Finnian Burnett

Welcome to the 5 Minutes Series. Each week, I’ll ask five questions of some of my favorite authors, editors, publishers, and other industry professionals. This week, I got to talk to Brianne Sommerville about a debut novel, the publication process, and writing through life challenges.

Congratulations on your upcoming release! Can you tell me about your book? What’s it about and when/where can we buy it?

Firstly, thank you so much for the feature! This all still feels very surreal.

My debut thriller If I Lose Her follows first-time mom, Joanna Baker who after a near-fatal mistake involving her four-month-old, is placed under the watchful eye of Child Protective Services. As she fights to keep her daughter, she discovers cracks in her neighbourhood, family, and her own home. She must confront her traumatic past with the support of her sisters, to save what’s most important—her daughter.

If I Lose Her will be available in paperback, e-book and audio on March 5, 2024, wherever books are sold. Readers can check out the first chapter on my publisher’s website.

A lot of my readers are in the querying process. Can you talk about what it’s like working with a small press and what other writers should consider if they want to go that route?

Absolutely! I was going through the querying process not too long ago, so it still feels fresh. When I first started querying, I was working with a writing mentor, Canadian author Amy Jones through Flying Books mentorship program. I decided I wanted to try for an agent first, but I was open to the many paths to publication and had asked my mentor for her small press recommendations after my first round of querying wasn’t successful. My plan was to try for a small press and then consider self-publishing if I didn’t receive interest.

A small publisher that stood out to me was Rising Action Publishing Collective. They were featured on an episode of one of my favourite writing craft podcasts, The Shit No One Tells you About Writing (which I highly recommend for those about to or already in the querying process). Rising Action and its co-founders were very active on social media, which I appreciated, and I had heard great things from writers who had signed with them. I queried my now editor/publisher Alex Brown, and before long we were meeting over Zoom to discuss the novel.

A couple of things I’d flag if you are thinking about querying a small press:

-Most small publishers will have periods throughout the year where writers can query without an agent, which is a great opportunity for un-agented writers. Check the publisher’s website for their submission guidelines to find out about those windows.

-Small publishers should never ask you for money. That is more of a “vanity press”, and you want to be careful with those as they can be expensive and don’t have the same connections and relationships that traditional publishers have.

-While it can be true that small publishers have smaller budgets for marketing and distribution, I will say that after speaking with writing friends with larger publishers, this isn’t always the case. It really depends on the publisher and can also depend on whether the publisher thinks of you as one of their lead titles.

-If you have the means to do so, I recommend hiring an entertainment lawyer to review the book deal contract. For those working with agents, they would review on your behalf but if you are working directly with a publisher as I am, it’s a helpful step that will provide that peace of mind.

-My advice for writers before signing with a publisher (whether small, medium or big) is to ask questions. Most will propose a call/meeting to discuss your book and the deal. You might want to ask about the marketing/PR plan for your book, their distribution strategy, whether they will provide physical advance review copies, what the editing process entails, their vision for your novel (and consider whether that aligns with your own vision), and whether they work with subsidiary and foreign rights agents. Basically, all questions are valid, and you should feel confident that your publisher is the right partner for you and your book before you sign.

You’re very open about postpartum anxiety and some of the challenges of motherhood. How much of your own experience inspired your novel?

I wrote If I Lose Her over two maternity leaves during naptimes and bouts of insomnia. I struggled with anxiety throughout adolescence and adulthood, and this was amplified when I had my first daughter. I was incredibly worried about her health, her weight, and whether she was developing at the “right” pace. I became a tad obsessed with the baby app I used to track her development and even bought a baby scale that I would weigh her on daily. I found it difficult to speak about my concerns and stresses with other mothers because I didn’t want it to be perceived that I wasn’t adapting well to motherhood; that it wasn’t coming easily. There still seems to be a stigma with postpartum depression and anxiety and while it is being talked about more, it can be scary to open up. I started to write my fears and stresses in a journal, which was my way of coping, and then some of those entries inspired the novel.

Writing community can be so important for writers. What’s your experience with writing community and what advice would you give to writers who are looking for theirs?

The writing community has been everything to me and my writing journey. Writing is a very solitary endeavor, but I can’t stress how important it has been for me to get feedback and support from other writers. If not for the writing community, I don’t think I’d have the courage to share my work and would probably still have everything tucked away in a drawer.

Reading others’ work can help you improve your own writing, identifying what is working and what isn’t. It’s also helpful to have a group that understands the industry. Sure, I can rant to my partner or mom but if I really want advice, it is helpful to chat it through with other writers who can relate. Below are a few communities that have helped me immensely.

• The Canada Writes Facebook page (run by CBC Books) was the first writing community I joined and led me to other amazing communities like Off Topic Publishing where I got to meet you, Finnian!
• A year and a half ago, I joined a small writing critique group called Let’s Cross the Finish Line. We found each other through The Shit No One Tells You About Writing and host Bianca Marais’ beta group match-up that she runs a few times a year. If you’re thinking about joining a writing critique group, I’d encourage you to check out her match-up so you can find the right fit.
• I’ve mentioned before but Flying Book’s mentorship program was very helpful. I wanted to dip my toes into sharing my work and working one-on-one with a mentor felt safe.

What are you working on now?

I recently signed another book deal with Rising Action for my sophomore thriller What She Left Behind, which follows Charlotte Boyd as she reluctantly agrees to oversee the renovations on her parent’s new home that has a tragic past, only to become obsessed with the previous owners and their secrets. This project has been a ton of fun to work on and involves a sixteen-year-old first-person diary point of view, so I’ve been using my angsty teenage journal as inspiration. The book will arrive in August 2025 with Rising Action Publishing.

Bonus question: Have you ever taken a picture of a weird bird?

I have! I actually took my kids to the Toronto Zoo recently and snapped a few photos of birds I thought were particularly interesting.

Brianne Sommerville can be found on the web here.