Catherine Robertson on Spellbound and self-publishing

Catherine Robertson. Photo / Russell Kleyn

It may seem counter-intuitive, but when you're on to novel #7, you have to hustle to snatch people's interest. With the release of Spellbound, the third of Catherine Robertson's engaging series set in the fictional small town of Gabriel's Bay, the author is realistic about what to expect. "Familiarity is dull," she says cheerily.

While all of Robertson's books have reached No 1 on the New Zealand bestsellers' list, she says she does not garner the same level of attention or festival invites as an established literary writer. She got a slot at this year's Auckland Writers Festival, chairing a session with Amanda Palmer, only because the American performance artist specifically asked for her. Not that Robertson's complaining – she is deeply appreciative of her readers, and the love they lavish on her.

With their support, Robertson has travelled fluidly from "chick lit" to more deeply emotional fare exploring themes such as family violence and grief, to contemporary romance – and soon – historical fiction. Always, she weaves in her trademark humour and grounds her stories in authenticity, making sure to consult experts when needed. For Spellbound, those people included Jackie Clark, of the Aunties, and writer/curator Matariki Williams.

In a move reminiscent of Taylor Swift's re-release of her back catalogue, Robertson is reworking her first three novels and self-publishing them in the hope of gaining new audiences, particularly in the United States. She is keen to take control of marketing and promotion, to treat her writing more like a business.

The Sweet Second Life of Darrell Kincaid, The Not So Perfect Life of Mo Lawrence and The Misplaced Affections of Charlotte Fforbes are all getting new covers and being updated, to improve the bits she never liked and to root out 2010s references that have aged poorly. "Something as simple as a teenager talking about memes on the internet from 10 years ago," for example. "I had 'gypsy' characters and that has changed to Romani, and I had more references to bodies than I would want to have now."

She signed up for six months' mentoring with Steff Green, the Northland self-published fantasy/romance writer, who makes serious bank (reportedly around $200,000 a year), and is learning how to load a book on to Kindle and make best use of her website and social media. "It's bloody brilliant – this is a whole new ballgame," Robertson says. "The first three books are my learning to do this. Depending on how it goes, it may be possible that I don't do traditional publishing as often."

After years of membership in the Romance Writers of New Zealand, Robertson is also tackling her first contemporary romance series, set in a place reminiscent of Northern California wine country. "My agent sold the first to France, so my little romance is out in France, which is hilarious, and they are keen for the next one, which is cool bananas. I just have to get around to writing it."

Amid all this work, Robertson and her husband have just shifted full-time to their holiday home in Hawke's Bay, which sounds to have been a wonderful move in almost all respects. The amazing weather comes up more than once as we chat. She is, however, missing her Wellington bookshop – Good Books, co-founded last July with fellow writer Jane Arthur. She describes it as her "little bolthole" and a convenient place to print the screeds of documents she is working through to research the next book, a story based on her husband's difficult upbringing in Wainuiomata.

His Scottish immigrant parents divorced when he was young, his older sister left home and by the time he was 11 he and his mum were on their own. "They had absolutely no money. Social services tried to take him away at one point." Then his mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. What provided some light in this dark period were the gents at the Wainuiomata Cycling Supplies and Gift Shop, who lent bikes to kids after school and taught them to race, eventually forming a competitive club.

Robertson hasn't started writing it yet, but she thinks this book, while set in the 70s and 80s and focused on a cast of young men, will have the same strong sense of place that imbues the Gabriel's Bay books.

"[The story] is about community, because the cycling club was a community effort, it was a whole bunch of parents and a whole bunch of people who just put their time together, bought a s****y old bus, raised money for these boys who had absolutely f*** all, and took them to races all over the country," she says. "It's an anti-patriarchy story, it is absolutely that. It shows what happens when men care."

By Eleanor Black

Spellbound by Catherine Robertson (Black Swan, $36) is out now.