Words of Colour newbie Arani Yogadeva has all her senses challenged by a new artist who draws in treacle.
As part of our new series on artistic directors, Andrea Enisuoh lures Femi Elufowoju, jr of Tiata Fahodzi out of rehearsals to talk Africa, touring and partnerships.
Teenage poet and budding journalist Daniel Adjei reveals how negative criticism has spurred him on to greater creativity.
Trainee curator Tara Munroe tries to uncover the history and mystery surrounding the Casta Paintings.
Our competition to win copies of Jackee Holder’s ‘Be your own best life coach’ secured two winners, one aged 12. Find out more about them.
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.
Andrea Enisuoh sheds light on the impact the recession is having on British-based writers.
