From Crime Writer to Publisher

 

One of the panels at the
Welsh Crime Fiction Festival 2021
was an introduction by Crime writer Carol Westron, to the three authors who are the founder directors of the new Crime Imprint,

Diamond Crime

Jeff Dowson, (www.jeffdowson.co.uk)

Phil Rowlands (www.philrowlandswriter.com) 

Stephen Timmins (www.stephentimmins.com)

Carol began by asking Phil Rowlands, what made the team get together to create a  publishing house.

Phil explained that they were all published authors looking for a new home for their books,without success, and after much thought and research into the practicalities and cost of re-publishing, decided that setting up small e-publisher themselves was possible. He went on to say that the three of them had a passion for crime writing and reading and providing an opportunity for new and talented writers who were unable to get published. Also, they could bring new voices to readers of crime fiction.

As Jeff was the originator of this project, Carol asked him why he came up with the name Diamond Books.
Jeff said he wasn’t thinking about ‘Something Books’ at the time.  Rather a publisher called ‘Something Crime’.  Clear, lean, straight to the point.  Diamond jumped into his head – polished, classy, tough, unbreakable, multi-faceted.  And there it was, ‘Diamond Crime’. Phil and Steve suggested we widen the scope a little, create the opportunity to develop other strands.  So, we became Diamond Books.

In answer to Carol’s question as to what the team would, as authors, have wanted to see from a publisher,
Steve said that grew out of the team’s shared friendship and backgrounds which were all in TV or film. This meant that they were used to working in a group - to co-operating. And it is their intention to bring this approach to the new Diamond publishing venture, with honesty, transparency, care, and a lot of effort! 

Jeff explained how important it was for Diamond Crime to co-operate with others and how much they would hope to mentor young writers, by forming links with college students and writing groups.

Phil addressed the issue of when authors could expect the Diamond Crime list to open and asked that people kept a close on the website and to submit work or ask questions via the submissions page.

Finally, Carol asked Steve whether Diamond Books would expand into other genres.  Steve considered that for the time being it was likely they would remain crime based as this had been their shared interest, but that different aspects of the genre would be considered, whether that’s Future Crime, Historical Crime or even Romance or Saga Crime.  The team just likes murders!

www.diamondbooks.co.uk