One Year On Update!
Can you believe it’s been a whole year since THE DARK WITHIN US hit the UK shelves?!
I’m not sure I can, which is odd since it allegedly all happened to me.
Just in case there are any aspiring trad-pubbed authors reading this, let me just say up front: in most ways that matter, my life looks remarkably the same as it did before I got my publishing deal. I still have the same day job, I still live in the same flat. I did get to go on a nice cruise to Norway and Denmark I wouldn’t have been able to afford otherwise, and that was genuinely amazing!
Sales of THE DARK WITHIN US haven’t been terrible, although I don’t think they’ve set the world on fire either. Despite more than once ending up on Amazon top ten lists, that has mostly been when Amazon discounted my book, so as far as I know, I haven’t yet paid back my £7,500 advance. My publisher so far hasn’t sold audiobook rights or any international rights, partly because my book wasn’t a ‘lead title,’ so it hasn’t had quite as much marketing as other books that came out at a similar time, and partly because frankly lots of teenagers in other countries read perfectly well in English, so they don’t need a translated edition.
And to be clear, absolutely NONE of that is a complaint! Just because I’m not a number one Sunday Times bestseller doesn’t mean loads of people haven’t read a book I wrote (more than a thousand, by my rough estimate), and that’s so COOL and STRANGE! I wouldn’t have got this deal at all without the Times Chicken House competition, and I’m really grateful to the judges and the entire publishing team at Chicken House, not to mention my agent, Louise, who is an excellent cheerleader and is currently helping me to work on what’s next.
There has been a bunch of incredibly cool stuff that’s happened too, like:
Book signings and events!
Meeting readers!
Going international! (If you’re in the Oslo area, there’s an English-language copy for loan at the Deichman Library)
Making new friends!
Winning a school-based award! (I won the James Baines book award, which is voted for by students at the school - and that means so much, because that means the kind of young people I wrote the book for read it and liked it. THANK YOU.)
Also, there’s the fact that I just love everything about this book. I got so lucky with the cover design (by Micaela Alcaino, who is a total delight), and that makes SUCH a difference. I still feel like my book stands out on shelves and tables, just because of Micaela’s gorgeous artwork. I’ll never not be grateful for that.
Also, it’s not over yet.
I’m currently running a giveaway of a hand-annotated copy to celebrate a year of publication, and in September, I’ve got some school visits organised because I genuinely love working with teenagers. Honestly, one of the best things I got to do last year was run a workshop for SASH, the youth homelessness charity I used to host for.
And after that?
I’ve written two whole, brand new books. They’re not set in the same universe, so I’m sorry to anyone who wanted to know what comes next for Jenny, Luc and Zillah. I had ideas for another two books in this world, following Dante’s Purgatorio and Paradiso, but Chicken House didn’t think it was worth pursuing, so I’ve instead turned my imagination in some other directions that I’m really excited about.
I’m hoping that before too long I’ll have news on that front, so I’ll keep you posted…