Books

And what they mean to me

The universe has been shouting ‘Books!’ at me recently. I’m not quite sure what it’s trying to tell me, though. Just that I should be reading more? That I need to pull my finger out and create at least one of the many many book pitch ideas I have swirling around in my head? That I should be exploring other publishing jobs? That I should be building a free library in our front garden?

Or just that I should write something about books here, perhaps?

I (at least, so I was told) learnt to read at the age of three (I definitely already knew how to read when I started school, so it might be right). I would regularly fall asleep reading, surrounded by Blackberry Farm and Beatrix Potter books, in the early years, but not long I would fall asleep with a bigger book over my face.

There were books I read and reread again and again (Goodnight Mister Tom by Michelle Magorian, Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, all the Anne of Green Gables books, The Borrowers series), and phases of particular genres of books or subject matter. When we lived in Valencia in Spain we had library cards for the library at the British Institute and read load of classics in abridged form, that had been published with learners of English in mind. When we returned I got into science fiction and devoured all the big yellow Gollanz books available in our local library. In the early years of secondary I went through a Mills & Boon phase, swiftly followed by Silhouette Desire (sex!!) and a sideways foray into Sweet Valley High (no sex and lots of weird American High School drama that just didn’t happen in my school). Shortly after that I discovered Horror and read lots of James Herbert and Stephen King, writing a lot of horror short stories for my GCSE English Language coursework. Then I went through a feminist phase (Women’s Press, Virago, along with what little gay writing I could find. There was a lovely book that somehow made it into the school library, despite Section 28, about two teenage boys who fell in love – I can’t remember what it was called but I read it multiple times; there was nothing about gay women in the library. I also remember reading quite a few early Val McDermid books, which were whodunnits that happened to be solved by a gay private detective. And Jeanette Winterson’s Oranges are Not the Only Fruit was a big deal, too, not least because my writing a review of it for a German A level piece of homework got my German teacher all in a twist. He claimed that he ripped it up because it was so disgusting, but it seems perhaps he was just lazy because, shortly after my mum wrote a letter of complaint to the Head of Sixth the homework was returned and he laughed and said he was just joking.

I loved books. In those days I would get through multiple books in a week. During the Mills & Boon phase, I would go to the library on a Friday with my card, my mum’s card and my dad’s card so that I could have twelve books to read over the weekend. And that was on top of normal homework loads (and I was very diligent about doing my homework very well). During A Levels, as well as reading all the books I needed to read for my courses (English, French and German – so there was a lot of reading, including French and German novels and short stories), I read all of Jane Austen’s books and all of the Brontes’ books, a fair few George Elliot books and a handful of other books by eighteenth- and nineteenth-century women, at the same time as reading loads of contemporary feminist writing (one that particularly stood out was Marilyn French’s The Women’s Room, which I borrowed from the single mum who lived at the bottom of our hill and who I frequently babysat for).

And, it was during that time that I decided I wanted to work in publishing. Towards the end of my A levels and after them (I didn’t get the grades I needed, so I took some time out before heading to university) I researched and wrote letters to every single publishing house in the local area, as well as a few in London, to try to get a job. I remember having to trek across to Cheltenham to attend two interviews at Stanley Thornes, which at the time was located on the outskirts of Cheltenham and meant me getting three separate buses. Thankfully I didn’t get that job, because it would have been a hideous commute (I didn’t end up working there decades later – when it was then Nelson Thornes and based in the centre of Cheltenham, so only one bus needed). Mostly I got rejections, or non-responses, or offers of unpaid internships (that was mostly the London ones – we were poor and there was literally on way I could afford to do something like that, though we did look into the possibility of me staying on a friend of my aunt’s sofa for a few weeks). But then, eventually, after six months on ‘the dole’, I spotted an ad in the newsagent in town. It said ‘Are you unemployed? Do you want to work in publishing?’ It was literally made for me. And that’s how I got my first job in publishing – an employment trainee scheme, where I was a receptionist and office assistant for a year, while doing an NVQ in Office Admin on day release. Then I stayed on a few months as a freelance marketing assistant, until I headed off to university to study Publishing (with French Language and Literature). I was eternally grateful that I had messed up my A Levels, because it allowed me the time to truly understand what I wanted to do – and that was 100% to work with books.

While I was at university, rather than getting part-time retail or bar jobs like most of my friends, I took on freelance typesetting work. I did some work during term time, but mostly took on big projects in the holidays. I made £7-10 an hour, which was a lot more than my friends made in their part-time jobs, so it worked out well. I did also have to do a bit of temping work when I didn’t have a project to cover the holidays, though even then managed to wangle a couple of temp jobs in publishing houses (to be fair, Oxford, where I lived as a student, was full of publishers, so that’s maybe not a surprise), at OUP (photocopying, filing and data entry for The Dictionary of National Biography) and then another time at Blackwells (audio transcriptions of scientific journals – which was fascinating and quite challenging with lots of Latin words).

I loved learning about publishing – especially the History of Publishing modules. We had to specialise, unfortunately, so I veered away from the design side and down editorial, although I took extra design courses whenever I could fit them in, because I was drawn to both sides. And then my first job after graduating was an editorial one. Once I went freelance (only a couple of years after graduating) I did do a bit of design and typesetting work, but it was mostly editorial for the first few years, until digital publishing became bigger and we started being asked to create Word files of teacher resource packs. From there we (because my husband* joined me in the business) did a lot more typesetting and design, but always plenty of editorial work, too.

* Book-related sidenote… Chris and I met on a trip to the Frankfurt Book Fair during my final year at university and while he was doing the one-year Publishing Diploma.

Fast forward a few decades… I still work in publishing, though these days we spend far more time working on digital resources than print books. Because we work in Educational Publishing and a lot (though not all) of the big educational publishers are going ‘digital first’ these days – that means that they prioritise digital resources, such as worksheets, PowerPoints, quizzes and videos and animations, over textbooks. Those that aren’t ‘digital first’ still publish a large amount of digital content and we have kind of ended up with that being our speciality over the years.

When I was at university, I always pictured myself as a commissioning editor in Fiction, travelling around the world, from book fair to book fair and meeting authors and working with them to develop their books. I also always thought that I would be a published author myself. That first job out of university kind of steered me in a different direction, though, and that’s how I’ve ended up in educational publishing for almost three decades.

But, even if my working day is mostly filled with digital typesetting or wrangling schedules while project managing, my non-working day is still chock-a-block with books in one way or another.

I always have a fiction book on the go. As I said, I really wish I could read as quickly these days as I did as a teenager, but most books take me at least a couple of weeks to read, sometimes more. But I never ever go a whole day without reading at all. I usually read a bit in the mornings, while eating lunch, often between finishing work and dinner (depending on who is cooking) and then again at bedtime. Sometimes I’ll also read for a chunk of time after dinner, but I’m more likely to watch TV while getting some drawing time in.

I absolutely love fiction. Of many kinds, though I’m most likely these days to read contemporary fiction and usually written by women. I love books that take me inside a character, or characters, and show me their thoughts and motivations. I love books that take me somewhere new, whether that’s a completely different country, or just a mind that works differently. Books can take us to so many worlds, real and imagined. They are magical gateways into the unknown. How wonderous is that? I love books that spark my emotions (from joy and sadness, through to anger and fear) or make me think about something. I love being able to get inside someone else’s head, even if their head is not where I would want mine to be!

During the pandemic, when I wasn’t able to travel, I travelled through books instead, particularly choosing to read books from different countries and different cultures. I also love TV and film adaptations of books. It always fascinates me (and sometimes frustrates me) the changes that are chosen for a TV or film adaptation. I love that there are new people introduced to books via their adaptations.

I am also addicted to getting books to teach me things. Describing it as an addiction sounds a bit extreme. After all, non-fiction books are incredibly useful and provide a wealth of knowledge. But the thing is, I tend to buy more than one book on a subject. Back a couple of decades ago, I had shelves and shelves of computing books – books about particular pieces of software, books about particular programming languages, books about SQL… because I was doing an Open University MSc in Computing. But I didn’t need anywhere near all of those. I needed maybe one or two. When I decided to take A Level Philosophy at evening classes… I bought tens of books on philosophy – Dictionaries of Philosophy, guides to specific philosophies, original texts – and even a Bible and the Koran! These days, I have two whole bookcases that are absolutely full of art-related books – books about pattern design, books on picture book illustration, books about building a creative career, inspiration books full of pictures of birds and flowers, books about particular art movements, exhibition books… The other day I decided to buy the new book by the AOI’s Derek Brazell (and Jo Davies) on Getting Illustration Clients and, well, Amazon has my number, because I also added three other books on that subject to my shopping basket (The Illustrator’s Guide: How to create an exceptional freelance illustration career, The Indispensable Illustrator and How to get Illustration Clients).

Every now and then I wonder if my foray into book illustration isn’t just a way to stay in the publishing world while getting some novelty and change (which I really do need; I can’t do the same thing again and again and over and over). I do explore other markets for illustration (and I have made some money out of pattern design, for example), but illustrating for books always draws me back and becomes my focus. Because I really need books to not just be in my life, but to be a huge part of it. And I don’t think that would be fulfilled by just reading for pleasure, or for learning. I need to be involved, in some way or another, in their creation, too. And book illustration is a good way to do that and tick a bunch of boxes.

My current focus, while also sending out my portfolio to a variety of book publishers, is on creating some pitches for author-illustrated books (both adult and kids books), because that way I would get to satisfy my need to be creating as well as consuming books, but also fulfil my life-long dream of becoming a published author. And I have book with ‘Illustrated by Tasha Goddard’ on the cover but now I want more and I want a shelf (or three) of books that just say ‘by Tasha Goddard’.  

Are you a book person? What do you love reading? What’s your book journey been? Have you illustrated books? Written books? Both?

After uploading a bunch of vegetable illustrations to the three microstocks I have work on, I am feeling disenchanted with this route. Shutterstock approved them very quickly, but no-one has yet downloaded any. Adobe Stock is still reviewing them a week later (and say it can take up to 8 weeks) and iStock rejected them all for concept/authenticity reasons (I have a ticket out querying this). It doesn’t actually feel useful or sustainable to be uploading material to these places, where you have to sell an absolute tonne to make anything much at all, particularly if it requires jumping through a bunch of extra hoops. I won’t give up yet, of course. I know, you have to push harder and longer before stopping anything and I need to not expect instant gratification all the time. But still disheartened.

On the other hand, I am really enjoying the drawing (and writing) I am doing for The Illustrated Plant Kitchen and, while no-one has taken a paid subscription out yet, the fact that it is helping me to create a variety of things is keeping me engaged and motivated. In August I get to reversion some of it into prints and other things that could make money. Maybe some vegetable patterns to upload to Spoonflower! And I plan to enjoy and get the most out of this regular drawing space. And NOT GIVE UP.

Coming up this Wednesday is the fifth and final newsletter of free July (not sure yet what this week’s will be; I have a bunch of drafts and will go with the one that feels most appropriate when I schedule it on Monday or Tuesday). Throughout August there is a half-price launch discount on the paid membership, where you can lock in a really really low price forever.

Which reminds me… this newsletter is currently all free (I may choose to paywall in the future, but I’ll warn you if and when that’s going to happen). But if you value what you read here and look forward to your weekly dose of Tasha rambling on about something vaguely related to illustration, freelancing, travel or just general random life stuff, then do feel free to take out a paid subscription.

Oh, and thanks to everyone who voted in last week’s poll. I am now trying to decide between Illustrated Life (or possible, Life, Illustrated) and The Wandering Illustrator. But I do also wonder if either of them cuts it for describing what I write about in this particular newsletter, rather than describing me or my work in general terms. I think it’s going to take a bit more thought. And, of course, drawing a new logo/banner when I do decide.