I don’t know why I didn’t think of self-publishing my novel right from the beginning. Decades ago, when I made my first start on a novel, and before I’d even written chapter one, I’d bought a copy of Writers’ and Artists’ Yearbook. So I’d absorbed the important information that to get a publishing deal, I’d need an agent. (By the way, the ideas for that first novel lie in fading ink in a folder, never to be finished.)
Many years later, in 2017, I joined Jericho Writers (then called the Writers’ Workshop), as I’d written a children’s picture book, and wanted to learn how best to seek publication via an agent. Through Jericho Writers I was learning fast about the world in which books get published. I didn’t pay much attention to all the workshops about self-publishing, because, because – why? I think it was the messages about marketing which put me off; I knew I wouldn’t be effective as my own self-publicist. And I was insufficiently interested in the technicalities of how to do it. Amazon this and Kindle that made me shudder. I wanted an agent, and not to have to market myself, because some authors managed to do that without social media and getting followers (aka potential readers and book buyers), didn’t they? I knew this from reading so many blogs and biographies of published authors.
When I’d finished writing ‘What we have in common’, had feedback from beta readers, submitted to agents, and had some shreds of encouragement within their rejections; done an online self-edit course, and tried a few more agents, with a few more rejections and smidgens of interest, including one full manuscript request, I put the book to one side, and got on with writing my second book. I might never see that first book published, but I felt better: it was writing I wanted to do.
What happened next was the decision to publish the book myself, which came to me out of the blue. And the shape my self-publication would take was as clear; I’m a not-for-profit author, and all proceeds from the book would go to a charity. I was prepared to pay for publication myself. The context was December, 2020, in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, when, I think for many of us, our priorities felt different.
It turns out I had absorbed a surprising amount of information from all of my not paying much attention to how to self-publish, and I knew that sharks may be present, and that in self-publishing, I was on my own – no lifeguards. I knew that there would be no editor handed to me to help with copy editing or proof-reading, let alone an illustrator to design a cover or a PR expert to plan a launch. And if I was going it alone, I knew I would be wholly dissatisfied if the book was printed with even one mistake, so the responsibility for my work was entirely mine.
Part two of this blog about how I swam with the sharks and published my novel will be in a couple of weeks time. Till then…
Jane Allsopp Writer 