Cover notes

Back in 2012, I published a small e-book on Amazon, partly because I had something to say, but partly because I wanted to see how easy/difficult it was. The Little Guide to Teaching Yoga in a Gym served the purpose and sold reasonably well, too, so it was a useful exercise.

At time time, because I didn't know any better, I designed - and I use the word loosely - the cover myself, thus:

Now, I've revised and updated the content and republished it, again as an e-book, but this time I've used the services of Shar at www.fiverr.com. She also did the cover for Nine Lives and she is really quick and great to work with. I'm sure you'll agree that what she has produced is much better than my humble effort:

So that's it: I'm not a cover designer, but fortunately I know someone who is, and it's worth paying for a job well done.

The Little Guide to Teaching Yoga in a Gym is available from Amazon for just 99p.

Lights, camera, action!

Image: morguefile.com

I had a bit of fun this morning when I popped into town to record a video interview for a colleague's website. He runs a company that helps author's self-publish and asked me if I'd do a little testimonial for him, which I was happy to do.

So notwithstanding that I'm desperately in need of a haircut and received wisdom says a middle-aged face doesn't look its best until noon, I was there at half-nine doing a Q&A in front of the camera. I can stand up and speak to a room of yoga students without a script, but was quite nervous about the prospect of answering some basic questions about a subject I know well. Anyway, I did it and the chaps seemed pleased, so that's that.

Only about 30 seconds will be used and I'll wait to see the results before I decide whether or not to post a link.

Celebrations for Friday The Thirteenth

Actually, I'm not superstitious about the date. It's just another day, (she says with her fingers crossed).

After the flurry of booty last week there have been no prizes or surprises this week. I've worked hard to clear the decks, though, because tomorrow I'm off to Birmingham Literature Festival for a couple of workshops in the Library.

Coming soon!

One of the main jobs today has been to deliver a manuscript to the printers. After a lot of to-ing and fro-ing and coming painfully close to getting a short story collection accepted by a conventional publisher, I have decided to go it alone. You can be sure I'll let you know when it's available.

Right, that's it. I'm off for an evening of mindless TV. Have a good weekend, folks.

Guest post: author Eliza B Hill

I've been chatting with local (to me) author Eliza B Hill who has just published her children's novel The Little Garden Gate - and as if writing the story wasn't enough, she has also illustrated it. Isn't the cover lovely? She shares her thoughts here:

'For six years I was fortunate and privileged to spend a lot of time with my two granddaughters and to be a part of their world of make-believe and imagination.

'Do you have fairies in your garden? Do they sit on your windowsill in the evening and listen to your problems? Ours did, or so I was told. I needed to remain proactive and ready for the girls' visits. What better way than to write a book about our imaginary friends, illustrate it and then publish it myself?

'In less than three months, the stories tumbled from my head and I stopped at around 20,000 words. What a jumble! I walked away for a few weeks then re-read the manuscript with a clearer mind. It wasn't good. In order to give the book structure yet retain a theme throughout, I returned to my finance days: accountancy errors are never found starting at the top of the balance sheet, but if you begin at the bottom and work back the error will appear.

'So, I completed the final story first. Now all I had to do was arrive there, so I created a spreadsheet listing the characters and where they could appear in the book. From here on, I was able to understand how many drawings would be required and on what pages the stories would begin and end. Simple infrastructure to connect the characters was the key. The strongest protagonists emerged and more changes were made to weed out the weakest characters. Their stories could be used another time.

'It worked for me (apart from some crazy grammatical mistakes that were ironed out by a competent, professional and trustworthy lady without whom this would not have been possible).

'My project has been a learning curve and next time it will be much better. Someone lit a fire in my belly and unwittingly gave me a second chance. All because, at the lowest point in my life, I picked up paper, paints and crayons and believed in two little girls.'

Two things struck me: Eliza's willingness to cut out superfluous characters; and her methodical approach to story structure and layout. Anyone else work like this?

It's in my genes

Whatever talent I have with words definitely comes from my mum's side of the family. My grandma would have been a teacher, had she not had to give up all such ambition to take care of her seven siblings; my uncle (mum's brother) was a successful short story writer and family legend has it that as a child he would sit and read the dictionary for fun.

Which brings me to my remarkable mother. She has taught me all I'll ever need to know about solving cryptic crosswords; she is a regular in the Daily Telegraph letters page; she is content supplier to the parish magazine; in short, she is the go-to gal if you need something written. At the moment, she has two main writing projects on the go: she is ghosting some memoirs for one friend, and transcribing some wartime diaries for another. As if that wasn't enough, she has just published a small volume of verses (she is adamant that she is NOT a poet).

Over the years, she has written various rhymes and verses for the aforementioned parish magazine and has now drawn them together into a book to raise money for the church. My friend Will Adams has helped with the publishing process, and we're all delighted with the result. Mum is in her 80s. I'm very proud of her.

Priory Ash Publishing

I know there are lots of good companies out there who will help you to self-publish a book (as well as quite a few rogues who prey on your vanity, of course). But I have personal and professional contacts with one that I shall now plug shamelessly.

As it says on the company website, 'Priory Ash provides a one-stop book production service exploiting the best of today’s digital or conventional press technology. Whether your project is a slim premium paperback or a full-blown large-format glossy illustrated hardback, whether it’s 30 pages or 300, whether you want 50 or 50,000 copies, let us quote you for the entire job.'

I first met Will, the editorial brains of the operation, when I got the job as his secretary many moons ago. It was he who trained me to be a book editor, who introduced me to the strange world of puzzle compiling and who continues to be my sounding board now that we are both self-employed wordsmiths.

He's also a railway enthusiast - but nobody's perfect.