20 things I've learnt in twenty years of publishing
Twenty years ago this week I got the phone call that changed my life. Daddy’s Girls, the book I had been working on in my spare time had just been sold, not just to the publishing house that I just to walk past every day when I first moved to London and didn’t even have a home (I had to sofa-surf for almost an entire summer until I joined a house-share in North London,) but sold in the sort of deal I dreamt of.
A lot has happened since 2005.
I’ve had multiple six and seven figure book deals.
Written over 20 books.
Had nine books on the Sunday Times bestsellers list.
Seen three books also hit international bestsellers lists.
Sold over 1.5m books
Had my books translated into over 20 languages
Changed agents
Changed publishers
Written under a pen name and sold the film rights to Sony for six figures within 48 hours of the book being read.
Been on TV. And radio, in the name of promotion. Even Graham Norton’s Radio 2 show!
Had my books plastered on the side of taxis and a giant poster at Waterloo Station
Been a question - and an answer - on the Hungarian version of The Million Dollar Drop
Had my books optioned for TV. And not developed.
Had my advance slashed by over 60%
Been dropped by the supermarkets
Had a book stuck in the publishing process for nearly 18 months and had no money coming in
Self published my backlist into the USA
Set up my own publishing imprint and published seven front-list Tasmina Perry books.
Made a mid-six figures doing the above
Suffered burn-out
Launched a literary retreat business
Started a Substack
Sold TV rights to a vampire series I co-wrote with my husband - fifteen years after the books came out
Twenty years of ups, downs, successes and failures and it’s taught me a few things. Being an author, being able to make money from the stories in your head, the words you get down on the page, is just about one of the most exciting, rewarding and creatively satisfying career out there - it’s why so many people want to do it. But it’s hard, really hard, to make it a full-time job and there are all sorts of hazards along the way.
So here are some things I would have done differently and some things I recognise now, were key in helping me have a successful twenty year long career.