ABOUT CATHERINE

CATHERINE RYAN HOWARD is a 29-year-old writer, blogger and coffee enthusiast from Cork, Ireland.

Prior to recklessly quitting her job pushing paper in the depths of administrative hell so she could pursue her writerly dreams, Catherine administrated things in the Netherlands, cleaned things on a French campsite and was a front desk agent in a Walt Disney World hotel in Orlando, Florida.

Catherine self-published her first book – a travel memoir called Mousetrapped: A Year and A Bit in Orlando, Florida – in March 2010 after being told by several agents and editors that while it was a good read, there was near to no market for a book about Space Shuttle launches, humidity-challenged hair, Bruce Willis, the Ebola virus and an Irish girl working in Walt Disney World. Using only free promotional tools like this blog, Twitter and Facebook, Catherine has managed to shift over 10,000 copies of Mousetrapped to date. Her success story has been featured in the Irish Independent, the Sunday Times (Ireland) and Woman’s Way magazine, and Catherine has been interviewed about it on Newstalk, BBC Radio Ulster and The Marian Finucane Show on RTÉ Radio 1. She will also deliver Faber Academy’s first self-publishing course in London in February 2012. Trashionista called Mousetrapped “a unique book by a brilliantly witty, instantly loveable author” and named it one of their Top 10 Reads of 2010.

And she didn’t even have to, like, bribe them with chocolate or anything.

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Here are the names of Catherine’s other books and some nice things some nice people have said about them:

Backpacked: A Reluctant Trip Across Central America. ”Catherine takes [her] dry wit and self-deprecating humor along for the ride [on her] travels in Central America. [It] made me feel like I’d gone on the journey myself. Highly recommended for anyone who loves reading about the extremes of exploration without actually having to endure the discomfort.” - Talli Roland, bestselling author of The Hating Game, Watching Willow Watts and Build a Man
Self-Printed: The Sane Person’s Guide to Self-Publishing. “An exceptional breath of realism, real knowledge and hard experience – don’t dream of self-publishing your book without it. This is the self-publishing guide to read if you actually care about the quality of your writing and your readers.” –Nicola Morgan, award-winning author of 90 books including Write to be Published, Tweet Right and the Carnegie-nominated Wasted , and blog Help! I Need a Publisher!
Results Not Typical: A Novel. “It’s so nice to read something that’s different … Catherine has a natural flair for story-telling. [Results Not Typical] was such an enjoyable read—I highly recommend it.” - Leah of ChickLitNewsandReviews.com

You can find out more about Catherine’s books here. If you’ve never read any of her work, she has a combination Kindle title (priced just $4.99) that includes both Mousetrapped and Backpacked, thereby reducing your potential for buyer’s remorse.

Despite her self-publishing success, Catherine is still pursuing traditional publication. This is why.

Catherine is currently dividing her time between the desk and the sofa, daydreaming of becoming a NASA Astronaut when she grows up and wondering if she’ll ever get used to writing about herself in the third person.

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To find out what you’ve missed so far, check out her News page.

To keep her in coffee—and so, the world free from a Decaffeinated Catherine (dear god, nooooooo!)—considering buying one of her books.

To stop reading any more irrelevant information because, hey, you’re only here because someone told you there was lots of self-publishing stuff, go here for all her “self-printing” category blog posts.