‘In a gentle way, you can shake the world’
Mahatma Gandhi
I came across this quote when I was preparing to present for the UK Asian Film Festival Wembley Park's screening for Independence Day. Check my social media and YouTube channel for more.
It reflects what I feel about my work. When I first wrote about my experience, I was sure that a memoir wouldn’t be appropriate. After all, I’m not a famous broadcaster, presenter, blogger, or artist. Sure, I’ve won awards, I’ve had nominations, but when you work in television production, you have an entire group of people who work with you to create your work. It isn’t all about me, me, me it’s more us, us, us.
Then I looked into writing a self-help book, but that didn’t appeal either. I didn't want to give advice on a topic that is uniquely personal to everyone. My debut books are about grief and loss. How people cope with it differently, how the South Asian Community deals with it, or not, as is the case in many families.
I write stories; and what can be more gentle than to tell stories of our experience, of our lives, of our culture and of our families.
Nearly five years after the end of my working life has brought me to a new passion. I don’t have a master's in creative writing. I'm an ordinary wife and mother, someone who went to art college, who somehow got a job that I loved in TV production at the BBC, stumbled into teaching, retrained and became a secondary school teacher.
I tried the traditional route to publishing; I was ready to tout Where Have We Come again to agents. It was only on the advice of a friend that took me down the self publishing route. I read books, watched seminars, and joined associations. And here I am with three self-published books. It has been tough but fulfilling.
A year after publishing my debut duets, My Heart Sings Your Song and Where Have We Come, I’ve published Made in Heaven, out on 15th August 2021 and date that holds some significance, the date of India Independence from the British. If the Ratcliffe line hadn’t forced my father’s family out of Karachi into India. If they hadn’t joined my grandfather in East Africa. If my father hadn’t kept his British citizenship after Tanganyika’s Independence. If after relocating in India, he hadn’t felt out of place and come to England. I wouldn’t be here.
I write about growing up straddling multiple cultures, my heritage, my upbringing, my Britishness. There is something strengthening about people like my grandparents and parents. They had left their homeland to go to a foreign land, a pioneering class that moved around the world in the early part of the 20th century, and they packed up again and came to the United Kingdom. They embraced this country the way they had Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda and Zambia.
I’m really keen on telling their stories and stories of their children and grandchildren, people who don’t fit in with the forced marriages, migrant struggles, disheartened youths. I took part in a fantastic discussion - Twice Migrants with South Asian Heritage Month, the stories of East African Asians who came and settled here. More stories about us. If you know of anyone who wants to tell me their story, I’m creating an audio archive to make into a bigger project. Please contact me via my website.
Writing Life
It’s been awhile since I wrote about writing life and I thought I’d try to explain the difference between self-publishing and traditional publishing.
There is a misconception that self-published book; isn’t real, is a vanity project, is for people who can’t write well for traditional publishers, is too expensive, will never make you money, will ruin your chance of traditionally publishing, authors don’t write but market, lack finesse and are badly written.
Isn’t Real
Once Amazon introduced ebooks, the reality of publishing became accessible to everyone, rich or poor, niche or wide. 50% of paperback sales are through Amazon. The traditional bookstore is struggling like everything else on the high street. It’s this accessibility that makes it real for many authors.
Vanity Project
When authors couldn’t secure a contract with traditional publishing houses, some resorted to vanity press. They would have books printed in the hundreds and the authors were the sellers of their own books. Because of the rise of online bookstores and ebook formats, all indie authors have access to distribution of ebooks to Apple, Google play, Barnes and Noble, and Kobo. With new technology came Print on Demand, no need to hold stocks. No need for a vanity press. They still exist, so beware.
Can’t write
Just because an agent or publishing house hasn’t taken a liking to your book doesn’t mean it isn't good enough. That is far from the truth, traditional publishers are there to make money. Editors are in search of books that fit the niche they worked hard to create and market. They’ve built a reputation, so if your niche story doesn’t fit. They will not give you an advance and risk no income. Did you know The Martian by Andy Weir started life as a 99 cent ebook on Kindle? Fifty Shades of Grey also started as an ebook, and it was Erika’s social media followers and fan base that made her novels a success.
And as a self-published author, you can find your own market and get all the profit, not overheads or sharing of the royalties.
Too expensive
You no longer have to pay thousands of pounds to publish a print. Print on Demand means that printing is no longer costly. Creating ebooks is virtually free, as long as you have access to writing software and a computer. The major cost to you is formatting and cover design. Many tech savvy authors use software like Calibre, Vellum, Scrivener and Kindle Create for their books. Professional cover designers offer pre-designed covers that can be changed for a small amount of money. Editing is the biggest cost to new writers, but if you join a critiquing group, have writing partners and beta readers, it becomes cheaper. Marketing is my biggest bugbear, but not everyone's. Social media has really changed how publishing works, even traditionally published authors have to have a presence in social media.
Never makes you money
There are many self-published authors that make a decent living, and not all traditional authors make a vast amount of money. We saw the racial disparity in publishing houses' advances and income for minority authors in 2020. Authors from minority groups make even less in traditional publishing., here’s a link an article in The Guardian, when LL McKinney #PublisherPaidMe to highlight racial disparity
Self-publishing offers a higher rate of royalty sales 70% vs 10%.
Self-publishing provides a monthly income as opposed to twice a year.
Self-publishing allows a greater freedom in pricing and market for sales, not just the 12 week launch period.
Self-published authors can publish as fast and as often, getting a greater body of work out in a shorter time.
Ruin your chance of traditional publishing
If your book is selling like hotcakes, an agent will want to represent you and publishers will want to publish your next book. You have a fan base, and anything new from you will make them money. Many genre authors write faster than traditional publishers can publish, so use self-publishing too, a hybrid business model.
Don’t write, they market
Yes, successful self-published authors market a lot. They devote a large proportion of their time to marketing, appear in discussion panels, social media, book conferences, but traditionally published authors have to self promote too. New and mid-list authors need a social media presence, TV appearances and book tours are no longer provided by traditional publishers.
Lack finesse
Done right, no-one can tell if you're self-published or traditionally published. Gone are the days when self-published books had flimsy covers, no actual knowledge of typographic book design, and grammatical errors. Finding book editors, manuscript evaluations, book coaches is so much easier, with Reedsy, Fiverr, Alli, WFWA.
As to the credential of a book you can buy ISBN that you own, KDP, Ingram Spark, allow you to choose book sizes according to your genre, print on cream paper instead of white, choose hard covers, paperbacks and even have coloured inside covers. Ebook production allows you to publish with KDP, Apple books, Google Play, Barnes and Noble, Kobo. So much has progressed since the beginning of self-publishing. Self-published books look the same as traditional published books.
Deciding to self-publish or traditional publishing has many pros and cons, it's your choice. I won’t say it's easy, but it's worth it when you hold your paperback in your hand or you get a lovely review.