Despite some literary success, Bronwyn Rodden has self-published her work, including her three Blue Mountains mysteries, inspired by many visits and her time living in Katoomba.
She explains why.
I’m from a large, story-telling family. Not having a lot of money meant that we used our creativity to have fun as children. We dressed up, acted out stories, told tales, and played what we called the ‘Writing Game’. Like my siblings, I took a job in the public service. Being one of the first women in Customs on the waterfront was difficult in the 1970s. I eventually left and headed out west to study agriculture, due to an interest in science. I had a wonderful time as a Wagga Aggie, learning about rural life, though I was drawn back to the city and lab work. I soon realized I wanted to work with more people, so it was back to office jobs, including one with the Women in Prison program, part of the inspiration for my third crime novel, The Weaver of Blackheath.
After some years I took a risk and left full-time work to undertake an MA in writing, finally admitting to myself that was what I wanted to do. I was also making art, inspired by my mother who was an artist. I was hopeful of publishing my thesis novel, but an external examiner, Gabrielle Carey, advised against it. In the end, I think it was good advice for that work. Over time I published stories and poetry in literary journals and I won residency at Bundanon Writers’ Cottage. Then I was awarded the Patricia Hackett Prize and an Emerging Writer Grant from the Australia Council, though nobody wanted to publish this work set in Ireland.
After visiting Mexico in 1990, I commenced a time-shift novel inspired by the women pirates I heard about there. Then Pirates of the Caribbean came out and I knew no one would want any other pirate-related stories so put it aside for a while. I eventually finished the book in 2020 but had no luck with publishers. I thought I had a chance when Hachette/UQ selected my first crime fiction book, The Crushers, for their Manuscript Retreat and hinted that mine was one of three books they planned to publish from the Retreat. But then someone passed away at Hachette and my mentor there had a medical emergency, so they didn’t publish anyone from the Retreat that year. And, as the manuscript had been through the Hachette editors, no other publisher seemed interested. A major agent told me they only wanted outback romances from Australian women writers at that time anyway.
Self-publishing really seemed to be my only option. It was liberating and has allowed me to release what I like, while knowing how essential it is to have a good editor or two. I have to acknowledge particularly my partner, the poet and photographer John Bennett, as well as my friends Janet Reinhardt and Mel Symons for helping me with my manuscripts. If you want to sell many books, you need to become adept at promotion – not my strength – and there are various ways of doing this, with help online from other writers and publishing services. While I have heard of a self-published book reaching the shortlist of a major Australian competition, this is rare. Entering Indi awards is another possibility and I find the US Review of Books and the associated Eric Hoffer Awards are very encouraging, and I am now a first-level judge. I write because I enjoy writing, that won’t change.
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