Text signs eight-book deal with self-published YA author

19 April 2013 Books+Publishing

Text Publishing has signed an eight-book deal with self-published YA author Darrell Pitt.

Pitt, a Melbourne writer who is currently completing a Bachelor of Arts in creative writing at RMIT, has previously published two YA series, ‘The Steampunk Detective’ and ‘Diary of a Teenage Superhero’, as ebooks through Smashwords and Amazon. Pitt will continue to sell his self-published ebooks until Text releases re-edited print and digital versions next year.

Text sales and marketing director Kirsty Wilson told Books+Publishing that this is the first time Text has signed a self-published author, and the first time the publisher has bought the rights to eight books by one author at the same time. ‘Darrell is an amazing storyteller who it seems can’t stop dreaming up outlandish, page-turning plots and great characters to people them,’ said Wilson.

‘It’s exciting to be publishing an author who has previously published his own books,’ said Text publisher Michael Heyward. ‘It means we know more from the start about how his books are bought and read, or at least in digital form. It creates opportunities for us, as does the fact that there is already a list of eight titles. The story that we have to tell about Darrell Pitt and his writing is made richer because of that.’ Heyward added that the challenge will be ‘how to take Darrell’s success and parlay it into print form’.

Pitt told Books+Publishing that his ebook sales are currently ‘over 1000 books per month’, and while he sees many advantages to self-publishing, the benefits of signing with a traditional publisher are ‘overwhelming’. ‘Text has plenty of experience in the industry. That’s something I don’t have. In addition, they have the contacts in place to negotiate foreign sales, film/TV and all the other rights associated with a book. An author simply doesn’t have those contacts,’ said Pitt.

Category: Local news