Indie Spotlight is Siobhan Daiko’s monthly column on self-publishing. This month Siobhan
offers a platform to indie author Tabby
Stirling.
Tabby now lives in Scotland with her husband, two
children and a beagle, but she was previously an expat in Singapore. She has
had several flash and short stories published in Spelk fiction, Camroc Fiction
Press, Literary Orphans, Mslexia and others.
Tabby recently signed with Unbound, a UK-based literary crowdfunding
publisher, for her novel Blood on the
Banana Leaf. This shines a light on the
maid abuse that came to her attention whilst she was living in Singapore. It
explores how women cope in the most demeaning of circumstances.
Over to Tabby…
A ragged, thin Myanmar girl gripped my hand through the
fence and sobbed repeatedly, “chei-zu tin-bar-te” (thank you). I had done nothing for her except to say
hello and smile. This was my emotional introduction to the difficulties too
often faced by maids in Singapore.
Most people ignore the maids’ problems. Over time pampered living seems to blinker
even expat eyes to the huge divide between helper and employer. Perfectly
“nice” Western families forget their maid’s birthday or exclaim that their
helper hasn’t seen her children for 2 years, but resent contractual obligations to pay for her to return home.
Sometimes maids walk 3 paces behind their employer, carrying
all the shopping. Sometimes employers deny these vulnerable woman days off for
months. Sometimes employers smack their maids, or humiliate them, or ration
their food. When I was living in
Singapore, I helped where I could: vitamin tablets; hugs; phone calls home;
extra food. When I returned to Scotland, I decided to write a book highlighting
the treatment of maids. Writing is what I do. It’s my talent. And I thought:
just do it! Write it. Get it out there. Tell their stories. Give them some
acknowledgement. Something. Anything.
Fast forward two years and I am now a signed with Unbound, a
literary crowdfunding publisher, although, for editorial quality control, publication
of my novel is only guaranteed if I raise just over GBP 10,000 in pledges.
Unbound was founded by three writers: Dan Kieran, Justin
Pollard & John Mitchinson who believed there should be a publishing model
that promoted the best writing, and was not bound by the genre of the book.
Most importantly, Unbound offer to help writers place their
books into readers’ hands quickly, without having to wait for an agent to sell it
first to an established house.
Moreover, Unbound offers a distribution deal with Penguin
Random House, for physical copies of books. Like other publishing houses, they
have a tough submissions process and they recently managed to attach the
indomitable Scott Pack to the business – he is the ex-buyer of the UK-based
book chain, Waterstones, and a real powerhouse in the industry in the UK.
It is exceptionally hard for a writer to find a traditional
publisher in the current climate. Quality is often overlooked in the hunt for
sales. So it is now imperative that writers have more than one road towards
traditional publication, and I think it is also clear that writers need to be
bolder and consider taking a less conventional path on their journey to that
elusive book deal. A fixed purpose and courage to step out of
our comfort zones may be the key to seeing our paperbacks on the shelves in
Waterstones if other avenues have not been successful. Readers deserve options
too. Not just what might be on trend for the big publishing houses.
Mind you, authors need to guard against straying from
self-publishing, into vanity publishing. Vanity publishers charge to "publish" your book and generally offer little or nothing in the way of editorial or production
service, and even less for promotion. It
pays to be cautious.
Still, I am happy with Unbound. My dream is to see Blood on the Banana Leaf up there
amongst some of my favourite authors and thanks to Unbound, I am nearer to that
than I have ever been.
To pledge for Blood On
the Banana Leaf and to read the synopsis and an excerpt click here.
