Mrs Bliss: A brief history of Ladylit

Yay, my wife has finally decided to come out of the closet! I’ll leave the explanation to her, but we both hope this becomes a useful weekly blog for aspiring authors and readers alike. <Harper out>

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Spring is the season for new beginnings and so I have decided to dip my toe in the writing pond. Mind you, nothing like a book yet—I’ll leave that to my prolific wife—but a weekly blog.

Harper (Bliss, my partner in business and life and everything really) and I have recently started a weekly podcast Harper Bliss & Her Mrs. on The Lesbian Talk Show where we answer questions about publishing and writing lesbian fiction. This sparked the thought of starting a parallel blog where I could answer questions we don’t have time for on the podcast, share some of my thoughts on running a lesfic publishing business, and generally write about our experiences and plans in the current publishing industry.

For this first post I’ll start with a little history. Five and a half years ago I was transferred from Belgium to Hong Kong by my then employer. Having no job of her own, Harper started writing, something she had always wanted to do. Her work seemed to appeal to people so we set up a company through which to sell her stories. That was the birth of Ladylit Publishing in June 2012.

I was still working full-time but was helping Harper out in bits and pieces with some editing and covers. Over the next couple of years Harper’s output and popularity kept growing, so much so that we started entertaining the idea of having Ladylit be our full-time business in a few years. As a teenager who always had her nose stuck in a book, my dream job was working at a publisher, reading for a living and deciding what would get published. And now that seemed like a real possibility.

When my situation changed at work two years ago, and I was faced with the choice of keeping on at the same company but going back to Belgium, or staying in Hong Kong and quitting my job, Harper and I decided it was the right time to take the plunge and try to make Ladylit a successful business that could support us both.

Now, two years later, we are finally at that stage, where we are confident that we can support ourselves with Ladylit on a monthly basis. It took hard work, a steep learning curve, a lot of trial and error and it will continue to do so if we want to maintain and grow the business. But we are both excited and motivated and full of ambitious plans for the future. Which is what I will endeavour to write about.

I hope you will enjoy reading along and feel free to leave questions and comments below.

Caroline