LOOKS GOOD ON PAPER

Ebook sensation Kelly Rimmer describes the thrill of getting ink on her fingers

K elly Rimmer cried “buckets” when she first held her book Before I Let You Go in her hands. To be clear, it wasn’t because she hated the cover (which happens to authors more than you might imagine) but because here she was, a best-selling writer whose previous four novels had shifted more than 600,000 units worldwide, finally seeing her words on paper.

Rimmer, 37, is one of a growing band of “crossover” authors – writers who first found success through the ebook industry, publishing works online and then catching the attention of traditional book publishers.

For Rimmer, it was publishing giant Hachette who came courting, after the digital success of her previous books Me Without You,

The Secret Daughter, When I Lost You and A Mother’s Confession. And for the mother of two and former IT project manager from Orange, NSW, it was, she says, “all my wildest book nerd dreams come true”.

“I think when I first realised that books open a portal into worlds was when I was about seven and reading Heidi,” Rimmer says. “From then on, I was that kid in the library, that kid with her nose always between the pages of a book.

“So, as wonderful as digital publishing has been for me, what I’ve always wanted, really, really wanted, is to hold a book I have written in my hands, and to go into a bookstore and see it on the shelves.”

Before I Let You Go hit the shelves last month, and is one of those books – in the style of a Jojo Moyes or a Jodi Picoult yarn – that poses a difficult dilemma at its heart. In this case it’s the story of two sisters, Lexie and Annie, one a successful and stable doctor, the other a drug addict expecting a child who, due to her mother’s addiction, will most likely be placed in foster care at birth. The question is should Lexie take on both the baby and her sister’s many troubles?

For Rimmer, writing the book was a chance for her to explore both the bonds of family and addiction.

“I had an uncle who died of an overdose 20 years ago and, as a child, I only ever saw his good side – he was a really nice man and a great uncle.

“So I guess, for me, I’ve never had this onedimensional idea of what a drug addict is, and I wanted to explore that, particularly how we treat women who are addicts and pregnant.

“In my books I do go looking for grey areas, sensitive and difficult stands people have to face, but I try to keep my voice light while exploring some very heavy subjects. Because everyone has a backstory.”

Including Rimmer, who began writing full-time about 2½ years ago.

“I was working in IT writing software equations, and my second book, The Secret

Daughter, was doing really well in the US, and I was starting to constantly turn down writing opportunities because of my day job.

“And one day, although it felt very scary leaving full-time work, I jumped.”

Rimmer’s growing reader base, of digital natives and bookstore aficionados alike, are delighted she took the plunge.

Before I Let You Go

Hachette, $30