Interview – Matt McAvoy – Editor.

In this short series of interviews, we celebrate those who have had a major impact on the novel “Thyrke – The Man That Nobody Knew.”

Last time out, we met Maja Kopunovic, cover designer extraordinaire, who provided the art work for the book.

This time, it is my pleasure to welcome Matt McAvoy, who is the editor on the project. I am no stranger to working with Matt. His suggestions and tireless application helped lift “Gone to the Dogs” to a much higher level of finish. There is no doubt in my mind that Matt has also added a significant amount of value to “Thryke – The Man That Nobody Knew.”

To my mind, heading off into self-publishing without an editor is akin to sailing without a rudder. To get where you’re going will be painful and you will need a huge amount of luck. An editor, like Matt, can help you plot the course with surety. But enough from me, let’s meet the man himself.

Tell us a bit about yourself.

I’m the author of several published novels and anthologies, including Kill the Witch! and Granjy’s Eyes, and the owner and Senior Editor of MJV Literary Author Services.

I’ve been writing stories ever since I was a child – I guess I was around 6 or 7 years old when I won the regional prize in a story writing competition run by the BBC kids’ show Look and Read, with Wordy – if you’re a certain age you’ll probably remember it featured that mad mini-series “The Boy From Space”; the prize was a whole set of pens, pencils, crayons, notepads etc.  I wrote my first novel at 14 – a gangster thriller; it wasn’t very good – then wrote prolifically in the following years.  To be honest, I never even thought about being published; I would just write a book, rewrite it, then put it away.  I recall half-heartedly sending a few submissions when I moved back to London at 21, but realizing I needed an agent, I lost interest and decided to just keep writing for my own fulfilment.  It was almost another 20 years before I got a traditional publishing contract.  When I started up MJV Literary, in 2016, I reacquired the rights by mutual agreement, because I wanted established titles to help get the venture off the ground – but my former publisher and I still remain friends, and MJV now carries out most of their copy-editing work.

How has the publishing world changed over the last few years?

I became pretty disillusioned with the whole publishing industry over the years, to tell the truth.  It seems that nowadays only established names are able to get their books published by the big houses.  Added to that, the nature of an agent, in any industry, is to make money from what is currently trending, be it vampires, superheroes, LGBT-themes, etc.; unless your book, or yourself as an author, happen to fall into one of their favoured categories, it is unlikely you will even gain representation.  MJV likes to work with startup publishing houses, which are keen to make a name and give new authors a chance, in order to develop their portfolio.  In that respect, I am conscious of the fact that many new authors simply don’t have a chance, in modern times, to get their book published; the services we offer have been tailored over our first few years to find and encourage top-quality authors who would otherwise not be given the recognition and encouragement they deserve.  We have been extremely fortunate (and I do like to think that we have a good eye) in spotting and working with some real, genuine unknown talent.  I would have to say, in a nutshell, that our philosophy is to actively encourage the best of them, in what can be a soul-destroying industry.  Our reviews, beta-reading and appraisals are honest – sometimes brutally so – with one intention: to instil in the authors a belief that their book, with the right support, hard work and genuine effort, can be every bit as good as competing works on the market.  We do this by highlighting the book and author’s best qualities, and likewise whatever might be detrimental.  As an author, there is a growing sense that you might never be offered a publishing deal, but knowing that you have presented the best piece of writing you possibly can, in my experience, can be equally, if not more rewarding – and this is how we approach our appraisals.  We know that money is often a factor in presenting a professionally polished book when self-publishing, so we try to make our services accessible to all of those that we think would genuinely benefit.  I have yet to come across what may be described as a “lost cause” in writing, and would not instil this belief unless I genuinely believed it was a worthwhile endeavour for the author.

What one piece of advice would you give and aspiring writer?

If I were to offer one piece of advice to authors, it would be this: if you absolutely believe in yourself, don’t let industry trends or cynical business convince you otherwise.  An agent or publisher will publish what they think will sell in that current market; if yours doesn’t fit the current requirements, the chances are they didn’t even read your synopsis, so don’t take it to heart when they don’t ask for your submission – it is a matter of pure timing, not talent.  Develop a thick skin, and don’t let your confidence be harmed by decisions which are no more than business ones.

Amazon and self-publishing have changed the publishing industry to such an extreme that there is no reason whatsoever not to achieve your ambition – you might simply have to think of more creative ways to publish and sell.  A traditional publishing deal is not the Holy Grail, and might not even be your best option.  Whatever path you take though, there is absolutely no excuse for not creating the best product you possibly can; after all, if a reader is willing to invest time and money in reading you, the least you can do is provide a professionally presented and hard-worked book.  That is where companies like ours will help.

I would suggest making every effort you can to submit your finished book to publishers or find representation, if this is your dream, but prepare very heavily – and realistically – for plan B; creating your own publishing imprint is always a good option.  Alternatively, we have been in the process for some time of building a feature which offers the best authors the opportunity to use our name as an imprint, but unfortunately this has been put on hold for the time being, due to the pandemic situation.

Self-published authors or small imprint publishers must nowadays be top quality, prolific marketers – and, if we’re honest, most of us aren’t.  If sales figures are important to you, invest in industry-specific professional marketing – the best you can afford.  Cutting costs here is a false economy and will stop you in your tracks, not to mention draining your energy, resources and, worst of all, your belief.

How can authors connect with your services?

We have established a presence at all of the usual social media, and try to feature authors and titles we have worked with as much as we possibly can, in a variety of ways.  Content is key in digital selling and marketing, and my review blog, MATT McAVOY BOOK REVIEW, is an extremely popular source of promotion.  In the first instance, though, authors can see our services, our featured titles and the experiences of all the authors we have worked with at www.mjvliterary.com, or my own personal website www.mattmcavoy.com.