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50: 50 publishing partnerships

Welcome!

This is my first foray into blogging on Keith Publishing so I thought I would start out by introducing myself.

I’ve been a professional writer, journalist and editor for more than 50 years. Newspapers, magazines for the newsstands and for companies, books for fiction and business. I’ve done it all.

And right now, the industry has never been more exciting, or challenging. But to make sure you get through it and achieve your goals, you might need some help.

Earlier this year I launched Keith Publishing, a small, independent digital publishing help dedicated to helping new authors get their voice out there. I’m all about helping any would-be author get their writing polished, into production and published.

Some Background

In one sentence: writing and publishing have been my life’s work.

At the University of Oxford I graduated as a Master of Arts in the subject of Modern History. As a student, I used long words (and a lot of unnecessary ones too) to make my essays more colourful.

I trained as a journalist at a local newspaper in Watford. Sadly, they folded, and so I finished my training at the Luton Evening post. My first lessons in journalism were learned here. Simplicity, clarity, and news knowledge – identifying reader interests quickly.

One day, a killer was on the run, on foot, in the Hitchin area (where I was based), and I had to keep in touch with the office through phone boxes. So, I needed to make my point sharpish!

After a while, I felt it was time for a change. Some of my colleagues were moonlighting in Fleet Street at night to try and escape the provinces. I was less adventurous, so I applied for a position at The Times.

To my surprise, I was given a job on the famous Letters Page as a graduate trainee! We dealt with all mail that was addressed to the Editor. Letters for publication, complaints, private comments – we went through them all.

There were three of us, and we read the letters, forwarded them to the right person for comment, answered them, and took a handful every day to show the editor for selection. Then I chose to move to a new position. The Sports Desk.

In 1978, an industrial dispute with the print unions prompted the management to shut down the paper for almost a year, and when it started up again in 1979, I became the Sports Editor.

I’ll share more of my experiences on The Times Sports Desk in future posts, including the long hot summer of 1976. Now I’ll divert to business life from 1982, when I left The Times to set up a publishing company called Siron Ltd.

My Self-Employment Saga

Self-employment was a new feeling for me, but I had a lot of experience and knowledge to share. The idea was to sell ideas to publishers for an upfront fee and sell than as packages.

We sold many projects. They included Sportsviewers Guides on 10 different sports, and the biography of Torvill and Dean (for David and Charles); and a guide to 1,000 Movies on Video (for Hamlyn).

But I found book publishing very slow after the drama of managing every night at The Times some 35,000 words about sport in each edition.

In 1984, I took up the post of Editorial Director of Reed Business Publishing, who were responsible for several free lifestyle magazines. I stayed there until late 1989, when I once again hopped to a new role as freelance sub-editor for Redwood Publishing, working on a series of insert pages for TIME magazine.

That was to give me more experience of publishing – in magazines.

So In 1990 I was ready for another stab at it. I founded Blackfriar Publications Ltd, a publishing agency for companies and their publications aimed at clients or staff. This was highly successful, with clients like Eastern Electricity, Sky Sports, Knight Frank, Yardley of London and the UK Olympic Committee.

Nine years on, Keith News Ltd was created, to provide editorial services. I’ve dedicated my efforts to helping people who want to make the best use of their English in business, or as authors.

I still write and edit books, including a memoir published by Panoma Press (Feel It As a Man: A fool’s guide to relationships), and two thrillers I’m re-drafting at the moment.

So I really do have first hand experience of all sides of the publishing world. Newspapers, books and magazines, in print and online. Plus copywriting and marketing.

Why Am I Here?

That long saga is far from over, and it has led me to my next chapter. I’ve launched a brand-new digital publishing business, specialising in producing downloadable nano-books.

Alongside publishing my own, I want to use my experience to help aspiring authors create and market their books, with advice and mentoring from day 1.

My aim is to bring you discussions and tips about writing fiction, non-fiction, essays and articles for print and online publications.

I’ll talk about common problems authors face, like writers’ block and imposter syndrome. There are other issues such as freedom of the press, publishing houses, literary agents and technology. And of course, AI has become a top topic!

So, here’s to all you authors and writers. I hope my seasoned words of wisdom give you some ideas, insights, or just a chuckle as you go through your day.

I plan to post every fortnight, so do subscribe to get updates.