In Spain, and in the whole world, there are many people who dedicate themselves to the arts. Within literature, there are many who start to write, especially because of the facilities that there are now to publish a novel with little or no cost. In fact, it can be the stepping stone to much more. That is what happened to Eloy Moreno, a Spanish writer.
But Who is Eloy Moreno? How was your journey through the literary market? And what books has he written? This, and much more, is what we are going to talk about next.
Who is Eloy Moreno?
Eloy Moreno is a Spanish writer. Born in 1976 in Castellón de la Plana, he is better known for his early years, in which he self-published his books, than for the books that publishers have taken out of him. In addition, he is a very humble and simple person.
As we can see in his biography, Eloy Moreno studied at a public school and institute. He graduated in Technical Engineering in Management Informatics, a degree he studied at the Jaume I University and, as soon as he finished, he began to work in a computer company. At the same time, the competitive examinations for computer science were prepared at the Castellón de la Plana City Council.
Now, if we echo his more personal biography, which appears on his website, we find something else.
And is that the vocation to write did not arise from childhood. Not even as a teenager. Rather, it was in 2006 that he made the decision to sit at a computer to write a story. I wanted something that would really empathize with the reader and be remembered at the same time. In the words of the author, "I wanted to write the novel that I would have liked to read." And that's what he did for two years.
At that time, he began to write a story from day to day, with real characters, normal situations, and feelings.
In mid-2009, he finished his first novel, And, remembering everything that had happened until he got there, what he had experienced with that novel, he knew that he could not just leave it in a computer file. He had to "bring it to life and let it go." And after a few weeks pondering, rereading and seeing his creation, he decided to publish it. That made him spend several weeks and months deciding the typeface, the format, the way it would best look, at the same time he was looking for printers to get his creation out.
And when he had it all, he launched into distributing it. In fact, the author is proud to have used the old channels, that is to say, making a TOUR so that his novel could reach bookstores, shopping centers ... everything so that readers would notice it and read it. We could say that he fought for that novel to be seen by everyone. Because they didn't really open the doors for him. Quite the contrary, since, for these, "they were not going through the right channel", and that "channel" is really very difficult to enter if you are not a renowned publisher with a large number of books behind you.
However, little by little, without throwing in the towel, he became better known, and his books began to be requested.
Journalist Jorge Méndez was when he managed to get La casa del libro de Castellón to place his book in its catalog that a publishing house noticed him, especially because in a short time they began to put opinions to the novel that catapulted it as the second most valued on the web. And that made Espasa acquire the novel, read it and get in touch with him. It was published in 2011, with what has been spent since 2009 fighting for that novel to get where it is now.
Of course, that first story is not "orphaned", it has more brothers and sisters, books that the author has written over the years, and that we are going to tell you about below.
His own literary career has earned him several awards. The first one they gave him was the Onda Cero Castellón 2011 Award due to the effort he had made for his novel, trying to distribute it throughout the country. A year later, he was a finalist in the 2012 Valencian Critics Awards for that same novel, El pen de gel verde.
In 2017, as winner of the XNUMXst IES Benjamín de Tudela Novel Prize, Another of his novels, The Gift, "gifted" him that award. And he has repeated as a winner, on two occasions, in the 2019 Yoleo Award and Hache 2019 with his novel Invisible.
Apart from his role as a writer, Eloy Moreno has also been a judge in several literary competitions and has launched an online course to learn how to publish a book. In addition, he has written for a blog and has taken guided tours of Toledo with the company Rutas de Toledo, as well as Alarcón (Cuenca). All this related to his own books.
What books have you written?
The first of the books he wrote, and the one that got him where he is now, was The green gel pen. By himself, he sold more than 3000 copies, and was "signed" by Spain to reissue the novel. That launched it selling more than 200.000 copies, and causing Penguin Random House to buy its rights. So far, it has been translated into English, Catalan, Italian, Dutch, Taiwanese, and Russian.
After that book, her next "baby" was What I Found Under the Couch. It was his second novel and it got off to a much better start than the first, since by going hand in hand with a publishing house it had greater visibility and reached the top of the sales lists. In addition, this book set in Toledo, made him begin to make routes through the city, something that he does on a yearly basis.
In December 2015, and returning to his origins, he released a self-published Tales to understand the world. With more than 36.000 copies, it is currently the best-selling self-published book in Spain. That same year, but a few months before, his third novel, El Regalo, came out with Ediciones B. Set in Alarcón, as it happened in Toledo, it also opens up the opportunity to organize routes to get to know the city and the places that are mentioned. in the book.
Tales to understand the world had a second part in 2016, continuing with desktop publishing, and putting it back in the top positions. In fact, in 2018 it took out a third.
His last two novels are Invisible (from 2018), with Penguin Random House; and Earth (from 2019).
It is very motivating to be able to read and learn about the stories of authors like this, since if you reflect on it, the passion for writing can make paths and doors very kind for those who want to venture into them.
-Gustavo Woltmann.