A Q&A With Colin Bateman
Recently, I had the pleasure of picking the brains of Colin Bateman, one of Northern Ireland’s most successful and popular authors. Born and raised in Bangor, a seaside town in County Down, he worked as a journalist for several years before turning to fiction writing.
Bateman has written a diverse range of works, including crime fiction, black comedies, and young adult fiction. He is best known for his crime fiction series featuring the character of Dan Starkey; a journalist turned amateur detective. Bateman's novels are characterised by their sharp wit, dark humour, and intricate plotting. He has been awarded numerous literary awards, and his works have been adapted for television and radio – so you can imagine my excitement when he was willing to answer a few questions for me about publishing!
This will be particularly useful to those of you who, like me, believe in the story that you have to share and are navigating the fickle world of publishing…
What is your experience in dealing with agents and publishers?
“Most publishers only take books from agents. Agents are very hard to get. They get sent a lot of stuff and all you can do is keep plugging away! Hopefully, without sounding too glib, the secret to getting published is...there is no secret. It's just a mixture of luck and talent and perseverance. My first novel took three years to find a publisher. My most recent two remain unpublished. You would think with so many novels - more than ever - being published it might be easier, but it just doesn't seem to be.”
How do you feel about self-publishing?
“I’ve done it. Self-publishing in print is expensive. Self-publishing on Kindle etc. is free. But you must put a lot of time into marketing yourself to make it worthwhile. That's not my strong point. Most publishers won't consider a book that's been out on Kindle. But then again, most publishers will either pay you no advance, or a very small one because the days of big advances are gone. They also keep more than 90 per cent of what your book sells for - whereas with Kindle you keep nearly everything.”
Do you have any tips on time management?
“Well, it's my job, so I do it all day. But the important thing for me is/was writing something every day because I'm basically lazy and need to get into a rhythm. Even if it's only for twenty minutes. Turn the TV off and write something. It then builds up and gets its own momentum. Eventually, you get a book.”
I believe the story I'm telling might find more favour as a TV series, how realistic is this?
“I don't think you’d have much luck setting up a TV series from an unpublished novel - though I am currently trying exactly this. It depends on what you love doing. If it's novels, stick to novels. If you want to have a crack at writing it as a screenplay, why not? There are lots of screenplay formatting packages you can download, though the industry standard one is called Final Draft, which I use.”
I simply decided one day to write a book! How important is it to have had training or professional experience in writing to become successful?
“It has nothing to do with training or experience. It's entirely to do with the quality of the book. That doesn't mean it has to be 'literature'. Publishing is a business like any other - if they think there's money in it, they will go for it. It's all about sales.”
