Hits and Niches by Julia Jones
The kindest of all the publishers who turned down The Salt-Stained Book sent me an email when I told her I’d decided to publish it myself. “I predict it will become a cult classic,” she said. I’d been deeply disappointed by her final refusal of the book. We liked each other personally and she’d expended time and trouble thinking about the book and offering suggestions. In the end, however, she had decided that she had to separate herself as an individual from herself as the CEO of a large and successful international publishing company. The Salt-Stained Book just didn’t fit the way they worked. “I can’t tell you how I wish we could have published it,” her message finished. To be honest I wasn’t that grateful. The bit about the “cult classic” sounded patronising and if she’d really wanted to publish the book, I couldn’t exactly see what was stopping her. Ewan Morrison is an author / journalist who is making a good living prophesying gloom. He has been on an End of the Book reading...