Rachel Abbott (the

pen name A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen na ...

of Sheila Rodgers; born 1952) is a British author of psychological thrillers. A self-publisher, her first seven novels (and one novella) have combined to sell over three million copies, and have all been bestsellers on

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology c ...

's Kindle store.Dalya Alberge
"Crime writer hits killer 1m sales – with no publisher,"
''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...

'', 8 February 2015. In 2015, she was named the 14th bestselling author over the last five years on Amazon's Kindle in the UK.Hannah Furness
"Retiree who wrote novel for fun joins world-famous authors on bestseller list,"
''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

'', 5 August 2015.

Early life

Abbott grew up near Manchester, England. She worked as a systems analyst, and then founded an interactive media company, developing software and websites for the education market. She sold the company for around £5 million in 2000. Following the sale, she moved from Lancashire, England, to

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, where she restored a 15th-century Italian monastery that for a time she and her husband operated as a venue for weddings and holidays.Smita Mistry, "I Spent 14 Years Plotting a Murder!" '' Woman's Own'', p. 38.

Career

In 2009, Abbott decided to write a book about an average, everyday woman put into a situation where she had no other option but to commit murder. It took Abbott 18 months to write the first draft. In November 2011, after it was rejected by several literary agents, Abbott, then 59, published her first novel, ''Only the Innocent'', on

, under her pen name. The book sold slowly at first, with sales taking off after Abbott put together a strong marketing campaign. Abbott followed up ''Only the Innocent'' in 2013 with ''The Back Road'' and in 2014 with ''Sleep Tight''. Her fourth novel, ''Stranger Child'', was published on 24 February 2015."Bestselling writer in Alderney celebrates fourth novel,"
ITV Report, 24 February 2015. Later that year, she published the novella ''Nowhere Child'', which has the same characters as ''Stranger Child''. In 2016, she published her sixth novel, ''Kill Me Again''.Rachel Abbott
"14 hour days, marketing and dealing with snobbery: my life as a self-published bestseller,"
''The Guardian'', 30 March 2016. Her five novels and one novella all focus on relationships and crime, and all feature the same detective, Chief Inspector Tom Douglas. Abbott has described the character as "a genuinely honest, nice guy who just seems to be attracted to the wrong women."Caroline Carpenter
"Self-published Rodgers hits a million in sales,"
''The Bookseller'', 9 February 2015. Working with an agent since 2012, she published in the UK, and through a publisher in North America. Her books have been translated into seven different languages. By 2015, Abbott's first three novels, all published in the UK, with the first two published by Thomas & Mercer in the US, had combined to sell one million copies. All three have been bestsellers in Amazon's Kindle store. By March 2016, she had sold two million books. In 2015, Abbott was named Amazon's most popular independently published author in the UK;Alison Flood
"Kindle turns five: independent women thrive in ebook bestseller charts,"
''The Guardian'', 5 August 2015. she is Amazon's number one e-book seller in crime and thriller writing. Also in 2015, she was named the 14th bestselling author over the last five years on Amazon's Kindle in the UK, after first publishing on the platform in 2011. For the year 2015 (through August), ''Stranger Child'' was the most borrowed book from Amazon UK's Kindle Owners' Lending Library service, and number 11 on Amazon UK's list of best-selling

eBooks An ebook (short for electronic book), also known as an e-book or eBook, is a book publication made available in digital form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on the flat-panel display of computers or other electronic devices. Alt ...

of 2015. In 2017, '' The Express'' called her the "Queen of the twisted suspense novel." That year, following a five-way auction, Abbott signed a two-book deal with

Headline Publishing Group Headline Publishing Group is a Great Britain, British publishing brand and former company. It was founded in 1986 by Tim Hely Hutchinson. In 1993, Headline bought Hodder & Stoughton and the company became Hodder Headline Ltd. In 1999, Hodder Hea ...

to become a "hybrid author". The first book in the deal is ''And So It Begins'', a psychological thriller that asks if there can ever be a proper defence for murder. It introduced a new character, Sergeant Stephanie King, and will be published later in 2018. Abbott was invited to be a judge for

's inaugural Kindle Storyteller Award in 2017 alongside model and actress

Lily Cole Lily Luahana Cole (born 27 December 1987)"Autobiography"
, lilycole.com. is a B ...

and the

Alliance of Independent Authors The Alliance of Independent Authors (often abbreviated to ALLi, pronounced "ally") is a non-profit organisation of independent (or self-published) authors. The organisation was founded at the London Book Fair in 2012, by Orna Ross and Philip Lync ...

founder

Orna Ross Orna Ross is the pen name of Aine McCarthy, born 1960. She is an Irish author, former literary agent, blogger and an advocate for creativism. She is the founder of the Alliance for Independent Authors, a professional association for authors who ...

. In 2018, Abbott published her seventh novel, ''Come A Little Closer''. As of 2021, Abbott has sold over 4 million copies of her books worldwide.

Personal life

Abbott and her husband divide their time between the

Le Marche Marche ( , ) is one of the twenty regions of Italy. In English, the region is sometimes referred to as The Marches ( ). The region is located in the central area of the country, bordered by Emilia-Romagna and the republic of San Marino to the ...

region of Italy and the island of

Alderney Alderney (; french: Aurigny ; Auregnais: ) is the northernmost of the inhabited Channel Islands. It is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a British Crown dependency. It is long and wide. The island's area is , making it the third-largest ...

, one of the

Channel Islands The Channel Islands ( nrf, Îles d'la Manche; french: îles Anglo-Normandes or ''îles de la Manche'') are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two Crown Dependencies: the Bailiwick of Jersey, ...

Bibliography

References

External links

Official websiteOfficial blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Abbott, Rachel English women novelists 1952 births Living people English thriller writers English crime fiction writers Writers from Manchester People from le Marche People from Alderney Women thriller writers 20th-century English writers 20th-century English women writers 21st-century English writers 21st-century English women writers 20th-century pseudonymous writers 21st-century pseudonymous writers Pseudonymous women writers