Boksburg author snatches a spot on USA Today Best-Selling Books Top 150 list
Local author is now gunning to reach the NY Times list, which is her ultimate dream.
Two South African fiction authors have made the USA Today Best-Selling Books Top 150 list for August.
One of these authors is none other than Boksburg resident Erika Bester, or better known by her pen name Kristin Ping.
Achieving their dream of making it onto the list in Women’s Month is definitely one of the career highlights of successful South African fiction author Bester. The other author is Carlyle Labuschagne.
Dubbed the dream team by local authors and publishers, the two authors’ books form part of a limited edition, supernatural and suspense box set, called The Shadow Files, which hit number 123 out of 150 on August 15.
The dream of hitting the list with Labuschagne’s book (Tethered) and Ping’s book (The Curse) started when a group of authors from the USA sent out an invitation to these two well-established and renowned authors to collaborate on a box set of fiction books.
“The Shadow Files box set was conceived about a year ago and the group spent hours and a lot of resources bringing the concept to life,” said Labuschagne, who directed all of her energy and focus into ensuring the project was a success.
“We had one year to write, edit and market our individual books and the box set as a whole, so not much sleep, exercise or cooking was on our agenda.
“We wanted to achieve this dream not only for ourselves but to encourage other female writers to do the same. Unfortunately, in South Africa, female fiction writers aren’t easily taken seriously.
“It is no secret that the book world is not as big a deal as it should be in our country. Neither is the stigma attached to independent female authors who write fiction,” adds Ping.
Bester said: “While we are over the moon with this achievement, the fight is not over. This is just the beginning. Our ultimate goal is to ensure we also receive the support, accolades and resources so readily given to us from other countries right here on our home turf.
“Personally this achievement was one of the big goals. Reaching the USA Today wasn’t easy, it took a lot of hard work and as a South African author with that title might open some doors for us, not just in the marketing world but in the South African market too.
“I am really proud of myself and Carlyle. We really do function well as a team as both our qualities lay the opposite of where we strive in. I’m great at ideas on how to get everything together and she is brilliant at getting them in front of readers.”
Bester also told the Advertiser the only thing they can do is wait, work hard, and see if it’s going to make a difference this side.
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