I rejected a publisher

In 2005 I was approached by a publisher who wanted to publish an updated edition of a book that had been very successful, but needed updating.

I ended up turning them down, which I suppose was a reckless thing to do in a way. I was thinking about this because a couple of people I read on Substack have landed book deals, which is wonderful considering how hard that is to do. My main reason was that I didn’t entirely agree with the proposal, and on that score I think, in retrospect, that I was daft.

However, there were deeper reasons. I’d been freelancing for about a year, and was inundated with work — all generated by word of mouth. That in itself wouldn’t have been enough to prevent me working on a book as well. Unfortunately, though, my mother was succumbing to dementia, which was debilitating and time-consuming.

It really goes to show that as well as factors like hard work people batting for you and luck, you also need the timing to be right.

I just thought I’d say that in case it provides a bit of solace to someone.