Thinking of Forming an Author Collective?

A group of authors keen on self-publishing and forming an author collective, recently asked Team Triskele for some tips. Here are our (collective!) answers:

JJ Marsh, JD Smith, Gillian Hamer, Catriona Troth, Liza Perrat

Intro by JJ Marsh & Gillian Hamer

Before answering these astute and vitally important questions, we need to state right from the start that we don't know all the answers. Many collectives we've spoken to have fallen at financial or personality hurdles while we've managed to survive and thrive. We're not quite sure how, as we've had a fair few scrapes and stumbles along the road.

One thing we knew from the off is that we liked each other's writing and respected one another's critical perspective. But whether that would make us good business partners was anyone's guess. Triskele came into being as an act of trust - three independent partners, working together, sharing costs and maintaining individual rights.

Now we are bigger and more experienced, we are an officially registered company with a bank account and administration system. But more important than all of that, we're friends, fellow writers and a well-honed editorial team.

Did you set a maximum number of members of the co-operative at the start? If so, how many?

Liza Perrat

LP: No we didn't. We started off as three members from an online writing group, hence the origin of our 3-sided Triskele logo. It wasn't planned as such, more like an organic gathering of like-minded authors, all at a similar stage of the writing process and wanting to self-publish to the highest possible standard, and to help each other reach that goal. Very soon after, we welcomed two more members, whose work we also admired, and who had similar passions and goals. Personally, I think five is a perfect number. Enough people to take up the slack when someone is "out of order" for whatever reason. And that means four fresh pairs of eyes on each manuscript too, which I believe is a good number for an overall critique, and not too many that you end up with too many conflicting opinions.

How do you deal with approaches from writers who want to join your collective?  

JDS: Currently we aren't actively open for submissions to join our collective. Mainly because we work well as a small team and have built up a huge amount of trust between us when it comes to advice and critiquing, and we don't want to spoil that balance. However we do encourage other authors who like the idea of a collective to create their own, find a bunch of friendly writery folk you get on with, whose work you admire and whose opinions you value and support one another. Writing doesn't have to be solitary and the support of a good network of friends who share the same passion as you makes for a great team.


Did you sign up for a fixed duration, or can members leave when they wish, subject to removing the imprint name from their books? 

JD Smith

JDS: It's not something we've ever really discussed. We've all been part of the collective for a long time, when we published our first books. There's certainly no fixed duration, but of course any books published outside of the collective wouldn't feature our logo, for example. I personally published a book on cover design which doesn't fit the Triskele Books brand, so I did that as a standalone project and it doesn't carry the Triskele logo. Even so, my fellow members supported and helped me in its creation.


Do you put the collective’s name on the books, e.g. spine, title page, copyright page? 

JDS: We put the name/logo on our title page, spine, back of the book and then we also have a joint mailing list which we encourage readers to sign up to in the back of all of our books.


Did you formulate a written agreement? Including which points?

LP: We have no written agreement as such. At the beginning, we had many Skype chats (since we live in different countries), and several face-to-face meetings to define our goals and working methods. This is revisited and overhauled from time to time, or if a problem arises.



How do Triskele manage their joint funding? What rules and regs do they have in place to make it run smoothly?

Gillian Hamer

GH: Well, I am chief treasurer or top accountant or head of finance or what you will! Basically I just oversee the financial aspects of anything we arrange - be that physical launches or online competition, I just make sure the books balance. I pay the bills as they come in and ensure I send out invoices when required. I keep records of everything and share them with the other members so everything is transparent and I hope to think by now they trust me enough that they rarely bother checking!


I guess that in relation to charges, such as web hosting, website design, promotions, ISBNs UK, etc, a member is in charge of all financial transactions, like in an association? Keeping accounts and such?


GH: Part of my role as detailed above is to keep the bank account in the black, and to ensure we have enough in the kitty to pay for the yearly fees that roll round. If we need extra funds, say to hire a venue for a physical launch in London, then every member involved in that particular event will all contribute equally. We are a Limited Company in the UK now, so I do use my book keeping skills from my day job to ensure we keep everything legal and above board.


How do you ensure everyone abides by the rules and pulls their weight?

Catriona Troth

CT: I am not sure if I'd say that we have rules, exactly. But we do expect everyone to pull their weight. We have a pretty regular pattern of things we are each expected to contribute to, and a work plan (refreshed weekly) that sets out what's expected to go into each of those slots. Nominally, once every five weeks, when our turn rolls round, is when we make sure we have completed everything we are supposed to have done. In practice, most of us probably do those things as and when we can fit them in.

That workplan is checked regularly, and if there are gaps that need to be filled, we get a nudge. Then at least once a year we do a big review of how everything has been going - if people have any ideas how things could be done better, or if anyone is struggling to cope. And we adjust accordingly.


How do you manage dispute resolution, in the event of a disagreement?

CT: Perhaps because our joint financial commitment is minimal, we have been fortunate not to have any really serious disputes. But of course we have disagreements.  The key is keeping channels of communication open, and talking things out, not bottling them up.


How do you split group responsibilities (website, FB page, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest...?)

GH: So, my other badge as well as finance is social media. I run the Facebook and Twitter accounts which are regularly updated daily or weekly. If I'm away or extra busy, someone else will always step in and help out. Other members take up the slack with Instagram and Pinterest when we have something to promote, and we all try to share our posts as much as possible. We took this approach as it got a bit confusing at times, not knowing who was posting what and when, so now if anyone has anything they want putting out on Triskele channels we share it internally first to keep things clean and ensure we don't duplicate posts.


What joint marketing activities do you carry out?

CT: We have the Triskele website and blog, which we use, among other things, as a showcase for our work. This year, for example, we have having a once a month feature on the blog focusing on one of our books in particular and talking about the inspiration behind it.

In addition to that, most years we try and do one Big Thing, where we are not necessarily pushing our own books, but promoting the Triskele name. We have run three so-called 'Indie Author Fairs' - pop-up bookshops where indie authors could come and sell their books directly to readers. The last of those was combined with a one-day Lit Fest, where panels of authors writing in different genres discussed their work. And this year we are running the second of two competitions to win a year's mentoring, with the aim of taking a finished manuscript and making it publication-ready, with editing, proofreading, page-setting, cover design etc. Our first winner went through the process, decided to try for an agent and got one in a matter of days!


What do you do about marketing when there are gaps in releases?

JJ Marsh

JJ: We try to keep a bubbling profile, publishing a blogpost per week under the Triskele name. We also publish articles on Words with JAM magazine for writers and reviews on Bookmuse for readers. Aside from individual promotions and advertising, we watch out for opportunities and alert one another. We all jump in and trumpet a member's new release and usually have a physical event each year to promote all our releases and drink Prosecco. Every week, one of us is on duty, stoking the fires.


In addition to a Triskele website, what other joint social media platforms would you recommend? 

JJ: We have a Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads and Pinterest presence in addition to the content delivery above. Others have had success with LinkedIn or Instagram - whatever feels right for you.

How do you co-ordinate your public face, i.e. website, blog, FB/Twitter, etc. Do you use a schedule? And perhaps use a shared Dropbox folder to share documents between all members?  
GH: I may have covered this in my previous answer, but we mostly use our private Facebook group for internal chats and shares, or we add things to our weekly round up emails, and edit them via Google. Nothing goes public until it gets the thumbs up! Website updates are agreed internally and then either myself or Jane will add new books or information as needed.

Indie Author Fair

Has your collective free short story anthology been a good draw and created traffic to your site with resulting sales?

JJ: Our three collaborative publications - A Time and Place boxset, A Taste of Triskele short stories and recipes, plus our collaborative non-fiction book A Pathway to Publication - all earn us a steady trickle of income. On top of that we use an Amazon affiliate code to bring in regular pennies. The great thing about the boxset and story collection is they don't need any maintenance. I'd be hard pushed to define which of our myriad funnels brings most traffic to our site, but people do come.


Self-publishing: A number of people mentioned that they’d find really useful a step by step guide to what needs to be done and by when, when you are self-publishing. 

JJ: Pick up A Pathway to Self-Publishing. You can get it for free by signing up to our newsletter. It covers everything we've learned and is constantly updated. Or poke about on our website and find many useful articles on your particular interest. Or join The Alliance of Independent Authors. Do Joanna Penn's Author 101 or David Gaughran's Let's Get Digital. 
There's so much information but all of it is constantly changing. This is one of the biggest advantages of operating as a collective - five minds watching, testing, learning, writing, reading and communicating.

Team Triskele colours

Final point: When we started publishing as a collective, it was almost unheard of. So we sought out other collectives to interview, compare notes and learn from each other. You can find all our interviews here and we would be so very pleased if you came back to tell us about your successes.

Thanks for the smart questions!
Jill, Gilly, Liza, Jane and Kat

Finding That Perfect Read

by CP Lesley

One advantage of the current publishing climate is that a reader has no shortage of books from which to choose. Free and low-cost books are everywhere, including through subscription services like Amazon.com’s Kindle Unlimited.

But finding a good book is not so easy. Reviews offer some insight, but many good books fail to attract reviews for various reasons. Book bloggers soon acquire more titles than they can ever have time to read, never mind write about.

Readers too soon become overwhelmed by demands on their time. And not all reviews are what they seem: ethical writers, including myself, refuse to pay for book reviews, but some desperate souls give way to temptation.

So what’s a reader to do?

One approach, adopted by more than a few GoodReads friends I know, is to limit oneself to commercially published books. There readers can trust that books have gone through editing, typesetting, and proofreading, received professional covers—and, yes, that any reviews they receive reflect the honest opinion of the reviewer. But trade books are expensive, at $9.99–$12.99 or more even for an e-book. For the average voracious reader, they represent at best a partial solution, although public libraries can help.

But that approach also ignores the many good books published outside the commercial houses. And commercial publishing is just that: books have to sell millions of copies in today’s market to make a trade publisher’s investment worthwhile. If your taste runs to more unconventional fare, you’re out of luck.

That’s where small presses and coop publishers (a variant on small presses) come in. A coop like Triskele Books or my own Five Directions Press exerts the quality control of a traditional publishing house but can charge less, especially for e-books, because the coop authors can break even at a much lower number of copies sold. No one guarantees that if you love one author’s gritty historical fantasy, you will love another’s sparkling contemporary romance, but you can count on each book having received extensive critique and suggestions for improvement followed by professional editing, typesetting, proofreading, e-book production, and cover design. We guarantee one another’s work.

We also cooperate to get the word out, which means that we publish quarterly newsletters featuring other authors and news about our forthcoming titles, regular lists of book recommendations—Triskele’s BookMuse,  Five Directions Press’s Books We Loved posts—and blog posts, many of which feature writers and/or their books. I host an interview channel, New Books in Historical Fiction,  where I interview other authors and read excerpts from their books. Another Five Directions Press author, Gabrielle Mathieu, does the same for fantasy and adventure novels.

So you see, there are tools out there to help you navigate the independent publishing ocean. Take a chance! You never know what magical island may be hiding right over that cloudy horizon.

C. P. Lesley is the author of seven novels, including Legends of the Five Directions (The Golden Lynx, The Winged Horse, The Swan Princess, and The Vermilion Bird), a historical fiction series set in 1530s Russia, during the childhood of Ivan the Terrible.

 

Find out more about CP Lesley on her website

Like her on Facebook

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Announcing the Triskele Lit Fest 2016

A LITERARY FESTIVAL:

adventures in reading

Building on our experience of running two Indie Author Fairs, Triskele Books imagined our ideal Lit Fest. One word sums it up:

INCLUSIVITY!

Author panels to draw in readers eager to explore the world of books

Indie authors and trade-published authors on an equal footing on the same platform

BAME authors invited to talk about their books, not about diversity

Authors paid a decent fee for their appearance 

True to the founding principles of Triskele Books and Words with Jam, we knew it was up to us to make it happen.

So this year, alongside the trademark pop-up bookshop of our Indie Author Fairs, we will be staging a series of author panels, each focused on a genre popular with readers. The panels will bring together authors to discuss why they work in their chosen genre - what they love about it, what its challenges are, and their own favourite authors. 

Our Preserving the Unicorn panel will explore how editors and authors work together when the text, at first sight, defies conventional wisdom about how a narrative ‘should’ be put together. Ground-breaking novels, by their nature, break the rules. How does an editor work to hone such a text, without destroying the unique magic the author has created?

Supported by Matador Books and Ingram Spark, we bring you the first Triskele Lit Fest.

We look forward to welcoming you to Lift in Islington on Saturday 17th September.

Booking will open SOON for those who want a table in our pop-up bookshop.

Keep an eye on the Triskele Lit Fest blog.

In the meantime, you can view some of the exciting panellists we have lined up for you here.

Triskele Wants You!

One of our original ethics when we began Triskele Books was a commitment to supporting and developing other writers. That's why Jeff Norton dubbed us 'The Wu-Tang Clan of Publishing'.

We began with our Associate Programme, taking on authors whose work we loved. We offered experience and editorial/design/marketing support for a year. In return, those authors contributed to the Triskele team.

We initiated the Indie Author Fair, offering a pop-up bookshop for indie authors at Chorleywood LitFest. Foyles Charing Cross Road, and as part of the LBF Fringe Festival. Look out for the next one this April.

Now we're seeking for new ideas of ways to collaborate with other writers which will bring mutual benefits.
Triskele members are looking forward to a packed year of events and activity, including three new releases, so our time is limited. However, we are planning some short-term collaborative ventures. If you - author, bookseller, festival planner, publisher, arts organisation, author collective, artist or Prosecco manufacturer - have any innovative thoughts on how we can work together, we're all ears.

To provide some context, here are some facts but not limitations.

The Triskele collective writes historical fiction, crime and literary fiction.
Three of us live in the UK, one in France, one in Switzerland.
We're all indie publishers and, so far, all women.
Our triskele logo represents independence and mutual support.
Our key principles are high-quality writing, professional presentation and a strong sense of place.

For more info on Triskele and its members and how to contact us, here's our website.

http://www.triskelebooks.co.uk/

 

The Triskele Trail

Once upon a time, there were five writers.

They believed there was a third way of publishing, somewhere over the rainbow.

So they packed their books and set off to explore.

This is what happened on the journey.

The Triskele Trail is a true story.

About a writers' collective who made some mistakes and some smart decisions; who discovered opportunities, found friends and dodged predators in the independent publishing jungle.

Fourteen books later, here are the lessons we learned.

This is not a How-To book.

This is How-We-Did-It.

This is The Triskele Trail.

“It's the combined wisdom of a range of independently published writers that makes the difference: practical know-how, up-to-date details about the financials and processes of publishing platforms and services, as well as other been-there-done-that tips – all of which I found in The Triskele Trail” – Libby O, author of Charlotte Aimes

"Despite having published more than eighty books with traditional publishing houses I found the path through the jungle of independent and self-publishing peppered with booby traps for the unwary. I wish I’d had this book when I set out, it would have saved me a great deal of time, money and heartache.

This is the ultimate jungle guidebook written by people who have actually cut their own path through the undergrowth. They have weathered all the set-backs, fallen into all the traps and climbed back out again, emerging into the light, bruised but triumphant, with a thriving small business and a number of handsome books. The lessons they have to teach are priceless for anyone hoping to follow them.

Modern publishing is an industry filled with dreamers, fantasists and the plain deluded. This book is a clear, calm, factual guide from people who truly know what they are talking about." –Andrew Crofts, author, ghostwriter and publisher of Secrets of the Italian Gardner


For one week, The Triskele Trail is on promotion: grab it while it's hot!

Amazon

Smashwords

 

Triskele at Chorleywood LitFest

“The greatest little litfest you’d never heard of – until now”

Chorleywood LitFest  

6 - 21 November

Featuring Sir Ranulph Fiennes, Bill Bryson, Terry Wogan, David Suchet, Douglas Hurd, Kate Adie, Hadley Freeman and ...

Triskele Books! 

Saturday November 16 sees three firsts: 

 

The Human Library

Participants can borrow one of the Triskele authors to discuss any aspect of indie publishing

The Rise of the Author Collective

The panel discuss lessons learned on the self-publishing journey and the benefits of working together

The Launch

And the launch of the next three new releases from the Triskele Books collective:

· Wolfsangel - Liza Perrat

· Overlord - JD Smith

· Ghost Town - Catriona Troth

All events are free but to book your place: here's more information
And for maps, directions and the right Tube line: Where's Chorleywood?

One Year On - Lessons Learned

Lessons learned from a year as an independent authors’ collective

Triskele Books is made up of seven writers who formed a partnership in early 2012. So one year on, what went wrong, what went right and what would we do differently?

Triskele’s logo shows three circles: individual, yet connected. It reflects how Sheila, Jasper, Gillian, Liza, Catriona, Jane and I operate: with a sense of unity, but at the same time, freedom.

Independence

We each retain the rights to our own work and make individual decisions regarding the practicalities of publication; ebook or paperback, exclusivity or variety, marketing choices, etc. Each author keeps their own profits. The collective doesn’t dictate choices. The range of genres – historical fiction, crime, paranormal mystery and literary fiction – means one size will not fit all. The primary function of Triskele is support.

-       Lesson learned: “One of our smartest moves was to join The Alliance of Independent Authors. Not only has it given us countless benefits, but we feel part of a wider community. Indie authors are a friendly bunch.” - Liza

Communication

The seven of us are spread widely: London, Zürich, Oxford, Lyon, Birmingham, Wiltshire and the Lake District. Face-to-face meetings are rare, so we keep in touch via email and Skype. The demands of daily life and the solitude needed by writers can mean erratic and infrequent contact.

-       Lesson learned: “Regular meetings and remembering to Reply All is important to keep conversations inclusive and ensure everyone is up to date. Keeping us all in the loop is time-consuming but necessary.” - Catriona

Identity

None of us wants to be associated with a sub-standard, badly edited, amateurish piece of work. We encourage each other to raise the bar as high as possible, using professionals for both covers and formatting, employing a proofreader and promoting a recognisable identity. Triskele Books represents three things: high-quality writing, professional presentation and a powerful sense of place.

-       Lesson learned: “One of the best things we did was employ a professional designer to create our website, logo and marketing material. We now have a brand.” - Jasper

Finances

We’re not a business, and have no plans to be. Yet after establishing quality as a key standard, we recognised it would imply a cash commitment. Each contributes an equal amount to the Triskele coffers to fund expenses and Gillian - our most practical member - takes responsibility for handling the bank account, keeping everyone updated.

-       Lesson learned: “Other collectives have split up because of money issues. So we’ve always been scrupulously fair and transparent about cash.” - Gillian

Marketing

As indie authors, we’re all watching the market, studying developments in publishing and looking for opportunities to be heard. Although individual interests vary, we spot when something is right for a colleague and pass it on. However, this approach can be rather scattergun as opposed to targeted, with all of us trying to do everything.

-       Lesson learned: “As we did with finances, we might have been more efficient if we’d nominated the most talented marketer amongst us to coordinate our efforts. Now, we’ve made a concrete marketing plan.” - Sheila

Ebook, print or both?

Print books have proved useful for Triskele for several reasons. While ebooks account for the majority of our sales, print has also been a success. Useful for reviewers and book clubs, print books are popular as gifts, as evidenced by a distinct spike in paperback sales around Christmas.

And we noticed a preference for particular formats in certain countries. Print is still really strong in Germany, France and Switzerland, for example, while the UK and US consume far higher numbers of ebooks.

-       Lesson learned: “With Print-On-Demand, paperbacks aren’t prohibitively expensive, and they’re also useful for giveaways and prizes.” - Jasper

Support

Going solo is a long, hard slog and it’s easy to become disillusioned. But in a collective of seven, someone’s always cheerleading, rousing those suffocated or stressed. From ISBN numbers to semi-colons, from tax advice to plot holes, we help each other and share experiences. Trust is crucial. We met on an invitation-only online critique site, a place for those who wanted honest but constructive feedback on their writing.

-       Lesson learned: “We ‘knew’ each other as writers first, so our friendship and our collective grew from valued opinions and integrity.” - Catriona

Responsibilities

Because of the way the group developed and its geographical spread, we allocated duties on an ad-hoc basis. Whoever volunteered to pitch articles, organise the website, arrange the launch party, write advertising copy and investigate readers’ sites got the job. And naturally, some things fell through the gaps.

-       Lesson learned. “If we were to start again, we’d allocate roles according to our individual areas of expertise. That way, we could be sure everything was covered and no one got overloaded.” - Jane

The future

We plan to stick with our established methods, but try some more experimental ventures concurrently. Six titles will be on display at the London Book Fair this April, and four new releases are planned for June 2013 – watch this space. We’re also excited about the potential of translations, audiobooks and transmedia storytelling.

-       Lesson learned. “We’ve made some mistakes and we’ve still got a lot more to learn, but I’m so pleased we’re in this together.” - Gillian

Triskele Books

The Open Arms of the Sea, by Jasper Dorgan http://www.jasperdorgan.com/

The Charter and Closure by Gillian Hamer www.gillianhamer.com

Behind Closed Doors and Raw Material, by JJ Marsh www.beatrice-stubbs.com

Spirit of Lost Angels, by Liza Perrat www.lizaperrat.com