Posts

Image
With only three days to go until the book launch, things are falling into place.  After some nerves about stock arriving i time - the hardback copies of Figmentasia have arrived this morning, with the paperbacks confirmed to arrive tomorrow.  Its not a lot of stock, but hopefully enough for Sunday's event.  I genuinely have no idea of how many are turnning up. I'm getting really scared about having to read from the book.  I'm thinking about reading part of the chapter with the Godess Akila, but because it has lots of slugs in it, I'm not sure how that will go down in a cafe.  But the bit i want to read is probably one of the most exciting parts of the book. Next week i will start posting books to schools in Hertfordshire.  With funds so tight it will probably only be two books a week posted out, but i have to start some where. I will be doing my first radio interview next week on the 7th with Steffi on Shout Out Radio ,  so tune in at 7pm and give me the support. 

Book Launch

Image
            So you can purchase the hardback from Foyles website in the UK.  All the companies selling the hardback have an "OUT OF STOCK" notice, but you can still order the hardback.  Because of print on demand, apparently this is how it works. I managed to book a wonderful little venue for the book launch in Watford. See poster below.

Published !

Image
Well, it's finally arrived. Figmentasia: The Quest for Truth has been published. The whole self-publishing process has been challenging.  Ingram-Spark does things completely differently from Amazon.  Ironically most people find Amazon easier to format and upload their books.  I found Ingram Spark a lot easier. Now comes the hard part of marketing the book. There is a presskit now set up on the Figmentasia website. The SHOP part of the website is also functional now, to make it easier for people to purchase the books.

Almost ready to publish

So, one more week of tweaks to go, and the digital version of the book will be available on Amazon at a reduced cost while I run a pre-sale launch campaign.  Friday 28th April I order the proof copy of the hardback edition and am aiming to have that on sale by May 11th. This week has been the first week where I have actually been stressed with the process.  I can't register the ISBN's with Nielson until I have the final format and page count done.  In order to get into Waterstones 'local author' scheme, I've got a load of hurdles to go through too.  I cant finalise the cover PDF until I have a page count, as that affects the spine dimensions.  By the end of next week, I will be able to start taking those jobs off of my very long to-do list. I've planned the first of the video blogs for YouTube and with the help of my friend Siobhan Smart I have written a press release and a school's introductory letter. One thing that is complete now is the shopping pa

Compendium

Image
Keeping myself busy while he test readers and editor do their bit by almost getting through a short book to be given free as an ebook on Amazon Books.  I now know that I probably won't be doing the picture book version, but I still like doing the drawings and illustrations, so will use these for the website gallery and for this short compendium I am writing. I'm finding this process rewarding, as it's taking all the research and world building I did and placing it in a reference format.  Little lines about characters mentioned in the novel are fleshed out here.  Already the mythology base is serving useful for the sequel novel percolating away in my grey matter. With each novel, I am now planning to expand on this current short tome.

Deadlines aproaching

Image
I have the paperback's ISBN number and next week will have the Hardback's one.  So much to do before the target April 23rd publishing date.  I'm still waiting for the edited version to come back to me so I can make the final tweaks. On Friday of last week, I gave ten copies of the unedited version of Quest for Truth to ten test readers.  8 Children and 2 adults.  The children (Aged between 10 and 14 seem to be loving it, the adults have made no comment yet.) I'm also pushing ahead full throttle on tow short books to tie in and give away for free through Amazon Books.  One is a compendium of all the characters and places, giving a different view of the world of Figmentasia.  The second not started yet will be a short story about Queen Denmilate and her rise to power.

Very brief post...

Very busy this end with design and pre promotions.  Good news just in though... ...A friend's 13-year-old daughter is test reading Figmentasia and she's loving it. So stoked. That's my target audience right there. Thank you Talia-Mae