The book in the drawer

This post relates to the original 2020 version of Those Who Wait which I withdrew when I realise that it was crap. After monumental revisions, I republished it in June 2024. The image is of the original cover.

I have two books under my belt, featuring the questionable exploits of a teenage forensic sorcerer: Gifted (2015, published in the US as A Dangerous Magic) and Pariah (2016).

I had this fantasy that these would sell in their thousands and I’d get to write a series of stories and retire to a large house in the country. In the event, Gifted sold around 2,000 copies and Pariah less than 500. The publishers didn’t commission a sequel and my agent at the time advised me to forget about it and move on to something else.

So I went back to an idea I’d had bubbling around for a while: a ghost story set against the background of the Pari-Roller, the weekly mass skate around the streets of Paris.

My agent didn’t like it. I faffed around with it for a year or so and she still didn’t like it and, in the end, we agreed that the door was just behind me. I touted the story round various literary agencies, who weren’t impressed by it either. So I’m going the self-publishing route. I’m not a natural fit for this. I lack the entrepreneurial spirit. Indeed, my idea of being an author has always been to write a book, rewrite it over and over until it’s perfect… then stick it in a drawer, take it out a couple of years later, rewrite it… and stick it back in the drawer.

Anyway, I’m trying to make what passes, for me, as a decent stab at self-publishing. I got hold of a guide on Amazon. I formatted the manuscript and designed a cover. I’ve revived this blog (which had been lying on its back with its paws in the air for as long as I can remember). I’ve posted the cover on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

Around Halloween, I’ll (hopefully) jump through the final hoops and get it out there. There’ll be a free download offer. I’ll tout it to anybody who seems like they might be remotely interested…

And that’s about it, really. A proper, professional author would, no doubt, do much, much more. But I have to recognise the limits to my ability to self-publicise. Just getting the thing done and dusted and out there will be a major achievement.