the Guardian about her newfound success, she said: “I’ve been getting messages on Instagram of people saying: ‘I’m in Colombia and just bought your book’; ‘I’m in Salt Lake City’; ‘I’m in Belgium.’ It’s amazing really – it’s just unbelievable.”

Ball, who works at the University of Essex and is also studying for a masters in creative writing, said she wrote Powerless during the Covid lockdown in 2020. She wrote mostly at weekends – because she was then working as a teacher – in her lounge, with the laptop on her knees, in the home she shares with her husband and two daughters.

“It was so helpful having a purpose and something to keep my mind off the stress and worry” of the pandemic, Ball said, with the writing helping fill a need at a time she was yearning for connection with friends and family.

Virality has catapulted other undiscovered authors to public attention in recent years, with posts on platforms such as TikTok and X wielding the power to boost sales and interest. In 2023, a struggling YA (young adult) author Shawn Warner topped the Amazon bestseller list after a TikTok video of the Texas-based writer at a quiet event went viral.

Ball’s simple advice to other aspiring authors was: “Just write!” She doesn’t wait until her novels are completely plotted before putting words on the page. “I just go with it. It’s like a journey, and I really enjoy the process,” she said. “You never know where it’s going to go.”

Powerless is about two sisters, with one returning home after going missing, while Abandoned is about a daughter with an alcoholic mother.

Ball’s novels were published by Burton Mayers Books. Richard Mayers, the director of the small publisher in Dundee, said: “She just messaged me saying: ‘I’ve gone viral! I’ve had 25 million views,’ and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, that’s crazy.’

“Like a lot of indie authors, they do these events … and maybe you sell one or two books. So to be propelled into the limelight like this, it’s a real positive,” Mayers said. “I say to all the authors, you must be prepared to slog it out. It’s a marathon not a sprint – the message is: persevere.”

Ball wrote thanking her supporters later on X: “I am amazed and so grateful for all your likes, comments and purchases 🥰.”