Interview with Industry Expert and Author Anna Featherstone on Becoming a Successful Writer
Great wisdom, especially if you’re planning to self-publish
Australia has some of the world’s top writers and creative industry experts, yet it’s hard to find one who has dedicated themselves to helping others achieve their literary dreams. But that’s exactly what Anna is doing with her new venture, Bold Authors, which she has co-founded with Nadine Davidoff, a former Senior Editor at Random House and former Commissioning Editor at Black Inc. who currently teaches writing and editing at RMIT.
As an author, Anna draws upon her passions and life experiences as a mother and sustainably-minded small farm owner. In addition to writing for The Guardian, The Sydney Morning Herald, and Mindful Parenting Magazine, she has written 5 books. The most recent one, Look — It’s Your Book!, is an avalanche of information for aspiring authors.
Anna is also a judge for the Business Book Awards and is the Australian Ambassador for the Alliance of Independent Authors. I caught up with her not long before she was invited to speak at the SPN Independent Publishing Conference in Melbourne, Australia.
The interview kicks off pandemic-style: via Zoom. In the foreground, Anna’s friendly, slender face and dark, wise eyes smile from behind her author’s glasses. Her black hair is pulled back into a neat ponytail that shows she means business, while the white tee and casual olive-green overalls speak to her softer, approachable side.
She opens the conversation with a funny remark about “feeling tired” after reading my night-owl articles; her laughter and warm-timbered voice evoke a sense of familiarity that could make anyone feel they’d been friends forever.
Anna’s writing journey started when she was living and working on the sun-drenched Heron Island in QLD — with no internet or TV. And while the days were bathed in nature and bustled with energy, “at night, it was deadly boring … so I started doing a writing course,” she says.
You can say that she fell into this career by accident because, as part of her final assignment, Anna was asked to submit a book proposal to a publisher. After a short deliberation about genres, she decided to draw upon her experience working in hospitality and submitted the proposal to a small educational publisher.
“Then, three months later, the helicopter came with the mail and … I got a book deal!” she says with her mouth open, reenacting the dumbfounded look she had the day it happened.
The book turned out to be a big success, selling thousands of copies and exposing her to the ins and outs of the industry; she used this knowledge later to self-publish the next 4 books.
Today, Anna’s biggest advice to aspiring authors is to first “understand why they’re writing.” And says that the secret to success is not to allow yourself to get overwhelmed but to just take that next step, “because if you don’t take the step … you won’t know what it will lead to.”
Sylvia is a freelance journalist and author of “Go to Sleep Late: And Other Advice for Night Owls”.
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