Francesca's Thoughts

Is going into a creative career an admirable pursuit of one’s passion or an act of epic financial self-sabotage? Don’t look at me for the answer, I once stuck my finger in a plug socket. Anyway, I’ve been chatting with arty friends and less arty friends alike about publishing Rotting Trees (from 11th December! Read about it here!) and thought I’d share why I’ve decided to self publish at a time when quite a lot of cosmic signals – like, I don’t know, the global economy – would suggest it’s silly.

Reason 1: Self Publishing is Fun, Mostly

Scheduling Instagram posts and then editing them when the text hasn’t saved…. is not fun. But otherwise, I’m having a great time. I used to work/still dabble in digital marketing, and the fun parts of promoting a book – making graphics, creating memes, reaching out to reviewers – are as delightful now as they were when I published The Princess and the Dragon and Other Stories About Unlikely Heroes. I also enjoy uploading to Patreon regularly; sharing a short story each week during lockdown gave me structure, and my readers enjoyed them. I know binge-consumption is the norm these days, but I think there’s something lovely about reading a story or a set of stories a chapter at a time.

Reason 2: I Wasn’t Going to Sit on a Manuscript

Not literally, I can’t afford the printing. A few agents requested full copies of Rotting Trees. I sent it, of course, but the way publishing works is that an agent will usually only get back in touch if they want to represent you. Whether it takes them a week to read your manuscript or six months, they generally won’t contact you if they don’t want to work with you. (My thoughts on the publishing industry’s general email etiquette are unflattering.) I’m still waiting for ‘nos’ that might never come – I know people who have had rejections two years after sending an agent their work. (Can you guess what my thoughts are? You want me to trust you to look after my work but you take two years to answer an email?)

So I figured, I’m not getting any younger and nor is the planet. Let’s share this manuscript before the ecological crisis or World War III knocks out the power lines. I’m reasonably confident people will enjoy it and I’ve done my due diligence with editing and sensitivity reading, so it’s in as good shape as it could be. Might as well share it on Patreon and give my readers a year of new work.

Speaking of Patreon…

Reason 3: Money (jokes!)

Realistically I’ve spent more getting Rotting Trees ready for publication than I can earn back in the year I’ll be publishing it, but I knew that going in. Inflation’s been at ten percent; it’s a young adult novel and most young adults are in state mandated full time education supported by parents, or are at university living off piss poor student loans and working too many hours just to afford to stay in education. Why would someone spend £1 a month to join my Patreon community when that £1 is needed for groceries, or shoes, or immorally high rent? I can’t assume my work will ever be anything other than a luxury.

Still, I want to give it a go. Partly for my existing Patreon readers, who I appreciate more than I know how to articulate. In an act of timing so bad it’s circled back round to funny, my health has taken a dip so I’ve scaled back my studies to graduate in 2025, and I’m moving closer to university for a less draining commute. Going part time has been great for my health but extremely bad for student finance, but ongoing support from my Patreon community means I don’t have to hustle quite as much to make up the difference. Which is great, because I am in quite a lot of pain. Heart eyes emoji for Patreon! Have a book!

I suppose I’m partly sharing Rotting Trees for me, too, because writing it over the last couple of years was a joy, and I owe it to myself to not let it rot (ha) in a file on my OneDrive. Plus, well, when the chips are down and life is shit, people still turn to the arts for entertainment and distraction, and it’s cool to be a part of that landscape.

And thus, Rotting Trees will be on Patreon from 11th December. The prologue is up now. If you see an Instagram post with no text in it, er, wait a bit and I’ll notice and fix it…

Look after yourselves,

Francesca

Thanks for reading. If you’d like to read my short stories and see behind-the-scenes work, you can sample? the No. 1 Reader’s Club on Patreon for a month with this link. No pressure to stick around! Think of it as trying a miniature dessert with no requirement to eat the whole menu. You can also find me on Ko-fi. Thank you for your support – you’re helping to fund this space and pay for other costs of running a creative business, like paying editors.

Here are the books I’ve published so far and where you can find them. If you enjoy my book recommendations, browse my Bookshop.org page here.

I’m on social media (reluctantly), via Instagram, Tumblr and Facebook. I prefer my montly-ish newsletter! You can find all my books and my unhinged reviews of books I love on GoodReads and StoryGraph.