Posted by Justine Solomons on 3 November 2021, in Byte Connects, News
Tell us about how you met?
Birdie: We met on the sidelines of a networking event for prospective authors and publishing industry people being hosted by Byte the Book at the Groucho Club in London. In the daytime. Not the nighttime.
Rachel: We met at a Byte the Book Agent’s Tables event back in January 2020 (before the pandemic took them online). We were both meeting with agents to discuss our respective manuscripts, and on the day we actually exchanged very few words. But Birdie jotted down the name of my blog (In Search of Happy), and that’s how the connection began. Later she read and liked my writing and reached out via social media to ask if I could edit her manuscript.
How did you work on Sex, Drugs, and Yoga together?
Birdie: Our relationship had a total metamorphosis. My first intention was to receive feedback and polish the memoir. There was no goal to publish it per se but I wanted it to be well-edited. Rachel was an employee and had a really clever blog. It was from reading her own words that inspired me to ask her if she would take on editing for me. She said yes. Over the course of that task, thankfully, she enjoyed Sex, Drugs and Yoga and was ultimately inspired to launch Lemon Quartz.
Rachel: Initially I was Birdie’s freelance editor. Her manuscript was a joy to work on – I had recently read James Frey’s A Million Little Pieces (which I loved) and the rawness of Birdie’s writing reminded me of Frey’s style. We had been working together for around six months when we began discussing her self-publishing it, so we then worked towards that.
For many years I had had a niggling dream that I wanted to start my own publishing company, and the more I read Sex, Drugs, and Yoga, the more I felt the urge to stop thinking about it and start making it happen. So I approached Birdie with the proposal of me becoming her publisher, and – thankfully! – she loved the idea. In early 2021 Lemon Quartz Publishing was born, and we are now in the final months leading up to the publication of Sex, Drugs, and Yoga (which is available to pre-order now!)
What was Rachel/Birdie like to work with?
Birdie: Rachel is lovely. Also, a star in this field. I virtually did not have to move outside my comfort zone which is essential when you just want to focus on the words going onto each page not the million other things that go into making actual books.
Rachel: It has been great to work with Birdie – I feel honoured that she has put her trust in me not only with her story but also with its publication. She’s been super supportive of the company, and we’re both excited to see how much impact we can make with Sex, Drugs, and Yoga. It’s a brilliant book and we’re committed to making it a success!
Birdie Paradise was born and raised in British Columbia, Canada, and is now based in the United Kingdom. The story of her turbulent twenties lives within the pages of Sex, Drugs, and Yoga, her debut memoir.
Now approaching forty, she is a mostly different person. A yogi. Living in peace. Though she still loves designer shoes. Her past has made her who she is today, but she has consciously chosen not to be defined by it forever more. Her partner and young children, she’s sure, will thank her for this. Her current drug of choice: a full night’s sleep. It’s transformative, she says.
Rachel Atkins began her publishing career in 2013, helping to re-launch a niche publishing house, with a backlist spanning over thirty years, which had regained its independence following seven years as an imprint of a multinational publishing company. In 2017 she felt it was time to spread her wings and began working freelance in the industry, collaborating with both independent publishers and authors to craft, refine, and bring to market bookshelf-worthy books. And in 2021, she took the plunge: Lemon Quartz Publishing was born.
Lemon Quartz Publishing is a new adult non-fiction book publisher on a mission to offer a fresh perspective on mental health and wellbeing, spirituality, and finding purpose. Sex, Drugs, and Yoga is its first title.
