Guest Post: Holly Denham, Author of Holly's Inbox

I want you to welcome Holly Denham, also known as Bill Surie, to Savvy Verse & Wit. Sourcebooks also is offering 1 copy for one U.S. or Canadian reader of my blog; check out the details below. Now, please welcome Holly Denham, author of Holly's Inbox.

My favorite character in Holly’s Inbox is Granny. She is very much like my own Granny who was for ever finding new and exciting ways to terrorize my mother. When Holly’s parents moved to Spain, Granny had to be ‘involuntarily re-housed’ as she put it and from there on she made it her duty to cause as much mischief and mayhem as possible.

The book came from the website – www.hollysinbox.com (which is once again live and following Holly’s story). The emails appear in ‘real time’ and therefore give a very real feel to her life.

When the site was first launched we set up email accounts for the characters, and as the story progressed and readers became emotionally involved, we began to receive an awful lot of mail directly through to the characters, some complimentary… some rather abusive. Without giving too much away one character in particular stirred up so much emotion that someone once said they were getting into their car right that minute, heading down the motorway to hunt them down and rip their head off – as no one treated ‘their Holly’ like that. Holly’s Inbox deals with many social issues you would find in offices across the world, it should make you laugh (a lot) (although if it doesn’t make you laugh I’ll now look like an idiot) (Oh stuff it – it’s funny so there you go) but it also takes you on a journey which at times can be very sad. I can’t just sit here typing about how fabulous it is, I could, but I imagine the lovely Lori wouldn’t let me. I hope the angry reader managed to calm down before they reached the motorway because London really is a very big place to be searching for fictitious characters lurking in my imagination. However I’m glad there are nice people out there willing to stand up for Holly.

The idea for the site came one day when we had to trawl through an ex-employees work email account. The woman in question was single, extremely flirtatious and had always loved us to bits. We discovered she was married with four children, and couldn’t stand the sight of us. The life she was leading was so full of mystery, intrigue, romance (and many many lies) that it made me wonder what it would be like to read a story told in this way.

I began writing and quickly commissioned a fantastic website developer and together we began working out a way of getting the story across by emails. All I wanted was a way of attracting more receptionists to our agency, and this seemed to be the answer.

An email went out to 90,000 people telling them NOT to visit Hollysinbox.com because unscrupulous IT hacks had posted a live email account of a fellow employee onto the web in total disregard of our privacy laws.

We said - if she was working for your company it was essential you let her know NOW! Before the world discovered what she really thought about her co-workers.

Holly’s Inbox follows the life of Holly Denham a new receptionist on the front desk of an investment bank in London. She attempts to retain her sanity, whilst juggling some rather surreal characters in both her personal and work life. Between her gossipy co-workers, supervisors breathing down her neck, and some intriguing emails from a flirtatious VP, Holly is in for more than she ever imagined. And when a secret from her past makes an unwelcome appearance, Holly’s unsure if she has what it takes to survive the corporate workplace.

As the story reached it’s climax I began to panic. The site would be over and I had no idea what I was going to do next, so I began emailing as many agents as possible the web link; without knowing what I wanted from them. At last a wonderful fabulous woman replied and told me it would work in a book… and it did. Holly’s Inbox has now been translated into 6 different languages but the one place I had always dreamed about being published was of course the USA, and Sourcebooks have at last let me achieve this dream!!!!

Out of interest the character with the most mail was Granny – as it should be.

About the Author:

Bill Surie is the owner of a placement service for receptionists and secretaries in London. He started the www.HollysInbox.com as a place to serialize his first novel. His second novel is now in the works and currently lives in England and Spain with his wife and daughter. You can also find Holly on facebook and twitter!

Giveaway Information: (U.S. and Canada residents only, no P.O. Boxes)

1. Enter a comment on this post for one entry

2. Blog, tweet, or spread the word about the giveaway

3. Follow this blog or let me know if you already do.

Deadline June 10, 2009, 11:59 PM EST

THIS CONTEST IS CLOSED!

Holly's Inbox was reviewed by:

The Book Kitten

Diary of an Eccentric (check out Bill's guest post)

Don't forget these great giveaways:

3 copies of Mating Rituals of the North American WASP by Lauren Lipton, here; Deadline is June 3, 2009, 11:59 PM EST.

1 copy of Reunion by Therese Fowler, here; Deadline is June 4, 2009, 11:59 PM EST