WRITERS’ NEWS
UK MULTICULTURAL MARKET A growing book tree BY TINA JACKSON
Jacaranda is a Londonbased independent publishing diverse books that give voice to the experiences of multi-cultural British life. ‘I’ve always been really interested in the world of literature and publishing – I’m a Hackney girl but I used to read The Bookseller long before I worked in publishing,’ said founder Valerie Brandes. ‘My family lived in California when my daughter was growing up, and when we came back to England I did a masters in publishing studies, and I won the Publishing Training Centre Diversity Award. I couldn’t find a job, though, and so I worked at Profile Books for a year as office manager – but even though it was my dream publishing company, I didn’t want to be an office manager forever.’ Inspired by the reading that had enlightened her in her youth, Valerie launched Jacaranda. ‘Back in the 1980s, it was a high time for new voices, with Virago and The Women’s Press, and those African American authors just opened up the world for me,’ she said. ‘And if that was the case then, it had to be the case now, and I wanted to see if I could discover some of those voices. I just knew they were out there.’ She wanted to publish books that dismantled easy stereotypes. ‘The conversation round any issues of race has deteriorated – the only stories we are hearing are about gangsters, things that are just a minute aspect of life for black people. I knew that was not the only story we had to tell.’ Valerie launched Jacaranda in 2012. ‘Fashion Africa was my first book, and I thought, there we go.’ Jacaranda has now published fourteen titles, including commercial women’s fiction, ambitious literary fiction, biography, short stories and crime. ‘We’re a generalist publisher,’ said Valerie. ‘I’m a black woman and people assume we publish black books, and I do, some, but I also just publish books that I like. We’re open. We get sent more African and Caribbean books but if I have a preference it’s the UK aspect. We’re British – we want to see those stories, the flavour of who we are. It’s that intersection of cultures.’ The hallmark of a Jacaranda book isn’t its theme or subject, but the quality of its writing. ‘We publish diverse books but I have to love the writing.’ Valerie is delighted to be approached by prospective authors. ‘I’m 100% open to new writers. The idea is that we help launch the author’s careers. It’s a process – a conversation, and a relationship. We work really hard to make a book find its audience. We’re looking at publishing ten books a year, and we’d like to grown to be a mid-range publisher.’ Send the standard three chapters, a synopsis, an author background and information about any kind of platform Jacaranda could key into for publicity. Jacaranda publishes in print and digital formats and pays an advance and royalties. Details: email: office@jacarandabooksartmusic. co.uk; website: www.jacarandabooksartmusic.co.uk
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And another thing... ‘Is anyone not writing YA at the moment? What started out as a “how can we market these books that don’t quite sit in children’s but aren’t really adult either” exercise has grown into a quiet revolution in publishing: an explosion in book sales (150% increase over the past few years) at a time when bookselling is struggling. There are now hundreds (probably thousands, if we’re including all those who are currently scribbling) of YA writers, including a number of bestselling adult authors who have recently seen the light and started channelling their inner teenager (in the same way that their adult readers are also hovering around the YA shelves in search of books that deliver fabulous page-turning plots). ‘Because it’s not just about growth in book sales. The truth of the matter is that writing for young adults is, for many authors, simply more rewarding than writing for adults.’ Gemma Malley, director of communications at BookTrust and author of seven YA novels, in The Bookseller ‘It is only when you open your veins and bleed onto the page a little that you establish contact with your reader. If you do not believe in the characters or the story you are doing at that moment with all your mind, strength, and will, if you don’t feel joy and excitement while writing it, then you’re wasting good white paper, even if it sells, because there are other ways in which a writer can bring in the rent money besides writing bad or phony stories.’ Paul Gallico ‘Swoopers write a story quickly, higgledypiggledy, crinkum-crankum, any which way. Then they go over it again painstakingly, fixing everything that is just plain awful or doesn’t work. Bashers go one sentence at a time, getting it exactly right before they go on to the next one. When they’re done they’re done.’ Kurt Vonnegut ‘An author’s website is part of her author brand, so don’t let the content get stale, especially on the homepage, which is often a visitor’s first port of call. Keep the content fresh with latest new or upcoming events. If a reviewer has just said something praiseworthy, pop that onto the homepage. At the very least, Midge Raymond [cofounder of Oregon-based independent publishing house Ashland Creek Press and author of Everyday Book Marketing] updates the date at the corner of her site weekly so it’s clear “that there’s a living, breathing author behind the site”. ‘The last thing you want a visitor to think upon hitting your site is, “This thing doesn’t look like it’s been updated since 1992.”’ Allison Schiff, Publishers News OCTOBER 2015
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