Chapter One | Writing Space

Finding the best place – Generally, I go to my writing room (my daughter’s old bedroom which has a view of the town. It does not have the view above, unfortunately, but it’s still nice). Sometimes I might have a change and write downstairs or outside if the weather is fine. I wish I had tried writing in different places for inspiration and I might do more of that in the future. But what’s practical for you? Is it quiet, comfortable and has everything you might need? Ideally, I see myself at my desk on top of a hill in a wooden cabin overlooking a lake and mountains. Or even at the bottom of a hill next to the water, like in the view above. Maybe when I’ve sold a million copies...

Finding the best time – Writing is generally portable and, unless you are writing to deadlines, is not time sensitive so it can be fitted in around other activities. Having such flexibility is great but when are you at your most creative? Be disciplined. I get up early at the same time as my wife and see it as a working day. I am a morning person so that’s a good time for me. You might not have the luxury of choice but, if you do, I recommend you block out time for when you want to do it.

Look after yourself – is your writing station good for your posture? You’re likely to spend a long time at it so get it right. Get up and move regularly if you can. Stretch, walk, exercise if possible. Get into good habits. You can ‘lose’ time when you are in the flow. Set an alarm for every hour, or more often, to remind yourself to move. Even if it breaks the flow, it’s worth it to keep you healthy. Believe me; I’ve learnt the hard way (bad back and neck).

Other interests. It might be that you have another job or other responsibilities around the house or elsewhere and you are squeezing in time to write. However, if you have devoted most of your time to writing, you might find you need other diversions. I find that if I’ve started writing around 7am or 8am, by about 3pm or 4pm I’m beginning to flag, even with breaks in that time. That leaves a lot of hours left in the day to do something else. Don’t get bored. You need to stay motivated and fresh for another day. I teach in primary schools an average of a day a week but I felt I still needed more to do on the other days. Voluntary work and extended family life has helped me fill that gap. Writing isn’t the only thing in my life, nor should it be.

Be realistic. Whatever your reasons for writing, whether just for pleasure or professionally, set yourself goals. It will help both in terms of motivating yourself and giving discipline to your writing. I enjoy writing but I would like to be published. Health warning... that’s really hard to achieve, particularly if you are trying to get published through a literary agent (see publishing section). They are clear that they receive of thousands of submissions, all of them from people, like me, who would like to get published. I did my research and knew that. The chances that it will happen might be slim but don’t give up! You never know... And don’t forget, if you are new to writing, it takes a lot of time and practice so be kind to yourself. Whatever your goals, they may not happen straight away – you have to stick at it. J.K. Rowling did.

Chapter Two | Publishing

You’ve written your book, now sit back, relax, have a coffee and wait for the agents and publishers to come knocking at the door...There is a lot of advice and information out there from much more experienced writers than me so do your research on how to publish. But I would like to share what I have learnt so far.

Literary Agents – If you want to go through a publisher then you need, these days, to get a literary agent. There are a lot of them and they all have existing clients and thousands more (like me) who want to be one of their clients. Most of them encourage new authors to submit to them, with that health warning that they receive a lot of submissions. They all give guidance on their sites about what you need to do. This is normally done via email and they ask for the following;

1. a covering letter in the body of the email

2. a synopsis attached which has to say everything that happens (tricky exercise trying to condense 90000 words down to 5 or 600!)

3. and the first 3 chapters or 5000 – 10000 words of your book.

The trick is to try to get them to open the attachments so your covering letter has to be well thought out and able to sell your concept. Then it is a question of whether they like what they read and whether it is something that is on their wish-list. Remember: they are taking the risk on you that your book will sell. There will not be any upfront costs for you – they and the publishers have to be willing to take the chance by investing in you (they will take their cut from sales). That is why your book has got to be a good fit for them.

Do your research into the agencies first to make sure they might be interested in your type of book and then look at the agent profiles to see which agent within the agency specifically might be attracted to it. If I had a magic tip on how to get them to read your work and take it on, I would give it. It’s hard and there is some luck involved, I suspect. But mainly your writing must be good and what they want at the time. Make sure your covering letter is professional (no spilling mistacks and it sense makes) and catches their attention. Most of all, be resilient – there will be rejections (and non-replies).

Self Publishing – There are two main routes: to pay for someone to do it for you or to publish online. You’ve written your book, now sit back, relax, have a coffee and wait for the agents and publishers to come knocking at the door...

Paying – Some companies will publish your book and then want to charge you for it. There is nothing wrong with that if that is a route you want to go down (some people call these companies ‘Vanity Publishers’, rather disparagingly, I feel, as for some people it might be a good choice). Some charge quite a lot and promise much so do your research to make sure it is what you want and are prepared to pay. I got a positive E-mail from one of these companies early on for my first book. I got very excited (naively) and told some of my family and friends I had a publisher. I was badly let down the following day when I found out they wanted to charge £2500. I felt cheated; it took away that first feeling I hope to get when I do get an offer from an agent or publisher who are prepared to take my book because they think it is good, can be successful and are prepared to take the risk.

Publishing online – This is what I’m doing with the first book I wrote – Quarton: The Bridge. Of course, I would love you to buy it, read it and enjoy it (and you can if you go to the go to the link on the home page). But it is far more involved than just simply inserting a link into a website and hope that people buy it, although that is one of the outlets (have you clicked on the link yet...?!) If you get an agent, publicity is one of the things they will do for you. If you are going down this route without one, then you effectively have to learn how to do two jobs: how to write something good and how to market and sell it. That is a disadvantage. The big advantage is that you get the bulk of the money from sales (less a small fee from Kindle or Amazon). There is a lot of advice out there. I will not provide you with loads of links because it is better to type ‘self publish on-line’ or similar into a search engine and then you can decide what links help you the most. Social media is the key here. For me, being in my fifties and not as comfortable with social media as some might be, it has been hard work. I did not use Facebook much, nor Twitter or Instagram (at all!). The world of sharing, likes, boosting, tagging is something alien. Setting up this website was a new experience. I suspect it can be done better and I hope will evolve and improve. But you need to do all this to get your book out there, as well as finding out which keywords to type in so that when someone buys a book on Kindle or similar, your book pops up. I suspect I have read a lot of books downloaded on Kindle based on this which are E-books and have never been in print. That shows it can be done but you need to research and find out how to do it (Ian Hornett – take note). What I would say is, just as you might ask family and friends to support you with your writing, do the same with e-publishing: ask for help. My daughter set up a public figure page www.facebook.com/ianmichaelhornett linked to my largely (then) unused personal Facebook account and a new email address Ianhornettofficial@gmail.com in less than 10 minutes. I didn’t even know there was such as thing as a public figure page! Then there is blogging. Lots of people do it and it’s another way to get your profile out there. I do have a major tip here though if you self publish without getting a professional edit: make sure it is grammatically correct and the punctuation is good. I am a teacher and errors jump out at me on other people’s work. It is harder sometimes to see it on your own, particularly if there are 90000 plus words. Which brings me nicely onto editing...

Chapter Three | Editing

There is a lot to be said for just writing on your first draft. Go with the flow, get it down on the page and see how it looks. For me, I always read back as I write – short sections at a time. It is something I have always done, even with emails and letters. I know of others who get it all down and then take a look or read back at the end of the day. Whatever suits you is the message, I would say.

There is a danger of ‘over-editing’ and sometimes you read it back and you go ‘word blind’ – meaning you are so familiar with it you would not spot the mistakes. I edit for two purposes, although sometimes they inevitably overlap. They are obvious really: I edit for grammar / punctuation and I edit for content and quality. My advice is to be clear what you are editing for and make sure your writing is the best it can be before you present for publishing or to agents. Poorly written writing is easy to reject, even if the concept and idea is the best ever.

And ask yourself this question: is it really better after the twelfth full edit?*

I had one of my books – Maggie Matheson: Back in Service – professionally edited. Grammar and punctuation was already good generally so Petra, someone who ran the writing course I went on, The Writers Company edited for content and structure. It cost several hundred pounds but it was worth it on two counts for me:

Firstly, it made it a better book. Petra suggested things I could take out, improve and tweak, making it clear it was my choice at the end of the day as it was my book. Having that independent critical look, on top of opinions and feedback from family and friends, was invaluable. I did a lot of what she suggested but not everything. It was a much better book by the time I had taken on board her feedback.

Secondly, I saw the edit as a development opportunity. I have been writing, more-or-less full time, for less than 2 years and I know I still have a lot to learn. I am a better writer now than I was when I started. I know that because I took a deep breath and did a rewrite of my first book – Quarton: The Bridge – and it is miles better now (I think so anyway). So I saw the money I paid for the edit as an investment in my future too. You can easily spend that sort of money on a writing course. I would recommend doing courses too, if you have the time and money – sharing ideas and learning the basics of writing does no harm at all.

* I did actually do 12 versions of my first book.

Chapter Four | Feedback

This is a piece I wrote as part of a creative writing course. The task was to try in a different style from your usual one. I opted to write in the second person so that ‘you’ is the subject. I also wanted to explore feelings but express them in a short, direct way. It ended up being a bit dark which surprised me! Hopefully, there is a touch of humour and irony that cuts through it. It was good fun. On my tutor’s advice, I entered it for a short story writing competition and got some constructive feedback from the judges. I changed a few things. Which one do you think is the original and which one is the edited version? Answer at the end.

The High-life – Version 01

You were named Boris, a cruel name to give a boy growing up in the 70s at the top of a tower block in the East End of London. ‘Boris’ might be fashionable now but it wasn’t then. You couldn’t get away from it, even in your lofty position. The constant teasing you received left scars on you that remained unhealed. That’s why you had to do it.

Your mother deserved it. you’ll never amount to anything,’ she said. ‘Who would want to marry you?’ she said. ‘Women are too good for you,’ she said. She was cruel. Cruel because she should have realised that you were damaged already. Her constant mockery of you – every vitriolic jibe, every disdainful look, every sarcastic reference to failed attempts at relationships, every page she teased you with in the ‘Lonely Hearts’ section of the local newspaper, every opportunity to belittle you in front of her friends, all of it – would eventually tip you over the edge. Or rather, tip her over the edge. You were sixteen floors up.

A low balcony rail and the story you pedalled that she had fallen off the wagon six months before did the trick. It turned out that she had fallen from something considerably higher than a wagon. When it happened, you were nowhere near the flat. A bit of dirt you had on an office colleague ensured your false alibi was backed up. You got off scot-free. The burning rage you felt was finally quenched and, now, at the top of your tower, you feel safe.

Alone but safe. Safe from hurt. Safe from ridicule. Safe from her. To start with, anyway. But it’s not enough and soon the rage erupts again. You need to dampen the fire that burns inside of you. You need a quest to prove her wrong. A quest for the perfect woman to show her that no woman is too good for you. A quest to heal the hurt. Discrete ads are placed in various places. ‘Handsome, middle aged man seeks attractive fun-loving woman. No strings attached. High-rise living a must!’ You leave your tower and visit other towers as you start to date.

But you still feel your mother there, always on your shoulder, criticising, telling you that you’re not good enough for them. You see her in them and you can’t help yourself. A spate of alcohol induced suicides and accidental deaths ensue in the area. Women perish, crushed after plummeting from their balconies. No strings attached – they die wishing there had been. Not so much high-rise living, more high-rise dying. All the while, you keep hoping the next one will be different... and not like your mother.

They always are, unfortunately for them. All of them vitriolic, disdainful, sarcastic, teasing you, belittling you, even when they’re not. They’re all a disappointment. You treat them well before you make them take the plunge. You woo them with expensive flowers, delicious chocolate, engaging chatter; sweet-eating and sweet-talking. They come and go and you find life has its ups and its downs. Mainly downs. You’ve gained confidence since you have killed. You are no longer the shy boy who was scoffed at, the spotty teenager who was shunned, the man suppressed by the dominant mother in the tower.

Nearly one year on from the first ‘accident’ you decide that the next woman that falls for you should fall for you from a special place. The occasion demands something unusual. This will be a date with a difference: a moonlit dinner for two with champagne, on the anniversary, at the top of the Shard. A stock market slump of the most deadly kind. You plan it with your usual thoroughness.

However, there is a surprise waiting for you because she is not at all like your mother. No more crushed hopes. No crushed dreams. No crushed bodies. The rage subsides and new emotions take hold. You change: you feel coyness as you talk; anticipation as you reach out your fingers and touch; tenderness as you kiss; humbleness that such a gorgeous woman would want you. You feel… love, yes love, as you embrace tightly. Then a toast: ‘To us.’ You feel dizzy with excitement.

Sick and dizzy. Something in the drink. And suddenly, your emotions change again: you feel pain as your arms are gripped; surprise as you are pushed back towards the balcony railing; shock as you over-balance; fear as you plummet 70 storeys down; curiosity before... ... disappointment as you, too, are crushed. Disappointment because you are wrong. You are wrong and your mother was right: women are far too good for you.

The High-life – Version 02

You were named Boris, a cruel name to give a boy growing up in the 70s at the top of a tower block in the East End of London. ‘Boris’ might be fashionable now but it wasn’t then. You couldn’t get away from it, even in your lofty position. The constant teasing you received left scars on you that remained unhealed. That’s why you had to do it

You had to do it. Your mother deserved it. ‘You’ll never amount to anything,’ she said. ‘Who would want to marry you?’ she said ‘Women are too good for you,’ she said. She was cruel.

Cruel because she should have realised that you were damaged already. Her constant mockery of you – every vitriolic jibe, every disdainful look, every sarcastic reference to failed attempts at relationships, every page she teased you with in the ‘Lonely Hearts’ section of the local newspaper, every opportunity to belittle you in front of her friends, all of it – would eventually tip you over the edge. Or rather, tip her over the edge. You were sixteen floors up.

You were sixteen floors up, a low balcony rail and the story you pedalled that she had fallen off the wagon six months before did the trick. It turned out that she had fallen from something considerably higher than a wagon. When it happened, you were nowhere near the flat.

You were nowhere near the flat. A bit of dirt you had on an office colleague ensured your false alibi was backed up. You got off scot-free. The burning rage you felt was finally quenched and, now, at the top of your tower, you feel safe.

You feel safe. Alone but safe. Safe from hurt. Safe from ridicule. Safe from her. To start with, anyway. But it’s not enough, you soon realise, and the rage rages again. You need to dampen the fire that burns inside of you. You need a quest.

You need a quest to prove her wrong. A quest for the perfect woman to show her that no woman is too good for you. A quest to heal the hurt. Discrete ads are placed in various places. ‘Handsome, middle aged man seeks attractive fun-loving woman. No strings attached. High-rise living a must!’ You leave your tower and visit other towers as you start to date.

You start to date but you still feel your mother there, always on your shoulder, criticising, telling you that you’re not good enough for them. You see your mother in them and you can’t help yourself. A spate of alcohol induced suicides and accidental deaths ensue in the area. Women perish, crushed after falling from their balconies – No strings attached – they die wishing there had been. Not so much high-rise living, more high-rise dying. All the while, you keep hoping the next one will be different... and not like your mother.

Not like your mother but they always are, even when they’re not. All of them vitriolic, disdainful, sarcastic, teasing you, belittling you, even when they’re not. They’re all a disappointment. You treat them well before you let them down. You woo them.

You woo them with expensive flowers, delicious chocolate, engaging chatter; sweet-eating and sweet-talking. They come and go and you find life has its ups and its downs.

Mainly downs. You’ve gained confidence since you have killed. You are no longer the shy boy.

You are no longer the shy boy who was scoffed at, the spotty teenager who was shunned, the man suppressed by the dominant mother in the tower. But, nearly one year on from the ‘accident’, you decide the next woman that falls for you, should fall for you from a special place. The occasion demands something different. This will be a special place and a special date, a moonlit dinner for two, on the anniversary, at the top of the Shard. A stock market slump of the most deadly kind. You plan it before you get there.

You get there but you are surprised. She is not like your mother. There will be no crushed hopes this time. No crushed dreams. No crushed bodies. You’re falling for her as you realise not all women are like your mother after all. The rage is subsiding.

The rage is subsiding and new emotions take hold. You feel coyness as you talk, anticipation as you reach out your fingers and touch, tenderness as you kiss, humbleness that such a gorgeous woman would want you. You feel… love, yes love, as you embrace tightly. You feel great…

You feel great! But then… everything changes. Starry-eyed love is replaced by starry-eyed confusion as she raises a malevolent eye-brow. There is pain as she grips your arms, surprise as you are pushed back towards the balcony railing, shock as you are tipped over the edge, fear as you plummet 70 storeys down and finally... disappointment before you are crushed. Disappointment because you are wrong.

Disappointment because you are wrong and your mother was right: women are far too good for you.

Which is the edited version? Answer: the first one. The judge’s main criticism was that he was not keen on the use of repetition at the end and start of paragraphs. I changed a few other things and made it a bit tighter. Which one do you think is better?

Chapter Five | Promotion

This section has got a health warning: Don’t read this if you’re expecting to learn the best way to promote yourself.

It’s not something I’ve been particularly good at, but I have some limited experience which I would like to share, if only as indications of things not to try! Some of you might identify with my attempts.

When I finished my first book, it was a big thing for me. Actually, it was quite a big thing for a lot of my family and friends. I didn’t personally know anyone who had written a book, and neither did my social group and work colleagues, it seemed. It was an achievement that I was very proud of and there was a part of me that wanted to sing that from the rooftops. Except I was never going to; it wasn’t in my nature, and it still isn’t.

But I soon realised that in order to sell books, you have to put yourself out there. Step out of your comfort zone – something we always encourage our children at school to do. 

I started small. The pest control man visited and I tried to sell him my book. It was never going to work, I found out later. My book has a reincarnation theme, a belief that does not sit comfortably with the religious teachings he, and the small group he was with, tried to convey when they knocked on my door a few weeks later. But it was a start. I had more luck at my dentist a few days after, and, of course, people that knew me were very kind and bought copies with very little persuasion.

Emboldened, I went on the offensive. With no market research whatsoever (and no clue) I printed off some slips of paper and handed them out at the railway station, thinking that for 99p, commuters would want to download a sci-fi e-book from someone they had never heard of. They didn’t, and I hated doing it. I was slightly more comfortable delivering the slips to people’s homes, but even then I lived in fear that someone might open their door as I was about to shove it through their letterbox. Next, I put up a sign on our front fence with a picture of the book cover and a link. Still no one bit. I pointed out the sign to a tradesman who was parked outside our house having a cigarette, joking to him that he must have chosen that spot to look at my advert. He laughed (ironically).

A friend from the writing group I had been to suggested a publicity stunt, of sorts. His idea was that I should visit every mainline station in London and leave a copy of my book on outward bound trains, with a note attached asking whoever picked it up to contact me to tell me how far away my books had travelled. We would generate a story around the activity.  It was a great idea. My son, Joe, and I had a wonderful day in London, bravely hopping on and off of trains leaving the books. We managed to get the local press (Colchester, not London) interested and there was a story printed, but this – indeed none of these things I’ve mentioned – generated any book sales of note.

At least I had tried, I told myself.

I realised – with some dread – that what I was lacking was a decent social media presence. 

In my ignorance, I posted on Facebook in those early days, expecting everyone I knew to bite my hand off, and then share my brilliant book with all their friends. This was going to be easy, I thought. Funnily enough, 200 friends is not a large enough base from which to quickly hit the million sales mark. I quickly learnt that not everyone a) sees your posts and b) even if they do, wants to buy or share your book. This foray into the technological wonders of the internet needed more thought. And more pluck, I realised, because I was going to need to plunge into the world of Twitter and Instagram. (Where, incidentally, I found out that I was not the only person who had written a book!)

I quickly built up a 2000+ following on Twitter by clicking on hashtags (#writingcommunity was a productive one). Surely, that was plenty? All I needed to do now was post about how good my book was and sales would soar! 

Wrong. 

I got very few responses (likes, comments, shares). I know now that you have to be much more subtle across all the platforms. People don’t always like to be told to buy products, unless they have voluntarily clicked on a link or post which is obviously trying to sell them something. You should sell yourself (and hence your books) through what you post about:  interesting things you do, have seen or heard; fun things other people have done; what you like and don’t like; what you read; funny things; sad things; attractive things (pictures on Instagram). Share, like and comment on other posts. It’s a slow build to get engagement, but you will get a following and your profile will increase. These were things I was not used to doing, were not things I necessarily wanted to do, but I learnt by watching what other authors posted. I’ve found that writers, particularly on Instagram, are very supportive.

Actually, now I quite enjoy using social media – it requires creativity and authors should have that, right? – but I still have a long way to go to building up a really good profile. 

I’ve also learnt a little about advertising on Facebook and Amazon which, actually, is much more directly about selling your book rather than the person. I’m more comfortable with that. (I won’t go into it here – I’ll leave that to people who are much more expert than I am. There are free courses available – Bryan Cohen’s was great – but they will want, understandably to sell you more of their services).

The other aspect about selling yourself –  making real-life public appearances – is even more terrifying than it on social media, as far as I’m concerned anyway.

I’m a teacher – put me in front of a class of primary school kids and I’ll sing, dance, tell jokes (they don’t get), even teach. I’ve been into local schools and delivered ‘Inspiration for Writing’ talks. These have gone down well and I’ve sold quite a few paperbacks through this method. Big tick – yes, this works (if you’re lucky enough, like I am, to have contacts that can get you past the front office).

Adult talks, for me, are a different matter because I’m terrified of public speaking.  But I’ve forced myself to have a go and, given the opportunity, I will do more. My contacts are not as strong here. If yours are, go for it. Offer to talk (for free, unless you think they will pay) about your experiences of being an author. Most people are not authors and they will be interested. Take your books along and mention that, if anyone would like signed copies, you happen to have a pen with you. Apart from being another step along the way to getting yourself known, signing books is a lovely boost to the ego.

I do have a small regret. I think, on occasions, I have been a little too pushy, particularly on WhatApp groups which, on reflection, were not the right place to sell books. I don’t think I’ve fallen out with anyone – at least, I hope not – but I soon learnt that the lack of responses to what I was putting on there was a hint that, maybe, I should have been more circumspect.

Self-publishing is not easy, but nor is running any business. And selling your own books is a business. With no business skills, you can feel alone, unsure, lost. As I said earlier – clueless. I have actually paid for some professional advice about book marketing. £75 for a call over Zoom is a small investment to be guided in, what I hope, is the right direction. There are plenty of people out there who I can pay to help, but I’m going to have to cost that up against the returns.

If I keep using words like that, I might even convince myself I know what I’m doing.