{"id":398,"date":"2017-12-18T15:10:45","date_gmt":"2017-12-18T04:10:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.booksandpublishing.com.au\/independentpublishing\/?p=398"},"modified":"2017-12-18T15:10:45","modified_gmt":"2017-12-18T04:10:45","slug":"alison-croggon-on-new-and-selected-poems-1991-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.booksandpublishing.com.au\/independentpublishing\/articles\/2017\/12\/18\/398\/alison-croggon-on-new-and-selected-poems-1991-2017\/","title":{"rendered":"Alison Croggon on ‘New and Selected Poems 1991-2017\u200b’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Alison Croggon, award-winning novelist, poet, librettist and critic, self-published a collection of poetry, New and Selected Poems 1991-2017<\/em><\/a>, in August 2017. Croggon spoke with Independent Publishing<\/em> about her decision to move from traditional publishing to being a ‘hybrid author’, the advantages of self-publishing and her publishing plans for next year.<\/p>\n

Describe your latest book in under 50 words.<\/strong><\/p>\n

My most recent book, my first go at self-publishing, is New and Selected Poems 1991-2017<\/em>. Which is what it says on the tin. In June 2018 I’m bringing out Fleshers<\/em>, a dystopian science-fiction novel I co-wrote with Daniel Keene.<\/p>\n

Why self-publish?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Up to this year I’ve been a traditionally published author, although as a critic and poet I’ve often self-published online\u2014<\/em>I ran a review blog for eight years and also a literary magazine for Masthead<\/em>. Over the past five years I started getting depressed about the limitations of traditional publishing: a lot has changed, including advances. I write in a lot of genres, and hate repeating myself, and publishers are often averse to writers shape shifting. So I began to look at self-publishing, and in particular the economics, and considered a move to being a hybrid author. Basically, I thought, why not?<\/p>\n

I had a trial run with the New and Selected Poems<\/em>, which came out in August this year. Making that book was one of the most satisfying things I\u2019ve ever done. Fleshers<\/em> will be my first attempt at a commercial book. I was reluctant to traditionally publish with this one, because we’re hoping it will be a series, and I’ve heard too many horror stories of book one in a series doing badly in traditional publishing and the series consequently being cancelled, which leaves the writer hanging. So, it actually seems less of a gamble to self-publish.<\/p>\n

What year did you start and where are you based?
\n<\/strong>
\nI started self-publishing this year, and I’m based in Melbourne.<\/p>\n

How many people did you contract on your book and what did you do yourself?<\/strong><\/p>\n

For the New and Selected Poems<\/em> I did everything: page and cover design (I exercised maternal rights and asked my daughter Zoe Croggon if I could use one of her artworks for the cover image). For Fleshers<\/em>, we’ve commissioned a designer for the covers, and arranged with another self-publishing author to swap proofing duties. We’re doing copy edits right now and, in future, I’m hoping we can afford to employ a copy editor\u2014<\/em>it’s the most laborious part of the process, aside from the actual first draft.<\/p>\n

What makes your book unique?<\/strong><\/p>\n

New and Selected Poems<\/em> allowed me total control over the book. It includes poetry from all my previous books, but for the first time I could edit and arrange entirely to my satisfaction. I think it made a great difference.<\/p>\n

What has been your biggest success?<\/strong><\/p>\n

In self-publishing? My single book so far, I think!<\/p>\n

What has been your biggest challenge?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Coming to terms with marketing. It’s a steep learning curve, but I’m learning.<\/p>\n

What would be top tip for those starting out in self-publishing?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Research, research, research. And find a community to work with. It can be lonely out there!<\/p>\n

What will you publish next?<\/strong><\/p>\n

As I said, in June 2018 I’ll be launching Fleshers<\/em>, the first book in the ‘Newport City’ series. Pinkers<\/em>, book two, is planned for September 2018. We hope.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

‘<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Alison Croggon, award-winning novelist, poet, librettist and critic, self-published a collection of poetry, New and Selected Poems 1991-2017, in August 2017. Croggon spoke with Independent Publishing about her decision to move from traditional publishing to being a ‘hybrid author’, the advantages of self-publishing and her publishing plans for next year. Describe your latest book in<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":402,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44,36],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-398","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-profile","8":"category-features"},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booksandpublishing.com.au\/independentpublishing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booksandpublishing.com.au\/independentpublishing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booksandpublishing.com.au\/independentpublishing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booksandpublishing.com.au\/independentpublishing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booksandpublishing.com.au\/independentpublishing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=398"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.booksandpublishing.com.au\/independentpublishing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booksandpublishing.com.au\/independentpublishing\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booksandpublishing.com.au\/independentpublishing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booksandpublishing.com.au\/independentpublishing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booksandpublishing.com.au\/independentpublishing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}