It is my pleasure to welcome back to the blog my friend and fellow author, Michelle Cook. Michelle writes dystopian fiction and I'm grateful to her for sharing her experiences of the world of publishing here.
Full disclosure: I haven’t written much lately. Not fiction, anyway. With a world in turmoil, I’ve been too distracted by wars, elections and the divisive, bile-crusted bear pit that is social media. And whilst I’ve been working as a citizen journalist on West England Bylines for a year or so, my current urban fantasy novel has been left rather neglected.
Can I even still call myself a novelist, I wonder? Rhetorical question, but it feels good to get it out there.
Things took another turn back in April, when my publisher, Darkstroke, announced it was due to close in the autumn. This meant my first two novels would no longer have a home. It was a tricky time for all of us authors, thrown back into the anxiety and self-doubt of the submission trenches. You’ll understand by now I’m not a prolific writer and so I’d quite forgotten the necessary art of the synopsis and query letter. Not to mention the dreaded ‘comps’ (comparisons with existing works of fiction to aid placement in the market).
Going back to the beginning to find a new publisher was a daunting prospect. Yet again, I was just a girl, standing in front of an editor, asking them to validate her innermost thoughts and dreams.
The idea of a crash course in the alternative of self-publishing was no more appealing. Having directly published my 11-year-old’s Animal Crossing themed book last year on Amazon, I live in fear of ever having to format an e-book again. Not for the faint-hearted, I can tell you.
I’m so fortunate to be part of a wonderful, talented, and supportive community of writers, however. We erstwhile Darkstroke stablemates have been through the bewilderment, disappointment and hope together. Since we heard the news, some have found a new publisher. The bravest souls have decided to go it alone and self-publish. Others are still weighing up options and making plans. Why not? We have time. Talent and a good story will always out in the end.
As for me, I count myself astronomically lucky to have found SpellBound Books, who have agreed to publish my eco-thriller duology Tipping Point and Counterpoint in 2025. I am so grateful to Sumaira at Spellbound for ‘getting’ my dark little story of hope from despair. I can’t wait to plunge back into the adventure of getting it ready to reemerge in the world. This nerv-itement reminds me why I started writing in the first place.
And let’s face it: Only a fool would fail to use this stroke of luck as a catalyst to kick start her novel-writing once again. Time to put down Twitter and get cracking, Chelle.
Tipping Point is still available to buy until 1st September but will return in spring 2025 published by Spellbound Books. https://mybook.to/tippingpoint.
Find Michelle online via michellecookwriter | Twitter, Instagram, Facebook | Linktree
The Author
Michelle Cook writes thrillers and dystopian fiction. She lives in Worcestershire, UK with her husband and their two young children.
Her first joyful steps into creative writing were at the age of ten, when the teacher read out her short story in class. A slapstick tale of two talking kangaroos breaking out of a zoo, the work was sadly lost to history. Still, Michelle never forgot the buzz of others enjoying her words.
More recently, she has had several flash pieces published, was longlisted for the Cambridge Prize for flash fiction, and placed first in the Writers’ Forum competition with her short story The Truth About Cherry House. Her debut novel, Tipping Point, was a finalist in the 2022 Page Turner Awards and will be published by SpellBound Books Ltd in 2025.
Counterpoint, the sequel to Tipping Point, is her second novel.
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