Minipost 23 – The Ups and Downs of Publishing

 

This year has been a steep learning curve for me in terms of getting books written and published.

I’ve been pondering this over the last few days since completing 50,000 words of my novel. Regular readers may recall that I entered JulNoWriMo to motivate me to actually write one of many novel plotlines I have in my head. The competition (for which there is no prize other than the good feeling that you actually did it) did the trick and I now type on a laptop that contains an almost complete first novel.

At the beginning of the year, I hoped to get a book written and published by the end. Well now I have three very different ones written but none published! There’s still time though.

The first, which I am updating the proposal for, is an educational book. It’s one of a proposed series looking at memory techniques for Chemistry students. Other books in the series would look at further subjects.

The second is my biographical book, currently called Blogged Down in Bangladesh which I am self-publishing to celebrate my first year of blogging with kenthinksaloud. Alas, as I wait for various people to finish criticising the draft and for a cover page to be designed, that year anniversary is swiftly vanishing! I never thought it would take so long!

The third is this newly written novel, aimed at the teenage market. The story centres on a young English girl who loses everything in her life and is cruelly betrayed by her family. She finds herself abondoned in Bangladesh in a society she doesn’t understand and that doesn’t want her there. And danger comes in many forms…

Who knows when these three will get published? It’s no easy task trying to get a publisher or even an agent. Especially with a teaching job, a Masters qualification to complete and a family to look after.

Despite this, the biggest surprise – and one I think really would not have happened were we still in the UK – was the delight of sharing the novel writing time with my daughter. We have a couple of days of July left before JulNoWriMo ends and she is very close to completing the 50,000. Even if she doesn’t quite manage it, I am still incredibly proud of my girl who has worked so hard. Every day she has written side by side with me on our laptops and what’s written is great.

I’m now busy writing a proposal for her book. Both our stories still need lots of editing (they’re only the rough drafts) but a friend who is an author himself has promised to send her proposal to some publishers he knows who might be interested. Although we both know that rejection is likely – and really just hope for good advice – it’s possible my daughter could actually end up published before me.

I haven’t decided yet if that is brilliant or incredibly annoying!