The Importance of Strong Female Friendships as Writers 

By Linda Newbery

I have several friends to thank for the publication of The One True Thing. Without them, the novel would still exist only as a cloud document and in my mind and those of its few readers, but three conversations in particular set it on its way and led to the formation of the author collaborative, Writers Review Publishing.

It was through Extinction Rebellion in Banbury that I met the highly-regarded novelist Jane Rogers, and we’ve become friends. Two years ago we swapped our work-in-progress; I read Jane’s short story collection, Fire Ready (now published by Comma Press) and she in turn read The One True Thing. When we met for a discussion, Jane had several improvements to suggest, but she also said simply: “You know it’s good.” To an author whose confidence has been dented by silence or rejection from publishers, these were heartening words – especially from someone with Jane’s experience and perceptiveness. I’d worked on the novel for several years, revising and refining; it had been submitted to publishers, with two near misses but no offer. Jane’s words helped me to trust my own judgement – I do know that this novel is at least as good as anything I’ve written in the past. The fact that publishers don’t see it as a commercial proposition doesn’t alter that. I wasn’t prepared to give up.

Through a local reading group I’d met the historical novelist Fiona Mountain. On one occasion, happening to arrive early, I asked about her current writing and she told me that she’d self-published her latest novel. Although her other books are traditionally published, she’d decided during lockdown to sidestep a possible backlog  and to go solo with The Keeper of Songs (set at Chatsworth House, so with regular gift shop sales practically guaranteed). By that stage I’d been looking into hybrid models, but wasn’t convinced that this was the way to go, and Fiona agreed. She’d consulted a local independent bookseller, Patrick Neale of Jaffé and Neale in Chipping Norton, who said that self-published books would be welcome in the shop if of good quality, advising her to invest in a really good cover. 

Armed with more information from Fiona, I began to investigate IngramSpark, and also Reedsy, an excellent place to find professionals to do whatever you need – cover art, interior layout, copy editing, proofreading. There was much to learn, but it was exhilarating too to learn that self-publishing offered far more than I’d realised in terms of quality of production and distribution.

The next breakthrough came a little later when I had lunch with two writer friends, one of them Celia Rees who, with Adèle Geras and myself, hosts the now well-established blog Writers Review. I explained what I was thinking of doing, and wondered what I should call my imprint. Immediately Celia said, “Why not link it to the blog – Writers Review Publishing?” Yes – brilliant! The appeal of that was clear: we discussed the advantages of a joint venture, the benefits of group publicity. We could produce both new books and reissues of out-of-print titles that deserve to reach a wider readership, at once thinking of authors we knew of who were likely to be interested.  

Writers Review Publishing was born that day.  I’ve always felt diffident about blatant self-promotion, but this would be different – an author collaborative offering mutual support. I went home buzzing with enthusiasm and energy, and exchanged many WhatsApps and emails with Celia and Adèle about how to proceed. Each author would take care of their own self-publication; we wouldn’t handle money or offer a contract, just the chance to come with us, and to share practical advice as we all learned together.

I plunged into Reedsy in search of a cover artist, soon deciding on Owen Gent, who’s produced a design that’s both distinctively in his own style and perfect for my novel. I started making a new website. I resumed work on fine-tuning my manuscript, now with the happy expectation that it could reach print within months. Having recently had a windfall when one of my earlier books earned hugely from ALCS (Author Licensing and Copyright Society) I decided to throw that money into the new venture and to commission an audio version from Audio Factory. This too was a new and enjoyable experience, choosing my preferred narrator (Katie Villa), doing my own audio proofing and learning how to upload the result to various platforms.

Now, seven months later, our first three books are available: one new title (mine, The One True Thing) and two excellent reissues (Judith Allnatt’s The Poet’s Wife, about Patty, the wife of John Clare, and Mary Hoffman’s David: the Unauthorised Autobiography, her story of the imagined model for Michelangelo’s masterpiece). Another new novel, from Sheena Wilkinson, will appear later this year and we have two more in progress. I’m working on my next novel and also helping newcomers to find their way through the various stages, as well as fielding enquiries. 

Will we make any money? That, we don’t yet know – but the costs don’t have to be enormous, and print-on-demand means that we needn’t fill our garages with boxes of books. Our books are Out There, and will remain so for as long as we decide. Most of us who’ve spent long in the publishing industry have had the experience of a book going out of print with indecent speed, or a book being stranded when an editor moves on, with no one left to champion it. From my conversations with Jane Rogers I knew that I wasn’t alone in finding it hard to place a novel: she told me of various others, far better-established than I am as authors of adult fiction, who have struggled and eventually had to settle for low advances and minimal publicity. I could have touted my novel around for longer, but I’m glad I didn’t. 

This alternative, so positive and energising, has come about entirely through the support of my writer friends and the realisation that through our own effort and enterprise we can make things happen. To all of them: thank you. 

Linda Newbery is the award-winning author of Set in Stone (category winner, Costa Book Awards), Quarter Past Two on a Wednesday Afternoon, The Shell House, Sisterland, Lob, The Brockenspectre, The Key to Flambards, This Book is Cruelty Free – Animals and Us and many others. She has mostly written for young readers, but Quarter Past Two on a Wednesday Afternoon was her first adult novel, published in paperback as Missing Rose. She has twice been shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal and was a judge for the Whitbread Book Awards in 2005 (the year before they became the Costa Book Awards). With Adèle Geras and Celia Rees, she edits the blog Writers Review. She is an active campaigner on animal and environmental issues. www.lindanewbery.co.uk. X: @lindanewbery Instagram: @lindanewbery

The One True Thing by Linda Newbery (Writers Review Publishing, £9.99) is available from all good book retailers www.writersreviewpublishing.co.uk The other launch titles for Writers Review Publishing are The Poet’s Wife by Judith Allnatt and David: the Unauthorised Autobiography by Mary Hoffman.

THE ONE TRUE THING

“How can I truthfully tell you I’m sorry, when the worst thing I ever did has turned out to be the best?”

Bridget feels compromised. By marrying Anthony Harper and moving to Wildings, his family home for three generations, she’s abandoned her urban roots for rural affluence and comfort she hasn’t earned. As Anthony becomes increasingly difficult and their marriage founders, she immerses herself in her new career as gardener and designer. Conscience urges her to leave him; but with her identity and status so closely bound to the garden she knows intimately, how can she? Soon circumstances mean that a split with Anthony is at first essential, then impossible …

When Meg, a young stonemason, rents a workshop at Wildings, she wants only to be independent and alone. In the exacting craft of cutting letters in stone she finds meaning and purpose, her one true thing. But in spite of her resolve to avoid emotional attachments, she’s drawn into intense relationships: with Bridget and with Adam, another artist-in-residence whose confident manner and bold abstract paintings mask deep inner conflict. She finds herself caught between competing claims of loyalty, trust and desire.

A generation on, Jane, the youngest Harper daughter, is left aimless and adrift when Anthony dies suddenly, with the surprise in his Will that he had another son, unknown to the family. Now Wildings must be sold. Everything is in turmoil – work, home, her on-off relationship with Tom. Who is the stranger who’s to inherit a third of the estate? Where will she go, and how will she face the future alone? Aware that Meg and her mother each had an absorbing focus for their energy and passion, she is unsure where to find her own – but without it, what’s the purpose of her life?

Now far from Wildings, but bound by a promise to support Jane, Meg is unable to be honest about the secrets she knows from both parents – or thinks she knows. Having thought of herself as the observer who saw everything, she’s forced to realise how much she failed to see – and the cost to herself and to those she loves.

When the ground shifts, where is one true thing to be found?

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