reaching out from across the Atlantic
| The Independent Gay Writer is
proud to feature a new publisher to American readers. Several weeks ago Sara sent me an email asking if I would be interested in perusing some of Wayward's titles for possible review. I went to Wayward Books website, looked around, and came away with the notion that readers who like a good mystery, a little suspense, mixed with gay themes might enjoy the offerings of this publisher. I then wrote to those gracious book reviewers who have been regular contributors to see if they would contact the publisher and offer to receive the titles. Tony Heyes from England came through and his review of Paper Flowers is elsewhere in this issue. Lori L. Lake, a regular reviewer and herself a published writer of suspenseful lesbian novels, also offered to read for Wayward Books. Look for her reviews in subsequent issues of IGW.
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Small, but beautifully
formed … Wayward Books began during a conversation with a friend in an hotel room in Chicago when we discovered we both had this same wonderful idea …  It was actually more of a pipe-dream – this idea of starting a gay publishing house – but as we talked, we began to think we really might be able to do it. We agreed immediately that we would sell via the internet and then spent months trying to find a name for our new company. I would send her a list of possibles. She would veto 90% of them and find the other 10% were already being used. I cannot, now, remember how we finally decided on Wayward, but it was a great relief when we did. My friend then dealt with the internet side of things – domain names and the like (I was a wide-eyed stranger to such things) and then she started to set up the website. I, meantime, started filling in forms - for ISBN numbers, VAT, getting us registered to take credit cards. Lots and lots of forms. Yards of information. I talked to authors I knew who might be interested in submitting mss, looked at artwork for covers, talked to the bank, to accountants, and to solicitors. As the months rolled on, we began to get closer and closer. Then came the first real setback. My friend decided she could not give Wayward the commitment it needed and decided to pull out, although she did set up the website for me. At that point I had to make a decision whether to go on without her or forget the whole idea. I consulted with family and friends but, in reality, I had already made up my mind. We had gone too far for me to give up now. So, after struggling with pdf files and jpegs and with the help of the printers, the cover designers and sundry other people, the first book was finally ready for delivery. As I stood in the rain outside the storage facility which was my new warehouse, I felt a moment of pride. This did not last long. When the van arrived with my books, all shrink wrapped in packs of 20, and I realised I had to lift them off the van, get them onto a small flat bed truck, wheel them into the lock-up and then unload them again – I felt the need to lie down before I had even started! Fortunately one of the managers of the facility saw that my jaw was down to my knees, worked out what the problem was and called for help. The lock-up staff and the van driver shifted the lot between them while I – well, I’m ashamed to say I sat in the office with a cup of tea, getting over the shock of it all. Those good-natured people had my everlasting thanks and from then on, whenever a book was to be delivered, I took the strong sons of a friend with me. So – what made me think I could run a publishing house? Well, I had most of the necessary skills. I am a published author, I have edited the work of others in an amateur capacity for some years, I am qualified both as a secretary and as an accounts manager and I’m a good organiser. My only weakness was in actual selling/marketing, and I thought the internet would solve that problem. It didn’t. Not really.
In the early days, the market research we were able to do indicated we should be able to manage on internet sales alone. This has not proved to be the case. We advertised as far as our cash would allow, added ourselves to search engines, ran leaflet drops, did everything we can think of, and still sales are far below what we had hoped. About a year ago, metaphorically throwing up my hands, I tried to find a company to represent Wayward to the bookshops in Britain. Impossible. We are too small and too specialised. Chains of bookstores such as W.H.Smith won’t entertain the idea of dealing with a small company direct and others, such as Ottakars, have just ignored samples and letters sent to them. Only one shop in Britain – Gay’s The Word in Marchmont Street, London – are stocking Wayward books, and the manager there has been so kind and helpful that I am unashamedly giving their address for anyone who may read this and not know about them. It’s a terrific shop! A store in Germany is also stocking the books – but that’s all. When I say that Wayward is a small publishing house – that is exactly what I mean. I pay people to help me as and when I need it. There is Sylvia who handles some of the paperwork side of things, does book packing when I need it, and makes me endless cups of tea. There is Sue who sorts out the website for me – sometimes with a book on html in one hand – and there is Carol who does the line checking of the final draft of each novel and has an incredible eye for spotting the tiniest error. With one exception, all Wayward’s authors (one Canadian, one American and one Australian with the rest being British) are publishing for the first time. As a writer myself, I was determined to make this experience as pleasant as possible since my own experience with publishing houses has been less than stellar. I actually gave up writing in the end after having three editors in twelve months, all of them giving me differing guidelines. I had a foam rubber ‘frustration brick’ which I used to throw at the furniture – it saved me tearing up letters from my publisher and having to stick them back together again. So while, obviously, it is Wayward’s intention to produce novels which people are going to read and enjoy and recommend to their friends, I am also keen to make sure that the writers are treated with courtesy, and to involve them in the process of seeing their book published. However, sadly, in the end it all boils down to money. Wayward is keeping its head above water by generating enough cash flow to pay the bills (warehousing, domain, stationery, paying royalties, annual fees etc), but the struggle to make enough money to pay for another book is proving very difficult. So far the whole thing has been financed by me, as proprietor of the company, and this has kept Wayward safe since no bank is breathing down my neck. My bank would love to lend me money, but so far I have smacked it on the nose and told it to get back in its kennel. However, there comes a time when maybe a gamble will have to be taken, and this is something I am thinking about at the moment as I shall have a new book ready for publication at the beginning of next year. Is it all worth it? Yes. It is. The money bothers me (but then money bothers most people at some time in their lives), I have this recurring nightmare that I am going to open a brand new book and see a spelling error on the first page – I check obsessively over and over before sending the mss to the printer – and I worry that Wayward is not as successful as I hoped it would be. However, to hold a brand new Wayward book in my hands is a terrific feeling, and having someone email the company to say how much they have enjoyed a particular novel gives me, and the author, a great thrill. Yes, it’s worth it. S.Slinn Wayward Books www.waywardbooks.com |
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