Getting published: Doing it your way

Dolores Keaveney

Dolores’s first picture book, I Wish I Were A Bee, started off as a dream and led to a career in self-publishing for the 66-year-old grandmother. Here, she explains why the traditional route is not for her.

Why I decided to self-publish:

I never intended on writing a book. I woke up one morning with a poem in my head and I wrote it down. I had been painting for 40 years, so I put the poem next to one of my paintings and a neighbour suggested I write a book. So using a website called www.blurb.com I made the book – a small picture book called If I Were A Bee. I sent it to a few publishers in England who said it wasn’t their line, so I found out how to self-publish. I got my ISBN and my barcode, then I contacted all the libraries and shops and I printed 2,000 copies in 2009.

How I made it work:

The libraries all took it in and I told them I would be available to do readings. I brought a little empty beehive and I had a bee suit and I suited up and told the children about bees and pollination.

Why I don’t need a publisher:

I love self-publishing, it’s fierce challenging and I do it all myself with all my books. To self-publish you need money. I am a 66-year-old granny now and it was my SSIA money that I used to publish my first book.

www.doloreskeaveney.com

Sara Baume

Sara’s recently published first book, Spill, Simmer, Falter, Wither, is already a hit with critics. She signed with a new independent publishing house in Dublin, Tramp Press, even though they hadn’t ever published a book.

Why I chose Tramp Press:

I didn’t send the book out to lots of publishers because I knew that it was a strange, little book and it probably didn’t stand a chance with Penguin and all that.

When Sarah and Lisa at Tramp Press got back to me, I knew I definitely wanted the book to get published, but they hadn’t published anything at that stage so I was a bit apprehensive. But from the start I recognised that their sensibilities were very similar to mine.

Why it worked for me:

I really feel like I have had a big part in the book. They run everything by me, from cover design to typesetting. With a bigger publisher, you would just sign the book away and be shocked by how little you have to do with it.

What makes it challenging?

The downside is I got a €1,000 advance. That’s not large in terms of big book deals which could be a €100,000 or €250,000 advance. Obviously, if I had gone the self-publishing route I wouldn’t have gotten an advance at all and I would have had to pay to have the book published.

www.tramppress.com

Alice Taylor

Author of To School Through The Fields and many more, Alice Taylor’s writing career started 25 years ago as a hobby. Since then, she’s written what she wants, when she wants, including everything from bereavement to gardening.

I write my way:

When I wrote my first book, To School Through The Fields, I couldn’t type, so it was all written on an A4 pad with a pencil and rubber and I posted it off. So, when people ask me what type of laptop does a writer need, I always say you don’t need anything, only to glue your bottom to the chair. When the publisher I sent the book to, Brandon Press in Dingle (which went on to become an imprint of O’Brien Press) asked me to make it longer, I said okay, but don’t give me deadlines. It’s my hobby.

,ch>Why the publisher matters:

We ended up publishing 19 books together. Steve at Brandon Press was a Dublin man who had been educated in England so he was absolutely alien to the world I was writing about. But he had moved to Dingle and loved the rural culture, so he just had an appreciative eye for the world that I was writing about.

Why my writing varies:

My main reason for writing To School Through The Fields was that I wanted a record of that way of life for the generations coming after. It was Steve that suggested I write a book on bereavement after the sudden death of my husband. After that I needed a rest from all the sadness and grief so I wrote a book about the joys of gardening called The Gift of a Garden. It danced out of me.

www.obrien.ie