Why you can't buy my novels any more | Pinnacle Newsletter #67
#67 Why you can’t buy my novels any more
Readers who have been following my writing for a few years will know that in another life I used to be a novelist. But, about a year ago, I quietly pulled my books from sale and haven’t looked back. Here’s why.
In October 2012, after well over a decade of gradually building up my skills and experience as a writer, I self-published my first novel: The Only Genuine Jones. I’d put years of my life into that book. It was the best I could create at the time, and I was proud to get some great reviews, even in Trail and TGO magazines (I was not an outdoor writer then, so this felt like a big deal). The book even made a profit.
In late 2013 I published The Atholl Expedition – a shorter and much better novel, set in the Cairngorms in the 1840s. The characters were more rounded, the plot tighter, the writing more confident and mature. I’d learned a lot in the year between those releases.
But, as glad as I am to have written and shared those tales – tales that felt like fragments of my own soul at the time, and which remain an important part of who I am today – I stopped promoting them not long after I started Pinnacle Editorial in 2014. Even then I knew that my abilities had moved on, and I didn’t want to promote older work that might reflect badly on me.
Four years later, in 2018, the gap had widened so much that I decided to pull the books from sale, because I was worried that someone might actually read them. Even after four years of zero promotion they still sold one or two copies a month.
2012 might not seem so far away, but I’m a young man, (hopefully!) at the start of a long career, and by this point I might as well have written those books at primary school.
Why bring this up now? I’ll have some exciting news to share soon – some of you might even be able to guess what it is. For now, I’ll say this: a reset is coming, a new chance for my long-form writing to make its way in the world. And I don’t want baggage from a past life weighing me down when I seize that chance.
There’s a phrase that writers use: kill your darlings. It’s good advice.
A note on the global climate strike
Today I’ve struggled with how I should personally respond to the global climate strikes. I’ve cheered as I’ve watched them unfold on the news, but to my knowledge there have been no marches or other direct action in my area. I considered a ‘digital strike’ – I’m a home-based knowledge worker – but announcing this on social media (which seems to be the done thing) struck me as absurd, because participating in social media is work. When you tweet, you’re performing labour for Twitter. They make money from our good intentions, outrage, arguments, and attention. And the physical infrastructure of these websites uses vast amounts of energy, most of it dirty, to produce little more than hot air. I can appreciate the power of social media to campaign for positive change, but announcing a digital strike on Twitter would still feel like hypocrisy to me.
I don’t mean to look down on people who have taken to social media in good faith to spread an important message – maybe the most important message. I just think there’s a conflict here, a tension, that doesn’t sit well with me.
Instead, I’ve quietly taken the opportunity to consider my own impact. I’ve taken one short-hop flight this year (last year it was four), I have never owned a car, my diet is substantially more plant-based than it was a year ago, and I consider myself a minimalist when it comes to consumer goods. I’m in the process of disentangling myself from the need to own (and therefore constantly upgrade) a smartphone. Of course, I’m by no means perfect – nobody is – but I think it’s important to consider ways in which we can improve.
Will it ultimately make any difference? Maybe not, but action breeds hope, and perhaps a change in culture will create change in the real world.
Recently published
What I’ve been reading this week – this week’s quality online reads on the environment, long-distance hiking, and the outdoors.
Two short extracts from my Pyrenees trail journal – a glimpse into the weird thoughts my brain throws up on the trail.
Review: KEEN Venture Mid Leather WP Boot – my review of a competent but unspectacular walking boot. I have concerns about durability. Is it just me, or have the soles on new models of boot been getting less and less aggressive over the last few years?
Until next time,
Alex
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