It’s always a great moment in an author’s life when that email arrives. You know, the one which says something along the lines of ‘we’d like to publish your book’.

Cue general celebration – but even so, for me it was a case of once bitten twice shy. A little like when your first boyfriend turns out to pick his nose and snog anything in a skirt. You wonder if you’ll ever trust anyone again but after a little time to reflect, you realise that you have to.

I was lucky because for me that wonderful email came from Amy Durant, Editorial Director of Sapere Books – and I’d worked with her before. Last year she co-founded Sapere with Marketing Director Caoimhe O’Brien and Operations Director Richard Simpson and has since taken on a carefully selected stable of authors. I am still rather pinching myself that I’m one of them.

But being me, I proceeded very cautiously. I went over the contract with a fine tooth comb, making sure I understood and was happy with every clause before I committed. I checked out how their authors’ books were doing on Amazon and was pleasantly surprised. I even openly flirted with another publisher. In fact, I must have driven them to distraction.

But now I am very proud to say that I have a two book deal with Sapere. The first will be a re-issue of Another You, which I withdrew when its previous publisher went into voluntary liquidation, and the second is also a romantic novel looking back to World War Two. Both will be published in 2019.

Last Friday I was able to announce the deal to the world. It was such a special day with so much support from other writers – and from Sapere – in my inbox and across social media. The warmth of the writing world is a quite extraordinary thing and I’ve waited quite a long time to have some good news to share.

But now the hard work starts, and following hot on the heels of all the excitement was an email from Amy which highlighted our rather different expectations for the second book. Cue panic – and frantic messages back and forth to my go-to writing buddy, Kitty Wilson. Was my trust misplaced? Was the whole thing about to fall down around my eyes before it started?

Then common sense prevailed and with some trepidation I replied to Amy offering her an early draft. I hate doing this as I’ve been caught out before, but needless to say her reply put my mind at rest. It will be alright. The author-editor relationship is an important one and I have such respect for Amy I know how lucky I am to have her.

But that aside, one of the most exciting things about signing for Sapere is the feeling I’m in at the start of something new – something which could be quite extraordinary. My gut feel is that they won’t just remain one of the smaller digital publishers and that they’re really going places. And I am absolutely delighted to be travelling with them.