We're off!

We have a deadline for our book launch - October 17th. Thank goodness. Sometimes it seemed we'd never make it.

On that day I will be in the library giving a talk about the Writer's Choice publishing co-operative. In the week running up to Launch Day I will also be interviewed on the local radio and the local TV. I'm angling for the national radio book slots and have approached the national newspapers with articles on me and Writer's Choice.

It's exciting, exasperating and frustrating. My first two books are anthologies, collections of short stories which have already been published in magazines in the UK, Canada, America and Australia. George is our American member of the group and his book is a novel. His book will be launched at the same time. I will talk about his novel at my interviews. He will talk about my anthologies at his interviews. We are a group, more power to our elbows.

It seems to me that either we will surf this new wave of publishing or be swamped. But we'll never know if we don't try. I'd rather aim at the moon and land on a mountain top, than aim at the mountain and get stuck in the foothills!

Cooperation?

Steam has been pouring out of my ears all week. In one of those coincidences which seem to happen as a needed push or kick, tales from writer friends who have publishing contracts with the traditional big name publishers popped into my inbox or post box and all of them conspire to shove me towards self publishing.

I cannot believe what publishing companies can do. Apart from the one friend who been dumped because of lack of sales I have been steaming over the editing done to another writer pal's first novel.

This writer's editors chopped the really marvellous ending and insisted on a smaltzy, sloppy, not accurate historically ending be written instead. The novel is a great literary historical. The bloody fool editors keep trying to turn it into a Hollywood action adventure. Quite spoilt the story with their additions which are supposed to make the novel sell more! I seriously doubt they will help sales.

But from all this fury has come the determination to join with a couple of writer friends and make a self publishing cooperative. We aim to run an experiment and see if our novels, the ones agents and editors like but..., will sell as ebooks.