27/05/2026
How are books published, and what tech is involved? We found out at our May Tech Talk at ! 📚
This month, delivered an inspiring Tech Talk at Enigma Interactive, sharing the story of how she published her book, ‘Seven: Distracted Detective’ and the technology that made it possible.
Rachel broke the process of publishing into seven clear, practical stages, showing the tools and technologies that supported every step:
1. Writing the manuscript: Rachel did her initial drafts by hand (!), but has since digitised this process using digital notebooks and smart pens
2. Winning an award – she used early recognition to build credibility, winning the Hachette Children’s Novel Award!
3. Securing a grant from Arts Council England through their application portal, and using the funding to support digital development
4. Deciding how to publish: Rachel weighed up traditional, independent and self‑publishing routes, before deciding to set up her own imprint
5. Creating the book: working with her illustrator and designer, typesetting the novel herself, and creating ISBN data
6. Printing and distribution: Rachel navigated printers, distributors and logistics
7. Publishing and launch – bringing everything together with websites, design tools, marketing platforms and launch collateral!
And we also found out about the National Year of Reading, and Rachel talked about our charity reading challenge for this month. You can donate to support us here: https://www.justgiving.com/page/enigma-interactive-reading-challenge
What stood out was the range of technologies Rachel used and the choices she made – from creative software to platforms for domains, websites, design and promotion – showing us that publishing a book today is as much of a digital project as it is a creative one.
Thanks, Rachel! And who knows, maybe we’ll see more Enigma titles publishing in the future…
