Dear Emerging Authors,

Are you well? Are you staying cool in the too-hot heat of these summer days? I’d like to say I have something to help you cool off, to keep you going as you wade through the swell of activity coming from the publishing industry, but I haven’t lied to you in a year of writing this column, so I won’t start now.

July was a month of sweltering temperatures and temperaments, according to my in-depth review of The Bookseller articles this month. Which is usually what happens when it gets too hot on our little island; tempers flare, people misunderstand each other and someone risks heatstroke from getting too shouty about that thing they heard someone else say from somewhere over there.

It has been that kind of month, with "cancelled" people continuing to tell us they have been cancelled; (some) male authors making the Booker Prize list while simultaneously being pushed out of publishing; and AI steaming ahead in the book translation world, nuance be damned.

Since beginning this column, the publishing industry has been rapidly changing, with prize opportunities for new writers being offered on the one hand, and government legislation that does not protect creators on the other. It has felt difficult to see a path forward, though I have done my best to help you forge one where I can.

So, a year later, what do we know? What does life really look like as an emerging author in the UK?

Well, there are still people working in publishing trying to make change and more opportunity for the better.

Industry-wide event held at Carmelite House to "celebrate and connect people of colour"

Networks like THRIVE for Black, Asian, mixed-heritage and ethnically diverse staff in publishing are a good indication that platforms for change and inclusivity still exist. And if you have not heard it before, then it bears repeating; more voices at the decision-making table means more scope for ideas, more doors open for more writers with more stories. It is that simple. And it is worth keeping your eyes on the publishers supporting initiatives like this, especially where they practise what they preach and the books they publish reflect this. Whatever your value system, it is important to find your book a home that speaks to some of those same beliefs.

A year later, what do we know? What does life really look like as an emerging author in the UK? 

Of course, the thing about being an emerging author is that you might not yet be certain about where your book should land. As I said, the past year has been a rollercoaster of change; with rapidly advancing technologies and the rise of the "social media author", where going viral seems just as valuable as getting those first three chapters polished in order to get an agent/publisher/book deal.

But what if you did not have to worry about any of that, including your tiny social media following?

Extraordinary Books: not-for-profit publishing house founded

Enter Extraordinary Books – a new publisher dedicated to publishing books across genres based solely on the quality of the manuscript and not the "sellability" or pre-existing social media following of the author. They rely on an open submission process, a bank of volunteer editorial staff on hand to assess manuscripts and a commitment to a 50/50 royalty split between author and publisher.

It should not be as profound an idea as it is but, in fact, it is just a nod back to a simpler time. When becoming an author was about finishing the manuscript you spent many hard-fought months on, getting it to that "perfect" place, submitting it to a publisher, and then worrying about whether they would like it; not whether they would like you as a person, or whether a thousand other people you do not know also liked you as a person.

Emerging as an author in this day and age can at times feel insurmountable, trying to make it through, to meet that picture of the author’s life that you have had in your mind for years. But actually, despite my own cynicism and the constant battalion of news about the drop in reader rates and book deal scarcity, there is still a way to be an author today. You just need to be dynamic, keep your eyes open for new opportunities and picture it a little differently than it was when you were a child.

If you can do these things, then I think you will be okay, Emerging Author. Just do not quit your day job for it… not yet anyway.