It Takes a Village…
… to raise a child.
No man is an island.
Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much. (Helen Keller)
There’s no ‘i’ in team.
So many aphorisms, so little time.
Today was the publication day for Goodbye, Paris (the same book that will be The Truths and Triumphs of Grace Atherton in the UK in January). I had no idea when I first heard the incredible news that my book was going to be published (in a lot of countries) just how much goes on behind the scenes of publication.
Every time you reach a goal (or an obstacle) on the road to publication, you believe that’s ‘it’: the end of the road, one way or another. When you’re un-agented, you think that getting an agent is the end of your journey. When you’re unpublished, you think that getting a publisher is. In fact, it’s all part of a long continuum, one that has lots of stages, lots of layers and – always – plenty of ups and downs.
I’m stunned by how many people it takes to see a book on the shelves – how much effort from such dedicated teams.
If you’re looking for an agent, you could not do better than Sarah Manning of the Bent Agency and if you’re looking for a publisher, Touchstone Books and Simon and Schuster are just wonderful. My whole team could not be more supportive and I’m forever in their debt.
The most important thing about this writing journey is to never give up. Just keep swimming, as Dory would say. The only book you are guaranteed never to publish is the one that you haven’t written (or that you’ve never shown to another living soul). It took me 14 years and more rejections than you can paper a downstairs loo with – but my friends and family wouldn’t let me quit. Make sure you don’t either.
