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
At the weekend, I listened to Jeremy Thompson, Managing Director of Troubador Publishing, talking to @PaulTeagueUK about the 7th Self Publishing Conference to be held in Leicester on Saturday 27 April. As usual Jeremy was easy to listen to, informative and enthusiastic. I first heard about Troubador’s self publishing company, Matador, two or three years … Continue reading The Start of the Journey towards Publication
At a recent gathering of friends, someone announced she was having a book published in 2019. During questions re content and date of publication, it emerged the book was a memoir. I volunteered that I, too, was having a memoir published in the coming year but that mine was a self-publishing project. All discussion stopped … Continue reading New Year, A New Project
The old year ends on a high note. My memoir is finally on it's way to the printers and it's possible the book might be available earlier in 2019 than we expected. Which means I should head on over to my Troubador/Matador website to see what I should be posting there. Just one seasonal thought. … Continue reading Christmas 2018
I'm applying to renew my UK Passport and also need a tourist visa for Russia. This is going to take several months and I might have to use the services of an agency for the visa. This is not the first time I've needed a Russian Visa, so I'm hoping it'll be straightforward. But first … Continue reading UK Passports, Certificates of Birth and Adoption
It's Advent and we're all thinking of what we can either give or receive for Christmas Presents. These below will not necessarily make good presents to give or receive as anyone with a secret history of a baby given away or being adopted or of adopting a child might prefer her memories to remain private. … Continue reading Books
Following stories on social media, I have discovered how desperate so many women and men are to trace their birth mothers, and how women, who ‘gave away’ their baby in adoption, long to contact their child now they are adult. Reading their words, has made me re-consider the whole practice of, what was, if not … Continue reading Adoption Matters
