How I got Published

I wasn't sure about how to publish, or if I even should and I held onto my first book for a long time. But I suppose I got sick of family and friends asking if I was ever going to let people read my work and this prompted me to begin approaching agents and publishers directly. I got a load of rejections in the beginning but I was heartened as a lot of people did ask for the full manuscript and one publisher even wanted to sign me. I got very excited at this but had a bit of an inkling that something wasn’t right and when I asked about turnover, the publisher said that they were keen to publish something every eight weeks and would make a lot of changes to my work. I felt like this was a red flag and pulled out of the deal. It was far too much pressure at that stage and I'm so glad that I trusted my gut and walked away.

I decided to self-publish last year, feeling that this would at least allow me more time and freedom to do things my way but in truth, I hated it! I hate publicising things and it felt like I was bragging on social media, trying to convince folk to buy my books and I still felt I hadn't made it. I'd not gone the traditional route. So, I decided to give it one last try and approached two crime fiction publishers that I respected greatly. I was elated when one of them said yes right away.

I signed a seven-book contract with Bloodhound Books in the summer of 2021 and my first book comes out in January next year. It feels like I finally have the stamp approval I was looking for and now I feel worthy to self-publicise my work!