Exploring Equestrian Traditions, Historical Fiction, and the Art of Self-Publishing
Sue Millard discusses her passion for Fell ponies, the research behind her historical fiction, and her journey as a self-published author, offering advice for aspiring writers.
Sue Millard is a writer whose life and work are as rich and varied as the Cumbrian landscape she calls home. Born in Cheshire and now residing in what her husband affectionately describes as “a very small hamlet at the end of the world,” Sue has led a life steeped in creativity, from designing embroidery canvases and crafting competition driving harness to farming and teaching multimedia computing. Her deep connection to Cumbria and its traditions is evident in her writing, particularly her acclaimed works on Fell ponies, which celebrate the breed’s resilience and cultural significance.
In this exclusive interview for Reader’s House Magazine, Sue shares insights into her multifaceted career, her passion for equestrian themes, and the meticulous research that underpins her historical fiction. From the practicalities of carriage driving to the whimsical world of fantasy rom-com, Sue’s work defies easy categorisation, reflecting her belief that writers need not be confined to a single genre. She also offers invaluable advice for aspiring authors considering self-publishing, drawing on her own experiences as an independent publisher.
With a career that spans poetry, non-fiction, and novels, Sue Millard’s voice is as distinctive as the Fell ponies she champions. Join us as we delve into the inspirations, challenges, and triumphs of a writer who continues to leave her hoofprints on the literary landscape.
What inspired you to write about Fell ponies and their connection to Cumbrian traditions?
When I was on holiday in Cumbria in 1968 I met Betty Walker, a great advocate for the breed. The story she told of the friendliness and strength of these semi-wild ponies captivated me – as Cumbrians say, “they eat nowt, are scared o’ nowt, go forever and never tire.” Having worked with or owned Fells for most of my life, I felt I needed to pay tribute to them, and 2000 seemed like a good time to do it.
How did your experience as a harness maker and carriage driver influence your equestrian-themed books?
Being a practical horsewoman teaches you what NOT to include as “colour”. Horses don’t whinny in scary situations. Characters can’t “park” a carriage unattended – so a hero and heroine can’t have intimate conversations in a carriage without a groom or footman overhearing. A carriage driver also knows how fast and how far a horsedrawn vehicle can go, making journeys much slower than most modern authors imagine. Mending harness teaches you which bits go “bang” under stress…and whether those will give you a handy scenario for fiction to develop a character or a storyline.
Your novel Coachman is set in the 19th century—what kind of research did you do to capture the historical details accurately?
When I began it in the 1990s, the books I needed were not held by libraries and were too expensive to buy. Archives of rare books going online changed all that, and I read everything I could, Dickens, De Quincey, coachmen’s autobiographies, coach schedules, town directories. As a vice president of the local driving club, too, I was able to ride on a Victorian coach to experience how 4 horses can deal with a vehicle weighing 3 tons fully loaded. 78
Dragon Bait is quite different from your other books—what drew you to writing a fantasy rom-com?
To be honest, I’d never thought of writing a rom-com, but someone on a writing forum wrote a twee bit of verse based on an English historical myth and challenged me to do the same. I got so cross about it that I decided to grab a myth and stand everything on its head, and it grew much too complicated and funny to stay as a poem!
Can you share any interesting or surprising stories from your interviews with Fell pony breeders for Hoofprints in Eden?
I went to each breeder with a list of “naive questions” compiled from international discussion forums; living here among the Fells I had a pretty good idea what the answers were likely to be. I did have a few surprises when one person’s account filled gaps in another’s, but nothing my interviewees allowed me to share! Possibly the oddest topic, which didn’t make it into the book, was that of “big cats” in the wilder areas of the county, around the year 2000. Several people had seen them personally, and some more than once.
How do you balance writing fiction and non-fiction while also managing your own publishing?
I do what I am impelled to do. Recently it’s been mostly non-fiction and poetry, so the sequel to Coachman is stabled, eating its head off and doing no work (like my ponies in this chilly weather). The Fell Pony Society’s twice-yearly Magazine has distribution deadlines, but the moment I get that pushed out to my proof readers, other things start knocking at my skull to be let out. I do plan non-fiction but with fiction I’m inclined to be a “pantser”, so I think “balance” is an over-kind interpretation of how I work. One psychological trick is to set a personal deadline well in advance of the actual one so I’m never burning the midnight oil under real pressure. I like to have a book ready to go out in early autumn to catch some Christmas trade, but other than that I don’t have a regular schedule. Social media (disguised as “promotion”) swallows far too much of my time but giving talks is good promotion – I just need to price-label a group of books in the hope that the audience may buy something afterwards.
What advice would you give to aspiring authors who are considering self-publishing their work?
Read published work in your genre, but don’t be surprised if your own writing turns out to be “cross-genre”. Eg,I am probably best known for non fiction, but cartoons, poetry, novels and non-fiction don’t sit together in bookshops. Independent publishing saves me the tedium of being confined to one genre or inventing pseudonyms for different books.
Writing the book through to “The End” is a brilliant feeling but putting the first draft straight out is not a good idea – there’s always a second and third draft needed. Even if you have excellent spelling and grammar you need an editor who is sympathetic to your subject, a jacket designer, a book formatter, and someone who can manage a web site. You probably don’t have all those skills yourself. Be cautious about that time drain called social media and self-promotion. You can end up doing nothing else.
Buy ISBNs independently, from Nielsen, rather than accepting a freebie from a print on demand company. That helps to get your work catalogued and into bookshops who often won’t take books with an ISBN from (eg) Amazon.
You are legally required to send copies to the British Library. Changing the cover or content substantially after that will require you to use a fresh ISBN and send another set of copies. Don’t print a price on your cover if you can help it, because costs go up, and with companies like Ingram Spark, reloading your cover file just to update the price is expensive (with other POD companies it’s just time consuming). And do register with the Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society, who “make sure you receive the money you’re owed when someone copies or uses your work.”
