News for emerging authors: December
A hand-picked digest of news stories from the past month that emerging writers should know about.
Dear writers and emerging multi-hyphenates,
Happy New Year! 2024 was a time, wasn’t it? I think the general consensus is that it was fair to middlin’ – but especially tough for those of us in the book writing business. With an increase in author requests for hardship grants and the constant announcement of the next "big best-selling celebrity book", the industry has felt a bit like an unwelcome desert for aspiring authors, with only a mirage of book deals seemingly on offer.
But for 2025 I’m proposing we find new ways to throw caution to the wind and move forward with purpose. And you cannot know where you are going until you know where you have been, so let’s look back at a few headlines from December 2024 and make something out of them, shall we?
Government urged to commit to diversifying the English literature curriculum in open letter
As is often the case, the future is currently staring us all in the face. And in this context the children, our future, are missing out on some key pieces of literature. The effect of the Covid-19 lockdown is still showing up in the steep decline in reading ability among children, and this has been ever-worsened by the continued lack of diversity on the current English literature curriculum. Now, if you are fostering a hope of writing for children, this really is something you should be paying attention to. Despite the rapid decrease in books published by authors and illustrators of colour last year, those same creatives are actually desperately needed now, more than ever.
You need to keep working on those stories. Keep being as loud and annoying about them as possible. Be so audacious with your kids’ book ideas that they bang down some of those pesky publisher doors and demand to be heard, because it is about time. And guess what? The industry knows that it needs to do better by everyone.
Listen, the numbers are in and it doesn’t look good. There has been a drop in the amount of Black and brown people working in the publishing industry, which sort of makes my point above, doesn’t it? I know this just sounds like more bad news, but as mysterious as this industry is, it still pays to have our eyes open to its realities as much as possible. And now this is where I tell you something that sounds contradictory: ignore it.
Yes, representation in the publishing industry matters incredibly; it affects the books that are acquired, the authors that are paid attention to, the ideas that are accepted, the amount of marketing and comms budget offered, and even where the book is placed in the bookshop. It all matters.
For 2025, I’m proposing we find new ways to throw caution to the wind and move forward with purpose
But are you still just working on your story? Have you just finished your first manuscript? Did you just clinch a book deal that you’re excited about? Then bask in that feeling of achievement, be proud of yourself and your successes before you brace yourself for all the potential disappointment you may face when trying to navigate this industry. You can prepare yourself and enjoy the fact that your writing is going to be read by other people.
And don’t forget, you can be read in all kinds of ways.
Society of Authors calls for change to ’acknowledge all writers involved’ in celebrity-written books
Last year was chock full of celebrity books – some won the charts game, some were shortsighted in their expectations of success. But the bulk of them were written by professional ghostwriters; ones who might receive an acceptable sum for the work, but none of the accolades or recognition that naturally lead to more publishing deals in their future. You can’t become a well-known author if people don’t even know they’re reading your work, right? Which is why the Society of Authors would like that to change, and is requesting that ghostwriters get to come out of the shadows, and maybe even have their name appear somewhere on the book.
And I think this is a great first step in making 2025 the year of standing in your power and shouting about your work and your ability. No one else is going to do it better than you and, quite frankly, it is a waste of your time to wait for that. The reveal of ghostwriters should inspire you to also reveal a bit more about the work you do in the background; whether you’re copywriting, creating social content for someone else or even email marketing for an organisation in order to pay the bills, tell people about it! Let your secret writing help your public writing a bit more, especially if it could mean a financial boost.
I vote that we all be a bit braver in 2025 because, honestly, what have you got to lose?
