Hello there, stranger. It's been a while, hasn't it? We are indeed ships in the night, ghosts along the corridors, farts in elevators.
Well, I come with some good news, at long last! My novel, "Bucket List" is due to be published in 2024 by Polygon Books. Polygon (part of the Birlinn Books family) are a local (Edinburgh) publisher, so a fine fit for this novel, which is set in my fair city -- the Scottish capital.
I'll tell you a bit more about the novel momentarily, but pull up a pew and lean in to listen, because I've a tale to tell first. It's a tale of my long journey to publication. It's a parable of warning, perhaps, but also of hope. I think it will be of interest to writers, or those thinking of becoming writers. This is the abridged story of my journey to novel publication.
Before the tale begins, it's worth noting that this refers specifically to "traditional publication of a novel". I've published 6 poetry collections, 1 graphic novel and 3 fantasy novels (through a primarily online-publisher) before, but having my novels traditionally published is something I've been trying to attain for about a decade now.
So let's flash back ten years or so: I had just finished my PhD, whilst being self employed as a writer of commercial thingymajigs (mostly website reviews, often dating websites -- if you've been on a dating site, I've almost certainly reviewed it -- but also a whole range of bizarre and boring sites). I had an income I could survive on, and thought "Now I've finished my PhD, this is the perfect time to really give writing a novel a try."
I was canoeing in Ha Long Bay, Vietnam, when I saw a monkey on one of the mountain-like islands that sprouts from the water. It struck me that it'd be really cool if I could speak to the monkey, maybe even encourage them to jump onto the canoe. That gave me the idea for a novel: The Talkers (about a girl who seeks her parents' murderers in a world ruled by Talkers, powerful individuals who can psychically control animals). I wrote the novel and send it out to publishers and agents, with little to no success ("great writing, but no" was about the best response I got).
I wrote another novel, The Happy Land (about a girl who seeks a time-bending kidnapper into another dimension) and pretty much the same thing happened. By this point I'd sent my novels to about 70 agents, some of whom said I was a good writer but ultimately "no". I was despondent after so much rejection, but if my career in poetry had taught me anything it was that I had a thick enough skin to keep trying. Elephant Jones they call me. If by they, I mean nobody.
I had resigned myself, however, to the realisation that The Talkers and The Happy Land were my warm-up novels. They weren't going to succeed for me. And in a way I was correct, but in other ways I was wrong...
I'd given up on those novels, but my partner saw a competition and said I should submit The Talkers. It was the "Half the World Global Literati Award" -- a new competition with a $50,000 prize. Well, it was worth one final punt, right? So I submitted and, much to my surprise, my novel was shortlisted.
The last leg of the prize was based on public votes and I lost, which was a kicker because I really could have used the money (reviewing websites wasn't exactly raking in the dough). However, I also shared the news with some reporters and it must have been a slow news week because The Times ran a double-page spread about me ("Author of rejected sci-fi novel is in the running for $50,000 prize"), and the Bookseller reported it too.
Suddenly, agents were getting in touch with me. I had several offers of representation. I spoke to them about my novel and career, and decided to go with the one who seemed most enthusiastic about my work.
I finally had an agent, hooray! Looking for an agent is rubbish, probably my least favourite part of the whole process of being a writer. A long period of edits passed with my agent (there were 13 drafts in total from my first conception to it being ready to send to publishers). The novel was submitted. I was dreaming of huge book deals, my trilogy complete and loved, maybe even movie and TV deals (I had a call with TV/movie agents in LA whilst they were on their car phones, and it felt quite surreal but very exciting indeed. I may have done a little wee. I didn't. Or did I?) Things were happening! And then...
They didn't. The book nearly sold, but it didn't sell. I fell back to earth. I wrote another novel with the support of my agent, adjusting it to what they had heard editors were looking for and we both loved it. But that too didn't sell. I was devastated -- I'd spent about five years writing these novels, putting other things aside and living by relatively meagre means. My agent was reassuring: you're a great writer, we'll get there eventually. And they had some major hits with their other clients, so hope was still alive, just. It had a weak pulse and bad breath.
I worked with the agent on a plan for a dystopian novel, but in the meantime I applied for a job as an editor for a publisher of LitRPG (a subgenre of GameLit, which is essentially novels where characters live by game-like rules as they level up and progress in fun adventure stories) because I needed money -- I had expected to make some money from my books by that point. The LitRPG publisher didn't have any editorial work in the pipeline so asked me to write my own series, and since it was pretty much a guaranteed publication (and therefore income) I agreed. Over the course of 18 months I wrote and published a trilogy of around 500,000 words. That was pretty fun, but intense. It taught me how to write quickly, and that I need a plan. Although that trilogy brought in some money and I mostly enjoyed the process, it wasn't enough moolah to sustain that pace and I wanted to return to work on a project with my agent.
But by that time, however, the pandemic had struck. I no longer wanted to write a dystopian novel any more because... well, life seemed quite dystopian! I wanted to think about a more positive and exciting prospect. So, I spoke with my agent and we agreed on my new idea: Bucket List -- an uplifting novel about a widow who wins the lottery, and then spends the money completing her bucket list with a young offender.
I wrote Bucket List and sent it to my agent. She liked it and thought it was very well written, apparently, but said she was now too busy to continue working with me. I got dumped via a short email, and it totally sucked. I felt like I'd been sent back about 8 years, agentless and with no publications (other than my LitRPG trilogy, which had also been less successful than I hoped). This was a real low point for me, but I did at least like Bucket List and had a back catalogue to potentially sell in the future. Bucket List was a funny book, one which I thought would bring some happiness into people's lives during a pretty dark time for the world, so I had faith in it.
Following this setback, I let myself mourn for a bit (I usually do this with a bottle of fizzy wine and a cuddle of my dogs), and then sent Bucket List out to a few agents (I think about 6-7). Most of them didn't respond at all, but the one I was really keen on (a new agent who was local, recommended by a friend) got back quickly saying they loved the book and wanted to meet. It was great news, especially after such a disappointing few years.
((For comparison: when I first submitted to agents, I tried about 70 and it took about 5 years to sign with one. The second time, I submitted to about 7 and it took about 2 weeks to sign with one. I'm sure there's a lesson in there somewhere, but I've no idea what it is.))
My new agent was full of energy and enthusiasm for my work, they gave incredibly useful and specific notes (which is what I need as a writer) and wanted to support my career as a writer of many varied things (I don't really write "similar" books, I like to write whatever takes my fancy). We went out on submission with the redrafted Bucket List and, despite pretty much everything in publishing being super slow at that point, we got an offer. Skip ahead through some negotiations and meetings, and Bucket List has been signed for publication in 2024 with Polygon.
Perhaps more surprising (and I went back and forth over whether or not to say this publicly since it might be viewed as bad practice, but it worked) I only wrote 2-2.5 drafts of Bucket List by the time it sold to Polygon: my first draft (with some slight adjustments) and one redraft with my agent (with a few minor edits after). This is very unusual, as most of my books undergo about 7 drafts before I feel they're ready (and The Talkers went through 14). So, the book which was the quickest and easiest to write was the one that finally got a traditional publication deal for me.
What's next? I have another book about to go out on submission, I'm currently writing a first draft for another uplifting novel, and I have a few more books in the planning stages, as well as a back catologue of about 5 unpublished novels. Spin those plates Elephant Jones, spin them good!
About ten years have passed since I first started this journey to traditionally publish a novel. Tenacity is what worked, I think. And if I were to give advice to a new author, I think that being tenacious is important. It's not an easy road at all, but I'm glad to be bringing out a story which I think could connect with people, and maybe even help people. I plan to publish many more novels traditionally (and otherwise), and it's great to finally have this ticked off my own bucket list.
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