I’ve got a new novel, but I’ve had to go a different route in getting it published this time around.

There are a couple of reasons for this. First off, my last book didn’t sell very well, which is a death knell for lit fic authors, especially in a small market like Australia. There are probably various reasons for this, but a big one is that people just don’t read the same stuff that they used to, and there’s not a huge variety of books that actually sell. Historical fiction still does well, crime and thrillers – supermarket fiction still hits big sales targets. But you’ll note that the literary fiction section in the bookshop is getting smaller and smaller, as the kids’ section and the recipe book area continues to grow.

People used to read books on the train or bus, or before turning in for the night. But now, they scroll through TikTok and Instagram instead, and it seems like lit fic, which asks for a bigger mental commitment from the reader, is just not connecting with as many people as it once was.

Which makes it much harder to maintain a writing career. I’ve literally been told by an agent that, as a middle-aged white author, I should be writing crime or thrillers, because that’s what sells, while the AusLit sector is now much more focused on diversity and publishing a breadth of voices from different backgrounds. Which makes sense – and again, publishers are guided by what sells, so market forces dictate such either way. But that either means that I need to write crime fiction, which I’m not knowledgeable on, and not engaged with. Or just stop writing completely and see if maybe market trends shift one day in future.

Or go another route.

This time around, I’ve tried out self-publishing, because for one, I can, and two, this is a shorter novel, probably more a novella in length, so it seems like a good project to experiment with.

Also, there are no sales pressures, no expectations of return. Because it’s published through Amazon, it only costs Amazon money when someone orders the book, so if I sell a total of zero copies, no one will care (note: the commission I earn on sales of the paperback version is about 30 cents).

Which could be the way that lit fic is headed. And I kind of like it. I like the idea of smaller circles of readers publishing and sharing underground type books, without the fanfare and marketing of the regular process, no book store signings and festivals.

Don’t get me wrong, those can be enjoyable, and if a major publisher wanted to sign me for my next book, I’d definitely do it, I’m not denigrating the process. But I think that there could be a really interesting backchannel rising for literary fiction works, which could end up seeing some of the best projects actually making it out into the mainstream.

I mean, that’s kind of what’s happened with Michael Winkler’s ‘Grimmish’, a self-published book that was recently nominated for the Miles Franklin award. Winkler handed the book around to writer friends, and it quietly became a hit, largely through word of mouth.

That’s a really interesting filter through which we could see more great novels make their way. Or not – and for the ones that don’t hit, it’s just a cool little project from an author that you might know, which costs nothing, and sits on a digital bookshelf for posterity.

It seems like that’s how things could be headed, and it’s interesting for me to try it out and feel my way through the process.

So I’ve published a new book, which you can purchase here. It’s 345 pages and it costs $17.60, from which, again, I’m not really making anything back.

Because it’s not about money at this stage. Making money out of fiction is almost impossible, and for me, I just like pushing things forward, and working on writing projects. This one was sitting on my hard drive, ready to go. And now, it’s out there for others to read.

So, if you’re interested, you can purchase ‘Control’ here.

Here’s a brief blurb on what it’s about:

“A woman who teaches sign language and lives in the inner-city. A newly elected local councillor, who stands proud before his wife and kids. A successful young businessman who has it all, or so it seems. A teenager, raised by a single mother, already toughened to the world.

All four in different stages and situations, but each with a handle on their world.

Each about to lose control.”

You can order a print copy, and Amazon will print it and get it out within a week. I’m still working on the digital version.

Maybe it reaches an audience, maybe not, but it’s another experiment in my writing journey.