With Chiswick Book Festival over – it has been fun – @W4BookFest – it’s a return to this autumn’s main task. To polish and submit short stories. The question of finding publishers of short stories came up more than one during the Festival’s sessions. There are 2 main destinations for short stories: competitions and submissions … Continue reading Short Stories – where to send them
Hello and Good Evening. Most of you here lived through the 1960s and some of you didn’t. So here’s the story. The 1960s was perceived as the swinging 60s and the permissive society, with the Beatles singing Love, Love Me Do. And we did. We loved each other. But behind the pop songs and the … Continue reading Chiswick Book Festival 2019 : The Full Pitch
The sights, smells and memories of the past weeks must be put away. No more moths drowning in the milk or dozing on a lampshade. The porcini mushrooms found in the garden have been eaten and we are still alive. The sun cream lotion is stored away, the beds are stripped and a large pile … Continue reading Moths in the Milk and Porcini on the Plate
Anyone out there who has read my memoir, The Baby Box, could be forgiven for assuming that I am an only child. One friend certainly did and said that being an only child explained why my mother was so harsh with me. No, my mother was harsh because I upset the middle-class, domestic apple-cart big … Continue reading Whose Memory?
If this is a 'Wednesday Post' then it's moved to Thursday. Blame either other aspects of family life taking over or inertia cos I seem to be stuck in commercial mode rather than creative mode. However, if selling and posting copies of my memoir, The Baby Box, have come to a halt then the other … Continue reading Online publicity and Pod Casts
I thought I'd post a 'writing quickie' in the middle of the week. The Baby Box has been selling well but the market is slowing down. Which is a media phrase for 'need to make a bit more effort'. I've had many encouraging reviews but this one, sent by a writer colleague, is particularly welcoming. … Continue reading A Wednesday Post
I've enjoyed a week of Fairs in the past 7 days. On Thursday 14th, I went to The London Book Fair courtesy of Indonesia, ie I had a free ticket. I wanted to catch up with the team at Matador Publishing http://www.troubador.co.uk/matador and to see another indie publisher Fairlight Books http://www.Fairlightbooks.co.uk . I remember, from trawling … Continue reading Book Fairs and Art Fairs
Since the publication of my memoir The Baby Box, I've received a few cards, many emails and, from the brave ones, telephone calls. Various reactions have been felt by readers, some too personal to repeat here. The main message was that the book was read rapidly (I couldn't put it down was a frequent comment), … Continue reading A Review of The Baby Box
After all the hard work, the several proof reads, the agonizing over whether we had missed a mistake in the text, dreading that the cover wouldn't look good (it does) and compiling a list of people who might buy my book directly from me - I had 200 copies in my room - I'm on … Continue reading Towards Going Public
With 8 boxes of my memoir, The Baby Box, hot off the press, it is time to concentrate on marketing and selling. However, before that I want to run readers through the process of publishing with Matador, now established as the leading publisher for those who want DIY publication. The first step for me was … Continue reading THE PRE-PRODUCTION STAGES OF PUBLISHING
