This is episode four of the In Haste podcast with today’s guest, Jennie Godfrey. New episodes are released weekly, but paid subscribers can access more episodes instantly. Upgrade your subscription by clicking the button:
On publishing
by Charlotte Runcie
There is a gap that all writers have to bridge between the book that you’ve written and the book that other people might read. It’s in the moment when the body of work that, until now, existed only in your mind and on your computer, takes its first steps into the real world as a material object.
We talk about the experience of publishing your first book in this week’s In Haste conversation with Jennie Godfrey, whose wonderful debut novel, The List of Suspicious Things, is published this week. In the podcast, we discuss a traditional publishing experience that the three of us – that's
, and Jennie – have all been lucky enough to have, to varying degrees: when you write something and a trad publisher wants to publish it, and it all happens very fast.Jennie’s experience, though, takes things to another level. Her book is a super-lead title for 2024 for her publisher, which means that everyone there is very excited about getting it into the hands of readers. There’s book club buzz, posters on the London Underground, and events at bookshops full of people who can’t wait to get a copy, all before it even hits the shelves. I read Jennie’s book over one unforgettable, immersive weekend and I can confirm it’s a joy, which is maybe a strange thing to say about a crime novel focused on the Yorkshire Ripper, but when you read it, you’ll know what I mean.
However, as I touched on a little in our introduction, this wildfire publishing experience is very much not always what happens. Sometimes – most of the time – books are published a lot more quietly, and they take a little while to find their readers. More often still, books are not published at all. This can be heartbreaking, and I know just how heartbreaking, because — as I mention in the podcast — it happened to me. I poured my soul into one novel that nobody wanted to publish. It’s still in a file on my laptop somewhere and nobody’s ever going to read it.
And that’s OK. I see, now, that this novel was an exercise in me learning how to write. I needed that time. I even needed that failure, because it’s made me a lot more philosophical about the publishing industry than I was before, which I think is pretty healthy. I needed to have written that book before I was able to write the book that sold.
This exact thing — a book failing to find a publisher — has come up in several of our conversations with writers for In Haste, because so many writers have been exactly in this place. They’ve written books that haven't ever made it out of their computers. This experience, for writers, is extremely normal.
Obviously that doesn't mean it feels good! Because why do we write, unless we hope someone might read it? Writing is connection, but if nobody on the other side wants to connect with you, well. That’s hard to take!
It’s important to acknowledge that this is just how it goes sometimes. Publishing is a crazy business! But sometimes, just sometimes, an alchemical magic happens between the craft of an author, the tastes of a publisher, and the desires of readers, and a book becomes a book that finds the people who need it. And that's worth celebrating.
What's it like to be a debut author? with Jennie Godfrey