Hello, it’s been a while hasn’t it? There are reasons for that. I’ll get to those later.
You, however, a valued, cherished reader, subscribed to my newsletter for nicer things. Bookish things. I’m ready to come back now and actually tell you about those things. I’m ready to post.
Because my goodness, what an eventful year it’s been. I’ve seen it all so far, the good, the bad, the ugly, the disconcerting, the downright exhilarating, and it’s only October. I feel like I’m about a thousand years old. I am in fact only 42, but a career in the creative arts is like that sometimes. It’s famine or feast, rain or shine. Incredible highs, and crushing lows. On occasion, you get a period of time without extremes of emotion. You get long weeks of nothing, of not-knowing. Will my book sell? What does my editor think? Will my royalty statement ever come in? Will my blurb request be granted? Has that director you’re excited about read your screenplay? Many of us live with the nagging uncertainty of a Schrodinger’s book: it’s both dead and alive, mewling inside its little irradiated box. If I had a penny for every time I stared longingly at my email app, willing something to happen, I would be marginally less skint than I am now. And for the first six months of this year, that was mostly all I was doing. Staring at my inbox, fretting about money, waiting for emails that never arrived. More on that another time, because being on Submission (the official process where your agent sends your new manuscript out to potential publishers to see if they want it) is a unique and special kind of torture, one I won’t elucidate upon here. I will write about that experience, in another newsletter, but it’ll be a while, because I have a lot of other things to tell you about first. Expect what you’ve become accustomed to from me and probably a large proportion of the authors you may follow: tumbleweeds, then a slew of newsletters in quick succession. You wait a lifetime for a bus, and they all come along at once, etcetera.
Anyway, for this update, let’s start with…
THE FOLLY FINDS A NEW HOME!
THE FOLLY, my coastal possession horror/thriller novel set in remote Cornwall, about an ex-con and his daughter who become caretakers of an isolated black stone tower (the titular folly) overlooking the sea during the pandemic, only to experience the type of haunting nobody wants, came out originally around this time, give or take, last year, from Polis books. In hardback, no less. My first. Hurrah!
Except…no.
It is an accepted fact that one is not really allowed to speak less than positively of anyone in this industry lest we sow the seeds of misunderstanding or rouse the ire of strange sock puppet accounts on twitter with AI profile pictures, so I shall keep largely mum about my full experience with Polis, who, in case you didn’t know, only a few months after releasing my book, announced suddenly they were closing doors due to money problems and other circumstances. Suffice to say I was not surprised to receive the email, even if I was somewhat baffled.
But the signs, had I paid closer attention to them, had been there throughout the lead-up to publication. Communication, or lack thereof, is always the first indicator that something is Not Bon. I had been through multiple book launches at this stage, and I knew what the birth of a new book should look and feel like. Emails, back and forth. Assets, shared. Buzz, generated on social media profiles. Announcements made. Review copies, both digital and print if at all possible sent to as many advance readers and reviewers as humanly/financially possible, as well as other authors in my genre, influential authors whose opinion and endorsement matter, to me, and other readers. This is not my first rodeo. I gathered a long list of interested parties. I do this with every single book. Some, as far as I know, received their copies, digitally, others messaged me multiple times asking me for one. I should stress that these readers, these interested parties who all asked to receive a book before launch, were readers primed to help me hype the launch of a novel I was (and remain) proud of. They were readers who would have willingly contributed word of mouth marketing that is utterly invaluable when it comes to launching a new book baby out of the womb, slippy-slidey, like, into the world. They weren’t being spammed, or reluctantly brow-beaten into reading anything. They were eager, because I spend a considerable amount of time and energy nurturing these relationships, and make sure to tell these fine folks whenever I can (hello again, have I told you how much I love you, dear reader?) how incredibly important they are to me, and other authors like me. Anyway, review copies appear to have been sent on a hit and miss basis. Some readers had to wait for the book to launch and then kindly purchased copies of their own for review purposes (Thankyou Chris Golden, for your patience and support), which I would have gladly gifted myself, via amazon, had communication with my publisher been more than, shall we say, a hollow breeze through a ruined castle.
It is worth mentioning at this point that the publisher did manage to get a lovely review of the book in Publisher’s Weekly prior to launch. An opportunity for me to write a guest article on gothic horror on Crimereads was also secured, which was nice, and I appreciated it. I also really loved the cover design and overall quality of the finished book. No issues there. And, the audiobook was brilliantly narrated and widely distributed.
That was kind of it, though. I did ask, multiple times, what the marketing plan was as regards launch and, well. It became evident to me that the enthusiasm wasn’t there from the publisher, who had other things on their mind, and have since admitted as such in a group email sent to me and other Polis authors. Most of the rest of the promo stuff I did for this novel by appearing on podcasts etc was generated by me, myself, I, which is kind of par for the course anyway, these days, publishers of all sizes expect you to be proactive and do the marketing thing, but also it was not really the dream I was sold either, when I signed the book over to Polis.
It’s worth noting, before anyone considers me unfair, that the owner has since admitted they were overwhelmed and apologised for the communication issues, so I have no ongoing ill will in that regard. Apologising is an important part of the equation when it comes to publishing mishaps, and so often I see people doubling down on not doing so in this industry, to the detriment of all. That wasn’t the case here, and I do understand, life gets on top of us sometimes. I have sympathy for that.
I do also have to make a living, however.
And I have instincts about things that are often proven right. Those instincts have been honed over five years of experiencing a wide range of publishers and how they interact with others and generally conduct business.
Anyway, I am trying to be as fair about things as possible. I hummed and haad about talking about any of this publicly, and you’re only getting my experience on the few things I feel comfortable sharing here, not the whole story.
The reason I am sharing these few details is that I would like authors who are not as far along in their publishing journey who read this newsletter to understand, it is not normal for a publisher to go quiet or ghost you in the run up to publication. That’s the busiest time for all involved in making the book- sending out ARCS, securing blog tours, working with reviewers, book subscription clubs, podcasts, industry publications…its all part of making sure a book generates enough buzz and enough preorders to give it a fighting chance of success. It’s normal for this to be a year-long exercise, giving the book plenty of time to embed itself into the mind of a potential reader. The basic (and probably outdated) rules of marketing I learned way back in the dawn of time when I still had taut skin and perky books is that, on average, it takes a person seven times, MINIMUM, to see something advertised before they are incentivised to buy it. Publishers who understand this know the importance of working closely with an author on a strategy that fulfils these basic rules.
If absolutely none of that is happening for you, if you have an uneasy feeling in the pit of your belly that you’re alone in your book launching, if you feel like you are an inconvenience for reaching out, if you feel like you are constantly emailing with no reply…it’s time to put your publisher on the spot, because that isn’t normal. Lack of communication, as with any relationship, is a very real indication that stuff is wrong.
There’s other stuff, behind the scenes, as I’ve alluded to, pertinent to my feelings about all of this, that I can’t drag out into the open. Buy me a pint, I’ll spill. But it doesn’t matter, really. The damage was done. The Folly’s first release was a damp squib, through no fault of mine, despite my best efforts, or the wonderful horror community, and subsequently, as the publisher went dead dodo, I requested, and was given, my full rights back. Again, for clarity: that was reasonably straightforward. I’ve been sent my final royalty statement and emails go answered a lot faster than they used to be when I occasionally ask about something. Which is something.
And then….
Then I sold the book again, hurrah!
In case you missed it, here’s the announcement:
The rights reversion bit was important to me, can you tell? I’ll leave it to make your own conclusions as to why.
To move this into less sour territory, I am really, really, pants-staining happy about this. More, I am bloody thrilled to re-home The Folly with Datura. And British people don’t get thrilled all that often. Mildly amused, quite content, passingly happy, yeah, that’s alright, innit mate, but never thrilled, excited, made up, over the proverbial moon. Steady on, old chap.
But I am. Excited. Not least because books that have been killed shortly after launch don’t always get a second chance like this (anyone remember Giles Press? I told you, this isn’t my first rodeo. Poor Til the Score is Paid). Yes, second chances are rare, especially second chances with publishers as diligent, hardworking and conscientious as Datura, who are the dedicated crime imprint of Watkins media, the same company that owns Angry Robot, who published FULL IMMERSION. This means I know the team, I love working with them (Hi Eleanor, hi Gemma, hi Caroline) and I know they will do their level best to bring the book out in a way that should ensure new readers can actually find it, and are able to access it (insomuch as they might actually get the bloody book they originally ordered/signed up for).
More, and this is the crucial thing: they’re excited too. About the book, about my book. And that’s all I ever want, really. I’m not daft. I’m very realistic. I know I will never be able to take up too much of a publisher’s time and attention until I creep out of mid-list territory, but their enthusiasm for my work makes me want to work harder to sell more. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy of the good kind: build the author up, invest in her work, share enthusiasm for books, and the author has all the rocket fuel they need to continue to push, to continue to work as hard as humanly possible to make a book a success.
Again, if you don’t have that kind of relationship with your publisher, I would urge you to consider that other publishers exist, and there will be one out there who is willing to go to bat for you.
To sober up slightly, I confess, it has been more difficult than I anticipated drumming up interest in THE FOLLY a second time round. I did this whole rigamarole for most of 2023, in the run up to publication day. I like a long lead time for publication, as mentioned before: it gives me plenty of time to build hype, and I feel I did so, to the best of my ability. Asking people to re-invest in something emotionally all over again has been a hard sell, but I keep at it. I am resolute. I will not let THE FOLLY die a death, for I love this book. It’s my tribute to Cornwall, to Daphne DuMaurier’s writing, to pandemic loneliness, to the duplicity of familial love, to the strangeness of possession, to toxic co-dependency, to isolation and finding yourself later on in life. To apple pie, too. Who doesn't love apple pie?
Anyway, I am treating this like the launch of a brand new novel. The book comes back out on November 12th, and should be available anywhere books are found. I’d love you to preorder it, and for those of you who already have, thankyou, thank you, a million times.
You can still sign up for a review copy by the way, either here, by filling out the form, or by messaging me direct. The former may be the quicker method, as I am drowning a little in emails and dms at the moment, but I will get there soon.
The cover, by the way, which I still love, will remain almost the same, just with added Datura branding. This version of the book is a smaller matte paperback finish, with a hint of spot gloss, very mindful, very demure. Not very brat girl summer at all, I’ll be honest. (I threw that in solely for Eleanor, in case she reads this. I’m learning, mom!)
It should be pointed out that the Folly tower on the cover is Broadway tower, located in the Cotswolds. My folly, in the novel, is a fictional tower on the coast of Cornwall, somewhere just along (in my mind) from Mousehole. In case you were wondering.
It would be grand if you’d give the novel a second chance, dearest reader. If you need an autumnal read about storm-swept coastlines and spooky goings on, this is the book for you.
Here’s the cover again in case you aren’t familiar with it. Phroar. Isn’t she pretty?
Okay, onto the next thing. It will be a separate update. Watch this space.
To be continued…
(One of the reasons, although I hate to admit it, why I have taken such a long break from posting here by the way, was a disgruntled individual who took issue with a post I wrote some time ago. They went on to harass me for eighteen months or so via multiple fake profiles, emails, random tweets, comments and other methods designed to make me aware of their disgruntledness. It did take the shine off of writing these updates, although it shouldn’t have. Imagine thinking I was worth that amount of wasted effort and energy. I am literally a bumbling fool potato lady with a great set of boobs that are on a distinct downward trajectory, hardly worthy of such attention. Hopefully that’s all done with now, because my screenshot folder is full of all sorts of nonsense as it is. Point is, I’m back now. Hurrah!)
See you soon, lovelies
G xxx