Photo by Andrea Piacquadio at Pexels. Design James Walker 

I had a manuscript entitled This is all I Know accepted for publication with Pomona in 2002. Over the next three years it kept getting pushed back further down the line. The reasons given were frustrating but pragmatic: they needed to build up their reputation before risking a first time novelist. Another problem was distribution. If they were having difficulty getting established authors into bookshops why would anyone bother with mine? Eventually, and somewhat inevitably, my book got pushed so far down the priority list it was no longer a priority. Game over.

From this I would offer the following advice to other fledgling writers:

1) Shit happens, get over it.
2) If your book keeps getting put back, keep an eye out for other publishers/agents and move on.
3) Don’t tell anyone you are having something published until it is actually published.
4) Small publishers can die with one mistake.

I believe Pomona had every intention of publishing the book but the market told them otherwise. I have since reread my manuscript and trimmed it down by 40,000 words to 130,000 and sent it off to Route for a first novel competition they’ve advertised. They may ignore it, they may accept it and then put it on the shelf for a couple of years, or they may give it a shot. Either way, this time I will keep my trap shut.