...
I should be writing something here about how great small
publishers are, but that’s not what I want to write.
Although I should start by admitting that my publisher, Dog
Horn, is doing a brilliant job. My collection of short stories, Witchcraft in the Harem, was properly
edited, and there’s been a big effort made towards marketing, both online and
in the real world. I suggested an idea for the cover and Dog Horn made it
happen, and I love it. There’s even going to be a launch event at Victoria
Library, London, on Monday May 13. At six pm I’ll read a story from the
collection and thank everyone who got the book out there, particularly my
publisher. It’ll be a fun night, made possible by people who are passionate
about getting good books to a wider audience.
But the truth is, I’ve had a similar experience with a large
publisher. My first two novels, Three
Things About Me and Light Reading,
were published by Macmillan, and there were launch parties and input on the
cover and brilliant editors. I enjoyed feeling cherished by such a prestigious
organisation, for the short time when I was a more commercial writer. But then
I realised I didn’t want to be a crime novelist, and I discovered that literary
fantasy doesn’t really fit with the big boys, so we went our separate ways. And
I’m glad. But I found the editors, cover designers and marketers to be equally
as passionate as the small press people.
And, to round off the trilogy, I’ve had the same experience
with self-publishing. I’ve released some of my work, in particular my first
novella Mean Mode Median, as an
e-book. I’ve been edited by good friends, and I’ve proofread my own work. It
was great to get the work out there, and own it in a way I hadn’t before. My
friends and I are passionate about writing too. And I think that’s the key
ingredient to modern publishing – believing in what you’re doing, no matter
where you fit in the big picture.
I’m not sure why I’m meant to advocate one of these methods
over another. Doesn’t that belong to another age of publishing, when we were
meant to think of big publishers as the pinnacle, and everything else as dross?
That wasn’t even true fifty years ago, and it’s certainly not true now. My
publishing career isn’t set in stone. I’m not one type of writer, so one type
of publishing is not going to fit me.
I don’t think we’re entering a new age of publishing so much
as giving up the fixed ideas we had about what writing is, and what an author
is. It suits the commercial aspect to claim that writers write only in one
genre, so you know when you pick up a book by them that you’ll be getting
crime, or romance, or the same plot recycled over and over again. This idea is
so powerful that writers end up taking pseudonyms for each aspect of their
writing.
I’ve never wanted to do that. I don’t believe people need to
be signposted and corralled to that extent. They can read the first page rather
than make a decision based on the name and the colour of the cover. Big
publishing traditionally gets the book out to as many people as possible, but small
press and self-publishing allows for less straitjacketed prose. They free the
writer to create in whatever direction they wish, and that’s better for
creative ability. It’s also good for the reader. Make your buying choices based
on what you like, not on what you’re told you like by a marketing department.
So I don’t choose a side. I want to write in the direction
that calls to me, and right now it’s fantasy. Dog Horn sees something good in
that, and are applying their passion to getting it out there. Publishing is
more about choice than ever before.
You, as a reader, don’t have to choose a side either. You
don’t have to buy the new crime novel with a black cover or the new historical
romance with the woman in a pretty dress on the cover. You can if you want to.
Those books can a really good read. I hope you try the first page before you
buy, though. Put faith in the prose.
My stories are really good reads too. Maybe just not what
you were expecting. Choices can lead you to surprising places sometimes. That’s
the best thing about them.
...
Aliya blogs extensively on Still Writing in Longhand; Witchcraft in the Harem is available from all good bookstores now.
Lavie Tidhar, author of the award winning Osama, described reading the book as ‘being waterboarded by an angel. Shocking, heartbreaking and laugh-out-loud funny, this is some of the best writing I’ve ever seen. If you like Aimee Bender or Etgar Keret, you will love Witchcraft in the Harem.'
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