Is there a book in you?

The first thing I tend to read in On Course is the tutor interview; we tutors tend to be ships that pass in the night so it's always interesting to know who else is involved. Well, in the last edition, Bev Legge confessed that his long term ambition is to write a book.

He's not alone. Getting a book published is apparently the second most common New Year's resolution (after losing weight), and the recent Richard and Judy competition to win a publishing contract for a novel attracted a staggering 47,000 entries.

But how can you tell whether or not your dream is achievable? Is giving up the day job (or any prospect of free time) and devoting yourself to writing a realistic option? The one thing that most published writers agree on is that the road to publication is seldom strewn with roses; but rather depends on hard graft, determination and luck (as well as writing talent).

I have been a publisher as well as an author, and have been pondering for some time why it is that some people do get published, and others try for years and get nowhere. What are the key resources that would-be writers need? I started making a list and came up with ten things.

I have taken part in the writing workshops that are run as part of the Edinburgh Book Festival for several years now, but you have to think of the title for your contribution in time for the programme to be agreed and printed long before you give the talk in August. So with these thoughts of what resources do writers really need running around my head, last year I offered a session called Is there a book in you?. On my arrival in Edinburgh, I found out that the talk had been an almost immediate sell out; clearly I had hit a nerve. And interestingly, the audience did not just consist of those planning to write; there were also those trying to support, or just live with, would-be writers.

This response convinced me that a wider look at the subject was needed, and I formalised my ideas into a questionnaire and then conducted a survey of writers. It was important to me to include writers of all types of work, and both published and unpublished. The list was very varied, from academic and educational to literary fiction and chick lit, from the Whitbread Prize-winning Philip Pullman and Children's Laureate Jacqueline Wilson, through the 'mid-list' of lesser known, but still published, names, to those trying to get into print for the first time (including PTC Chief Executive, John Whitley!).

Significantly, the key factors I had identified were endorsed, and several writers said the exercise had made them think seriously about why they kept going; my list had helped them to identify key parts of their character that they had not thought of up to now, but were clearly of fundamental importance to them as a writer.

I then wrote the accompanying book. Is there a book in you? is just published, and will be launched at the Edinburgh Book Festival this August.

As a postscript, one of the most interesting things to emerge from the research process was the highly specific conditions that many writers use to support their creativity. Children's author Anne Rooney has regular chats with a lobster called Marcel; playwright Stephen Hancocks has a pair of trousers with lots of pockets in them, which are crucial to his writing process; Edward Denison writes best late at night, dressed in silk trousers and cradling a whiskey.

So, for the record, here are my preferences! I wrote this book early in the morning (between 5 and 7am) in my study at the top of the house, whilst my family slept down below. I can't work with music on or late at night. A perfect cup of coffee gets me going (made carefully, with a cafetiere and warm milk, and in a special mug) but too much addles my brain; lots of fizzy water is however essential. My most essential boosts to creativity are watching the birds soar past my window (in particular some bright green parakeets that escaped from Syon Park several years ago and now nest in Richmond Park near where I live) and a reproduction of Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring. This is carefully positioned so that whenever I look up for inspiration, she is looking right back at me. Whatever I draft in the morning, I then polish up during the day in my monastic cell at Kingston University (where I teach part time); as this does not permit me access to my home email or a window, it's a perfect place to slot into editorial mode. Outside the home, I get good ideas whilst standing on grass with bare feet and riding on the top of double-decker buses!

Is there a book in you? is by now hopefully available from A&C Black and all good bookshops.

Marketing Consultant, Alison Baverstock has written widely on the book trade and her publications include How to Market Books, Are Books Different? and Commonsense Marketing for Non-Marketers.