In 2021 Elizabeth Kuligowski was longlisted for the Women’s Prize Discoveries programme. Her submission was an early version of her now debut novel, Red on the Inside, which will be published by Burton Mayers in March 2025. In this piece, Elizabeth reflects on her journey into publishing and how finding comfort in a new landscape, allowed her to feel at peace as a writer.
You can hear Elizabeth talk more about her journey into publishing at our online panel event, Publishing Your Own Way on 22nd January. Tickets are available here.
I’ve had my fair share of rejections from traditional publishing—and I know I’m not alone in that. I’ve been ghosted by agents, told my work doesn’t quite fit the ‘shape’ of the horror genre, and received a lot of nicely worded ‘thanks, but no thanks’ responses.
Competitions have been more encouraging. I was longlisted for the Mslexia YA & Children’s Novel Prize some years back, which gave me the confidence to keep writing. So when the submission window opened for the Women’s Prize Discoveries programme, I had to enter. I had no words on paper, just an idea. But that idea took shape fast, and I reached the word count for submission. Then I kept going, figuring that if any opportunities arose, I’d better have a whole book. I had recently given birth to my second child, and the intense, raw emotions of postpartum life — the darker, more paranoid thoughts that can simmer in the early hours — seeped into the pages, turning into Red On The Inside — a modern Gothic haunted-house story rooted in the strange and haunting experience of new motherhood.
When I got the call from the Discoveries team, I thought it might be a mistake. Horror doesn’t often perform well in writing competitions, and I half-expected them to say, ‘This is the Discoveries judging panel, and we just wanted to say… how dare you! You’re banned from using the written word.’ But no, obviously. They liked it and were willing to publicly say so. Their support gave me the push I needed to keep going, even when the submission process was challenging.
I had been pitching two books simultaneously: Red On The Inside and my first novel, the YA that had made it to the Mslexia longlist. But nothing solid came through. It was disheartening, and at one point, I shelved both projects.
But life has a way of shifting things. My husband was offered a job in Sweden and we were getting ready for a huge move, with kids in tow and all our DVDs in cardboard boxes, anxious and excited in equal measure. That’s when I found out about Burton Mayers Books—an indie publisher that takes a more direct route to publishing, allowing their writers to bypass the agent stage entirely. I wasn’t sure I wanted to revisit the publishing world, especially with so many other changes afoot, but curiosity got the better of me. I submitted and they said yes.
It’s been a steep learning curve, especially when it comes to marketing. I tend to lurk online rather than engage, so building an audience is a slow process. But leaving behind the exhausting cycle of agent queries and focusing on what truly matters — getting my story out there — has been incredibly freeing. The promise of an agent is often framed as a “stamp of approval,” a guarantee that your work is worthy. But nowadays, I’m trying to lean into self-confidence, write for myself, and let go of that need for approval.
In many ways, moving to Sweden has helped with this. I was settling into a new home and a new rhythm, and I started to see my journey from a different perspective. Sweden, with its vast wilderness, mossy forests and endless colour-streaked skies, has a way of making you feel both isolated and cocooned at the same time. The winters here are long and dark, and there’s something about the cold that makes you turn inward. But it’s also a place that celebrates coziness, where people stockpile candles with a vengeance, and where the warmth of your home feels all the more precious because of the fierce weather outside. It’s the perfect setting for someone like me, someone who is always caught between the extremes: between the wildness of my imagination and the safety of my home —between the cold and the comfort.
In some ways, Red On The Inside is a reflection of both worlds: the isolation of postpartum life, like the cold, remote landscape of British Columbia where the book is set, and the comfort of family and home, like the unexpected warmth I’ve found here in Sweden. It’s a book about navigating the darkness and light, the tension between solitude and connection, and the beauty of those extremes coexisting.
This book is a reflection of me, shaped by the experiences that drove me to write it. My goal has always been to stay true to the emotions that inspired it—capturing the strange and introspective nature of new motherhood. If even one person reads it and sees themselves in the story, I’ll consider that a success. But I’m also proud of how far I’ve come — and how far this book has come.
Red On The Inside by Elizabeth Kuligowski will be published by Burton Mayers Books in March 2025, and is available to pre-order now.
