I'm thankful for the Covid summer. Yes, there were nonsensical rule changes, paranoid neighbours, death, sadness, and constant media updates, but when you have to stay put and work on yourself, good things can happen.
Summer 2020 in southern England was beautiful. No cliché weather for once.
I ticked off all the lockdown cliches — daily Yoga, fitness, and writing a book — all while revelling in the online education boom.
Many of my stories and books begin with a desire to master a topic.
- A story about a Country singer.
- Trying my hand at Horror.
- A book about ‘time’.
The trigger for my book was how our experience of time was turned on its head during Covid. Days were suddenly hard to track; time was malleable.
With no idea for the story in mind, I began to research what time actually comprised: biology, philosophy, physics, language, narrative, chemistry, astronomy, and more. I listened to podcasts, discovered Carlo Rovelli’s book, read Einstein's Dreams, and went down the rabbit hole of how time itself is a mere construct.
Short stories are a way to explore themes without investing years in a fully blown book project. With time, I thought to expose the fractal: eighteen approaches to time with brief character narratives, all connected by one place.
I researched, I wrote, I edited, I paid for professional feedback, I submitted, I got a ‘maybe’, I waited, I queried again, got a ‘yes’, celebrated, edited again, and eventually, my book was scheduled for 2022 publication.
Here are the terms the independent publisher offered me to put my first traditionally published book into the world.
Production costs: paid by publisher
Other rights: publisher takes a percentage
Marketing: some tweets by the publisher
Distribution: a ropey website with 25-dollar worldwide shipping and no Amazon version
Print: black & white pamphlet with no eBook.
Author copies: bought at discount
Royalties: 0%
While the terms seem laughable, independent publishing is a rough business. The publisher was a one-woman operation, probably making a significant loss. Her model supports excellent literary works that would not be published elsewhere. She put real effort and care into editing.
Going through the process, doing an online launch, sending copies around the world (to reduce the silly shipping cost), and being able to call myself an author without the self-publishing caveat was life-changing. The book is with another publisher now, but I’m grateful to the first person who took a chance on me.
Fifteen Shades of Time is a book I'm proud of. I think it contributes to the canon of narratives on the subject. So does David Eagleman, the author of a best-selling book on afterlives with a similar structure. I was thrilled he read my book and gave a cover quote.
After the Covid summer, I looked for a place where I could work remotely, feel inspired, and where time runs slower.
I moved to my forever home: The Canary Islands.
All the best stories are rabbitholes the author had to come to terms with because they couldn't escape.
I wonder if book publishing has always been a bit of a winner-takes-all game where the authors who find sizable audiences get most (all?) the profits available to writers (I suspect publisher economics are different), while the rest of us just kind of skid along with our 100 or 1000 reader audiences, doing it for the passion.
I feel dense for not being able to solve this problem: bitcoin and the internet seem like they should obviate publishers entirely, yet I haven't managed to make very many sats from fiction (my consolation prize may be that publishers don't seem to be making very much money either, except maybe KDP...)
I'd say traditional publishing was very different pre- internet (and pre Amazon).
Profits may not have been so driven by the 1% of top authors, but most people were denied the opportunity to publish. That said, I think with all creative work, the patrons and publishers have always funded more misses than hits.
Re: bitcoin, I think we are in a strange position. Incredible opportunity to earn and build on Nostr as first movers. But bitcoiners are often non-fiction readers (they do read a lot). The keenest fiction readers are 50+ women.
I tend to think that once we move away from Big Tech fremium platforms, monetizing creative work will come down to how well you can build a community.