How I got a traditional publisher and why luck has nothing to do with it

Rosemary Richings
5 min readAug 6, 2021
A woman reads a book on the carpet of her home with the natural light of a winter wonderland in her backyard illuminating the background.

Summer 2021 came with a reward: an offer from a traditional publisher interested in publishing my book. So many people have called me lucky, but I’m reluctant to use that word.

But don’t get me wrong: I am very happy with how this collaboration has turned out. The Jessica Kingsley Publishers team has been nothing but kind and extremely responsive to all my questions so far. They also understand neurodiversity more than most publishing industry professionals I have encountered so far.

So let’s talk a little bit about why I keep correcting people when they use the word “lucky”…

We’re a very instant gratification-focused society, and I don’t think that’s a good thing. I have seen way too many talented, creative people give up too fast because they didn’t get results from their hard work fast enough, and that’s a total shame.

Many of the creative people that I have known who have given up too quickly have been extremely gifted writers. Clearly, though, it’s not just my own inner circle that has this problem.

I listen to a lot of publishing podcasts with frequent Q& A sessions.

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Rosemary Richings

Writer, editor, author, neurodiversity advocate with a lived experience, dyspraxic POV