Writing Magazine March 2020

24 MARCH 2020

INSPIRING WORDS

The author of historical whodunnits tells

Dolores Gordon-Smith about her path to publication

published

I got

FIONA

VEITCH SMITH

How

‘M

y road to

publication

was a long and

convoluted

one, taking fifteen years before I

finally got a contract for my adult

historical mysteries, set in the

1920s. On the way I had theatre

plays and short films produced,

was commissioned to ghostwrite a

memoir and a series of children’s

picture books, self-published my

own children’s picture books, and

finally self-published an adult

novel. I had resisted going it alone

for many years, always hoping

for a conventional publishing

deal. However, I had a file-load

of rejections from publishers and

agents, and after fifteen years

was so worn down that I gave up

and released the books myself.

• Do not be scared to explore different genres in your writing.
  Like me, you might find the genre that most suits you after
  trial and error.


• Do not feel you absolutely have to get an agent before
  submitting to publishers. Some of the smaller, independent
  publishers do take on un-agented work.

TOP TIPS

Although I know for some people

self-publishing is what they really

want to do, for me it was always the

second-best option.

‘But then, in 2015, within two

months of one another, I had an

offer from a publisher (SPCK) to

buy out my children’s books, plus a

contract from another publisher (Lion

Hudson) to write the Poppy Denby

Investigates series. Easy, huh? Hardly.

‘My relationship with Lion

Hudson had some history. I initially

made contact with them when I

submitted a proposal for a non-

fiction book in 2011. The editor,

Tony Collins, liked my writing and

championed it to the board, but

it was finally turned down. Then

I was commissioned by them – on

my journalistic credentials – to

ghostwrite a memoir. This, through

unforeseen circumstances, had to

be cancelled. Around that time, in

2014, the Lion Fiction imprint was

launched and I was asked if I had

any fiction on the go. I submitted

an historical romance to them. This

too was eventually turned down, but

I was told they liked my writing and

would be interested to see something

else. By this time I had come to

realise that what I had always