I have to confess that when I sat down to write this month’s column, I found myself fresh out of inspiration. As I cast about for what I could write on, I said to myself, ‘What’s wrong with you? Why aren’t you bursting with ideas? After all, you LOVE publishing!’ And yes, I do love publishing, so in the end, I thought I’d tell you my three top reasons why …
1. Books are my lifeblood. They have been for as long as I can remember. I always have a book (or my Kindle) in my bag. I become irritable, ‘scritchy’, even anxious, if I don’t get my daily book fix. Having my work intricately bound up in one of my greatest pleasures is both a privilege and a delight.
2. I get to work with the most wonderful people. With few exceptions, people who are drawn to publishing and books are nice. They just are. As anyone in the industry will tell you, there is very little money to be made in publishing (yes, JK Rowling and a few others stand out from that crowd!) so people are usually in it because they’re passionate about it, because they simply have to write/illustrate/design/edit books.
3. I’m always learning. For many years, I pretty much specialised in non-fiction books. The result is a general knowledge that is remarkable for both its breadth and it’s shallowness. I know something about almost everything, but there are certainly no depths of deep expertise to be plumbed! For this reason, I’m a useful person to have around on trivia nights. And now that I handle more fiction, I’m still constantly being exposed to new ideas, viewpoints and ways of thinking. I’m challenged and inspired on a daily basis. What more could I ask for?
