Meet Caroline
I am Scottish/Texan author, ghostwriter and presentation/media skills coach who helps authors and illustrators present themselves in public with confidence and professionalism.
In the UK, I was a Press & PR consultant and trainer in strategic press, media and presentation skills, working with major performing and literary arts organizations. Once in Texas, I began to write fiction, and my YA novels, WAIT FOR ME and IN ANOTHER TIME, are published by HarperCollins.
Through my podcast, Authors & Audiences, as well as my individual and group coaching program, webinars and speeches, I help creative literary artists identify and implement the best ways to present themselves and their books to the wide variety of audiences they face, and to have fun while they do it. This coaching work allows me to share the entire scope of my knowledge to offer strategies and advice to authors, illustrators and other writers wherever they are on their publishing path.
My background
I have been writing professionally for over thirty yeas. First, I wrote for business—reports, press releases, newspaper and magazine articles, and newsletters—in my work as Senior Press Officer for Arts Council England and as Head of Press and Public Affairs for Welsh National Opera. I then became an independent Press/PR consultant and workshop leader in strategic press, media and presentation skills, working with performing and literary arts companies and arts trade organizations across the United Kingdom. My clients included Wales Millennium Centre/Mariinsky Opera of St. Petersburg, Sherman Theatre, Arts Councils of Wales and Scotland, Arts Marketing Association, Theatrical Management Association, Audiences Central and the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. I also edited the photographic book, WELSH NATIONAL OPERA – THE FIRST SIXTY YEARS (Graffeg, 2006) and produced the souvenir program for the presentation of Wagner’s Ring Cycle by Russia’s Mariinsky Opera at Wales Millennium Centre.
After moving to Houston, Texas, in 2007, I began to write fiction, and my YA historical novels, WAIT FOR ME (2017) and IN ANOTHER TIME (2018) were published in the US and the UK by Harper Collins. Set in Scotland during World War Two, WAIT FOR ME won the 2014 Joan Lowery Nixon Award at the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators in Houston, as well as the YA categories of both the Romance Writers of America Emily and Lone Star competitions. IN ANOTHER TIME was named a Junior Library Guild Pick in fall 2018. Caroline was also a featured author for both of her books in the TXLA Spirit of Texas High School reading program 2019.
In 2021, I launched my own business, Caroline Leech Writes . . . , through which I serve my clients as a ghostwriter, copywriter, editor, coach and since October 2022, as a podcaster. I design and present workshops on creative writing craft, social media strategy, and presentation skills for individuals and organizations such as the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, Houston Grand Opera, Rice University School of Literacy and Culture, as well as schools in Houston ISD and the UK.
Since 2015, I have served on the advisory board of Inprint, Houston’s leading literary non-profit organization, and in 2013, I wrote the Inspiring Houston Women blog. I have also continued to write feature articles on the performing arts for a number of newspapers and magazines in the US and UK.