It’s nice to have the opportunity to share your expertise every once in a while. And last Thursday, that’s just what Ignite Books did.
We may only have been up and running for three years, but underpinning that are two lives spent working outside the (relative) security of 9-5, and in the world of touring and bands. There, you’re only as good as your reputation and your last job, and grafting hard is a given. Anyone interested in writing or publishing, take note: these are highly transferable attributes.
And in the three years since we set up, we’ve learnt an incredible amount. Certainly more than it was possible to squeeze into our ninety-minute seminar and discussion with a group of students from QMU – although we gave it a good go. Hopefully they now have an idea of just how much is involved in publishing before you ever get close to printing your first book. Equally hopefully, they’re not in the slightest deterred.
Our first publication was Joolz Denby’s “The Curious Mystery…”(a wonderful novella, and one that’s well worth getting your hands on if you haven’t already), but before we got anywhere near producing it we’d done our research, we’d got a business plan together, we’d made contacts, and we’d networked furiously. No, not furiously. Scratch that. We didn’t network furiously at all. Rather, we gently and respectfully picked the brains of people who were generous enough to share their knowledge. And in doing so we learnt a very great deal about the various aspects of the publishing industry. We were pointed in the direction of trustworthy printers who would deliver high quality work in good time. We were given tips about what software to use, and insights into at least some of the intricacies of typesetting. Above all, wise heads encouraged us on our way, welcomed us into the world of publishing, and told us we’d find the whole thing hopelessly addictive.
Three years on, we can confirm they were absolutely right about that. Ignite caught the publishing bug right away. There’s nothing quite like the satisfaction of seeing people buy the books you’ve helped create, of hearing their response to stories which might otherwise have gone untold, and – every bit as importantly – of playing a part in allowing authors the opportunity to earn some money from their talent and their labour.
So to sit in front of a group of students last week and explain to them how exciting and interesting we find our work, and how much we enjoy all the graft that comes with it, was something of an honour. It allowed us to reflect on how far we’ve come in these past three years. It allowed us to share our knowledge. And in doing that, it allowed us – in a small way – to begin to repay the debt we owe the people who were so generous in sharing their knowledge with us when we set out.
All in all, a good day last Thursday. And if we’ve done our job properly, it might just be worth watching out for an explosion of publishing and new writing centred on east London.