Authors Electric

Once upon a time immortality was only for the famous or the infamous – now it can be for everyone and I don't see why anyone should be shamed by accusations of "vanity publishing" into forgoing the opportunity. In the past if you wanted your name to live on after everyone who knew you had gone you had to rely on word of mouth. Stories of great ancestors would be told by each generation to the next and through the years they would evolve into myths and legends.   With the invention of the written word the famous were able to take more control of how they were remembered, but only if they were selected by elite publishers or were wealthy enough to pay for expensive private publication. From the writings of Homer to the tales of Beatrix Potter, books cemented the names of only a select few into history. Very occasionally discoveries of handwritten manuscripts like the Country Diary of an Edwardian Lad y would be unearthed and would bestow immortality on someone...

There are lots of good reasons for self publishing and ebooks. Being in control of your own work is obviously top of the list. The downside, I've found anyway, is never being quite sure if what you've written is good enough to be published. Fine when it's one of your out-of-print books. But when it's a brand new book it can be a little bit scary.      Last year I dragged an old manuscript out of the filing cabinet which I'd written years and years ago. After re-writing it, I thought I'd see if I could get a conventional publisher interested, as I really didn't know if it was good enough.      I can't actually remember why I hit on the publisher that I chose, they were American and I'd never heard of them, nevertheless I was delighted when they said they wanted to publish - who would't be?      They appeared genuine because of the blurb on their website and because they offer an advance. The contract, when it came seemed ...