‘The publishing industry is very exclusive and elitist’: Author tells of challenges for diverse writers – Asian Image

A self-published author who has sold thousands of copies of his book is set to re-launch his Young Adult fantasy novel. 

Hamzah Malik, 30, from Peterborough, started writing at the tender age of seven, but only began to write seriously at the age of 17. He was inspired as a child by the likes of Enid Blyton and Roald Dahl.

For him, writing was the closest thing to having magic powers – as stories are completely made up – so it was a freeing and fun hobby. His book: ‘Arias Archer & the Shadow Cloak’ was inspired by his little sister in 2010 when he told her a bedtime story. It was published six years later.

Now he writes to encourage others to follow in his footsteps. 

He said: “Everyone has a story to tell and it is important to share your talents with the world. I am not a prolific writer, I just do my best and do what I can with the limited talent I have to help others and inspire them to see the world in a different way.

“As Muslims we enter a field and aim to be the best at whatever we do. I want young Muslim readers to say ‘look he wrote a book’ and are inspired to write a great story themselves.

“The publishing industry is very exclusive and elitist, if I can do my one percent to dent the padlock a little then I will consider it mission accomplished.

“A graduate of English from the University of Leicester, he also runs a marketing and branding business.”

He said: “I was invited back to my old school to give a speech. I aimed to make every slide of my presentation funny, encouraging and informative. So I spoke to them about the number of times I have failed in writing and in business and being rejected by an endless list of publishers and literary agents. 

“I feel that failure should be embraced. I am the only Asian fantasy writer from Peterborough, whoever goes first gets to make all the mistakes. I am happy to pass on all my knowledge and skills to the next generation.”

He advises potential writers to leave their egos at the door and write because they enjoy it. “Write for yourself,” he says.

He has found that females want to write more than males who are hesitant to put pen to paper. 
“It doesn’t matter if in the first year no one reads your book. When I first released my book it was read only by friends and family.”

He has sold thousands of books on Kindle and as a hard cover which has gone through numerous editions.

“Self publishing is a bit easier now as you can find talented proofreaders and editors online. 
Publishing isn’t the hard bit, the really hard bit is marketing because the competition is so fierce. You need an angle and platform that works for you. You should aim for maximum impact for minimal cost.

“When our parents arrived in the UK they worked in the factories and railways so writing was ridiculed as it wasn’t seen as lucrative. So the first generation are trying to protect their kids from what they feel can be a stumbling block if they take up writing.

“However, the world is now run by story tellers, everything you see, every platform you’re on, every movie you watch, everything.  

“Independent publishing is good because it gives you more creative control and you don’t have to wait long to publish, and the royalties are around triple the amount usually offered by traditional publishers which is about 80 percent.”

Hamzah said: “Nowadays publishers ask about how many followers you have on social media.  For example if you have 20,000 followers on Twitter they will give you a book deal as you will be able to market your own book and grow it on your own terms.”

“If you have an idea for a book, protect it as an idea can be squashed very easily. It is incredibly precious so don’t share with too many people.

“Read as much as you can to explore different styles and become a master of your craft. Be confident in your voice.  Be the next you. The biggest killer of dreams in this industry is inaction.

“The themes I cover in my stories include mental health issues, coming of age, courage and sibling love.”

He added:“I love reading Philip Pullman whose style I really like, J K Rowling as I grew up with Harry potter and Neil Gaiman among others who are mostly fantasy authors.

“I will soon be heading to Dubai to speak at five schools about writing which will coincide with the official re-launch of the book. There is another Arias Archer book coming out alongside an anthology and I am working on other books too. Fantasy is my passion so I will focus on it.

“There has been a lot of feedback from people I don’t know from all over the world including Germany and Pakistan. They don’t know me but they gave me five stars on Amazon. The feedback has been amazing.”

You can find more about Arias Archer & the Shadow Cloak here

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from Kindle Publishing – My Blog https://www.techyrack.com/syndication/2022/09/10/the-publishing-industry-is-very-exclusive-and-elitist-author-tells-of-challenges-for-diverse-writers-asian-image/
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