Why I've gone solo

So why, you might ask, have I chosen a different route to market for my third novel, The Mortification of Grace Wheeler? It's a good question. Part of the answer lies in the naive assumptions I made about being traditionally published. For example, there is a long period of time, often over a year, between submitting your manuscript to the editorial team, and your book appearing on the shelves. Many authors, myself included, find it difficult to focus on a new project while still working on an existing one, possibly already on its third, fourth of fifth draft. There will still be structural edits, copy edits, proofreading etcetera, in order to ensure a polished and error-free book.

And on that point, I didn't realise that authors have little or no creative control over how their novel will look when it's published. The old adage about judging a book by its cover is true, so it's difficult to live with a design about which you're not completely happy. Marketing is key, but not all books are allocated a marketing budget. In fact, the lion's share of limited resources tends to get swallowed up by exciting new debuts, established authors and previous bestsellers.