Bookouture author Gibney hits one million mark

Bookouture author Patricia Gibney has sold over one million copies of her Detective Lottie Parker series of psychological thrillers in just over a year, the publisher has said.

Gibney’s debut The Missing Ones was released in March 2017 and has since gone on to sell 650,000 copies in e-book, the publisher said. She has also released The Stolen Girls, The Lost Child and No Safe Place. Last August, Bookouture signed three more crime thrillers.

The e-book success has led to print deals with Sphere, and top five kindle bestsellers in the UK and Canada and top 10 in the USA, said the publisher. In print, The Missing Ones has sold 15,000 in trade paperback and print on demand, and The Stolen Girls a further 7,000.

Associate publisher Lydia Vassar-Smith said the publisher was "incredibly proud" that Gibney had reached such a significant milestone.

"For a debut author to achieve the level of success that Patricia has in such a short time is just extraordinary", said Vassar-Smith. "Her sales speak for themselves and reviews for her books are particularly impressive – readers can’t get enough of her writing and the extraordinary maverick Detective Lottie Parker. The one-million mark is such a significant milestone and I am incredibly proud of all that Patricia has achieved."

Meanwhile, Gibney spoke about how writing had helped her through the death of her husband has said her aim now is to "simply keep on writing".

"On the 31st May, the 9th anniversary of my husband Aidan’s death, I heard that I had sold one million copies in the Lottie Parker series. I looked up at the clear blue sky and I knew he was smiling down at me. When Aidan died I entered a particularly dark period of my life. Suffering from grief and depression I found myself lost in a world I no longer recognised", Gibney said.

"However, with the support of our three children and through my writing I created a new world featuring Lottie Parker, and with a lot of determination, and even more tears, I have reached this point. Honestly, it is so surreal and I haven’t even had time to digest the significance of it all. My dream now is simply to keep on writing."

Digital publisher Bookouture was sold to Hachette in March 2017.