My first book contract

It will come as no great surprise to some of my Facebook compadres that I  have just completed signing my first book contract for my debut poetry collection.

I had hinted that I was in negotiations but I am now allowed to give you some details.

I have signed a contract with Close-Up Books, a small press publisher of fiction and poetry based in Australia, run by Ashley Capes and Brooke Linford.


Close-Up's Announcement Reads:

Forthcoming in 2017 are poetry collections from Australian poets SB Wright and Mark William Jackson. Stay tuned for further announcements and a new website!

Long time readers might note that Close-Up published the Poetry and Place Anthology 2015, which I, along with a number of far more well known poets, was included in.

I am exceedingly happy.

Well to tell you truth, I swing between excitement and dread (not at the book deal of course) but between being excited about embarking on a big project and those nagging doubts that all poets/writers/creatives have no matter how good they get.

So at the moment I am in that rare space of contemplating the arrangement of a poetry manuscript, a task for which there appears to be a hundred pieces of advice but no really clear direction.

I have some preliminary ideas but this is new ground for me.

It's also ground that I only tread on for the first time once, so I am keen, in the interests of education, to write about the process.  The process and of course the doubts and fears of putting your work out there in book form.

The tentative release date is the end of the year, November/December. For now though its back to writing. If there is any particular part of the process you are interested in let me know in the comments or via the hidden sidebar.