ALONE!
The new year started with Linda still in Plympton with Peter isolating with Covid in his bedroom. I managed to sort out some household things like a window thermometer and a non-working table lamp. Linda returned on Monday 4th and we celebrated by watching the Christmas ‘Strictly’ and gradually opening presents.
MARKETING
My main focus has been on the launch of my new book ‘Journey through Lent with Jesus’ on 26th. I fondly hoped to have some copies by then. My first task was to make sure that the PayPal link on my website worked, (it did) and that I had the correct Zoom set up on Eventbrite (I didn’t). I went to Chris Day’s office in Beddington, and he sorted me out. The journey was a bit of an adventure. Due to the line from Victoria being closed, these were the stations I visited: Victoria, Green Park, London Bridge, East Croydon, Northwood Junction, Waddon. Then back to Waddon, Balham, Embankment and Earls Court. Ten in all. As Chris said, it’s so boring just getting an Uber.
I haunted various deanery functions, circulated all the churches in the deanery and attended the service for Christian Unity. There was some interest in my books and I met a charming Armenian priest. I advertised the launch on my blog on a Jewish perspective on Jesus. However, the people who came to the launch were either from churches I had a personal connection with or from Eventbrite.
On 24th I had a Zoom meeting with someone from the Association of Christian Writers who gave me some tips about using Facebook. Very helpful. This week I have put more content up and next month intend to start a regular discussion on my Facebook group ‘Spiritual Exploring’, based on my monthly Bible blog. Anyone interested? What is a good day and time?
On Thursday 27th I went to Daunt bookshop which had taken my ‘Week of Prayer in Jerusalem’. But they were not interested in ‘Jesus the Troublemaker’. However a week before my brother Martin did get Heffers in Cambridge interested and my books are on the lists of both Heffers and Blackwells.
During the retreat before when I was ordained deacon, the bishop of Southwark spoke about ‘hupomone’ – Greek for ‘patient endurance’. Writers definitely need that!
BRINGING A BOOK TO PRINT – Schedule of actions
What does it take to bring a book to print with the help of a partner publisher? Read on.
Tuesday 4th Got a brilliant review from Bishop Rob Gillion. Put it in the book and a sentence on the back cover.
Chris sent me the ISBN and bar code. I need to provide a description and synopsis, publication date, number of pages & size for book trade database.
Thursday 13th Daniel sent in two brilliant drawings to replace b&w photos Monday 17th Found that one church might use it for weekly group study. So I quickly wrote up two questions a week for group discussion and sent it to Clare
Worked out what categories to choose for the book trade
Wrote the description of book for publication, first 100 words as a stand- alone paragraph out of a maximum of 400.
Wednesday 19th Clare delivered the book – 316 pages
Thursday 20th The spine was then designed and sent over
Discovered that if the book price was £9.99 I would make a 15p loss on each book. Chris recommended £14.99, with the ability to discount it. Linda and I preferred £11.99 even with only a small profit.
Friday 21st My Mac email stopped sending and receiving emails! Panic! Though I could still access emails by going straight to Gmail – not as pretty. Talked to a regular at Caffe Nero, Keith, who is a fount of wisdom about computers. Great! He also said boiling a banana cut into three pieces and drinking the water helps sleep. I think it does!
Doom and gloom! Authors Republic won’t publish my audio book ‘Jesus the Troublemaker’ because Amazon found problems with Track 13 of the won’t accept it yet. Three and a half months after the initial submission! I emailed my audio book creator Peter Walters and then forgot about it. I have other fish fry right now!
Daniel sent a new map for the book – much clearer, and ’EDOM’ not spelt ‘EDON’. Sent it to Clare.
Sunday 23rd Tried to upload book on kdp (Kindle Direct Print) It did not take. I should have started to create the book version first anyway. Chris worked late and aims to provide a Kindle-ready file. I hope for an Amazon launch on Saturday 29th.
Monday 24th Sent the book description for publication to Chris, also for kdp. Kdp rejected my first attempt to upload book file. Clare to jiggle the margins.
Discussed price again with Chris, he stands firm on £14.99. That would provide a profit of £1.85 per book, split with the publisher. I can always discount on my website and use that in marketing.
Tuesday 25th KDP did not like the cover, so Chris jiggled it and eventually it worked.
. I sent more more kdp errors to Clare. She did them, late in the day.
Wednesday 26th She even did them when she had taken a day off to visit her father!
Chris sent the ePub file for Kindle, and kdp accepted it!
8.00pm Book Launch on Zoom with a dozen people. Very encouraging.
Thursday 27th Clare sent another book file, and I activated the ‘bleed’ button – needed if there are images of design which go right to the edge of the page. Final success!
KDP for Kindle showed up 3 spelling mistakes and 7 tweaks needed. Clare corrected the mistakes and I successfully uploaded the book file.
Chris organising another ePub file for Kindle.
Friday 28th Wrote a draft Advanced Information sheet for bookshops, which Chris will put in the correct format. The most important part is the information that Gardners are our distributors. That is who all bookshops work through.
The book is up on Amazon!!
MUSIC, FILMS, TV
MUSIC
So pleased that lunchtime concerts are up and running again. I have been to St Olave’s by the Tower, St Giles in the West End, and Imperial College in Kensington. I have heard Schubert – his stunning piano sonatas in G, and his ‘Trout’ Quintet, plus Mozart and Chopin, and Beethoven’s violin concerto with piano instead of orchestra. Wonderful!
FILMS
Seen interesting films in terms of film but not absolutely must-see ones: ‘Souvenir Part 2’, ‘Les 400 Coups’, ‘Boiling Point’ and ‘Belfast’.
THEATRE
Linda and I saw ‘Choir of Man’ at the very small Arts Theatre. Essentially, nine men singing and dancing in a pub – and giving people free beer! Just a wonderful evening.
TV
We saw some excellent TV. The disturbing ‘Rules of the Game’, and exciting ‘Around the World in 80 days’. As well as our old faithfuls ‘The Apprentice ‘and ‘Dragon’s Den’.
My late night viewing included Sondheim’s fantastic ‘Into the Woods’ with Meryl Streep as the Witch; ‘Moonstruck’ – which I can see over and over again; and ‘The Souvenitr – Part 1’ when I finally got the hang of what the two films were about.