I was a voracious reader as a child and I remember reading & loving everything Enid Blyton wrote, devouring Swallows & Amazons, Roald Dahl - all the standard childrens books (at the time) I then progressed to my very own library card and being able to empty out the childrens section which led to Young Adult and of course the Science Fiction & Fantasy section.

I usually have an idea in my head so I try to use that to focus online image searches. With Tales from Suburbia I actually took my own photo as I couldn't find quite the right thing. I think cover design should be clean & professional looking, eye catching and to some extent reflective of the subject matter.

Woah - this is difficult so it will be the first five, off the top of my head.

Rivers of London (whole series really) by Ben Aaronovitch - magic police in London, what more could you want?
Sir Terry Pratchett - complete works because of the humour and love used when they were written
Eye of the World by Robert Jordan - it was the first in a massive fantasy series that I have read and re-read. I love the connection I have with the characters.

I actually can't commit to anymore because there are so many great books out there and so many more for me to discover.

Sci fi & fantasy books mostly but I'm open to recommendations.

I have a really old Kindle. I was a reluctant converter to e-books but I value the fact that you can load them up with lots of books and they are great for long journeys.

Having a consistent presence across social media platforms and being approachable as well as supporting other indie authors.

Ha! I don't have one.... maybe I should get one?

I grew up in a fairly large city in East Anglia - I'm sure it influenced my writing style in that I had access to a great library and there are elements of my experiences in my short stories.

I used to write constantly as a child but becoming a teenager, exams, jobs and boyfriends pushed it all aside for a long time. It wasn't until I entered a writing competition in 2015 that I really ignited my writing passion again.

Tales from Suburbia is a collection of short stories, plays and blog posts that I wanted to share with my current & potential readers so they could get a feel for my writing style and they would have something new to read from me. I think it's important to keep putting your work out there.

I went down the agent route with my first book, The Gaia Effect, however I was unsuccessful. I still wanted to get my work out there so I decided to become an indie author and I'm learning all the time about what we can do and how we can get our words out there.