An author who wrote her book during bouts of insomnia following the birth of her premature twin sons has taken a novel route to getting it published.

Ria Frances, who lives in Ashington in West Sussex, needs to rack up 250 pre-orders of Inflicted by July 4 to secure a publishing deal.

She has signed up to Britain’s Next Bestseller, which is hoping to shake up the book publishing industry by giving readers the power to launch an author’s career.

And Ria hopes to become an inspiration to other mothers. She said, ‘I am just a mum, a mum with a dream of being an author, of writing books that give the reader an escape, of writing books that people want to read.

“I hope people buy Inflicted because the success of this book is my message to other mums and other people with dreams. My message is: go for it; be who you dream of being, no matter who doubts you, and even if you doubt yourself.”

Growing up in Worthing in a “rowdy and loving” family of six, who all read the short stories she wrote, inspired Ria and she went on to qualify as a literacy teacher and write and adapt plays for her pupils. Following the births of her first two sons, she wrote and self-published her first book, a novel for teenagers called Stormsavers.

But it was only when she then gave birth to her premature twins and endured a period of “intense worry” that she began to secretly write Inflicted, the story of a close and therapeutic friendship between two survivors of the Nazis (see panel).

Ria said: “I felt unable to reach out to those around me when my identical twin boys were premature – they weighed only three pounds each when they were born.

“They were unwell and I couldn’t surrender to vital sleep in the critical hours when the house finally fell quiet, so I started to write.”

Ria, who lives with her husband and their four sons – now aged 14, eight and four – on a farm, poured her anxiety into her book, which is based on the premise that everyone needs reciprocal human kindness, and when she had finished sent it to an agent.

But she never heard back from them and it dented her confidence.

Then her friend, a publisher, read it and told Ria how good it was. She urged her to continue to try to get published.

Ria was introduced to Britain’s Next Bestseller and decided that as her self-confidence was too low to try to persuade an agent to take her on, it was the ideal route for her.

“This way, you know the readers like it because of the number who pre-order it,” she said.

“It does give you a boost and I want to be an inspiration to women.”