Sucker Punch by Roy Williams hits home on race, boxing and black male identity, but falls short on its only female character, claims Joy Francis.
Daniel Kaluuya, currently wowing audiences (and critics) as Leon in Sucker Punch at the Royal Court, is soon to be seen in Johnny English 2 with Rowan Atkinson. Joy Francis is well and truly charmed.
Broadcaster, DJ, journalist, composer and Artistic Director at Theatre Royal Stratford East Matthew Xia makes Kwame Kwei-Armah look lazy. Read why.
Maxine Quintyne-Kolaru, who is over halfway through her Royal Court Super Group, survives the infamous ‘Lock In’, sees her play performed at Soho Theatre and wonders what next.
Welcome to our new slot highlighting what you missed on the arts social scene featuring The Noisettes, BAFTA and James Purefoy.
July 2007
Shangwe - an experience in publishing
By Words of Colour co-founder Nicole Moore
Independent publishing – the pros
The advantages of independent publishing – first and foremost, are that control is retained over the book at all stages of the production process – what text style to use, the cover design, the cover price, the book’s size, the number of copies printed…
This includes having the final say on everything. In addition, by publishing ones own work an artist is able to retain the copyright to that work, which is important if an artist wants to try and sell the book on to a commercial publisher at a future date, for instance.
As an experienced editor with two anthologies under my belt, Sexual Attraction Revealed (2007) and Brown Eyes (2005), I have extended not only my publishing skills but my editing, writing and project management skills. I have also had to wear two hats – one for creativity, one for business.
The independent publishing journey for both my books has been different. With Brown Eyes I was well supported with funding received from an Arts Council England Grants for the Arts award. This meant I could recruit a creative consultant, copy editor and a much needed admin assistant. With Sexual Attraction Revealed, it was a self-financed project with no one to assist me so it was a tougher challenge, although I learned a lot the first time around.
Challenges
Producing both of my books brought about unexpected frustrations. With Brown Eyes, there were significant delays with the delivery of the books, which caused great stress. With Sexual Attraction Revealed, the publishing process was the most challenging and frustrating as designers interfered with my manuscript making unnecessary changes, which were extremely difficult to put right. For those of you who are wondering how long it took for me to work on both my books, from start to publication, it was a year in both cases.
The big sell
OK, so you’ve published your book, which means you now have to publicise, launch and sell it! Again, this is yet another challenge in itself! You and only you will be interested in selling your book so you will need to make sure that you attend those book fairs, do those readings and never say ‘no’ (within reason) to any request that comes your way.
The benefits
You will be surprised at the related events that arise through publishing your book. With Brown Eyes, I was invited to run poetry workshops and book promotion/networking surgeries, provide talks on black literature at libraries, attend book signings at a Black Police Association’s Dinner & Dance and at a Nationwide Building Society’s Diversity Day. That’s without the guest appearances on the radio and SKY TV.
Although the publishers themselves will most certainly publicise your book on their website, you will benefit from establishing your own website, which will be a helpful marketing tool. Most independently published authors sell the majority of their books through online outlets such as Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com. These online outlets are important to published authors because they provide a simple sales model with a level playing field in the ‘shelf presence’ of a book.
Mesha McNeil expresses her dismay with the recent general election’s poor comparison to American politics and demands more engagement with young people.
