Category: (All Hail) Creation

Posts about creative work by Francesca Burke

(All Hail) Creation

Self Publishing? In This Economy? (chatting about why it’s fun)

FrancescaLeave a comment

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?)

Gerard Way pulling an 'ew' face
from sunshinethekatt.tumblr.com

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

Want to support this blog and/or enjoy exclusive access to my latest book, Rotting Trees, plus chatter from me? Join the No. 1 Reader’s Club on Patreon! Alternatively, you can use PayPal or Ko-fi for one-off support. If you’re into fairy tales and/or want a brief respite from reality, you can also buy my first book, The Princess and the Dragon and Other Stories About Unlikely Heroes, from most ebook retailers and as a paperback from Amazon. (That link’s an affiliate. Gotta scrape every penny from Bezos…) If you enjoy my book recommendations, you can find my Bookshop.org page here.

You can find me on social media (reluctantly), via Instagram, Tumblr and Facebook. I also have a montly-ish newsletter and you can find my work on GoodReads and StoryGraph.

(All Hail) Creation · Books

Introducing ROTTING TREES, a ‘Bezzina’s Emporium of Magical Artefacts and Antiquities’ novel, with FAQ

Francesca4 Comments

Once upon a time, I nicknamed a manuscript ‘cursenovel.’ More recently I finished it, named it Rotting Trees and, when no one I’d approached wanted to sell it, decided to publish it myself.

Then I wrote this post. I do have some graphics planned to share to my social media as part of the never ending PR machine that is required of self publishing, but I thought it would be fun to have a master post type blog here, since most social media platforms are increasingly functionally unusable and/or full of Nazis and/or require you to have 250k followers before it’ll show anyone anything.

What is Rotting Trees?

A young adult contemporary fantasy novel. In normal English: magicky but set in the real world, and with an audience in mind of anyone aged about 15 upwards. I’ve been describing it as for fans of The Raven Cycle and Good Omens in both tone and generalised vibes.

Okay, but what’s it about?

All the women in Ariel Scarlet’s family die before the age of forty. Family legend blames a cursed Victorian necklace, and Ariel is determined to discover who cursed it and why.

Sophey Cartwright works in Bezzina’s Emporium of Magical Artefacts and Antiquities. She can help Ariel find out the truth… but is Ariel ready to face the past and choose her own place in history?

Keen eyed readers will remember Sophey and Ariel from the handful of Bezzina’s Emporium short stories I’ve been writing over the last few years. I think the first ever story was part of the Major Arcana series – what a lockdown project that was – and you can read the Bezzina’s stories here and the whole Major Arcana series here. You don’t have to have read the short stories to enjoy Rotting Trees, but they are a good time and you might enjoy seeing how I splashed around in the world before committing to a seventy-one thousand word manuscript. Which has, for the record, been professionally proofread and been checked by a sensitivity reader.

gold on black text reading 'Rotting Trees a Bezzina’s Emporium of Magical Artefacts and Antiquities novel by Francesca Astraea from December 2023 prologue available now patreon.com/francescaswords' with olive tree and pomegranate tree illustration.

I’m sold, where is it?

From December 2023-December 2024, I’ll share a chapter per week of Rotting Trees to my Patreon, the No. 1 Readers’ Club (it’s available for all paying members regardless of tier!). The prologue is up now. This will, of course, be alongside all my usual Patreon funsies like tarot readings and short stories. I’d love to do a Kickstarter to fund an ebook and print run in 2025, but that will depend on demand (my energy levels aren’t likely to go up but my workload probably will, so we’ll see how it goes on Patreon first). If you’re new: membership to the No. 1 Readers’ Club starts from £1 a month, and there’s an option to trial for 7 days. You can also sign up for free to see my public posts. I name a character after every paying member, do monthly tarot readings and add paid members’ names to the thank yous of published books.

Join us on Patreon!

Are there content warnings I should be aware of?

Yes! As you can tell from the blurb, this isn’t a romantic comedy. It’s not really graphic and it’s definitely not sexy (I would say it has at least one hundred percent less kissing than The Raven Cycle and the same number of dogs as Good Omens), but I did explore complex and often uncomfortable topics. If you prefer to know themes before you begin, I have a list (if you prefer to dive into a book come what may, just scroll on):

Moderate: death, grief, racism, substance abuse/addiction, violence.

Minor: alcohol, animal cruelty, blood, cursing, disordered eating, mental and physical illness, parental neglect, religious bigotry, vomit.

If you’re a parent and your 14 year-old would like to read it but you aren’t sure: you know your child better than I do, so my recommendation is to take the content warnings into consideration and read it yourself first. Unless, of course, you’re one of those parents who thinks children shouldn’t consume anything depicting LGBTQ folk, children having adventures, or critical thinking. In which case, get them and yourself a membership to your local library immediately and go and have a think about what you’re really afraid of. Did I just spoil Rotting Trees or was that a generalised moan about books being banned from libraries? There’s only one way to find out!

Is Rotting Trees available anywhere for free?

No. If you see it online for free, please tell me because it’s been stolen. I’m mindful that we are all living in horrible financial times and to keep my work as accessible as possible the No. 1 Readers’ Club has a trial option, plus you can join from just £1 per month. I cannot make it cheaper without devaluing a) my work and the effort it takes to write, edit, publish and promote a novel while living with chronic health issues, juggling five jobs and undertaking a degree simultaneously, and b) the writing industry. If Patreon isn’t for you, no hard feelings – I have 14 years of posts on this blog available free, plus dozens of short stories online. You can find previous Bezzina’s Emporium short stories in particular here. You can, as ever, support my work on a one-off basis via Ko-Fi or PayPal.

That’s all for now – I’m sure I’ll add more questions throughout the year I’m sharing this story. I am so very excited for you all to get to know Sophey and Ariel properly over the next year. Thank you to my critique partners Bel, Jengo, Ruth and Lindsay, to my editor, Debz Hobbs-Wyatt and to my sensitivity reader, Helen Gould. Love as ever to the No. 1 Readers’ Club, whose support over the last two years has allowed me to spend time writing this. Let’s gooo! If you have questions about the book as it unfolds, leave them here or on Patreon and I’ll add them to this post.

Links you may find interesting

  • A blog post where I talk more about why I’m self publishing Rotting Trees
  • Rotting Trees on GoodReads and StoryGraph if you’d like to add it to your ‘currently reading’ during the read-along

Look after yourselves!

Francesca

Want to support this blog and/or enjoy exclusive access to my latest book, Rotting Trees, plus chatter from me? Join the No. 1 Reader’s Club on Patreon! Alternatively, you can use PayPal or Ko-fi for one-off support. If you’re into fairy tales and/or want a brief respite from reality, you can also buy my first book, The Princess and the Dragon and Other Stories About Unlikely Heroes, from most ebook retailers and as a paperback from Amazon. (That link’s an affiliate. Gotta scrape every penny from Bezos…) If you enjoy my book recommendations, you can find my Bookshop.org page here.

You can find me on social media (reluctantly), via Instagram, Tumblr and Facebook. I also have a montly-ish newsletter and you can find my work on GoodReads and StoryGraph.

(All Hail) Creation · Colour · My Chemical Romance (get a category) · The No. 1 Readers' Club

Making a Killjoy Jacket Part Three

Francesca4 Comments

It’s been almost 18 months since I last posted about customising my jacket? What is time?! Anyway, it’s nearly done. For the purposes of Thursday’s spiritual experience Milton Keynes show, it is done. I want to add one or two more things, but we’ll get to that.

So, here and here are where I talk about finding a plain-ish, second hand, cigarette-y jacket back in… 2019. I don’t think MCR had even returned, I think I just liked the look of the thing… Anyway, in 2020 I added an Aglionby Academy patch, my Fun Ghoul patch (purchased circa 2012 haha) and the lovely Little But Fierce rose. I’m still pleased about how well the colours match with one another and the khaki. And this weekend I got more pleased, because…

khaki jacket with various patches including Aglionby Academy, Fun Ghoul, Little But Fierce and pink bees.

PINK BEES.

Look how lovely they are! They’re from Batwalk. I’ve had my eye on them for months. Bees are great, they remind me of The Raven Cycle and summer and, you know, a working planet. All motifs I am happy to carry around.

I originally thought they might go on the back of the jacket, because I had a plan for a VERY LARGE patch which, upon measurement, would not fit. So I thought a couple of little bees might work well with some added floral patches? To be honest, I’d wanted to do bees and the VERY LARGE patch, but when I got the tape measure out it was a bit crowded. So I bought the bees and realised they’d look great on the empty front pocket and on the sleeve, covering the slightly-discoloured area where there was an original patch. I suppose it’s the rest of the jacket that’s slightly discoloured? Hmm. Anyway, I was going to sew MCR’s 2001-2013 mourning band on the sleeve, but I a) forgot to bring it to University City and b) it’s huge. Aimed at a large manly arm. I have teeny wee arms. So we’ll re-evaluate what I do with that… one day.

So, the bees went on. Look at them! Love a bee. Thing is, though, a day or so after I purchased them, I realised I was fixating on the LARGE PATCH. I’d also had my eye on it for months. I liked it a lot. I couldn’t commit to anything else, and when you’re going for a slightly hippie-goth look, really liked your original idea and have a budget of twelve pence, you don’t have a lot of choice. So I went back to Batwalk… and purchased:

khaki jacket with a black and white crystal-ball-and-hands back patch.

It’s huge. I love it. It’s also not as big as I thought! I iron-sewed it to the bottom of the jacket to avoid the hood covering it, and there’s enough space left below the hood for… something. I don’t know what, and I won’t find it between now and Thursday, so ideas on a postcard please! Something at the top might make the crystal ball look less wonky, too – it’s not actually wonky, I measured out the layout and the bottom of the patch is centred, but the hands and eye effect are a little dizzying. Hmmmm. We’ll see. The current design is not overtly MCR-themed, but if you get it, you get it. The jacket’s got great pockets too. Look at me, wearing the thing (thank you to T for taking a photo and proving I exist).

short lady with dark hair, wearing a black dress and patch-covered khaki jacket
Remind me to catch some sun this summer. Also I might hem this dress. What do you think?

So, here we are: one Danger Days-inspired jacket, eleven years after it was cool… but weirdly in time to be cool in a more general, strange alternative style way, going by the reactions to Foundations of Decay. I have had a lot of conversations recently in which being an MCR fan has elevated me in people’s estimations. Someone wrote a Guardian article the other day about MCR’s cultural significance. There’s a less-than-grudging mainstream respect for these weirdos now. I guess if you’re odd for long enough, eventually you become cool.

I’m off to prepare for Thursday. Need to rest my voice and do some preparatory stretches. Oh, while I’m here: commissions are open through end of May. Come and join us at the No. 1 Readers’ Club! And if you see me at Stadium MK, say hi.

Look after yourselves,

Francesca

Want to support this blog and/or enjoy exclusive access to my latest book, Rotting Trees, plus chatter from me? Join the No. 1 Reader’s Club on Patreon! Alternatively, you can use PayPal or Ko-fi for one-off support. If you’re into fairy tales and/or want a brief respite from reality, you can also buy my first book, The Princess and the Dragon and Other Stories About Unlikely Heroes, from most ebook retailers and as a paperback from Amazon. (That link’s an affiliate. Gotta scrape every penny from Bezos…) If you enjoy my book recommendations, you can find my Bookshop.org page here.

You can find me on social media (reluctantly), via Instagram, Tumblr and Facebook. I also have a montly-ish newsletter and you can find my work on GoodReads and StoryGraph.

(All Hail) Creation

The Poor Person’s Guide to Helping Your Favourite Authors

FrancescaLeave a comment

About a year ago I wrote a post about how you can help creators make money, without spending any of your own. I got to invent a character called Jiminy Snicket to use in examples, so I count it as a success regardless of the quality of the advice. I thought I’d do an updated post with authors in mind specifically, since that is my area of interest these days. Let’s say that our friend Jiminy Snicket, a year on, is a published author. It’s probably a poetry anthology, and they’ve probably illustrated it themselves…

Request their book from your local library

If it’s already available, borrow it. In the UK, authors can earn revenue when readers borrow their books from libraries. If Jiminy’s book isn’t in the catalogue, suggest the library purchases it. I do it all the time (not for my work. That would be embarrassing. I tend to request obscure YA novels and Nabokov. You guys can request my obscure YA novels for me. I’m not that desperate yet).

Engage with social media posts

This was on my original post, and still applies! Comments, shares and tagging-your-mates is good for feeding the Algorithm Gods and is also quite a nice mood boost for whoever’s running the social media account. Posting to the socials, especially when you have to do a certain number of promotional posts, can get repetitive and a little bit depressing. How many ways can you say ‘hey I’ve got a book out’ without boring your audience senseless? It’s hard to tell when the algorithm means that each follower might only see one of your posts every six months. Anyway. Put that screen time to good use! Engage with the social media channels for Jiminy’s publisher as well, if they have one, so the marketing team know that this is an author making waves in the, um, poetry anthology world.

Send work to friends who aren’t on the same channels as the creator

This still applies as well! Most authors have a presence on most platforms (Twitter, Insta and Facebook still seem to be the big ones), but not every reader has an account on those same platforms. Some people are even… deleting their social media in favour of doing something else.

Jerry from 'Tom and Jerry', eating an entire block of cheese
from Giphy

Also I’m told that The Youth are all on TikTok?

Gif of Jonny Rose saying 'Hash tag. Is that two words?'
from Giphy

By the way, if anyone wants to do some TikTok posts with my work, I’d appreciate it. I’m too old busy for another social media platform.

Anyway, yeah, word of mouth is still very much the name of the game with book sharing, whether the mouths are online or offline. Continuing with that:

Add their book to your wish lists or to-read lists

Most online retailers have an option to add a product to your wish list. Add Jiminy’s book to yours! According to a very quick search which I can’t link because writing this post took about two months: to-buy lists and reviews don’t impact a book’s ranking on Amazon (only sales will). But social sites, like Goodreads, suggest books to users based on what they have ‘shelved’ or what they have previously reviewed. So if you’ve read or want to read Jiminy’s anthology, add it to a list and it may be suggested to people who have read similar work.

All right, there we have it. Four easy peasy ways to do a good turn for the authors in your life! Truly I am a fountain of knowledge. I’m also off to watch the Olympics, so I will see you in the next one!

Want to support this blog and/or enjoy exclusive access to my latest book, Rotting Trees, plus chatter from me? Join the No. 1 Reader’s Club on Patreon! Alternatively, you can use PayPal or Ko-fi for one-off support. If you’re into fairy tales and/or want a brief respite from reality, you can also buy my first book, The Princess and the Dragon and Other Stories About Unlikely Heroes, from most ebook retailers and as a paperback from Amazon. (That link’s an affiliate. Gotta scrape every penny from Bezos…) If you enjoy my book recommendations, you can find my Bookshop.org page here.

You can find me on social media (reluctantly), via Instagram, Tumblr and Facebook. I also have a montly-ish newsletter and you can find my work on GoodReads and StoryGraph.

BuY Me a Coffee! Or a small gin and tonic.