Month: May 2021

The paperback cover Finally, after a few hours of finessing and finessing again, the Amazon robots have accepted the cover and manuscript for Prequel, and final approval for sale is in the hands of a manual reviewer. The cost of printing is rather different to the cost I’ve accrued from two different printers, as I… Continue reading Publishing the paperback

Combing through the manuscript of Prequel, searching for les mots justes in place of the ones err, less justes, has been an exciting experience, all in all. With many of the admonitions to new writers ringing in my ears as I peruse the text in earnest, trying to fillet out the clangers, the stylistic headbangers,… Continue reading A final day of finessing

Although it’s all apparent calm around this blog and on the Amazon sales platform, in fact there are new uploads of content happening regularly, as critiques, criticism, editing and typographical corrections come in. Just today I’ve uploaded another 1500 words and two scenes suggested by a keen reader, whose comments have been so helpful in… Continue reading Launch of Prequel approaches

After looking at this option for a couple of weeks, I thought it might be another useful merchandising gambit after all. Some folks don’t like eBooks, and why should they be denied the pleasures of Biome NE47? Besides, with my new Quark software, it looked like lots of fun to create a new proper cover.… Continue reading The Amazon paperback option . . .

It’s not entirely clear why an author should take up the ‘pre-order’ option on the Amazon/Kindle platform. I believe this hiatus between submitting a book, and it becoming available to customers, allows for both revision of manuscript and book details, as well as a recruitment period for beta readers to contribute comments and reviews of… Continue reading The pre-order wait

The promotions gambit is very complicated! But I’m trying very hard to understand it. I signed on to a ‘group promo’ month-long adventure which I thought might get news of Biome NE47: Prequel out to a larger science fiction audience. Uh-oh. The science fiction police said no. The cover image doesn’t fit the genre (not… Continue reading Sci-Fi Explosion! or a damp squib

It’s all a grand lark, but with a serious purpose. If the books, these forays into the world of Biome NE47, are any good, they have to find a market. But the market doesn’t just suddenly materialise. No, that’s where both the free taster, and the widely circulated, often free first book come in. The… Continue reading The promotions whirl

As I toggled between Prequel and the novel I think of as ‘the main event,’ namely Biome NE47 itself, I began to think: the story grows as a series, and maybe the third installment will be really something. A picture that in totality, more than any single volume could relate, describes life in these parts… Continue reading Enthusiasm for the third volume

I’ve never read about this authorial phenomenon, but it seems to have happened to me, over the course of the past few weeks and hours. After the first beta-readers signalled that yes, there was a story, that they reckoned the novel of Prequel was actually alive and well, I was delighted. Sure. But thereafter, by… Continue reading Falling in love with the story, again

It’s finally here! The first of May seemed like an auspicious day to launch the series of Biome NE47 novels. That heady sense of spring, in between the lambing storms, the random hail and brilliant sunshine. This week has seen rather a lot of poetry coming off my keyboard. Perhaps that’s a displacement activity from… Continue reading Promotions Launch Day!