I was wracking my brain for a blog theme and then I realised that it might be a good idea to follow that age-old advice - write what you know. After 20+ years working in the publishing industry, as an editor, publisher, author and freelancer, I forget that for many aspiring writers the publishing process is a bit of a mystery. How does anyone get published in the first place? What exactly is a book proposal? What do literary agents do? How do you find one? Who decides the cover design? How does a book get publicised, edited, turned into an audiobook… and so on.
Each week, I’ll do my best to demystify a little corner of publishing, and also showcase the books I’m currently working on and publishing in my consultancy role for Octopus Books. Three years ago, the team there came to me and asked me to launch a wellness imprint for the company. A few months later I finally came across a name that felt perfect and wasn’t already registered - and so Aster was born. I’ll tell you about ‘imprints’ in a later post, but in the meantime please do ask anything you’d like to know about publishing and I’ll do my best to give a helpful answer here on the blog. One caveat to mention is that I’ve always worked in non-fiction, but I’m more than happy to go and ask a fiction publisher on your behalf. Well, I say on your behalf, but I have a secret desire myself to write a novel and so really I’m asking for all of us.
