Publishing deal!

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I didn't expect to be writing a post like this so soon. If you'd asked me at the beginning of the year whether I saw a publishing deal in my near future, I'd have said "No way!" Then my agent sent my manuscript to new digital publisher Momentum, a division of Pan Macmillan Australia - and they liked it. And they offered me a deal for international digital publication. And I accepted.



This, my first completed novel, has been my first foray into the world of publishing - and I was willing for it to be my learning ground. Instead, after a nail-biting search which you can read about here, here and here, it gained me an agent back in 2010, and now a publisher, so I feel very very blessed.

We all know how fast things are changing in the world of publishing. That the digital share of the publishing pie is growing not just every year, but every quarter. That major bookselling chains both in this country, and internationally, have closed or drastically downsized in recent years. This scenario is frightening to many in the industry.

There are those who take a different view, however. Who see this as a time of unique opportunity. Because readers will always want stories, and writers will always want to provide them - regardless of the form that story takes.

For a writer who is unpublished, or at the beginning of their career, digital publishing provides unprecedented opportunities to enter the market and win a readership. And I don't just mean through self-publishing - though that's a path an increasing number of writers are choosing to take. Digital publishers are able to operate on a lower cost model, which means they can afford to publish many more debut authors. Authors like me. They can bring books to market faster too, as they're unfettered by print publishing's traditional publication schedules. They can offer them at competitive prices. And they can keep books available for purchase for years - with minimal additional outlay.

So instead of thinking about the portion of the reading market who won't be able to gain access to my book (unless I'm published in print at a later date), I'm focusing on the many millions of readers in the English-speaking world who will be able to. Those who are already consumers in the digital book market.

And I'm excited!

I'll be guest-posting at Rach Writes on Monday 28th May as part of her May series on Digital Publishing, so don't forget to visit me there next week!