Brighton author Shani Struthers is celebrating the publication of her fourth novel in just 18 months.

The 47-year-old, who bases her books between Brighton, Hove and Lewes as well as locations such as Cornwall and Scotland, has written two contemporary romance novels and two with a paranormal twist – and is busy beginning the new year writing her sixth book.

Her first book, published in July 2013, was the romance ‘The Runaway Year’, following the lives and loves of a set of friends, and its sequel ‘The Runaway Ex’ has also been recently published.

Last year, she hit the No 1 spot in the Amazon Horror list with her paranormal thriller ‘The Haunting of Highdown Hall’, book one in a series called Psychic Surveys following the cases of psychically gifted Ruby as she establishes a High Street business specialising in domestic spiritual cleansing. And in December her latest book ‘Jessamine, a romantic/paranormal novel’, was published as an ebook, with a paperback version set to follow this month.

Now she has written the sequel to ‘The Haunting of Highdown Hall’, due to be published in the spring, and has declared she is set to concentrate all her writing this year around the paranormal.

“The romance market is saturated,” said Shani, a freelance travel writer with children aged nine, 12 and 16. “The paranormal is my market – I’m absolutely loving it and it’s doing very well.”

Her interest in the paranormal – phenomena beyond scientific explanation – was sparked by her mother, who is a reiki practitioner and was once a high priestess of the pagan religion wicca.

“I’m not psychic myself,” said Shani. “But I’m very interested in the paranormal and the idea for ‘The Haunting of Highdown Hall’ actually came from a real business idea. I did once consider setting up a business called Psychic Surveys, helping grounded spirits to move on. But after looking into it, I decided it would be better to put the idea into fiction.”

Shani has attended spiritual cleansings and describes what happens: “If someone feels there is a disturbance in their home of a spiritual nature, a cleansing can help break down a negative frequency and replace it with a positive one. As well as psychic connection, reiki is often used, as are cleansing herbs and crystals, including smudge sticks, which are made up of white sage and quartz and obsidian to soak up negative residue. It’s a purely holistic approach and not affiliated to any religion – although in my fiction books, I do ramp it all up for the sake of drama!'

Following her success, she has words of wisdom for budding authors: “Do your research, find a publisher that’s right for you. A lot of people self-publish too and it's a viable option but if you’re going to do that, deliver the best product you can. You need an editor, a proofreader and a cover designer. There’s a lot of competition out there: you have to try and stand out. And once you have gained momentum, keep it up – to stay current, you really need to produce a book every six months. Throw yourself into promotion too – you have to take the reins and get out there, advertise yourself. It’s as important as the writing itself!”

‘The Runaway Year’ and ‘The Runaway Ex’ are published by Omnific Publishing, and ‘The Haunting of Highdown Hall’ and ‘Jessamine’ are published by Crooked Cat Publishing. Psychic Surveys Book Two: Rise to Me will be published in the spring.

shanistruthers.com