Your Monday mote

Happy fourth birthday, Ryan

It’s been almost four years to the day since I self-published Ryan is Ready For You Now, my celebrity journalism memoir.

I wrote it a couple of years before lockdown and the manuscript languished for a while after being rejected by a few agents and publishers. The overall feedback was complimentary in terms of the writing but they all felt it was too niche. One agent invited me to get back in touch when I had another book written.

They are right, though. It is niche.

It’s a memoir about my journalism career but I’m not famous or an influencer, which limits its reach.

It’s also a ‘how-to’ of celebrity journalism, so really only of interest to other journalists and student journos. Each chapter of the book relates to a part of the process such as the importance of research, how to ask a killer question and working against a ticking clock.

I’d say it’s of passing interest to anyone who loves a celebrity anecdote. If you want to know what it was like to sing at Hugh Jackman, share trail mix with Scarlett Johansson and fall into Betty White’s trailer, this is the book for you.

So why did I write it?

Mainly, I didn’t want to forget the skills and stories gathered across a career that started on a local paper in the late Eighties, moved to magazines in London, in the Nineties, and then the movie junket circuit in Hollywood, in the early Noughts and beyond.

They’re good stories and I had a lot of them. I’m glad I wrote it all down pre menopause, too. Honestly, I’m not sure I’d do such a good job now.

The research process was great fun. I particularly enjoyed spooling through endless files at my local library for old newspaper covers. Other days, I’d sift through thousands of emails, photographs, documents, boxes of random papers and cuttings. I talked to colleagues old and new, and had a wonderful time sauntering down memory lane.

I knew that I had some useful tips to share about interviewing people. I never wanted anyone I met to be uncomfortable. For me, it was a give and take situation (also the secret of a happy marriage according to every Golden Wedding story I wrote for the local paper) and I generally had a fantastic time doing the job. Stressful sometimes, but mostly I felt extremely privileged.

But when it comes to the book people are now mostly curious about the cost and if I made my money back.

The answer to the first part is just under £1,000, a sum that covers two proof-reads, someone I paid to configure it for KDP (mind-melt), the ISBN and a couple of other minor costs. I was lucky enough to have a friend design the cover as a favour.

Secondly, yes I have. It took a while but last year I broke even.

The book is now not just on Amazon but in various university libraries across the country, which is a big thrill for someone who never went to uni. I’ve been asked to give lectures based on it, which I enjoy immensely. It’s also now in my local book shop and I think I’m going to publish a hardback version, for vanity as much as anything.

I don’t really market it any more but on publication I managed to do that perfectly well by myself, putting together an electronic press kit which contained a selection of photos (thanks to a friend who did a photo shoot with me at home), the cover, a press release, chapter excerpts, reviews and a bio. It was still lockdown in September 2020, so people who received my press release were pretty receptive to a light-hearted story that wasn’t Covid related.

My face, and Hugh Jackman’s, appeared on the cover of the Evening Echo (where I started my career - see above) as they were more than happy to cover a local success story. So were the Leigh Times, the tiny paper where I did my first few days of work experience. I also landed myself press in The Scotsman and a few national mags. I was interviewed on Essex Radio and my mate Mel even reviewed the book in a mag, in Australia. I pushed it hard on all my socials inviting people to take ‘Relfies’, which was highly amusing.

It’s a funny thing putting in an enormous amount of effort to write tens of thousands of words and then it’s just…done.

Once it’s out there, it’s out there.

Initially, I was terrified but four years on, I’m extraordinarily proud.

What I love most is that when I lean back in my office chair and glance to the right, I can see it on my book shelf. Every single time, I still think to myself, “I wrote that”.

Just before I pressed the Amazon ‘publish’ button I was near exhaustion. It’s not a process for the faint-hearted. At that point I’d read it so many times I just wanted to throw it out of the window. [Reader, I did not.]

There was also a belly-churning moment when I realised that the first few orders had gone out with the words on the spine printed upside down. I sold about 17 copies before I noticed. I offered to replace them all but nobody want to give up their ‘collector’s item’.

But all that trauma is forgotten now.

Now, I’m thrilled when I get the occasional text or email from people telling me how much they are enjoying it. One of the more recent Relfies was from a friend reading it on a beach in France. It gets around.

Peak ‘Relfie’ madness.

And of course, since 2020, the Ryan in question has played Ken to Margot Robbie’s Barbie. I’m not sure as many people knew who Ryan Gosling was before that movie. He was well known but not superhero well-known. People always assume the title refers to Ryan Reynolds, who I’ve never interviewed.

A little known nugget is that one chapter was never published. In light of the #metoo movement, I wrote about the handful of unpleasant experiences I had doing the job, mostly at the start of my career.

I was persuaded to not publish it by a journalist friend who pointed out that none of those situations would happen now and it might put people off. She had a point and I left it out. I did however write a couple of blind items (I kept anonymous anecdotes to a minimum) and interestingly, the couple of celebrities I didn’t particularly warm to have subsequently been in the press for questionable behaviour. Enough said.

Would I do any of it differently?

Absolutely not. I’m grateful to have been born at a time where I could at least get the book out there. Compliments from agents are nice, but pre internet Ryan wouldn’t have seen the light of day.

So here we are, four years on. In one way, the book is from another age. It was born in lockdown but my profession sort of died in lockdown. The movie junket circuit, for instance, just simply doesn’t exist in the same way, and journalism itself is hanging on by a thread due to budget cuts in the digital age.

That being said, the lessons learned stand. I’m proud of that and I still think it has value.

So how to celebrate?

Eighties Lisa would have been toasting the book at the local wine bar wearing shoulder pads that would slice a ham.

Nineties Lisa would be dining at Quaglino’s and possibly a nightcap at the Groucho.

Noughties Lisa would be at screening at the Arclight before drinks at Soho House, in West Hollywood.

Substack Lisa? Well, I’ll probably go for ice cream at Rossi’s along the seafront and then early to bed with a good book.

Just like every other four year old.

Have a great week!

Lisa