In 2007 I wrote a book. It was number four on my bucket list.
My heroes have always been writers. Many years ago I saw a photograph of Charles Dickens speaking to a large crowd of supporters. Men like Dickens and Mark Twain published their own material and then sold their books directly to the public. This sounded like something I could do.
I had an idea for a story about an alcoholic father applying for custody of his daughter. The plot involves a judge’s promise to hear the case if our hero can remain sober for 30 days. The book soon evolved into a dozen short stories along similar lines. Six months later a cream van inched its way along the farm track to my house to deliver a hundred boxes of books.
My business plan was simple. I reached out to 50 churches in the Hunter Valley and offered my services as a free after-dinner speaker. Soon I was working with a number of fundraising charities, which kept me in constant work.
According to cartoonist Michael Leunig, everyone has a book inside them. But before you spend your hard-earned money there are some things you need to know. For example, in Australia a staggering 20,000 books are published annually. That’s 78 new books every working day. They include fiction, non-fiction and children’s books.
I self-published 3000 copies and sold 2000 over the next 18 months. It was hard graft but I learned some important lessons.
Unfortunately your friends and family will not be honest with you. Along the way I heard that my work was great and apparently I am a real blessing. In the end I paid a professional editor, which meant I had to rewrite the book several times.
Secondly, the publishing industry is dominated by writing factories. Jeffrey Archer’s latest William Warwick novel has 20 professional writers working on it. When it is released, millions of dollars will be spent to promote it. Most bookshop owners will tell you to come back when you are famous.
But it can be done. Willie Nelson, the country singer, said it took him 20 years to become an overnight success. When my friend Lyn published her first book she paid for 300 copies. Imagine a murder mystery set in Frankston. She then paid for a table at a local church fete and managed to sell a dozen books. Emboldened by her success she asked the local library if she could attend a ‘meet the author’ day.
The book is not dead. There is always room for another writer with something to say. But do your research.
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