Testing the waters: Linda Newbery makes her first foray into self-publishing

One of the evolutions in self-publishing over the years is that it is no longer just the province of genre fiction or early-career writers. No, it is also a prospect for authors with extensive portfolios and winners of major literary gongs – and even those who have a foot in both camps, such as Linda Newbery, who bagged the 2006 Costa Children’s Prize and has released over 30 books since the late 1980s.

Newbery enters the indie author world in April with The One True Thing, her second novel for adults (kind of: her Costa winner, the David Fickling Books-published Set in Stone attracted controversy as some critics argued its mature themes meant it should not have been shortlisted in a kids’ category). Her new book is an intergenerational story centring on three women: artist Jane, who receives a shock when her father suddenly dies, followed by his will revealing the existence of a son the family did not know about; Jane’s mother Bridget, stuck in an unhappy marriage; and stone-carver Meg, who yearns for independence… but then artist Adam enters her life, with devastating consequences.

Full disclosure: Newbery tried to get The One True Thing published traditionally and was knocked back. Which seems a surprise given the quality of the book, her track record and that she has a high-powered agent ( 2017 Agent of the Year Nibbie winner, Catherine Clarke).

“I got quite glowing rejections,” Newbery says with a chuckle down the line from her Oxfordshire home. “But from talking to writer acquaintances, I know I’m not alone. I think it’s particularly true if you have been around a while. A lot of well-established authors are finding it difficult to place their books; we’re not what the publishing industry wants at the moment.”

There were some nibbles from smaller publishers, she admits, but “I’ve had disappointments when an editor has left, or a publisher has been bought up by a bigger one, the book is orphaned, and there’s nobody there to fight its case and it disappears. I wanted to take back control.”

The idea is that we’re less an imprint and more a collaborative. We all self-publish, and the financials are all with the author

Part of taking control was expanding the self-publishing enterprise to bring along other well-established authors. For seven years, Newbery has been running Writers Review – an online platform of criticism, essays and interviews – with fellow children’s/adult crossover authors Adèle Geras and Celia Rees. Newbery had been chatting to the others about her self-publishing journey when Rees suggested the trio form an imprint under the Writers Review banner.

Writers Review Publishing kicks off this spring with Newbery’s book; the prolific, prize-winning children’s writer Mary Hoffman’s adult novel of sex and treachery in Michelangelo’s studio, David: The Unauthorised Autobiography; and the reissue of Judith Allnatt’s The Poet’s Wife, originally published by Transworld 15 years ago.

Newbery says: “The idea is that we’re less an imprint and more a collaborative. We all self-publish, and the financials are all with the author. But we are offering joint support, publicity and promotion under the Writers Review umbrella.”

Newbery was born in Essex and grew up on the fringes of Epping Forest, which for her as a kid was a “magical ancient woodland” that fed into the stories she was constantly writing. After university she taught English in comprehensives and decided to switch from poetry to write a story for teens, Run with the Hare, which revolves around a sixth-form girl who gets involved with animal rights activists. She wrote a number of books across age ranges “for many years without any recognition, really, but then David Fickling, when he had his imprint at Random House, published me with [2002’s] The Shell House and suddenly I was getting shortlisted for prizes”. 

The animal welfare theme in Newbery’s debut is no accident, as that and other environmental issues are a through-line in many of her books, most obviously in her recent non-fiction for children, This Book Is Cruelty Free (Pavilion).

“The whole publishing industry needs to look at the way books are produced,” she says, “with the wastage, the transport and the storage. It pleases me that the self-publishing [physical books] model is print-on-demand – environmentally, it’s the right way to go.”