The Year That Was 2013

2013 has been quite a year for me. I'm not sure I can recall a time when so much happened in a mere twelve months.

First of all, I finally took the plunge and published all of my novels on Kindle. After the success of The Englishman (over 2,000 downloads as we speak and counting), I was encouraged to push out into the world both my family drama, Coffee and Vodka and the spy thriller, The Red King of Helsinki.

In November this year I also published a paperback copy of The Englishman, which has been terribly well received. (Even if I say so myself).

Joey at West End Lane Books with the first signed copies.

So, from a writer with three novels languishing in her drawer, in twelve and a bit months I've become a published author with a loyal readership. Bring on more years like 2013!

The 2013 London Book Fair was another game changer in my career as an independent author. I've written about the changes in the publishing industry many times here, but to see the shifting landscape with my own eyes was something to behold.

I also gained a tremendous amount of encouragement and new ideas from the LBF this year, not least thanks to the Alliance of Independent Authors, an organisation which has worked tirelessly to promote and support indy writers and who were very much a presence at the Book Fair. Thanks must got to Orna Ross, Joanna Penn et al for all their hard work this year.

Me with Joanna Penn who gave a wonderfully
informative lecture at LBF 13
on indy publishing.

The Fair was also a wonderful opportunity to make new writer friends: I got to meet the Triskele Books girls through Catriona Troth, other notable indy writers such as Roz Morris, Rohan Quine, Dan Holloway and Grisha Ryzhakov to name but a few. I cannot wait for LBF 2014, wild horses wouldn't keep me away!

The year 2013 has also been eventful in the life of my family: in May, Son asked his long-time girlfriend to marry him  and she said yes! The young couple will marry in 2014, an event that has been a red letter day in my calendar for many months already. I just cannot wait!

Aren't they cute?
Son with his fiancé in Provence this summer.

Not in the least less important, Daughter finished her History of Art degree at University of Birmingham this year and graduated in June. It was such a proud moment for me, and I spent almost the whole of the day holding back tears, only losing the battle when Daughter stepped onto the stage at the Great Hall to receive her degree certificate. Oh well, I'm sure I wasn't the only parent to dab a tissue at the corner of her eye at that point.

Daughter looks pretty happy?

As if all of the above wasn't enough, something equally thrilling happened in my working life in 2013. In late 2012 I took on a part time role at a Finnish charity called Finn-Guild. I've been a member of this ex-pat organisation since the early 1980's, but going to work there to look after the finances of the charity and its commercial arm, Guild Travel, has been a huge trip down memory lane. I'd not worked with Finns since I left Finland some thirty years ago, and just being able to speak your mother tongue in an office in London's Camden has been quite life-changing. I hadn't realised how much of myself I'd hidden away while adapting to life in the UK. Spending time with fellow countrymen has made me feel as if I'd come back home. It's made me a more complete person.

To top it all, in the New Year, I'm going to move to a much more important and challenging role with the Finns. From February 1st, I will be taking over as Development Manager/General Secretary of Finn-Guild. So watch this space, there will be many more posts about Finnish and Nordic culture on this blog in 2014.

So there it is, my short - very personal -  review of 2013. All that remains is to wish you all:

Hauskaa Uutta Vuotta - Happy New Year

2 0 1 4 !

 

A few words about The Alliance of Independent Authors

There's a strange discussion going on over at David Gaughran's site about an organisation I myself feel honoured to be a member of, Alliance of Independent Authors. David published an interview with Orna Ross, the founder of ALLi, which has (strangely) caused a bit of a stir on the site. The organisation was even accused of being a scam. You can read the post here.

Having read the many comments, I wanted to air my views on ALLi too.

I've spoken before about what a difference my membership of ALLi has made to me as an Indy author. Writing is a lonely business, so having a community of other Indy writers to call upon for advice, support and a laugh is invaluable.

I joined ALLi after I'd read about it in The Bookseller in the weeks following London Book Fair 2012. At the time there was no other organisation (that I could see) which would fight the corner of the Indy writer. What I didn't realise at the time was, what a forcefield of support for writers the organisation provides, especially through its Facebook group. You ask a question (any question) and not only is it answered incredibly quickly, it's also answered in a professional and friendly manner. There is no one-upmanship, no spamming with your own titles; at the same time a certain amount of self PR is allowed. All of this amounts to a lot of saved time, and as any writer knows, time most certainly is money.

On top of this ALLi also offers a range of other tangible financial benefits - you can read about them here.

I've been a member of many non-profit organisation in my time (I even work for a Finnish charity), but rarely have I found an association, which has such a straight-forward, honest and energetic approach to its cause.

Long Live ALLi!
 

A-Z Blogging Challenge: I is for Independent Publishing

My theme: Writing and the business of writing.

[I know, I know, I'm running a day late again! Please be patient, I shall attempt to catch up soon.]

Before the ebook revolution, the only route writers (like me) had for getting their work published was through an agent and a publisher. If your book sold a certain amount of copies (I guess 1,000 would be a good number for a first book), the publisher would buy the author's next book. If the first book didn't sell well, the author would be dropped first by the publisher and then by the agent. (Unless the book won an award, in which case sales would be boosted anyway.) In a worst case scenario, a first novel might not even make enough money to cover the advance which the agent had negotiated for the author. If you happened to be that poor author, you'd pretty well know your career as a writer was over. No-one in the business would touch an author who'd lost a publisher money.

If a writer didn't want to go the traditional route (or had lost all hope after having received enough rejection letters to paper the walls of the office), there was an option to self-publish. This used to be called, rather nastily by the establishment, Vanity Publishing. There were a few presses who'd charge thousands of pounds / dollars, promise editorial and marketing support, and produce a (often an inferior looking) book. I'm sure there were some successful vanity books out there, but I wager that most of the copies produced ended up in the authors' garages and cellars.

When Kindle, iPads and other reading devices came onto the market, and Amazon et al established their publishing platforms, many authors realised they could get their books straight to readers with a much smaller investment. With Amazon and Smashwords, authors also got a larger share (up to 70%) of the book than with a traditional publisher. Suddenly self-publishing became Independent Publishing and authors began making money without the help of the 'old' establishment.

Finally last year, the success of 50 Shades of Grey really made the traditional publishers and agents take notice. They began to sign up authors who'd made money out of their ebooks. It's strange how a few spondoolies make people change their minds about something as unspeakable as Vanity Publishing?

Today more and more ebooks are being read and published. Digital book sales continue to grow rapidly each year, as does the number of Independent Authors who are making good money out of their writing. Some of these writers are declining offers from agents and publishing houses, preferring to remain in full control of their careers. They can decide what to write, how the cover looks, how much to charge for their books and how many titles to publish each year. At the same time they get to keep a larger proportion of their book sales.

If your books sell well, why would you need a second and third layer between you and your readers?

As the balance of power in the industry shifts, what happens to the writers? Are Independent Authors leaving themselves unprotected, since they're not receiving the technical and legal knowledge agents usually provide? Or the moral support they give their authors? Or are these just fabricated reasons to make money from an author?

There are now so-called 'hybrid' agents and publishers who take on just the physical book rights of an Indy Author, while the digital rights remain with the writer. This, as I discussed before in my post under agents, is the ideal situation; an almost 'eating your cake and having it' -scenario for a writer.

Many members of the one-year-old Alliance Independent Authors believe that the future is going to be very bright indeed. As the organisation grows, it also gains more power. In the various ALLi forums, there's talk of establishing a quality mark of some sort, as well as discussions on whether Indy Writers should be included in the annual awards circuit. At the moment independently published books do not qualify for literary awards like The Booker or The Costa.

I'm not sure I wish to write off agents and publishers quite yet. At the same time I am really, really enjoying being my own master. (See that fence?)

During next week's London Book Fair, ALLi Founder and Director, Orna Ross, is speaking at Digital Minds Conference and other LBF seminars, and an ALLi guide to publishing services is also going to be launched.