The Nine Month Gestation Period of a Digital Author
I never set out to be a digital author. In fact, between you and me I had only the vaguest of ideas of what that even meant. I was due to head off to a crime writing weekend in March 2016 when a friend posted that Killer Reads, a digital first imprint of Harper Collins, were open for submissions. Having recently completed a final rewrite of my novel, I had always intended to approach agents and seek representation first. It had never occurred to me to submit to a publisher direct. More in the spirit of ‘Hey, my book’s finished and I want to feel I’m doing something,’ I fired it off with zero expectations.
Imagine my shock when two weeks later I am holding a publishing contract. I didn’t stop shaking until lunchtime the next day. This novel had been a long time in the making. Writing in a vacuum with no certainty of publication, kids and work generally took priority. Further, I was no spring chicken. I signed the contract with unseemly haste and thought, ‘Now what?’
Three weeks later I received my Editor’s Notes. It came in something called Track Changes which I had never used before. Cue much panic and rending of robes! Technology is not my strong suit. Weirdly, though, once I got going, I really enjoyed the editing process. It is hard to view your own work with the clarity of a top notch editor. I underwent a structural edit, a line edit and then was passed to a copyeditor for the next stage. I sent it all back on schedule.
The next morning I woke up, checked my e-mails, and leapt out of bed as though electrified. The copyeditor had sent some further changes and she wanted them back by 9am! This was around 8.30am. I leaned over the bannister and yelled down to my husband. ‘I need coffee and a Satsuma STAT and you’re going to have to peel the Satsuma as I don’t have time!’ Phew, false alarm. She only wanted my approval on something minor. Stand down. Drink coffee. This had all taken until the end of June.
Time to rest on my laurels? Not a chance! My kindle publication date was 2nd September and I was expected to build an online presence and promote my book. To put this in context, I am someone who has always liked to keep a low to invisible profile and loathe drawing attention to myself. This was going to be harder than writing the book in the first place. I checked my Facebook profile and discovered my settings were so private that only I could see them. I had only posted twice so I hadn’t realised.
My son set me up with a Twitter account. Every time it beeped I would jump a foot in the air. I decided to keep it real and be myself on Twitter and not be one of the Buy My Book Brigade. I enjoy retweeting other people and usually they are only too pleased to do the same. I can find myself talking about anything from ‘Westworld,’ to places I would like to visit and, of course, books. As I am often on late at night I have quite a few American friends.
I then managed to organize a Blog Tour. It was incredibly hard for me to approach bloggers but I discovered that most of them are lovely and will help if they can as long as you have done your homework. Most of my blog posts were Q/A’s or Guest Posts as I felt I had given them insufficient time to review the book. So, my advice is to arrange this as soon as you know your publication date and not to faff about as I did.
Publication day arrived. Cue trumpet fanfare. Now, before all this happened, I would fondly imagine this to mean an impeccably made up author would swoosh about quaffing champagne and meeting friends for lunch. The reality was that I didn’t even make it out of my dressing gown or get to brush my hair and the champagne remained on ice. All my devices were beeping at me simultaneously and I was retweeting, sharing and thanking everyone until around 11pm when I crawled into bed.
The weekend after publication, it was off to Stirling for ‘Bloody Scotland,’ I was one of the spotlight debut authors and had to introduce myself and read a short piece from my book before the start of a panel, featuring such heavyweight crime authors as James Oswald, Malcolm Mackay and Craig Robertson, to their massive audience. It was truly the scariest thing I have ever done. Talk about baptism of fire. I managed not to disgrace myself by knocking over the lectern or throwing up and even got to wear a cool pass for the day which made me feel like I was in a rock band.
The final push, as it were, was the release of the paperback edition on 1st December. I arranged a book launch in Mrs Green’s Vintage Tea Lounge in Dumfries on 13th December with festive drinks and mince pies. I had been dreading it but as I looked around at all the beaming faces: friends, family, former work colleagues and writing friends, something unexpected happened. My nerves melted away.
Another digital author had been pushed kicking and screaming into the world.
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Jackie Baldwin worked a solicitor specialising in Criminal and Family law for twenty years before retraining as a hypnotherapist. She is married with two grown up children and lives with her husband and two dogs in Dumfries, in the South West of Scotland. ‘Dead Man’s Prayer’ is her debut crime novel and was published by Killer Reads, Harper Collins as an e-book on 2nd September and as a paperback on 1st December, both 2016.
Category: How To and Tips
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Congratulations. Did you feel it was worth it to go this route and not look around more? It’s a digital print and yet you mention a paperback edition?
Thank you! There is a paperback version available but it comes out as Print on demand instead of as a print run which means the price is typically higher. This also means that bookshops can’t order it on sale and return, I believe, which means that I am unlikely to see it on the shelves. My local bookshop ordered some in and were left with 3 copies after my launch. I was praying no one would buy that last book, haha, but I am afraid that they did! I have no regrets as due to the quick publishing model it was out in 6 months . Also, the editing was superb and I loved the cover design. Killer reads have been lovely to work with throughout the process. and the book seems to have found readers. I think if you have youth and time on your side it is probably worth trying to go the traditional route but for me it was the fastest route to publication.
Definitely something worth considering. I’ve done the traditional route and, frankly, didn’t find it all that! Unless you get a large advance (and very few do these days), the author does everything anyway.
Very true, Charlotte.