Many of us long for that call announcing you’ve got that book deal. But how did Hannah Jones cope with the transfer from daily paper to bookshelf? And would she survive the book signings.
If you listen to popular authors (and your fourth year English teacher) we all have a book in us; in Hannah Jones’ case it was already staring her in the face. A much-loved columnist, journalist and Magazines Editor at the national newspaper of Wales, the Western Mail, Hannah had been chronicling in print her hate-hate relationship with her body and the food she put into it for the past year when she found herself with a book deal.
Prompted by author and fellow columnist Lynne Barrett-Lee, Hannah had sent examples of her column to publisher, Accent, who had snapped up Hannah up in less than 24 hours. With months and months of columns under her belt some may have thought Hannah’s work was already behind her and it would simply be a matter of compiling but Hannah admits it wasn’t so simple.
“I met the publisher three days after being signed up and she said told me she wanted 70,000 words by August, it was May. I had problems finding archives of my column and when I finally put them all together it was only 40,000 words. I knew I had my future weekly columns and other size related musings which could be added on but it was still hard work.”
Hannah rebuffs the idea of having a novel inside her and says she found the whole process of writing the book at odds with her profession. “With journalism you can bang it out – it’s tomorrow’s chip paper, but this was to be set in stone and put on a book shelf. I cannot set myself goals of so many words a day, I cannot make myself be funny, I am not that focussed. I write whatever comes into my head and so it is more a stream of consciousness.”
But if the book itself was a new departure for Hannah the more mundane duties of publishing were to require a whole new set of skills. She said, “As a columnist for the Trinity Mirror I had to clear it for copyright. I didn’t like doing that side of it and I hate making a pest of myself regarding clearing and money and still doing the ‘day job’.”
Diary of a Diet: A Little Book of Big was launched in September; just four months after Hannah first sent her summary to the publisher. The book, with a forward by comedienne, Jo Brand, charts Hannah’s fight with dieting and delves into the roots of her eating habits. Don’t expect breast-beating US-style getting-to-love-me advice. This is a laugh out loud and sometimes caustic observation of growing up in a family whose whole raison d’etre is food and the adult struggles of a big woman in a little world. Hannah even recalls, as a child, being tucked up at night with a ham sandwich rather than a teddy and a bedtime story.
The launch marked a new role for Hannah Jones, the author, as she embarked on readings and book signings. This she admits is probably the hardest part of the process. “I hate selling myself I find it very hard and I feel a fish out of water.”
Hannah tells me this while sitting on a rather comfortable sofa in the middle of Borders in Swansea. This is her second signing after the launch. Having never had the misfortune to be thrust into the limelight in this way I can only presume it’s as comfortable as sitting in a crowded pub on your own waiting for your mates to turn up. But Hannah’s brought her mates; boyfriend ‘Mr Han’ and flat mate ‘Hiya Love’ who both appear in the book and the locals look friendly. One chats to Hannah before picking up a copy “One down eight thousand to go, “ the new author mutters. But she needn’t worry as her book has already captured an audience and after just a matter of few weeks Hannah has been officially crowned one of Wales’ best selling authors.
So while we chat over cappuccino and lemon slices I have to know if it was worth it? Hannah said, “This is my first book and it’s like they’ve given me my baby and I can see all the mistakes. I don’t know if I am dedicated enough to write a book. I am a journalist and that’s a different discipline.”
She illustrates the point by telling me she was assigned 400 words on church open days the day before. So despite the relative glamour of authorship Hannah is still very much a grafting journo. But she still has the contractual meet and greets to get through and so she will be appearing at bookstores, literary festivals and library evenings for the next month or so. After that she can get back to the Western Mail, Mr Han and maybe some Green and Black’s with orangey bits.
Diary of a Diet – The Little Book of Big is available in all good book stores and also on Amazon. You can get a taste of Hannah’s book on hannahjones.net.
