About Jo
Jo has wanted to be a writer since she could hold a pen in her hand. At school she won poetry competitions. At university, where she studied French, she wrote for the campus paper and lived in France for a year, which was where she had her first idea for a book. Soon after graduation she had French Tarts accepted for publication by Octopus. It was a cookbook, but Jo had not made any of its recipes. Was this just beginner’s luck? No, she thinks that her success could be attributed to the following:
- she had the authority to write it
- and – the right idea
- at the right time,
- in the right market,
- with a catchy title,
- sent to the right publisher.
- It had focus,
- a defined niche
- and a wow factor.
- Importantly, Jo believed in her project
Since then, Jo went on to be commissioned to write 13 computer handbooks in plain English for Macmillan, McGraw-Hill, Pitman and Paradigm. When she went to live in Dubai in 1987 Jo developed a career as a features journalist and taught her first creative writing class. In Oman, she co-authored her second cookbook, Dates, and published it herself through her imprint, Summertime Publishing. With her target market on her doorstep, this book was a huge success.
In 1996 she moved with her family to Norway, where she began work on a book based on what she had learned about maintaining a portable career despite frequent international relocations. A Career in Your Suitcase was published in 1998.
In 1997 the family repatriated to Stamford in Lincolnshire, England, and Jo grew both her publishing business and career as a journalist, writing for The Independent on Sunday, Resident Abroad and The Weekly Telegraph. In 2000 she was appointed editor of Woman Abroad magazine. Summertime Publishing grew its list, publishing several more titles until, in 2002, Jo decided to focus on sharing what she knew with other budding writers and started mentoring clients to become published authors or features journalists. She led her workshops, Release the Book Within and Definite Articles all over the world and developed a range of keynote speeches that she delivered to conferences. By the time the family moved to The Netherlands in 2005, she was established as a writer, author, journalist, mentor, editor, teacher and speaker and continues to specialise in inspiring and empowering new writers.
In the last seven years Jo has taught over 600 people to write, written Expat Entrepreneur, Find Your Passion, Release the Book Within and her memoir, in poetry, a Moving Landscape. She has personally mentored more than 50 people to write and publish their books, many of which you can see here on her website. Her experience working with expat writers means that she has an extensive network of publications, editors and experts worldwide.
Since she has been in The Netherlands, Jo has been actively involved in the Expatriate Archive Centre, and runs their writing program, teaching people to write their life stories. It is this work that has led Jo to become passionate about the role that life story writing has to play in every type of writing, including memoir, blogs, journals, non-fiction, poetry and fiction. In 2008, Write Your Life Stories was added to her suite of workshops. All her programs are also available as self-paced home study courses .
Jo helps writers and authors to get writing and get published
Jo and her team help new and established writers to make their writing dreams come true. Start with home study program, attend a live workshop or have your work read and reviewed. Move on to editing, proof reading, mentoring, design and publishing. Whether you want to create a compelling blog or newsletter, write a better diary, turn your memories into memoir, or write a book, see it published and on sale worldwide, with Jo right by your side you can make it happen. With 26 books beneath her belt, hundreds of articles, many hundreds of inspired students and tens of published authors to her credit, Jo’s talent for seeing the big picture and inspiring and empowering all those who meet her, means that she can help you to make your writing dreams come true.
Jo is here to help you from Brainwave to Bookshelf.
See me in action
If you would like to sample the magic that is Jo Parfitt for yourself, then sign up to her newsletter, blog and twitter feed, check out her free workshops, listen to her podcasts, read her articles or get in touch to book a no obligation half hour consultation.
See this clip from Jo’s Writing Life Story workshop
