Abigail Bergstrom: On starting a new publishing consultancy and writing her first novel.
Starting anything and seeing it through takes a lot of tenacity, dedication and perseverance. These aren’t the quick fix life hacks that appear on “New Year, New Me” listicles but they are effective. Abigail Bergstrom knows this to be true as they’re exactly the traits that got her through the process of writing her first novel and they’re what she relies on time and time again as she moves her new publishing consultancy, Bergstrom Studio forward.
We spoke to Abigail about the motivation behind starting her own company, how she approached writing her first book and the advice she gives to the writer’s she represents.
Why did you first want to start Bergstrom Studio?
I wanted complete autonomy and freedom, I wanted to create a business that was responding to published and unpublished writers’ needs as I saw them. The studio was about diversifying and implementing a business model that utilised my skills as an editor, agent and published author. We offer an exciting range of bespoke editorial services and creative consultations to help writers develop a commercially viable idea, finish their novel or realise a non-fiction proposal. And we're also a literary agency which means we're always working with the market to sustain long-term writing careers.
What were the first main steps you went through in the process of setting it up?
The first thing I did was speak to other women who were further ahead of me and had made the move to set up their own publishing businesses. This was incredibly helpful, it gave me the courage and self-belief to make the leap and was a way to garner some practical advice. People remember what it was like to start out so they’re happy to share information and help. The next thing was thinking about the brand and boiling down exactly what the studio was, and just as importantly, establishing exactly what it wasn’t. Building a website and initial marketing plans to launch were also integral first steps.
“The first thing I did was speak to other women who were further ahead of me and had made the move to set up their own publishing businesses. This was incredibly helpful.”
What were some of the main obstacles in the beginning and the biggest learnings as you've gone on?
I think it’s a challenge to be clear on communications when you’re trying to do something different. I didn’t want to set up a traditional agency (just as I hadn’t wanted to set up a traditional literary agency when I launched Gleam Titles six years ago), but it’s harder to communicate to people who you are and what you do when you’re swimming against the norm and trying to build a broader church. That’s been a learning for me, that I need to keep sharing with others how we’re working and all the different things we’re doing and offering as a business.
With your new novel, What A Shame, how did you approach the writing process?
It was important not to get sucked into the world, not to read anything or watch any TV, or even have any conversations with people I lived with. I’d wake up in the morning and write first thing, still in my pyjamas in bed, and I’d go on into the afternoon. But only on weekends. I was running an agency and representing 50+ authors internationally, so I didn’t have the energy for writing during the week. My process was showing up, even if I didn’t want to write, just being there with the text consistently, no matter what. Sometimes that time would be joyful and creative, other times it would be lonely and despondent.
Are you someone who gets it all down and edits later or are you more considered as you go?
I edit as I go along, I’m obsessed with editing and spend more time tweaking and playing around with a chapter than it ever takes me to write one.
Did you have other ideas for a novel? If so what made you decide on the story and direction you've eventually followed?
For me the story is always evolving and contorting itself as I’m writing and editing, and sometimes ideas come in and you realise that storyline fits perfectly exactly where you’re at. I always try to plan and set out the novel first, but it doesn’t work for me and stunts all creativity. I have this idea in my head and then these characters start to form, and then I just have to write and see what comes out on the page, see what the characters tell me they're going to do.
What is some of the advice you give your writers (and yourself) when you're starting out on a new writing project?
It’s not meant to be good; the first draft isn’t meant to be perfect. It’s a foundation to build off. And also that writing a novel is more like writing seven or eight or even nine… you rewrite and rewrite and edit and tweak and play and cut and pull and push. It’s meant to be hard and, at times, truly painful. That’s why not everyone does it.
“I think you reach a point in every creative project where you stop and ask: What am I doing? Why am I deluding myself? You have to keep going.”
How do you stay motivated when energy for the project is a little low or you feel stuck?
You just have to keep going. I think you reach a point in every creative project where you stop and ask: What am I doing? Why am I deluding myself? I called a friend when I was two thirds of the way through What A Shame in anguish, and told her how stupid I’d been, how terrible it was and how writing a novel had been a huge waste of time. But I knew I was still going to finish. That’s the only way to move through it… you have to keep going.
What's the best advice you've had or heard for anyone starting out or starting something new?
Just start. It won’t be pretty, it might not feel good and you won’t necessarily believe that it will ever come to anything. But I can guarantee you one thing: if you don’t start, nothing ever will.
What A Shame published in February 2022, order your copy here.
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