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A Year in Review - Part 3

I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing when the email pinged on my phone. It was lunchtime, and I was sitting with my partner at her dining table, about to tuck into a sandwich.  I am not a fan of using phones at the dining table, but I had been receiving a few emails over the past few weeks from publishers thanking me for submitting my manuscript, only to inform me that they would not be publishing my work. Almost all included a sentence about their rejection not being a reflection of the quality of my writing; the first time I read this, I was heartened, but after the third or fourth, I realised it was just something that publishing companies did.

This email was different, though. I felt a massive bolt of adrenaline surge through my body when I read the line that said something to the effect of "We loved the book and would like to publish it." As I continued reading, my heart began to sink. This company, which will remain nameless, were not a 'traditional' publisher, and they were offering me something they called a 'hybrid' contract. This would involve me paying around £3,000, which they told me was half the cost of publishing the book, and they would provide the rest and handle the actual publishing.

By now, I felt sick. Lunch was definitely not an option, and it was all I could do not to burst into tears in front of my partner. I was, up to that point, completely unaware of this model of publishing, which, upon further research, seemed to be a cunning way of rebranding companies that were essentially vanity publishers. There are numerous companies like this, and if you enter into a relationship with them with your eyes open, then good luck to you. However, I had applied in good faith, and there was no way I was going to let them take my money.

So, I stuck with it. I kept on sending my manuscript in (to proper publishers only) and waited. I did get some significant interest from a very reputable publisher, which helped sustain my confidence, but that came to nothing. Some rejection letters were more useful than others, and one in particular helped me understand that I needed to try to create a 'following' by engaging with social media and creating a 'presence'.

If you knew me, you would laugh at this idea, as I have never been a particularly social person in real life, let alone in the online world. I had a reason and the time to try and do this properly now, so I decided to give it a shot. Facebook and Instagram were steps too far, but I settled on Twitter, and on starting a blog. I follow popular culture enough to realise that Twitter is a bit of a toxic environment, and soon shifted my attention to Bluesky. I have stuck with both, though, although the latter is proving to be much more productive, and I plan to say goodbye to Twitter in the not-too-distant future.

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