Born and raised in Malta, Australian-based author James Vella-Bardon told The Malta Independent on Sunday in an interview that the appetite for new authors is always decreasing.
Vella-Bardon, a qualified lawyer, and an aficionado of history, in his childhood loved hanging around bookshops in Valletta, and now continues to do so at the local bookstore in Sydney. In 2007, after emigrating to Australia, he turned to novel writing, something which he had been dreaming of doing.
He made his debut with his novel The Sheriff’s Catch, which was published in the United Kingdom and also climbed to the third position on the bestseller list in Malta. He also received international literary awards and nominations for the tense, grim thriller set in 16th century Europe.
When he’s not busy with work, Vella-Bardon admitted that he doesn’t get a lot of free time, being a father and also having a full-time job.
“I live near a nature reserve, so I love walking my dog there. I also love to read, picking up books at the local bookstore and catching up with friends over drinks,” Vella-Bardon said.
Asked what pulled him to writing and the literary world, Vella-Bardon said that writing is quite a hard thing to do and no one would do it unless there is something which is pushing them.
“Growing up in Malta I have always been interested in writing, especially compositions in school. Coming from a very conservative family, where I was highly pressured to study, as people generally are in Malta, writing these compositions was my only outlet to be creative,” he said.
Vella-Bardon said that writing compositions was the one thing he could do with his imagination, which eventually led to him winning a national essay competition at the age of 10.
“I suppose I was lucky they did things like that in Malta, and I went for it, which gave me the urge to write,” he said.
The Australian mentality, which is “go for it!” helped him get into the profession more seriously, despite a certain self-consciousness.
Moving overseas slowly progressed his career in writing, despite challenges on the way. Having now written a total of seven books, Vella-Bardon spoke about the struggles of being an author nowadays.
“Getting your writing out there is not easy, and it is not becoming easier. Companies such as Amazon have this idea that a book should be free. To produce and promote a book the average budget in the UK is £20,000,” he said.
Nowadays, Australian authors make around $13,000 per year, which is not enough to make a living out of given the current property prices, he continued.
“Books now have a lot of competition with video games, and streaming services, so the market isn’t as big as it used to be; there are no large budgets as before. The appetite for new authors is always decreasing,” Vella-Bardon said, adding that it has gotten to a point where self-publishing has become the only resolution.
Vella-Bardon was taken up by Unbound, a crowdfunding publisher which gives people the tools, support and freedom to bring their ideas to life.
“Unbound was great for me, it was nice and exciting to get my work out there, and my book is not necessarily the most commercial thing I could have written, so being in Australia did encourage me to write,” he said.
The protagonist of The Sheriff’s Catch, who is of Maltese origin, is a castaway in the Spanish Armada. The series focuses on the Spanish Armada shipwrecks in the 1500s. Vella Bardon thought there ought to be a Maltese protagonist for once in English fiction.
Vella-Bardon said that he created a character, who is a Maltese immigrant to another country, and has Maltese traits.
“He is very committed to what he does, and does it properly; he is resourceful and a survivor, and like most Maltese, he loses his temper at the worst times,” Vella Bardon explained.
Asked where he gets ideas or inspiration for a book, Vella Bardon said that he looks for a character who is flawed, and usually in the middle of a big mess historically, such as the Spanish Armada shipwrecks.
“So far, my inspiration has been history; I find that I lose myself in history and become very imaginative. I don’t know if I can do it as much with contemporary writing, but I love reading fantasy books,” he said.
Vella-Bardon said that with fantasy, if the story does not have a powerful central theme which reflects our humanity, then it will be a mere photocopy of other fantasy works.
“Tolkien’s central theme is death, in the book Game of Thrones, it’s the power dynamics of humanity, so unless you have a powerful theme or very interesting characters, in most cases you’d be copying,” he said.
Vella-Bardon added that themes which focus on self-determination and its struggles, a flawed character and a really bad villain, is what gets him inspired.
One thing he does struggle with is sticking to tight word count, as his novel ended up being almost 500,000 words.
“My first debut is now one out of five books, but originally it was meant to be one book. The Sassana Stone Pentalogy took me nine years to write and I was even worried it wasn’t going to be long enough!” he said. Vella Bardon said that upon checking how long an average book is, it amounted to between 60,000 to 80,000 words.
“I just wanted to write the book I really wanted to write. I thought I was going to have to self-publish before Unbound took me on, so I divided it into five books. I had subconsciously written it in five parts anyway,” he said.
Two of the books of the pentalogy, The Sheriff’s Catch and A Rebel North have already been published, with Vella Bardon eager to publish the remaining three.
“My publisher told me I should not yet publish the others, and to plan it out slowly,” he said.
Asked to pinpoint a particular writing quirk which differentiates him from other authors, Vella-Bardon said that he meticulously prepares for writing a book, taking notes while reading constantly, which he then applies to his writing.
“Maybe the fact that I was born and raised in Malta also gave a different edge to my writing,” he said, adding that the Maltese have a sort of banter other authors would maybe not see. Vella-Bardon said that he could also be differentiated by his appeal towards stories of struggle, which reflects in his writing.
Asked about the most challenging part of his writing process, Vella Bardon said that apart from finding it difficult to stick to a word count, the rejection is challenging.
“Getting accepted by a publisher is also not easy, and there’s a challenge in going about a story. If you do not have a bit of guidance, it can be even harder,” Vella Bardon said.
“Promotion too. Nowadays any creative would tell you that promotion is very challenging, as you have to be so much more involved in it,” he said.
Asked what the most surprising things he has learnt from his writing were, Vella Bardon said that the volume of how much he can write in terms of word count was “ridiculous”.
“I had been so repressed for so long that I just got to writing,” he continued.
Vella-Bardon spoke fondly of his readers, saying that he takes considerations and welcomes people wanting to chat. He even gets people coming up to him speaking about personal stories.
“I often get people asking me when the sequel will be out, all the time. Some good chats have come out from readers,” he said.
“It’s fantastic, because the reason you’re writing is because you love what you’re doing, otherwise you wouldn’t do it. Seeing people getting into it and appreciate what you’re trying to do, is just amazing,” Vella-Bardon said.
For more information about the author visit jamesvellabardon.com