Getting a publication deal is a dream come true. Once the initial excitement fades, there’s a whole new set of skills to learn and industry jargon to get to grips with.

Do I need to be on social media? What do I say?

My editor wants to change the title/ genre/ ending of my book … is this NORMAL?

What are returns? Non compete clauses? Options?

I have all these questions but I'm scared to ask them because it might sound like I'm being ungrateful ...

Wouldn’t it be nice to have a place where you can ask questions and swap notes with other authors who are at the same stage of the publication process as you are?

We (Alison, Janet and Jeev) are three multi published authors who remember all too well what it was like being new to publishing and the gap between our expectations and the reality.

We've had a few knocks and bad experiences with publishers and survived, but we wanted to do something to make the publishing journey a little easier for those who came after us.

So we formed Debut Author Club to try and provide a safe place for new authors (and authors who still feel new and bewildered) to ask questions and make friends with other authors in the same boat.

There are downloadable handouts based around common issues faced by new authors starting to build their platform for the first time. There's a theme each month - often with a challenge to get you moving.

Please note that the community will be hosted on Facebook - so you will need to be on Facebook to join it.

You can get a one week's free trial when you sign up.

You can also ask questions from Alison, Janet or Jeev. All three of us are writers who are still writing (and going on submission and marketing our books and all the fun stuff that authors have to do besides writing the book). Between us we’ve written several dozen books under half a dozen pen names and been published by a variety of publishers ranging from tiny little ‘mom and pop’ operations to the big four. We’ve also self published books. If you have a question about anything to do with writing or publishing, we can probably help.

Most of all, it's a community where debut authors can meet and collaborate. The three of us at Fiction Tutors will be on hand to answer questions too, especially the ones that are of the 'my publisher said/did this, is this normal?' variety. 

• June - Get your newsletter started (a challenge)
• July - Writing the difficult second novel
• August - Social media and promotion - how to plan/ schedule stuff so that you can keep up
• September - What your agent can and should do for you
• October - Increase your productivity
• November - How the money works in publishing

Lessons from the previous months are available to view once you're in the club.