So much for the soft launch...

Well, the plan was to wait until I had all the ISBN/Amazon nonsense completed before telling people how they could buy the book and releasing it on the world but some quirks of the system have let it loose to those kind souls keen enough to buy a copy before I've had a chance to check that the formatting is OK.

The process requires you to make the book available before you can buy a distribution package. Then Google spiders the page and, whoosh, you can find it and buy it very easily. How long it will take to turn up? I have no idea. There seems to be talk on the forums that UK printing is a little slow at the moment.

I've ordered my proofing copy, so I would still recommend not to plunge for a purchase until I made sure it was OK. But, if you are feeling like a risk taker and want the, soon to be rare, edition with no ISBN number on it then have a look here.

I'm not getting anywhere fast with distribution. I ordered the distribution package on 15th November and have heard nowt since (despite repeated attempts to find out what is going on). I will collect all my experiences to date in a later post.

So, thanks to you 3 bold adventurers that have taken the plunge so far.

Marketing, Shmarketing...

And so thoughts now turn to marketing a book. A bit of an impasse while I await all the ISBN gubbins, so I'm having a think about promoting the book. Clearly, if you write it, they don't come, so something needs to be attempted to overcome that.

I'm not entirely clear on the plan but I've got a few thoughts. My intention is to share what I attempt to do in this regard herein and be as accurate as I can about the relative success or failure. I'm not expecting miracles.

Obviously, I'll start with harassing everyone I know and take it from there. I've started the revamp of The Beatle Man website to get it ready for the influx of reader.

Still to decide how much of a marketing budget I will allow myself. It won't be a lot but I think there is more to be learned from trying a few things. Should be interesting to see what can be acheived promoting a novel.

I'll definitely NOT be buying a "self promotion kit" which seems to consists of a pointless collection of paper.

Muted, Pointless Drumroll Please...

Don't all get too excited, but here is the World Premiere, latest version of the front cover. It will maybe get a little tweak before the final version goes out to distribution. Alternatively, I'll have got bored of it by then and will have a whole new one.




And just when you thought it couldn't get any more exciting, here's the latest back cover too...

Fun-Dabby-Not-Dozy

Well, the plan is working. I'm having fun. Despite it being a little bit fiddly at times, getting The Beatle Man prepared to publish is proving a lot of fun. Not been this energised with it for a long while. So the main goal is being acheived.

It's going pretty quickly now too. A lot of reading and learning but its coming together. Next stage is to sort out the publishing/distribution which, if I've read things correctly, seems reasonably simple.

Thanks to everyone for their suggestions for names for publishers after my appeal on Facebook. I particularly liked Barry's suggestion of "Scott Who?". Sorry Baz, won't be using that one.

I think it'll be in the e-shops before (or soon after) Xmas. I assume the world can't wait. Watch out for the world premiere of the new cover on this blog sometime very soon.

Onward

So, here we are. I've submitted The Beatle Man to a couple of publishers and a few agents and been rejected by all. This would seem to be expected and advice would tell you that you keep on submitting and see how you get on. Well, frankly, I can't be arsed. Its not much fun at all. And what is the point if its not fun?

So, I'm going to have some fun. I'm going to prepare The Beatle Man for self-publishing on Lulu. The simple fact is, I don't know if its good enough to be published or not. I think its good but that really isn't a consideration in the process. You get no feedback, you can make no objective measure of quality, you just have to punt it into the darkness and see what happens.

Sure, I could pay one of these wretched services to read/review/feedback, but that is even less fun.

This is the plan. Lulu and have a go at whatever viral marketing I can muster. It won't be successful, but it will be fun. Formatting/designing/the whole ISBN process. Unless you are one of the poor sods I badger to buy a copy!

I hope to have it ready for the new year. But, knowing me, it could take me that long to decide on the font for the front cover.

This is not an admission of failure*, just an admission of laziness with the process. I once read an article in the Sunday Times where they had submitted the 1st three chapters of very famous books to publishers and saw them all get rejected. Now, my book isn't as good as any of those. Go figure.

Hey, and if its good enough for Radiohead, I can claim to be all 'new model'.

The main thing is that I will be able to draw a line under The Beatle Man and get on with Terra Exitus, still stalled in the "WTF" phase.

* well, maybe a little bit