Estelle has not only taken the charts by storm with her single American Boy, but has impressed Joy Francis with her funky new album ‘Shine’.
Time Out feature writer and reviewer Tamara Gausi offers some pointers to budding critics including how to cope with adverse reactions to your reviews.
The loss of one of her twin boys inspired holistic complementary therapist, artist and writer Hyacinth Myers to offer other parents a creative outlet. She highlights why.
Susan Yearwood has launched a new literacy agency. As one of a handful of UK-based black book agents she is on the look out for talented new voices.
Read the second and final part in our series - a week in the life of a budding writer - with our short story competition winners. This time it’s runner up Mahsuda Shah.
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.
Paul Macey exposed the newspaper industry’s complicity in the sex trafficking industry. He explains why.
Joy Francis thanks R&B singer songwriter Estelle for speaking out about the lack of black British musicians being promoted.
Nicole Moore offers a do it yourself guide to getting your book noticed and sold in Kingston, Jamaica.
Paul Macey reveals what happens when young people are given the opportunity to tell their truth through their own media.
