Featherstone 
Why Some of the Most Impactful Books Will Never Come from a Traditional Publisher
There are books that change lives without fanfare. Books that don’t fit neatly into a commercial category. Books that won’t ever be in a publishing bidding war.
These books won’t make the bestseller lists, might only find shelf space in the author’s local bookshop, and yet they will find space in peoples’ hearts, moving readers, shifting thinking, and leaving the world a little different because of the thoughts thought, the life lived, and the record of it written.
These are the books about or by regular people doing extraordinary things or living life on their own terms. People who changed their own futures, how their communities work, how institutions operate; often without any recognition, and sometimes without even knowing the full extent of what they’d set in motion.
Traditional publishers, for all their fabulous value and impact, are businesses. They need to weigh up commercial viability, market size, and return on investment. And so some of the most impactful stories, the ones that illuminate lives that have passed largely under the radar, simply don’t make the cut. Not because they aren’t worthy. Because they aren’t, in publishing industry terms, a safe commercial bet.
This is one of the reasons I am so passionate about self-publishing. Not just as a practical pathway for authors who want control over their work, but as a needed force in our culture. Self-publishing means that the stories traditional publishers can’t or won’t take a chance on can still be told. That the people whose lives deserve to be documented can be documented. That changemakers, even unassuming ones, can have even more impact. And that readers can enjoy discovering ideas, worlds and perspectives that challenge, inform and inspire.
Which leads me to a book called…
Brick Walls and Broken Systems: Maxine Griffiths’ Story
Author Annie Barrett has just published Brick Walls and Broken Systems: Maxine Griffiths’ Story and it is one of those books. the back cover reads:
Maxine Griffiths AM was nineteen years old when she met Don. He was three. His body was twisted with cerebral palsy, he had no words and no hope, and he had been abandoned and placed in a horrific institution near Hobart. When Don crept into Maxine’s heart, he changed her life and she changed his.
Still young and single, Maxine took on Tasmania’s conservative institutions. She never took no for an answer. She became an advocate and a pioneer, and she helped Tasmania step out of a shocking past that many would have preferred to leave unexamined. The book takes readers inside some of Tasmania’s most significant and troubling institutions, including the Mothercraft Home, Willow Court, and the Royal Derwent Hospital, Australia’s oldest “mental asylum”, and documents what life looked like inside them and what it took to change things.
It’s a remarkable story. And it very nearly didn’t become a book at all.
The long road to publication
Annie Barrett was asked by Maxine herself to write the book. They were friends and colleagues in disability and advocacy services in Tasmania, and Maxine trusted Annie to tell her story with the care and rigour it deserved. Annie said yes and then spent years doing exactly that, piecing together a deeply researched, beautifully written account of a life that has touched many others. She did all the right things. professional editing rounds, a mentorship with Varuna, speed dating with the ASA but the book wasn’t deemed commercial enough for a publishing deal.
Using Look It’s Your Book! as a guide, Annie took on the publishing process herself and I had the privilege of offering some encouragement along the way.The production journey was not straightforward. There were setbacks with who she outsourced the formatting and cover to sadly (and I hope down the track they’re able to give the book a new cover design so it truly represents the great read within), tech meltdowns and wayward specs, and the particular challenges that come with being a first-time author navigating self-publishing. Annie, like Maxine, never gave up though.
When I read the final draft, I understood completely why Annie had kept going through every writing and publishing obstacle. Brick Walls and Broken Systems is the kind of book that makes you feel, think, wonder, cry, and pump your fist. It reveals Maxine’s humanity and strength against so many societal blocks, and I’m in awe of both her life, and Annie’s dedication in bringing the story to light.
Why this book matters
Maxine and Don’s story is the kind of story that might have disappeared entirely if Annie hadn’t written it down. If self-publishing hadn’t given her a pathway to bring it into the world.
This is what self-publishing can do. It gives authors control and flexibility and can preserve stories, and the learnings from them, that would otherwise be lost.
Brick Walls and Broken Systems: Maxine Griffiths’ Story by Annie Barrett is available now. You can find out more and order your copy at anniebarrett.com.au/brick-walls-and-broken-systems.
And if you are sitting on a story that you think the world needs to hear but you’re not sure a traditional publisher will agree, that’s not a reason to stop. It might be the most important reason to keep going. I’m here if you need me for any 1:1 book coaching and consulting.