That Awkward First Post
After nearly 2 and a half years away, let me re-introduce myself, my writing and what my Substack is and isn't.
Chances are you are asking who the hell is this emailing me? Well, several years ago you subscribed to my author newsletter, and after nearly 30 months of silence, I'm re-launching my books, my writing and this newsletter, albeit on a new platform. Feel free to unsubscribe but please give me a chance to convince you to stay.
A New Beginning
January, 2025
It had been 2 years since my last book was published. This was when I was with the small indie-publisher, Hobeck Books, an enthusiastic and passionate wife and husband team who love books, and wanted to help bring author’s works to life. After a troubled start to my new crime series with a couple of other indie publishers (one was an outright horror show, nothing more than an author farm; while the other was extremely passionate, with the best intentions but had a run of really bad luck), finding such a team was a serious blessing.
The initial publication of Dirty Little Secret, From Sorrow’s Hold and Cut And Shut went well. Reviews were great, people wanted more and that was certainly the plan (more on that in a subscriber post to come). Yet a mix of issues for both myself and the publisher led me to ask for the rights back which they graciously did, having them revert on November 1, 2023.
Since the publication of Cut And Shut in January 2023, I made some notes about the next in the series but never got started. You see, book 4, ‘TIL IT BLEEDS, deals heavily with anxiety and depression and how it affects not just the sufferer but those closest to them as well, and as I was going through a big depressive episode myself, I just couldn’t write about it. I made several attempts, wrote about 100’000 words in various drafts and even had a draft of around 45’000 words that I was kind of happy with, but it was just too difficult so I kept putting it down and chose instead to focus on my day job (selling toy soldiers) and working through my depression.
At the start of 2025 I was in a better place both mentally and creatively. I’d been working on the outline for book 4 over the last few months and felt I was ready to tackle the book, but I needed a plan for what I was going to do with it once it was finished. I’d sent out a few submission queries to agents and publishers at the back end of 2024, just to test the waters - surely someone would bite?
Going Indie
Out of the multiple submissions I sent out, I got 1 back and that was a very polite ‘no’. This was nine months after sending, and while I understand that long response times are widely accepted as standard in the publishing industry, in this day and age of instant news, email and of course, the phone, it really shouldn’t happen. Are you really believeing that agents and publishers are soooooo busy that they can’t organise their time to put aside ten minutes to send out even a “thank you for contacting us” response? No - I don’t buy that. Not anymore.
I’ve always wanted to be traditionally published. To have the power of a publishing house behind me and my books. To be validated. To have someone say “you’re worthy”. It’s a whole lot to unpack, and I’ll probably be going into this in a lot more detail in future posts as I discuss why I write what I write, but for now know that for a long time I’ve never felt like I was good enough for others and chased their praise and acknowledgement. I did this in my early career and basically throughout my life and it bled into my writing career as well. [and you wonder why I have anxiety and depression ~ JP]
So I looked to my wife and her writing career as an indie author and realised that was where I should be putting my focus - in myself. Not in waiting for others. I’m a pretty ambitious guy, good with sales, good with marketing. I have the creative skills to put together book covers. I know editors. The publishing industry is such a gated community, and I’m tired of knocking on those doors, to give others cuts of my royalties for tasks that I could do myself - perhaps not as well to begin with, but that’s another added bonus: I’ll be learning as I go.
A Change in Mindset
When I first wanted to be a writer, (I started writing back in the 90s) I can now admit that I wanted the big advance. I wanted to quit the day job and be a writer full-time, arrogantly believing I was good enough to land such lucrative numbers.
Now, I just want to have my books out there. To have people read them. But more importantly, let it happen naturally. I don’t want to be forcing people to read my books, to be constantly chasing them, their validation, by always peppering them with sales ads, or targetting them on social media with TikTok videos (which I did recently - way too much time wasted!) or Facebook group messages.
It was in fact Facebook that helped me decide this new path. I’d quit it in protest against Zuckerberg and his removal of fact-checking in recent months to aquiesce to the bloated Cheeto that currently squats in the Oval Office. That and I’ve just grown to believe that social media is largely to blame for the situation the world currently faces right now [another lengthy post for the future ~ JP]. I rejoined in March, and within a few hours I’d been banned. No idea why because of course you can’t speak to an actual person. When I realised I didn’t care about following it up, I knew that I needed a new approach.
“If you build it, [they] will come, Ray.” - Terrance Mann, Field Of Dreams
Probably my all time favourite movie, and I know I’m butchering the line a little to make it fit my point, but it works. Embracing the mindset of just writing the books. Putting them out there. Letting the audience find them naturally.
Having a little faith.
Now I’m not getting all religious here. I’m just saying that my focus has to be on the books, the work, not the stats or the sales or the views, likes and follows. It has to be on the writing, and this is why I’ve chosen Substack to be my spot on the interwebbs as opposed to an author website (which I have) or other social media presence. Here I can post long articles like this, or novel excerpts or a quick video message without all the hassle and cost of domain management, hunting for potential readers and subscribers and all the other mindless hassle that places like bookfunnel, booksprout, bookbub cause, distracting from the real work of writing.
I can write here and people will find me, hopefully like what they see and subscribe to the newsletter. Maybe they even check out my books.
Releasing My Books
April saw the release of Dirty Little Secret in digital format, with the other two launching at the end of May. The paperbacks can now be pre-ordered and the best thing is, this is wherever you buy your books. Whether it is Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo or even your local book store, you can order the books.
My wife and I created our own publishing company, Pax Noble Publishing, and it is through here that we will release our books, using mine as the test. So far it is proving pretty successful with several sales already.
Book 4 in the Louise Miller series, ‘TIL IT BLEEDS, is now being worked on and is on schedule for release in digital and paperback forms November 10th, 2025.
Writing On Substack
And all of that brings me to here, what you can expect from this newsletter on Substack. Well, I’m keeping it really easy. The plan is to post every Sunday on the public page: this will be more akin to a personal blog, so expect posts about what I’m reading or watching; show off what I’m painting for my tabletop gaming hobby, or comment on my writing and how it’s going.
Alongside this will be longer articles for paid subscribers where I go into more personal topics such as my dealings with anxiety and depression, the realities of both traditional and indie publishing, and release new writings such as excerpts from upcoming novels or even complete short stories. I aim to do two of these sort of posts each month, so that subscribers really get their bang for their buck as they say - one article and one piece of creative writing.
Speaking of which you may get another email notification later today when I post the first of the paid subscriber content, the opening to ‘TIL IT BLEEDS. This will have a preview of the content, and give you the option of upgrading.
That’s the plan at least. It may change and I may post more or less depending on how things are going, deadlines looming - I’m not going to stress over it. Just do the work and see how it goes.
I truly hope you stay subscribed to the newsletter but understand if you choose not to - thanks for subscribing in the first place and for taking the time today to see what I had to say. If you are sticking around, please consider upgrading to the paid subscription [it’s the cost of a coffee each month].
All the best - JP
