Writing a best-seller

David Tomlinson

As one who has always written to make a living, I always listen with interest when people are rude about Jeffery Archer’s books. They may not be literary masterpieces, but they have been hugely successful, and I would have been delighted to write any of them. Only a small majority of the thousands of books published annually in this country ever make their author any money, and my income has always come from magazine articles rather than the few books I have been involved in. However, I’m quite proud of the fact that my name does appear on the cover of a bestseller: Britain ’ s Butterflies, A field guide to the butterflies of Britain and Ireland, published by WILDGuides.

Like so many things in life, I came to write it by chance. A pal of mine, David Tipling, was running a photo library, and had been working with WILDGuides on various projects. He heard that there was a butterfly book being planned, but that an author was needed. Knowing my enthusiasm for butterflies, he put my name forward. Writing the text for the 60 or so species that occur in the British Isles seemed a pretty straightforward task, and I didn’t think it would take very long. The aim of the book was to support Butterfly Conservation, so when my authorship was agreed, I decided to simply charge a modest fee £1200) for my time, with no subsequent royalties. Unfortunately I had badly misjudged quite how much work was required, and I’ ve no doubt that my financial reward, if costed by the hour, would have fallen well short of the statutory minimum wage. I do recall thinking that I had completed the text, but found that I had forgotten the Black Hairstreak, so with a groan I had to go back to work. I must also admit that despite my enthusiasm for butterflies, I don’t pretend to be a butterfly expert. I had seen the great majority of the butterflies on the British list, but my real depth of knowledge is with birds, not butterflies.

However, as a professional writer I’m well practised at finding and putting together the information I need, though I can’t recall using the Internet at all in the research – it was 10 years ago. I have got a good reference library of butterfly books, which I made extensive use of. I was pretty confident that my text was accurate and informative, and before publication it was read through, improved and corrected by staff at Butterfly Conservation. The amusing result of this was that I could read through my own book and learn things I was unaware of.

The main attraction of the finished book wasn’t my text but the clever use of photographs to illustrate it, and I’ ve no doubt that this was why it sold so well. However, having written a best-seller, I did meet people who assumed I had expertise with butterflies that I have never claimed. Rob Parker has never admitted it, but I’m sure that his pleasure in finding I had moved to Suffolk was diminished somewhat when he discovered that I wasn’t quite the expert