You pays your money, you takes your choice ...

The Book 2 Book newsletter that I subscribe to today has two snippets in the form of press releases from Authorhouse, the largest print on demand operation in the UK, if not the world. The first of these announces two new publishing packages for hard and paperbacks respectively, each of which includes professional one to one support, custom cover design, ISBN registration, online distribution, custom interior layout, and what they term as "more services". The hardback package also includes personalised back cover and 5 complimentary copies.

The second press release states that the company have launched a new and improved UK website. The new site, which they claim is easier to navigate (anything would be an improvement on the old one) will in their own words "improve the experience for the increasing number of authors choosing to publish a book with AuthorHouse UK".

New features include a special savings and offers section with the latest offers for saving money on publishing packages, marketing services, and books, an author resource area with tips and advice from fellow authors, plus an updated bookstore which makes searching for and purcahsing Authorhouse titles quicker and easier than ever before.

I went to the new site to have a look myself and was pleasantly surprised at how easy it is to find your way around and to obtain information (if not prices) on the various options available. The prices for the publishing packages are there for everyone to see, and at first look compared to my own publisher Authors OnLine Ltd do not appear unreasonable, but the service that Authorhouse provide, judging from what I saw at the seminar that I attended (which admittedly was three years ago), and from talking to those who have published with them, does not begin to compare. I remember when I first spoke to Richard, the boss at Authors OnLine Ltd and mentioned that I had considered Authorhouse, he said to me that everything they could do, he could do better, and probably cheaper, and I believe he was right.

The clincher for me is the Borders and Waterstones packages that they like to tout around. The sum of £999 buys you a basic Borders or Waterstones package whereby they guarantee that 3 copies of your work will be on display for 10 weeks in selected Borders or Waterstones stores (if the Borders ones are still there - one of those in the programme is Dublin). The books are displayed on a special Authorhouse stand - lumped together with all their other titles and therefore advertising to the world and his second cousin twice removed that the books are self published. This stand is not genre specific and is placed slap bang in the middle of the fiction area - fine for fiction writers but not so good for non fiction (of which the majority of self published books are). If you want to add either of these 2 options to your exisiting Authorhouse package you can do so, for £204 for Borders and £175 for Waterstones (why Borders costs more is not stated - perhaps because they demand a higher discount).

My point is though that you do not need to pay extra money for this service - all you need to do is prepare a few publicity materials (information sheet, reviews and so on) and a bit of professional sounding spiel, and ring the stores up. If you say the right things in the right way then they will order copies. It is as simple as that - these copies will be displayed where they belong, in the section that is relevant to your book, if they sell, for considerably more than 10 weeks.

Of course if you really want book stores to stock you, then the books need to be returnable, and this is where the Authorhouse returns package comes in - for the sum of £599 for the first year, you can buy an insurance policy that allows Authorhouse to place your book on sale or return with Gardners, the largest wholesaler in the UK, making it much more attractive to book stores. The problem is that very few if any self published titles make this kind of money - I would have to sell around 450 to 500 books to make this worthwhile - the same number that I have sold in the three years since publication. The sums for the majority of self publishers just do not add up.

Of course if the authors who are stupid enough to sign up to this package (which can be renewed after a year for a further fee of £249) had published with Authors OnLine Ltd and worked as hard as I did, then Richard would have put their books on sale or return for free. This is once again a lesson for would be self publishers to research the market and understand how things, in particular the supply chain works, which most that I encounter fail to do. You pays your money, you takes your choice - I know which one I would make, every time.

Author Solutions buys Trafford Publishing

I read yesterday in the regular Book2 Book newsletter that I receive that Author Solutions, the US based print on demand publisher had acquired Trafford Publishing for an undisclosed sum.

Trafford was a relatively small but well known operation, set up in 1995, with offices in both Canada and the UK, and accordingly to The Bookseller, the world's first print on demand provider. My own publisher, Authors OnLine Ltd was established not long after, since this is their 12th year of business. Trafford may have been the first POD provider in the world, but AOL were the first in the UK - the original, and in my opinion, still the best.

Author Solutions, who own several POD imprints including AuthorHouse and iUniverse, are rapidly becoming the MacDonalds of the print on demand world. This comes on the back of their acquisition, just a few months ago, of Xlibris.

During 2008, they claim to have published over 21,000 titles from over 90,000 authors. Look closely however and you will see that the average sales for one of their titles was hardly more than 200 copies. Although it is true that this is largely due to the efforts (or lack of) on the part of their authors, to me it is not exactly a glowing advertisement. I suppose it depends on what your motivations for publishing are in the first place.

The news of this acquisition is to me a very sad day for the POD world. When you look at the history of the traditional non POD sector, and see how the smaller independent presses have been gradually swallowed up by the big boys, you will see that the power is concentrated in the hands of four or five large companies, who effectively have control of close to 75 percent of the market. This means less choice all round, and provides no incentive for the companies to compete with each other by offering better or different products, leading to less choice and less innovation. This is where the smaller companies, like the aforementioned Authors OnLine come in, who offer a real alternative with different options to suit different budgets without the 'pile em high and sell em cheap mentality that seems to emanate from these larger, less personal companies.

Fingers and toes crossed

I have just spoken to Paul, the amateur publicist for works on behalf of Richard's authors, and boy do I wish I had gone to that Winchester Book Festival. It seems that there were representatives there from Amazon, Booksurge and Authorhouse and Paul ruffled the feathers of all three - which is probably not difficult to do! When Amazon admitted that they are planning to implement their controversial Booksurge policy in the UK, Paul's words were "over my dead body", or words to that effect and promised them one hell of a fight (he has a lot of contacts in the media that he would not hesitate to use). He compared the quality of Booksurge books to one of his own, printed by Lightning Source and was able to prove that the LS, which is five years old and has been handled by well over 100 different people, is far better quality, since unlike the Booksurge one, the pages are all intact and not coming away from the spine.

As for Authorhouse, well my opinion of them is well known. It seems that Authors OnLine have a growing reputation within the POD world for turning out good quality books, which is making them a wee bit jealous. Authors OnLine as a company are really going places, with their X-Books website, and many other innovative ideas that are helping to raise their profile. They have had several major successes this year, including I am proud to say, my own work.

Paul's new book has just been published and is making inroads in Waterstones stores. He has 4 book signings already lined up, and is trying to work out a deal with Waterstones to get the book into more of their stores. Peter North, the new independent author advisor at Waterstones Head Office, has looked at Richard's site, and from what Paul says, he is very impressed with the range and quality of titles. He tells me that they are looking at stocking (this will be core stock, buying direct from Richard) several of Richard's titles, including my own, which is of course already stocked and selling well in almost 90 of their stores.

I always knew that it was only a matter of time before this book began to get noticed, and it seems that it may finally be about to happen. Fingers, toes and everything else then crossed to see what transpires.

How much more successful could Lorna have been?

Going back to the Lorna Page debacle and the storm that seems to be brewing regarding her novel, A Dangerous Weakness, I am beginning to think more and more than she is a victim of the press. Ordinarily I would try to avoid the use of the V word, but in this case, there isn't really another I can use. Of course the whole affair is also helping to highlight print on demand and the problems that we face. While the rumours persist, it is not however, the kind of publicity that we need. It certainly isn't doing her any favours.

I see from Waterstones website that despite all the publicity, not one single branch has copies in stock, of either the hard or paperback. The paperback has though been slightly reduced, so I guess people must be buying online. Of course the reason it is not in stock is because as a print on demand book, it is non returnable.

Of course it would be a different story had she published with Richard at Authors OnLine Ltd. When Martin Baum, one of his authors (To Be or Not To Be Innit) published his book earlier this year, one of the first things he did was send a copy to Peter North, independent author advisor for Waterstones. They kept in touch, and when the book made the national headlines, following Martin's contact with his local media, and was subsequently featured on Channel 5's The Wright Stuff', Peter emailed him to le him know that he would take the book as core stock. Martin (and Peter) contacted Richard to give him the news.

Richard was straight on the phone to Lightning Source to hammer out a deal, by agreeing with them to make the book returnable (core stock is supplied direct by the printer/publisher, cutting out the wholesalers etc, whom he could otherwise have turned to). For all their muscle and grand postering about how they are the biggest and most succesful POD provider, I cannot see Authorhouse doing this. Thank goodness then I saw through the hype, as had I gone with them, I doubt if my book would got into those stores either. This is then yet another example of an author failing to do their research and blindly going for the same publisher as recommended by a family member/friend.

Mind you, I cannot blame her, and Cate seems to have done an admirable job in her role as publicist. The fact that the press did what they did is (probably) not her fault. At the age of 93 it is still a remarkable achievement. If the book is already this successful though without being returnable, just think how much more successful it could have been if it was.

The voice of reason and common sense

It will not have gone unnoticed that I have been somewhat preoccupied of late with some deeply personal issues. I have not mentioned what has been going on in publishing for a good few weeks. Yesterday though, I did briefly mention the so-called Amazon debate, and how it is actually impossible for them to withdraw books from their site, as this is fed to them via the ISBN agency, Nielson Bookdata.

A letter from my own esteemed editor, and owner of Authors OnLine Ltd, Richard Fitt, only serves to confirm this. The letter, which can be read in both the May edition of Writers Forum, and on the Authors OnLine website , refers to a letter from one Dave Patten, which appeared in a previous edition of said magazine. I have not seen Dave's letter, since I rarely buy Writers Forum, preferring the rival publication Writing and Writers News, but from what I can gather in reading Richard's reply, Mr Patten was somewhat enraged at Amazon discounting his book, and as he saw it, demeaning its value. He claims to have asked Amazon to remove his book from their site.

As Richard points out, this is impossible, and the book is of course, despite Mr Patten's protests, still very much alive and kicking. It is in fact, impossible to prevent any one trader from selling any one book via their site without completely withdrawing it from the distribution system.

Many authors seem totally unaware as to how this works, being ignorant of exactly how such sites keep updated. The fact is, that Amazon (and other websites such as Play, Tesco etc) get their data feed from ISBN agencies such as Nielsen Bookdata, so if you register your ISBN with Nielson (which you have to do), then the book will be on these sites whether you like it or not. In most cases (certain larger publishers do sell direct to Amazon if they keep an inventory of books in stock), books are not sold directly to individual Internet based sellers. This is not then under the control of either the publisher or author, but something that happens automatically as long as you have an ISBN.

The supply of these books to such outlets is controlled as always, by the wholesalers and distributors - which in the UK means Gardners and Bertrams. They will supply to anyone who has an account with them and cetainly, no distributor would take a book on the basis that it was NOT sold to Amazon, or anyone else for that matter, as it would be cutting their own throats. It would be virtually impossible to police and may well be contrary to anti-trade laws.

As Richard also points out, in a free economy such as what we have here in the UK, a trader is entitled to sell goods for any price that they deem fit, even if they make loss. That is their concern and not something that we as authors should worry about. It is not as if we lose anything. Genesis of Man is supplied via Gardners to these outlets at 40 percent discount and this is the price that Gardners invoice them for. If Amazon choose to knock more off the cover price then that comes out of their profits and not mine, so why should I be concerned?

The thing we should all be much more concerned about is the sale of new and used copies via these sites, as in many cases they are misleasdingly advertised, and come from dubious sources - gallies for example or review copies. Many of those advertised as 'used' are not in fact used at all, but brand new copies hot off the presses. Richard claims to have tested this by ordering these so-called 'used copies' only to find new ones appearing through the door, alongside a bill from Lightning Source for printing costs!

These copies appear within weeks or even days of a books release, at ridiculous prices, and there is no attempt to differentiate between books in and out of print. Even after books have been withdrawn from the system, copies continue to show on these sites, advertised as both new and used. These must all be used though, as new books are no longer being printed. Neither author nor publisher get one single penny from such sales, while the customer has no way of checking the authenticity of the product until it is too late.

In some ways, Amazon and print on demand are perfect bed fellows, and I can certainly understand why my American counterparts were so upset at what they are doing across the Atlantic. Amazon do not have to hold stock of any of our books, do not insist on returnability, and you know that print on demand books can always be quickly obtained via this source. This I suppose is the secret of their success, and without them, much as I hate to admit it, my life would be a lot more difficult, and I would not sell nearly so many books, as obtaining books via this route is so much easier for everyone concerned.

I do not know how Amazon.com get their stock, but can only assume it is fed to them via the US ISBN agency, which makes me wonder how much of this debate has been blown completely out of proportion. For if they source books via the same route in the US, then they cannot be withdrawn from Amazon.com either, and none of the arguments that people have used to justify their ego driven attacks on Amazon hold sway. I have to include myself in this, as for weeks, I became far too embroiled in this debate, transferring all the anger and all the frustration that I felt onto this one company, in a desperate attempt to not only hold on to those emotions, but also to find authors in the US who were willing to go allow with this whole charade, thus maintaining my egocentric rantings and keeping me in the pain, so that I did not have to look at the source of these feelings.

If it ain't one thing its another ...

I really have had an absolute gut full today, having faced it seems one setback after another, and really do once again wonder whether this is seriously worthwhile. The problems have been exacerbated by the fact that I have had very little sleep and am just dog tired and really do feel fit to drop. Coran had a bad migraine last night and so neither of us have had much sleep at all, as we had to call the Doctor out at 1am, and then sit up waiting for them to call us back for over an hour until 2.15 am. When they finally did, they told him to take some paracetamol and just let things take their course, which is not what we you want to hear when you are in pain, both physical and emotional, in the midst of a panic attack, and suffering from severe sleep deprivation.

This may sound selfish, but it is not what I needed at all, since now I am working four days a week, and have 71 books to shift from home, I need to utilise every single moment of my days off in order to sell these things, and cannot afford to take days off and take my eye off the ball for even a moment. The universe at the moment does not seem to want to help me at all, as I seem to be continually coming up against all sorts of problems and blocks that hinder my progress. It is almost as if having come so far, I can go no further and seem to be continually coming up against a series of brick walls, which seem to be obstacles in my path. I am just so tired though of this continual battle for acceptance and to get anywhere, and when one repeatedly comes up against this stuff and is given conflicting advice by people who actually work for a certain chain store, well, it just breaks my heart to once again feel that I am getting absolutely nowhere and letting everyone down - including myself. I really do not know what I can do to get past this, and wish I could just wake up on 22nd December 2012 and find it was all over and done with.

First thing this morning, after I had had a strong cup of tea to wake myself up, I started to ring back all those Borders that I spoke to last weekend. I should have realised I was wasting my time when every single one of them told me that the person I needed to speak to was not available and could I call back later on as they were on late shifts.

Undeterred, I rang Blackwells in Aberdeen, as the first of their stores whom I also emailed over the weekend. As it happens, their Manager was a lot more helpful, as she explained to me that although the book did have potential, it would not in her opinion sell without either endorsement from one of the University Professors or as part of a campaign via the buying team. I had to agree with her, as what she had to say made a lot of sense. I just cannot afford though to send books to every Professor in the country, and as she expalined, they would expect that I do. She understood this though and so gave me the name and email address of Katharine Fry, their Trade Buyer, whom I have emailed. I await her reply with interest and bated breath.

I then telephoned Paul and gave him the news, and he in turn gave me the address for the new and soon to be launched X-Books site which he is working on with Derek Reece, Richards business partner at Authors OnLine Ltd. This exciting project, which was discussed at the Authors OnLine 10th anniversary celebration at St Neots in October, is like an X-factor for books, run over the Internet rather than on television, the difference being that the judges are not celebrities, but members of the public.

Authors will download their work to the site for free, and members of the public will then pay £1.50 a time to vote for their favourite work and add comments in the form of a kind of review, thus proving that there is a market for this work. The winner will win a contract with Authors OnLine, whereby a run of 5000 books will be printed (it will not then be print on demand) for distribution in the normal way both online and through book stores. Those who have posted to the website will also be able to buy copies of the books direct at 40 percent discount, the same terms that the stores themselves get.

Derek, whom I also spoke to this morning, chose the £1.50 figure after it came to his attention that more people paid this amount to vote on the X-factor than actually turned up to vote at the last General Election! The site seems to be getting some heavyweight support from what both Derek and Paul have told me - with The Times and The Guardian endorsing it, as well as Writers News (it is set to be featured in the April edition, due out any day now). Jonathon Clifford of course thinks it is a waste of time, but only time will tell. As far as I am concerned, any publicity for Authors OnLine Ltd is also publicity for me, as the more people that go to their site, the greater their profile becomes and the more potential there is that people will find and hopefully buy my book.

After that the photographer from the local paper called round to take some photographs of me looking suitable mournful by a big pile of books. After he had gone I rang the reporter whom I have been dealing with and who is writing the piece, to let him know and confirm the details re the competition I have decided to run. I am offering a free copy to the first reader to contact me and £2 off a copy with free postage to everyone else. After that I had some lunch and went to sleep.

I woke up around 2.45 pm and set to work ringing all those Borders back, and it was then that the problems really began .... They all back tracked on what I had previously been told - namely, that they only order books by local authors and everything else has to go through Head Office. Their Head Office though will not stock books by unknown authors without a sales history, and you cannot get a sales history if they refuse to stock your books .... This is what I mean about hitting a brick wall ...

After this happening with around half a dozen stores, in desperation I rang their Head Office and somehow or other got through to the Buying department, a minor miracle in itself given that they normally only deal with authors and publisher via email and snail mail. Again I was told conflicting things - that books are ordered for the most part centrally, but that authors can contact stores direct and talk to them if they wish (Books Etc stores are often more open to this, as like Ottakars they are traditionally more used to dealing with authors). Stores can make decisions at local level re stock, but the orders have to be passed to Head Office for them to actually carry out. They were able to tell me that 3 stores have stock - Kingston, Lakeside and Llantrissant in Wales, but Kingston are the only store to have sold copies - a total of 9 of them, since I happen to know that they ordered 20 for my talk there in January 2007.

The Bookseller in the meantime, I noticed today, have an article regarding both Waterstones and Borders which states that Paul Smiddy, an 'influential' market analyst from HSBC believes that Waterstones are better placed to capitalise from a loss in market share by Borders, especially once their centralised warehouse starts to be rolled out towards the end of May.

According to the article, the report states that the current retail supply chain is "more akin to the 19th century than the 21st". I think I, and most other self publishers and small presses would agree with that! Smiddy believes that the Waterstones distribution centre, due to go live later this year, could lead to other parties trying to simplify their own supply chains. He told The Bookseller: "Waterstones is in the vanguard of what could be a change that impacts the whole retail industry." Change that in my opinion is long overdue and can only be a good thing.

From my experiences at trying to get my book into both of these chains, these 2 companies could not be more different in their attitudes towards authors. Waterstones are a delight to work with, with Managers who are not only willing to talk, but also listen and take the trouble to explain things to you, and also perhaps more importantly, don't fob you off, but tell you the truth. They have clear buying policies which are easy to understand and work with, and even have an independent author advisor, who like their Managers, for the most part at least, is very approachable and listens to the needs of independent authors and publishers, helping them to get into the stores and giving support where needed.

Borders on the other hand are a nightmare - the buying team do not talk to people at all, but all business is done by mail. There is no information on the website re buying policies, meaning that you are forced to either guess as to what the polices are or deal with answerphones. They do they told me though, plan to publish guidelines on their website soon. The stores themselves give conflicting advice - some are happy to talk and will order copies, but the majority do not have a clue and simply refer you back to Head Office, insisting that everything has to go through them. The left hand then does not know what the right is doing - I have had staff blatantly lie to me, telling me that they are buyers and managers when in reality they are just weekend staff and students with part time jobs who don't have a clue. My point is though, that if you cannot talk to a person on the phone in the Buying Department, how can you build up a relationship with the company - this is not communication, but wanting things all their own way to the detriment of those that provide them with jobs and a livelihood in the first place.

As I said before, it is catch 22 - they will not stock your book centrally without some healthy sales figures, but you cannot get these if the stores will not talk to you and act like human beings. I have given up even trying now then and will concentrate on those who are willing to talk and do not insist on ridiculous discounts either. It's about time in my opinion that they realised that without authors like me there would be no books for them to sell in the first place, and they would all be out of a job ! What a way to run a book shop !

It seems a pity to me that they don't take a leaf out of Waterstones book, or some of the independents, like the Big Green Bookshop which is due to open this Saturday at 11am. I wish I could be there to cheer them on, but it would be the one Saturday that I have to work, so it will have to wait for another time.

The shop will stock 8,000 titles, which will include a multicultural section to reflect Wood Green's diverse population. The children's section will be age-ranged between pre-school, primary and secondary. They also plan to focus on science fiction, which was it seems a very popular genre at the old Waterstone's branch that Tim and Simon, their new managers used to manage together.

For the moment though, dinner is calling, and I have written quite a tome, so it is time to sign off and find the nearest brick wall to bang my head against ....

Gardners are sending back 120 books

When I got in from work an hour and half ago, I checked my emails, as I usually do and was dismayed to find the following message from Richard, the boss at Authors OnLine Ltd.

"Happy New Year - However, sorry to spoil the party but our pushing Gardners to keep ordering stock has come home to roost. It would appear that many of your Waterstones stores never in fact ordered, despite what they told you.

Gardners have done a post Christmas stock take and have 159 copies left in stock and are clearing down. They are therefore cutting back to a stock level which means that they are returning 120 copies. They will continue to order and hold stock from the reduced level. As they have just told me, unfortunately they are not a warehouse. and I'm afraid nor are we.

The options therefore are:
1) We get Gardners to pulp them at no cost to us. But we will of course be deducing all expenses for printing and shipping from any profits before calculating any royalties.
2) They return them direct to you, and you pay us the print cost + say 10% - there is a cost for shipping as well (unless you want to collect them from Eastbourne) and then you can re-supply out of that stock as they need them. You benefit in that you get a better deal when they are sold or you can sell them direct to outlets and individuals yourself making a higher than normal margin.

Sorry but that's the way sale or return works and why we try to avoid it like the plague.

Need a rely in the next 24 hours or option number one will automatically apply.

Kind regards

Richard"

To say that was not pleased by this was an understatement of the grandest proportions. Having worked out the sums, to buy them back at print cost plus 10 percent is going to cost me £535 and that doesn't include the cost of shipping or petrol either, not to mention my time. I am loathe to allow them to be pulped, since they will have to paid for regardless, and that is not why I chose print on demand. On the other hand as Richard says, I may be able to supply some independents direct, as by buying the books at effectively print cost it will give much more leeway to offer them a greater discount. I know at least 2 shops that will definitely take some, and hopefully others on the list that my friend who runs that spiritual magazine will also oblige.

It is just that now I am back at work, working four days a week, I do not have the time to physically go to Eastbourne and get the things and then send them out to book stores, drawing up supply terms and conditions and send them out via the Post Office. The most annoying thing is that once I do get ringing again, which will hopefully be next week, I will start to get some more sales, and within another couple of weeks I will be forced to pay all over again to send them back to Gardners! How much this is likely to cost is anyone's guess - I don't have an account with a courier firm and I wouldn't have the first idea about opening one either or what the cost is likely to be of sending such things. Gardners would be ordering in bulk after all, at the rate of 30 maybe 50 books maximum, and that would be far too costly to send via the mail.

I don't see though that I have much choice than to buy them back and do it this way as I am really not prepared to let them be pulped. I am not going to pay for something after all that is going to be thrown away, it just does not make sense.

Richard tells me though that I am not the only one of his authors that they are doing this to - Gardners have stock of another of his books that has been gathering dust for a year now, after the author said he was going to do a big marketing campaign and then didn't.

I don't know what I have to do though in order to get this book really off the ground - it just seems that I am continually taking one step forwards and three back. Cygnus Books do not seem interested as they have not got back to me, none of the newspapers I have sent copies to seem interested in reviewing it either - I just wish I knew what was going on.

As it stands I am going to have to shell out all this money for someone else's mistake - I know they ordered more because Richard asked them to, but they ordered far too many, and not that long ago either. It is all because for the past month I have not been able to make calls to any stores a) because of Christmas and b) because of my new job. I just really despair sometimes about this industry is run, it just seems utter madness and so biased against everyone except wholesalers and chain stores. This is not what I published my book for to be treated in this way in such a cavalier fashion as if I just don't exist. After all, if people like me didn't write the books then these wholesalers and the like wouldn't have a business in the first place! Pity there isn't a Writers Guild in this country for self published authors, so we could go on strike and see how they like it here!

A big thank you to those who have helped me along the way

It has been a really strange year for me in so many ways, with so many things happening it seems all at the same time. Yet in some strange way, it has also seemed as if nothing has been happening at all. When I read back that list that I wrote though just the other day and go back over some of the older posts on this site, I am astonished to see just how much has happened, and how far I have progressed along both the writers and the spiritual path.

Coran has of course been the greatest inspiration in my life. We celebrated our 10th anniversary last summer (2007) and he has been there at my side during all those years, holding my hand and keeping me steady on the path when it seemed that all hope was lost. He was there mopping up the tears each time that I lost my job through redundancy or whatever, when my mother died just before the millennium, when my sister attempted suicide and called us in the middle of the night as a cry for help. He was also there each time a rejection letter popped through the letterbox from an agent, a publisher or a job, and when I signed the contract with Authors OnLine Ltd. He was there when I made my first ever book sale, and he will be there with me I hope until the day that I die. I can't think of anyone that I would rather spend the rest of my life with, and I don't need a piece of paper or the blessing of any church in order to declare that.

It seems fitting then as this year draws to a close, and I begin to look back, and then forward to the next year which is about to start, to acknowledge not just the part that he has played in creating that success, but also the part that so many others have played as well.

Of course the first person that needs to be acknowledged is Mr Fitt himself, the owner of my publishing company Authors OnLine Ltd. Were it not for his foresight and his belief in the book that I have written, Gardners would never have deigned to even look at placing it on such favourable terms, and it would not be enjoying anywhere near the level of success that it has done. I know that this is very modest compared to the likes of JK Rowling, whose programme a year in the life of was shown on ITV earlier tonight, but still to me it means a lot.

I also of course need to acknowledge the rest of his staff - his wife Marjorie who writes my royalty cheques, Gaynor who deals with all the book orders from Gardners, Bertrams and hopefully in 2008 some independent retailers, and of course the wonderful and rather eccentric, even if I do say so myself, Paul Rix, whose little black book (volume one) is a mish mash of contacts the mysteries of which I have only just begun to tap. I wish him well with his own second book due out in early 2008.

There are too many friends to mention them all by name here, so to any that I have missed - thank you, and you know who you are. The most influential and helpful during 2007 though have included Gillyann Osborne, Ariadne (I have been banned from mentioning her real name), Nadine Laman, Leslie Yetter, Claire Williams at Paradigm Shift Magazine, Phil Harris and the editors and journalists at the various publications that have featured me this year. I also cannot forget the rest of the team at the newsletter that I edit, and of course our regular readers, and finally the the staff of Lundy Island and the crew of MS Oldenburg and helicopter pilots and team that keep the island open and welcoming during the cold winter months. I look forward to my 23rd visit I think (I have lost count) on February 8th.

I don't mean this to sound corny or contrived, and I realise to some that it might, but it is important to acknowledge those who have helped you along the way, and this is my way of saying a big thank you.

So the countdown to the end of the year then begins and the dregs from the bottle of Baileys await ....

Authors OnLine 10th Anniversary Celebration

Coran and I got back from out trip to Buckden near St Neots about an hour ago. It was an interesting and eventful weekend and great to meet Richard and the crew - his wife Marjorie who deals with all the administration, including author royalties, Gaynor who deals with book orders, and Paul who of course deals with publicity. None of them looked like what I expected, even though I have seen pictures of Richard, Marjorie and Gaynor on the Authors OnLine website! Richard is much taller than I expected, while Gaynor was a lot younger looking (she will be delighted no doubt if and when she reads this). Marjorie's hair looked a different colour, and Paul, well, what can I say about Paul .... he is certainly a character that's for sure.

His wife Babs had told me that he had very long hair and would be wearing a black Authors OnLine bodywarmer with gold lettering. Well the body warmer was there, but Babs had given him a haircut. He is a lot skinner also than I expected (sorry Paul) and smarter as well, since I had the image of long lank and greasy locks! He was dressed in a black shirt with white tie, with glasses and collar length grey hair with the broad Norfolk accent that made both Coran and I sound terribly posh!

He is though every bit as nice and friendly in real life as he is on the phone, and even allowed me to look through his little black book. That book is legendary among Authors Online authors. It is a tatty old thing, with a black cover and literally loads of contact details from Lands End to John O'Groats scribbled inside. Apparently this was only volume one as well, as volume two had been left at home. I can't wait to see that!

No one else can make head nor tail of this book, but somehow Paul manages to find things! I managed to find quite a few numbers in there myself, including the much sought after direct line to Borders Buying Team - bravo! Also Methwens, WH Smith and various national newspapers and magazines, not to mention Cactus TV who do the Richard and Judy show (getting on there is to Brits what Oprah is to Americans, with featured authors practically guaranteed sales of at least 50,000 copies). Actually I happen to know that the lady responsible for deciding which books are to be featured is doing a talk at the Guildford Book Festival in a couple of weeks time. I shall have to get some tickets then and book a front row seat. My book has already been submitted, but talking to her in person wouldn't be a bad thing ....

Around 40 people then were there in total; mostly other authors, but also some proof readers, cover designers and illustrators. There was supposed to be rep from Lightning Source there as well, but I am not sure what happened to him. I suspect I was so busy talking to everyone else that I missed him. Still, I am sure they would talk to me and answer questions direct if I needed them to, and I may well do soon, since I have decided it is high time I started work on my next book - Conversations with POD.

There do not seem to be that many books around on the subject of POD and how it works and what authors can expect. Those I have seen seem to be predominantly for the US market and I certainly haven't seen any in the shops. There are plenty of books out there on how to self publish, but they concentrate mainly on short print run with only a few pages on POD, and most of the information in them is somewhat misleading and out of date. I thought then why don't I write a book detailing my own experiences and explaining how it works, with a series of interviews with POD authors - hence the title, Conversations with POD.

I mentioned it to Richard briefly but had a more in depth discussion with Marjorie as Coran and I were leaving - both seemed to like the idea very much indeed. I would have a ready made market for sure, as thousands of people embrace the POD route each year with providers springing up all over the place. The potential then for sales with a book like this is huge.

I have set up a blog site to get the ball rolling and posted on a few forums inviting POD authors to submit. I will email Richard tomorrow I expect and have a more in depth chat and ask him to post it on the authors area asking people to submit, and then I will start to write the rest.

Talking to the other authors then has re-fired my determination to really crack on with both books and get the publicity machine firing on all four cylinders. I was struck by the sheer amount of talent that was there in that one small room yesterday - authors of all different genres, from all different walks of life, all with their own experiences to share. There was a display of every single POD book that Richard has ever published - including the very first one (he was the first POD provider in the UK - the original and still the best) covered in plastic in order to preserve it. Richard jokingly said that book is his grandchildrens inheritance, but actually I don't doubt that he is right, as in years to come it will become a museum piece. He knows and I know that POD is the future of publishing, but the rest of the world is yet to catch up ....

The company has also some ambitious plans for the future, which were mentioned in speech by Richard and Derek, one of the company founders who went away for a while but has now come back into the fold. They have plans for a kind of POD book club where people will pay an annual or monthly subscription and buy Richards books at discount, giving feedback on the quality and price, and whether or not they are worth that price. These reviews and comments can then be used to publicise the books, and also ultimately to change opnions from inside the industry, challenging the vanity press perception of bady written and over priced books.

They also have plans to have stands in independent book stores supplying the books on sale or return and even getting poeple to sponsor the cost of publishing certain new titles. Interesting times then ahead.

It was then an interesting weekend of networking and exchanging ideas and information that left me in no doubt (not that I had any to begin with) that I have chosen the right company to publish with.

Richard and Judy

Spoke to Richard earlier today at Authors OnLine and he told me that he had just had an email from Gardners. The book has only been a stocked title for just over a week, but they have already sold out of the 30 copies they initially ordered. They have increased the next order to 50 copies !

I rang a few more Waterstones today then and managed to secure orders from 3 more shops - Belfast, Chesham and Covent Garden - another flagship. Still no letter from Adam at Oxford Street though ...

When I rang Richard later on to give him the news, he told me that he had had a call from Paul asking him to write a press release to send to Richard and Judy. Richard though had brain fog and so asked me to write it. Have just sent him a copy ...

Redhill also received their copies today, so will be going there in the morning to sign them. Apparently one of the staff members commented that it looks like a really interesting book and has asked to review it. It will go on a little card in the local authors area - Waterstones recommends ....

The Book that boldly goes where no other book has gone before

The deed has now been done - Richard has contacted Gardners and got the ball rolling. I did some more ringing around today, to various Borders and Waterstones and also tried a few independents as well. So far, if anything, Waterstones do seem to be more approachable than Waterstones - this could be because decisions are made much more on a branch by branch basis, and the the managers therefore have more automony when it comes to stocking works by local authors. I have not as as yet tried many further afield, so it will be interesting to see what happens when I do.


I think on speaking to Richard first thing this morning that Paul got a bit carried away with the idea of press releases though going up on Richards site, since if he did this then all his authors would expect the same .... I will still then have to do most of the work myself, but that is fine, since I have both the time and the inclination. Will make a list then of more magazines that I can send review copies too, and also have another crack at Cygnus who may now be interested ... I will also contact some writers blog sites tomorrow, and then start on the local and national press.


So far then I have definate orders from Borders in Whiteleys, London, Fleet Street, London, Uxbridge, Lakeside and Wimbledon, with interest from Brighton, Newbury, Staines and Oxford Street (London). The Kingston branch of course has copies already. I also have orders from Waterstones in Godalming, Horsham and Redhill, as well as Epsom, which has stocked them for some time. Guildford and Staines are also talking about book signings and talks.


After that I spent the rest of the afternoon putting together a press release. It is difficult to think up a strapline that grabs the attention, but I think the one that I have chosen does the job. I paste it below:


The book that boldly goes where no other book has gone before


Genesis of Man by June Austin
the answer to life, the universe and everything in between …


The low discounts offered on print on demand titles, combined with an inability to accept returns are the single biggest obstacles that authors of these titles have to face. Author June Austin is therefore delighted to announce that her book, Genesis of Man has broken the mould, in more ways than one. This groundbreaking work, published by Authors OnLine Ltd, is now available direct from Gardners with a whopping discount of 40 percent on sale or return.


June said “I am delighted with this move, which will help bring my book to a much wider audience. Book stores have now nothing to lose by ordering copies. I will continue to do everything in my power to publicise this important work”.


This is a very informative and well researched book. It is laden with scientific, Biblical and historical evidence to support its arguments. It would be ideal as a companion to academic studies in subjects such as theology, philosophy and the social sciences. If you have read and liked The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins, then you will love this book because it serves the opposite viewpoint.The Self Publishing Magazine


PUBLICATION DATE: May 2007


DISTRIBUTED BY GARDNERS AND BERTRAMS (UK), INGRAMS AND BAKER AND TAYLOR (US)

Copies are also available direct from the publisher.Email Gaynorj@authorsonline.co.uk or telephone 01633 676629.


Further details including sample chapteravailable from the author’s website at http://www.juneaustin.co.uk/

Back from Lundy (again)

I got back from another week on beautiful Lundy on Sunday 1st April (April Fool's Day), and what a wonderful week it was, as usual. It was the first sailing of the year. I wondered as the day approached, whether we would be sailing at all, or going by helicopter instead, as the weather seemed to be worsening, with the winds getting stronger and stronger. As it turned out, the day dawned bright and clear, with seas as a calm as a mill pond, and it was one of the smoothest sailings I have ever had. As the week progressed, the winds returned, until we got to last Friday and a gale warning for the island, which meant that, you guessed it, we ended up being helicoptered off all the way to Hartland, near the Cornish border. That was exciting then. I have been on the helicopter several times before, so it was nothing new in some ways, but it was the first time I have had to be coptered off when it should have been the boat.

I am back now and slowly getting back to normality. Paul is still embroiled in the court case re Graham Cook, who is proprieter of a self publishing company called Writersworld. The more Paul tells me about this man the more I am astonished by his business misdealings, and the more grateful I am that I had the foresight to walk in the other directon, when I sniffed a rat coming from his website.

While I was away, Richard had a call from from a television company called Films of Record, who are based in London, and have been commissioned by ITV to do a series called Web Lives. One of the programmes will be on print on demand, and that is how they found Richard, as his company is called Authors OnLine Ltd. Richard referred them to Paul. who has given them details of a dozen or so authors that he works with, myself included. Tom will check out all our websites and be in touch with those that he likes the sound of best. Fingers crossed that one of them might be me.

Paul tells me that ITV are interested in covering the Foyles book signing, which is still going ahead, although there is no confirmed date as yet. All I do know is that it is likely to be on a Saturday and some time before the middle of May. I had better get cracking on that new book cover ...

Paul has been busy on my behalf

Have just got off the phone from a long conversation with Paul Ricks (Richard's publicist) who helps to promote AOL's authors. He has not been able to do much lately because he is embroiled in a rather complicated court case, where he is acting as a coordinator to help lots of disgruntled people. The case is nothing to do with AOL I hasten to add, although Richard is one of many who is being sued by this rather strange and very nasty character, a man named Graham Cook, who runs a self publishing company named Writers World. It is a long and convulated story, but basically Cook has been reported to DTI and Office of Fair Trading both here and in the US for s string of offences (well over 100 I believe), copyright infringement, taking people's money and not publishing their books etc, etc, etc. The list is endless. The internet is full of references to him if you tap in his name. A thoroughly unsavoury character by all accounts, who needs to be put a stop to once and for all.

Anyway, other than that, Paul has a friiend of his, whose name I can't now remember, reviewing the book at the moment to go in a small magazine that he publishes in London. He will send me a copy once the review is published. He will also ring Borders Head Office to try and drum up some more publicity for me, and organise talks, get them to order books etc to go into some of their other local stores - Brighton, Croydon and Wimbledon were mentioned. The other thing is that it looks like the Foyles multiple book signing is going ahead sometime in April - in the Charing Cross Road store - one of the biggest in London, and my name is definately on the list ! He will let me know then exactly when it will be, so I can pencil it into my bulging diary.

I have also just tried to ring Cygnus to jolly them up a bit and see if they are any closer to making a decision re my book, but Jackie the lady who deals with it is off until Monday (I forgot she only works part time). I am now about to find out about local newspapers in the Horsham area to see if I can drum up some free publictity for my talk there in less than 2 weeks now.

Under the cover .....

I have just got off the phone from Paul, the publicist from Authors OnLine. He has submitted the book to quite a few people now, including The Times, Borders and Bertrams, one of the two largest distributors here in the UK. Two out of three of The Times reviewers love it, and the third is reading it at the moment. As to whether they will print a review though remains to be seen, as they do get around 200 submissions a week. Paul was lucky then to persuade them to look at my book at all. Even so, the fact that they do like it means that they will hopefully tell other people and they in turn will tell other people and so it goes on. You only have to get one good review in the right place and you are off and running ....

A lot of them have though commented that although they love the book, there is something about the cover that does not say 'pick me up and read me'. Paul himself said that he felt this too, but he did not know exactly what it was that was wrong. The two people from The Times though, and also Borders in Birmingham have said that they think it would be better if the cover was along the lines of the X Files or ET, where the cover comes towards you from a light in the background, a bit like some of the books on NDE's maybe. I need them to give this some serious thought, as these people carry considerable clout in the industry and their opinions matter. The book can still do well, but with the right cover it could do even better. Paul's son is an artist so if and when I come up with any more ideas then he may be able to do something for me at hopefully reasonable cost. In the meantime though I will start by having a look at my own library for some inspiration. Of course any ideas that anyone on here has will also be appreciated ....

good news and bad - depending on how you loook at it

Yesterday, the day of the Questing Conference turned out to be an experience, if nothing else. The day was shorter than previous years, with a lot less talks, at just 6 and seemed less well attended also. Last year the talks went on until 8.30 pm, but this time the last one finished at 6pm, with the opening address at 10am.

I did not sell nearly as many books as I hoped, so will not be doing it again. I did better at St Michaels in fact, a few weeks ago, as I sold just 5 of my own one and about half the second hand ones. I took around £125 in all, £87 of which is profit, making a loss of £3 for the day, not including food and petrol.

There seemed to be 3 main problems - firstly people do not books from unknown authors unless they are endorsed by someone big, or they are doing a talk there. Secondly, they didn't show up very well against the white cloth I used as a table covering. Thirdly, the space they had reserved for me was at the side of the hall, oposite the busiest area where most people were congregating. I could have chosen the other side of the hall, but it is always difficult. Do you go to the busy areas, where it is so busy in fact that people can't move round to your stall and therefore don't try, or do you choose a quieter area. I chose the quieter area in the end and am sitll not sure whether this was the right thing or not. Still the good news is that 2 of this years speakers got one - John Reid (his partner actually, but he will read it also) who did an excellent talk on the use of sound in ancient Egypt, and Greg Little, a lovely man from Memphis, Tennessee who did an equally good talk on the Bimini Roads.

I have to then be philosophical and put it down to experience - it was an interesting day, and I got to talk to some nice people. One other lady who bought a copy, Janet said she will pass it on to a friend of hers, who writes reviews for a well known magazine, and used to work for the Times, plus I sold those 2 copies to the speakers, who may love it so much that they write reviews as well. Thank goodness my web address is in the back !

It was though a very long and very tiring day. Coran I think was if anything, more tired than I was, as he had to drive me all the way up there and back again, and then return to pick me up afterwards - a total of 80 miles. We were so tired on the way back, and the trafffic was so bad, that we stopped in Chiswick for a Mcdonalds - something I would never normally do. Desperate times though call for desperate measures. I will proably spend the next 3 or 4 days regretting that bread roll though.

The conference though is really though a labour of love for Andy and hs wife Sue who organise it. I think about the only people who do make money from it are the speakers in terms of book sales, and of course Atlantis Book shop, who sell most of them. I saw some people with bags full of about 6 books that they bought from that stall, and consequently, although they liked mine, they had non money left to buy a copy. Maybe if I had taken credit cards, but I don't really think this would have made a difference either. A lof of them did though take postcards, so maybe will order through Amazon or my site. Will keep a careful eye on the number of hits next week then.

To sum up though, it was useful experience, but not one that I shall repeat. If I wanted to sell my books there again, then the best way I think would be to get Atlantis to stock it and then offer to sign some copies. I have to though be philosophical, It was a good day out, and I would have done along to listen anyway, so in some ways, the stall did not really cost me £90, but £60. It is all about raising your profile anyway, and I guess I did manage to do that, so it was really more a learning experience than a failure.

This afternoon then I have just got off the phone from a long conversation with Paul Ricks, the publicist for Authors OnLine, who rang yesterday while I was out. He has now read my book, and is very impressed and has several ideas of poeple to contact. The first one is Waterstones, more specifically, the Manager at Epsom who already stocks it, with a view to arranging a book signing or something. He is also though going to approach them at national level. He also has contacts at WH Smith that he will try and also at Bertrams, one of the largest wholesalers (who the book is registered with) as they supply most of the independent shops.

The last idea though was the Daily Express Book Club and also the Daily Mail, although he has not had success there with other books. They did though print a feature on Ian Lawton's book, Genesis Unveiled, and have also featured the works of Zecharia Sitchin, so I would say that they may well be interested in mine.

He will contact all thse poeple this week then, and I will hopefully hear back from him by the end of the week. Fingers crossed.

where has the time gone?

It seems like forever since I got back from Lundy, yet is only 2 weeks.

Since I got back I have been busy selling books. I had hoped that the 50 copies I ordered would be here waiting for me when I got back, but no. I rang Gaynor who takes care of ordering, and then I realised that when she said it takes 3-5 days to get the books, what she meant was it takes 3-5 days for the books to be printed. You still have to wait for delivery after they are printed, meaning that I could double that time to around 10 days. The books finally arrived the Wednesday after I got back, within 12 days of ordering. I will have to remember this when it comes to do the Questing Conference and any talks that I organise ...

Talking of which, I have arranged the closest thing I can to a book launch, at our local church on 9th August. I should have enough copies to go round, as I still have 28 left. 20 have been sold direct, mostly to friends at the church, but also 4 to the various members of the Earth's Cycles course that I completed last weekend. One copy has also gone via my own website.

I decided to add the link to my own website so that people can order signed copies from other areas of the country, as several people on my own mailing list have asked. Several in America and Canada have also expressed an interest in signed copies, so they can also get them using the Paypal account I set up. My first American copy was sold this week, and I am sure there will be many more to follow. So far, within just 10 days of returning home I have managed to recoup around 13 percent of my publishing costs. Just over £1000 to go and I have broken even. This does not include the cost of writing the book which runs into several thousand pounds more. This is though a long term thing, and I would rather go for slow, steady sales than have a sudden flash in the pan and then nothing.

The proof reader has finished

I meant to post this a few days ago, but have hardly had time to do anything at all!

The proof reader finally finished last weekend, so this meant I was busy answering reams of questions. It's a good job Richard, my Editor and owner of Authors OnLine Ltd appointed someone with a scientific background, as there were several important places where omitting words by mistake had completely changed the meaning, and only someone with this background would have realised this. He certainly proved his worth. I have not received all the amendments. These were done on screen, rather than paper copies, which I find much easier to look at. It must be a nightmare being a bonafide proof reader with all those bits of paper to keep looking at, since most of them work on paper rather than on screen. Still, the name of my publisher is Authors OnLine ...

As it is it means that I will have to have 2 documents open as I go through the amendments. Technically I don't have to, as with Word Tracker you can display different versions of the same document, flitting between them if you want. I decided that to help me read it and understand the changes that have been made (most of them are simple things, like commas etc in the wrong place, and words that should or should not be hyphenated) I will input them into my original document. Once I have done that, only then will I read the whole thing through.

Unlike with a mainstream publisher, there is no time limit for completing this. I do not intend to rush through it, but it would be good to get it finished by the end of next week, which is half term. Once the schools are back, I will be busy invigilating GCSE and A'level exams, amongst other things, so may not have as much time. I will have to think very carefully when the college ring to arrange my timetable. I need the money, but I will also need some time.

I am also celebrating the fact that I am now spending three weeks on Lundy rather than two. I noticed that the cottage was free for the week after I was due to come home a few days ago, and was not sure what to do, since I did not want this to adversely affect my promotional plans for the book. I asked my pendulum, which said, yes, you should go and you may not get another chance to go away this year. I still wasn't sure, so asked my friend Wendy to check for me. She got the same results, so I have booked it.

Having spoken to Richard, he informs me that it is up to me when I want the book to come out. All that needs to be done is for me to approve the changes made by the proof reader, he will then send the final page count to his son James, who will do the spine, and once that is done it is ready for printing! The book could be available within the month, and almost certainly by the time I go to Lundy!

It may seem like madness to be away for three weeks so soon after publication, but I will be at the end of a mobile phone should Coran or Richard need urgent queries sorted out. I feel at this stage that that third week became available for a reason - because I needed a long break in order to prepare for the mad rush that will follow! It doesn't leave me with much time to organise anything, but hey, who cares, I was not planning to have a huge book launch anyway, just a little party at the Church with a few friends.

I have already sold 100 plus copies to various people that I know through the Church and various websites, so the book will break even with a bit of luck within its first few months. All that remains is to try and get it into some shops, get some reviews in magazines etc, and get out there and sell it!

I am trying not to get nervous as this is such a big step, but one that I know I have to take. It is natural to feel like this, and I am sure all writers go through it, no matter how many books they write. I hope this will be the first of many - but who knows?

The Contract has been signed

April 21

I have just got off the phone from my publisher (doesn't that sound great) having ironed out the details re how much this is going to cost. He has offered me an unbelievable deal - the whole lot for £1105 - that includes converting the text to a PDF file, registering the ISBN, distribution in both the UK and North America, library deposits, uploading to the printers website, formatting as an e-book which will be available via the publishers own site, plus uploading to Amazon.co.uk and .com, full cover design and proof reading. I can't believe what a good deal this is.

Richard who runs the company, has just emailed me the contract, so am off to the park in a minute for a cup of tea, and will read through the whole lot, then sign it, get the cheque and send it off. Then we are on our way!

I have signed the contract in the presence of 2 witnesses - Coran and my next door neighbour. It has then been signed, sealed, and shall very shortly be delivered. I was hoping to get to the building society today to get the cheque sorted out and what should happen when I got there - one parking space was free right outside, and I had exactly 40p in my purse for the meter. The countdown begins - three months and ticking.

Some musings re book covers

April 15

I bought a copy of the Gospel of Judas yesterday, just so I could add some bits about it, which back up what a lot of channelled stuff I have looked at says. That way people will hopefully see that it is not a load of airy, fairy nonsense - not that I am aiming the book at people like that anyway. Having read through the Gospel last night, and some of the other notes in the book, I have this morning added a few paragraphs. Today and tomorrow I will hopefully finish reading through part four, weeding out the unnecessary words and details. I then have to check my Bibliography, to make sure the titles and publishers, plus dates etc are accurate, and add a few notes about which versions I have used (paperback or hardback, UK or US edition etc). After that it will be ready to be sent.

This will not be the final copy, but as close as I can get at this stage. None of the POD companies offer copy editing, but they do offer proof reading. With Authors OnLine Ltd it costs £350 for the first 80,000 words, and £1.50 for each additional 1000 words, which I think is very reasonable considering. I will need to get it proof read, as you cannot spot errors in your own work. You are too close to it, and don't see things that others might. The proof reader is bound to find a few things that need altering.

Once they have received the text, Authors OnLine will look through it and discuss with me what services I am likely to need. Once this has been agreed, they will pass me through to the production department and put me in touch with a graphic artist who can design the cover. I already know what I want - I was shown the image during a recent meditation at the Earth's Cycles course I am doing.

It is basically a plain black cover with the title and my name in gold lettering. Underneath will be the image of the Christian cross entwined with two serpents, if possible morphing into the DNA spirals. On either side will be a black skinned Adam and Eve wearing nothing but fig leaves. The serpents will appear as if they are talking to Adam and Eve.

Once that is done, they will get to work on the rest of the book, and I shall have to start work on my promotional plans, booking the Church for the book launch etc, and deciding who to invite, including which, if any local papers. National ones are pretty much a waste of time. I shall also have to register the name Pigsty Press with the Inland Revenue, and set up a business account in that name.

Phew, so much to do and think about. It will all be worthwhile though. I will show all those publishers who turned me down ...

Fortunately Authors OnLine offer distribution in both the UK and North America, via their printer Lightning Source. Anyone from anywhere in the world will be able a copy to buy it via Amazon anyway, and it will be available via all of their sites. I will have to set a separate price for the US, but I am sure they will advise me on that.

Sent the book off today

April 18

Sent my book off to Authors On Line today, so the process has now begun. Once he has received it and had a chance to look through will give me a ring to discuss which of their services I will need.