Second in the Roots trilogy, Beyond The Withered Roots started as one thing and evolved into another.
During my postgraduate course in 2022, we had a number of projects that would help us learn the aspects of publishing. In the second semester, we were focusing on digital products and e-publications. After the success of BTPR, Alex (remember them?) and I decided to make a sequel. We already had a little reach within the university, so finding writers wouldn’t be a problem and we were raring to make another book. Even with the issues of the last book, I went with an open mind to a meeting Alex and I had set to discuss our responsibilities and share of the workload.
My lecturer then reveals we will be making separate products.
Damn.
Because of the class size, he lets us use the same content and work somewhat collaboratively in order to get the projects off the ground, but like the project last semester, he had clearly based the work on having more students.
No problem, I took computing as an A-level, I know how to code.
My previous experience actually came in handy; I recognised how the lines were structured and understood a little of the coding language. I was taught Python and C+, not HTML and Java, but I could get by. Alex was hopeless, so I left them to their own devices when it came to designing our individual projects.
I don’t remember how the final project came out. I moved on to the research project and my dissertation, Alex moved on to whatever they did afterwards, but I wanted another shot at making a physical book. I already had the content and I wanted to give the authors something tactile for their hard work. I didn’t get around to publishing the physical edition until I’d left Bangor and had already established Barnard Publishing Ltd.
It was my first step into independent publishing.
I don’t know if I would do much differently, now I’m nearly 3 years in. My project management and marketing strategies have improved massively, but I used what skills and tools I had at the time to the best of my ability.
