Why the slow burn matters more than the sell-out launch in small press publishing. Success is a slippery thing in indie publishing. If you ask a large publisher what success looks like, the answer is usually straightforward. Full market coverage from independent bookshops to online via the chains and the supermarkets. Copies sold and rights deals. Reviews in the big papers and celeb or two mentioning it on their podcast. A prize if everything aligns. There are numbers that ca

And Why They Matter Last week, in my post about poetry pamphlets, I mentioned standing at the back of launches counting chairs. I wasn’t being metaphorical. It’s real life. And maths. Not quite the maths I expected to be using when a teacher once promised I’d “need this later.” Thirty chairs out. Sixteen filled. A quick, silent debate about whether to remove the back row so the gaps don’t glare. Two people text to say they’re “just parking.” A group pauses at the door. Are th

I unapologetically love poetry pamphlets. Not because they’re small and therefore quaint. They aren’t inconsequential filler, nor half-hearted small fry knocked out to plug a gap in the schedule. For many independent presses, pamphlets are the lifeblood. They keep the conversation moving, allow new voices in. They create momentum. There isn’t much money in them. That’s the honest truth. A pamphlet costs almost as much to produce as a full collection once you factor in editing

People often ask me how to edit a poem. Usually in a slightly panicked way. As if editing poetry is a dark art that only reveals itself after years of suffering. I get it. Writing the poem is one thing. Editing it is another entirely. I’m a published poet and I edit poetry through Stewed Rhubarb Press. I read a lot of poems. I talk about poems all the time. And yet, despite all that, I still do every single thing I’m about to mention in my own drafts. My own editor will happi

I sometimes think that being a writer requires the patience of a bonsai enthusiast, the endurance of past runrig crofters, and the optimism of someone who plants a seed and fully believes it will become a oak by Tuesday. let’s face it, the amount of happy seedlings my kids have brought home through Primary school only for me to enthusiastically over water them or neglectfully forget to water them again. I failed every sunflower. Feral the Elder’s strawberries live only becaus

Almost every day, I walk my lovely labradoodle, Fidra, along the canal near where I live. It’s an ordinary enough route: down the path behind the house, down the hill, over the bridge, and onto the familiar stretch of towpath that curves like a thought I’ve traced a thousand times. But it’s never the same walk. The seasons keep rewriting it. In late summer, the light grows thick and golden, dripping through the trees like syrup poured from a jug. Soon it will be winter, the w

✏️ Between Worlds I moved from Spain to the UK two days before my eighteenth birthday, carrying a big old red suitcase and a brown canvas shoulder bag. Inside: about twenty cassette tapes, a book, and not much else. I’d forgotten to pack a towel, so the first thing I bought was a soft blue one that cost more than it should have. I remember feeling very proud of it, and then, almost immediately, very homesick. Like my notebooks from back then, I still have it, in all its old t

Autumn is always when I turn back to long form. There’s a stillness in these months that draws me in: a sense of contraction and...

I’ve been quiet on my blog for a few months because alongside the day job - I'm a freelance copywriter, publicist, events organiser and...

As a writer and freelancer in the literary world, I am very fortunate to be able to set my own hours, though this is not without...

Did you know that writing can help to improve your mental health? It’s true. In this blog post, I am going to tell you a bit about...

Do you want to write a novel? Get it done in ten steps! It’s the Easter break, and once more I am juggling the kids and work, though I am...

I love my writing groups. Joining a writing group is arguably the single best step I have taken in my writing career. There are so many...

My writing project folder is fit to burst and I am struggling to settle into one. It's time for a declutter. I'm going to take you...

Since becoming a published author, I have often been asked if that had always been my life plan. The answer is both yes and no! I have...

Should I label myself as a “writing mother”? Is it a real category? Does being a mother affect my writing? Does it matter in my writing...

Hello fellow writer! Whether you write regularly or not, are published or not, if you have the writing bug, you’re a writer. However, as...

How reviewing my past successes allows me to get the year off to a flying start - for my health and in my writing The week started with...

I love Christmas. I find the autumn to winter celebrations in the northern hemisphere fascinating. We move from Halloween, the Día de los...

Mmm. This article https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/dec/11/children-authors-kids-non-celebrity-book-christmas is certainly worth a...