The alchemy of publishing...

Got a call for 'expressions of interest' in a proposed writer's conference down in Wellington September 2009 to be run by the Wellington Children's Book Ass. yesterday. I've already replied that I'm keen. I asked them to sign me up for the masterclass in wine drinking for writer's. I am looking forward to meeting all the wellington writer's and illustrators. The ones I've met so far are an excellent bunch. I wonder if there will be any Learning Media or Creative New Zealand folk attending. I have some questions...

I discovered that a decision on whether a book of mine will be published next year may rest on the interest shown by booksellers in an earlier work about to come out. I guess thats fair enough. Publishing is a business and if the first book doesn't make it out to too many bookshops then there is no point in investing in the second book. I am keeping my fingers crossed and thats about all i can do now because i can't change the content, the cover or any other aspect of the book anymore to help it succeed. I guess it does show the importance of being happy with how your work ends up both in terms of editing and the final look. That book has my name on it and my personal future success depends upon its reception. Like the alchemy involved in a publisher deciding to publish a book, there is alchemy involved in a books success. Will the booksellers take it, will people pick it up in the shop, will they read the back cover, will they like it enough to buy it. For a long time the holy grail of writing for me was being published but once that happened the rules changed completely. Now i want to keep writing - I want a writing career. To have that i need to keep writing books that someone wants to publish and that people want to read. As much as publishers try to guess correctly what the public will want, the Harry Potter experience shows that there is a large unpredictable element in publishing. Everything is a risk for the publisher. Sure its calculated but i bet the publishers keep their fingers crossed as much as i do. I hope it works on this occasion.

By the way you can now check out my author's bio on the Storylines website and The Christchurch City Libraries website as well.