As self-published authors, we’re free to promote our own books at our own pace. But the autonomy also raises gruelling questions about how to connect with potential readers. After writing a novel in solitude, the thought of marketing it to the world at large can be overwhelming.

Editing your own book is much harder than editing someone else’s because you’re far too close to it, so flaws and problems may not be obvious to you. Having said that, having editing experience definitely helps when it comes to my own work. I don’t think it impacts my relationship with my editor at all, though. It may help it, because I understand where she’s coming from and I know not to take anything personally.

JAMES MACMANUS: I've dedicated my new book to a beautiful French lover I knew for months in 1974. My wife's not happy - but Marie-Aude's heartbroken fury as she hurled wine at me and fled from my life has haunted me for 50 years

Our first thought on receiving the brief was intrigue and excitement. Publishing companies notoriously have fantastic branding. From the mid-1950s to the modern day, some of the most iconic logos are publisher ones. They are visual identities that we’ve previously studied and admired. Many encapsulate modern principles; brutalist, minimalist, geometric and notably the clever use of negative space. So we thought this was a great opportunity to contribute to the landscape.

The discussion began in the early months of 2012. Having decided what we did not want to call our nascent business, the somewhat more challenging task of creating not just a name but an identity hove into view. We knew we didn’t want a pun on books or reading, and we didn’t want some portmanteau blend of our co-founder names. Suggestions were made and rejected.

James MacManus is an underrated novelist whose previous fiction has ranged widely in subject matter from Baudelaire’s love life to 1930s Berlin. In his latest work, the foreign correspondent Richard Brady arrives in an African nation on the brink of a civil war between its ruling white minority and insurgent black nationalists.

The former chief executive broke the mould when he co-founded Admiral, and now he’s on a mission to persuade bosses to be nicer