The last word of the manuscript has been written.  Every word, comma, full stop and punctuation mark has been pored over a hundred times.  Words have been changed, sentences rewritten, paragraphs omitted, never to see the light of day.  Countless pages have been screwed up and thrown in the rubbish bin beneath my desk.

The manuscript has been sent off to the publisher after much discussion and sometimes dissention.  The  cover, font size and style,  and interior layout is the subject of many emails back and forth until agreement is reached with the fervent hope in the author’s breast that what has been agreed upon will actually take place and please both parties.

The author waits nervously for the masterpiece that has been sweated over for so long and then the big day arrives…a knock on the door, a small parcel is handed over, signed for and feverishly unwrapped and there it is…after months, sometimes years…the author’s copy.

It looks and feels fantastic!  The publisher has done a wonderful job, the cover, the text, the layout, even the writing looks better now it is in book form. It’s almost as if some kind of metaphysical change has taken place.

But now comes the hard part…the promotion.  These days whether the author is backed by a big publishing house or self publishes, much of the promotion of the book into the public domain is in the hands of the author.  This is time consuming, expensive and more often than not…frustrating and unrewarding.   Certainly as most people would be aware, it is not the most lucrative of professions and that is putting it mildly unless you are a John Grisham, Lee Child, Jeffrey Archer et al however…when a reader says things like, “loved your book” , “a great read” “couldn’t put it down” and…  “when is the next one coming out?”

That makes it all worthwhile and that is what keeps us scribblers returning to the blank page and start again. The bottom line is, we write for YOU.

We thank you for taking the time to tell us, it means more than you will ever know.

Sincerely

John