“I could have given up then, or when my agent folded, or when my babies were killing me with exhaustion…but I didn’t.”
Getting published isn’t straightforward, says novelist NJ Simmonds, but it’s the bends in the road that make the journey more interesting.
I’ve always wanted to be an author. Not to the point where I actually tried to be a writer; I didn’t study English Lit at university or spend my evenings writing fan fiction, but it was there deep inside my soul. Since the age of six – when my father would draw me pictures and I would accompany each one with a short story – right through to my thirties I wrote secretly. Just for me.
But it wasn’t until the birth of my second child, while smothered in a post-partum cocoon of foggy uncertainty, that I wondered about maybe writing a book. The doctor told me I had post-natal depression, my mother told me I was stressed, Google told me I was severely sleep-deprived – yet instead of doing less I escaped to a world inside my head. A story began to form. Two years later my third baby was born – The Path Keeper. My first book and the start of my fantasy trilogy.
Some may think the story ends there, but every savvy reader knows that this is merely the enticing prologue.
This is the real story:
When I wrote my first book, I knew nothing about the publishing industry. My friend was a literary agent. She read The Path Keeper and loved it, then offered to represent it. She said she could get it published and I shrugged and said ‘OK, why not?’ I didn’t query it with anyone else!
Eight months later, after lots of interest but no bites, my friend packed up her agency. Then two weeks after a small UK publisher made me an offer! I should have found another agent before signing. I wish I had.
The Path Keeper came out in 2017 and I was strangely underwhelmed. I thought all books got lots of attention. See? I still knew nothing. But I had a queue out the door for my first Waterstones signing and a bit of press coverage, so it wasn’t all bad.
Then the second disaster struck – my publisher was dropping my genre and had no intention of continuing the series. Three months after launch I pulled my book and my potential readers were left with no book to buy. It no longer existed.
Nine months of hell followed while I looked for an agent or publisher who would take on the series (now two books fully written). I could have given up then, or when my agent folded, or when my babies were killing me with exhaustion…but I didn’t.
Eventually I secured not only a new publisher but the wonderful BHC Press in the US. In 2019 they re-released my debut with a new cover and in hardback! Now, three years after my huge roadblock and six years after I decided to first write a book, the sequel SON OF SECRETS hits the shops 28th May…in the midst of an international pandemic.
Oh well, you have to laugh.
N J Simmonds writes speculative fiction and is the author of fantasy series The Indigo Chronicles. Her books are magical and historical, full of complex women, page-turning twists and plenty of romance. N J Simmonds began her career in glossy magazines, then went on to run her own marketing consultancy and lecture at unis on storytelling and self-branding. Originally from London, she now lives with her family in the Netherlands.
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How to become Unstoppable: Author N J Simmonds