One of the latest converts to self-publishing is a man who doesn’t own a computer and who writes top TV scripts and novels by hand with a Waterman fountain pen.
GF Newman has self-published his new novel Dark Heart as an ebook after “creative differences” with his publisher. He also believes print books are getting too expensive and he can deliver an ebook at lower cost without losing out on income.
Newman is a UK author who has been writing TV scripts since the 1970s and his major television series include Law & Order, The Nation’s Health and Judge John Deed. He has also written plays and over a dozen novels.
As you might think of a man without a computer, he is getting some help in his self-publishing project through One-Eyed Dog Books, an offshoot of his film production company One-Eyed Dog Film.
The new thriller, which is the first book in the Exorcist Trilogy, is priced at £2.99 and features an interesting choice of cover, with a photo of George Clooney, which Newman says is his image of the novel’s main character Jake Mann “and everyone else’s when he plays Jake in the movie”. Newman believes ebooks mean everybody with imagination and effort gets a fair shot at reviews and publicity.
The novel is being marketed through social media channels and bloggers with book publicist Ruth Killick whose clients include another canine-named publisher, Inside the Dog Press.
Newman says One-Eyed Dog Books will be happy to publish other authors, based on story, characters and quality of writing.
There’s an interview with GF Newman at The Guardian where he gives his views on the future of publishing (not good for literary agents) and bemoans the mysterious appearance of typos (he may be dismayed to learn there’s a typo on the cover, only one t in rivetingly).