I'm SJ Bradley I'm a writer from Leeds
and I've just published my second novel
guessed it came out in June this year
and before that I published I published Brick Mother
and both of my books have come out on
dead ink books you're a small
independent publisher based in Liverpool
I can't really compare it to being
published by someone like Penguin
because I've never been published by
Penguin but I've had a really really
good experience publishing through dead
ink when I was trying to become a writer
and I was writing Brick Mother and
sending the manuscript out I was
learning a lot about the publishing
industry as well and hearing a lot of
horror stories from writers who had
published on big publishers maybe
through an agent and their book cover
hadn't been the way they wanted it to be
they'd felt very separated from the
whole editorial and publication process
publishing through a small publisher has
allowed me to stay much more in contact
with the whole process from beginning to
end so editorial changes there was a lot
a lot of the dialoge I had a lot of input
into how the cover looked I was able to
choose how the book was launched and how
the publicity sort of around that launch
looked and I've just really really had a
great experience and it's been good to
be so in touch with my editor and I
don't think every writer gets that
opportunity in between those two points
dead ink won quite a big grant from the
Arts Council to publish more authors and
to add to their list and that made a
huge huge difference the press and it
made a huge difference to me they were
able to Commission artists to to create
beautiful covers not just for my book
but for the six of the books that came
out this year
Nathan was able to work at the press
full-time Nathan was the editor so he
was able to spend more time in the
editorial process and give it more
attention which is reflected in the book
because that gave us more time to spend
on it made us get into things at a
deeper level which was really
is a good thing for the book and it's
made it's given me the chance to have
more contact with other dead Ink courses
as well there are six or I think seven
other authors publishing novels books
this year and we've been able to be in
touch with with one another and that
makes a huge difference to an author 
it can be quite a lonely process
otherwise try and find a way to do it so
find a time in your week when you can
write a couple of writing sessions a
week
don't let anything come in between you
and your writing it's quite hard to make
a living as a writer so I would say when
you first start don't concern yourself
too much with how can I make money from
writing because it's a very hard thing
to do especially at first and certainly
speaking for myself I didn't really get
much chance to to make money from
writing off from teaching writing until
my third until my second book came out
which was you know three years after my
first book came out so it was a while
in-between starting and making money so
yeah just give yourself time and give
yourself permission to do it and really
concentrate on your writing
you
you
