Tag Archives: novel

The First Wave is Over

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Phew! The first wave of intense publishing activity has ebbed – and I’m still standing. Thanks to all of you for your support this far.
The big news is that we’ve got a book cover designed and agreed. I’ll post it on the website as soon as I have image to share. For now, I can tell you that it uses as its base the photograph of the millworkers that’s already on my website.
Thanks to Bill Allerton at Cybermouse for his ingenious design which he generously gifted to me and to the Troubador in-house designer who tweaked that and set it is as a book cover ready to go. The design is for front, spine and back and the cover will be in a matt laminate finish.
Can you get a sense of how delighted I am with it?
The other news is that I sent the the first proofread manuscript back to Troubador on Monday by special delivery to arrive midday Tuesday – and I’ve just been emailed the corrected version this morning. I know I mentioned it in last blog, but I want to say a big thanks to Jan Vallance and Denis Green for proofreading the manuscript in a tight space of time. I couldn’t have done it without you!
And I could not have done it if Denis hadn’t been willing to take the manuscript with us on  a week’s holiday to Pembrokeshire to continue the proofread. The photographs above are of Bosherston Lakes and the water lilies growing underwater all set to bloom across the lakes in June. So we did have time for good outings as well as work.
There was a final little drama on Monday afternoon. Denis and I were double checking some of the pages on the kitchen table. I had just made and set down a mug of tea carefully at my corner. I reached over to take the page from Denis – and knocked over the mug. A flurry of activity ensued to whisk the pages off the table on to a dry worktop  and mop and dry them using towels and then hairdryer. Thankfully, although stained at the edges, all proof marks were clear.
Embarrassed though I was to include a clump of such pages within the otherwise pristine manuscript, my overwhelming feeling was to get the blooming thing posted and out of my hair. Right then I just needed shot of it!

Blue-sky thinking vs real-time action

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At 4pm on Thursday 28th March, I picked up an email from Jessica, Production Controller at Troubador, with the complete typeset proofs of Belfast Song attached for proofreading.
I was expecting this. Shortly after I had signed on the dotted line on 19th February, she had sent me an outline of Approximate Production Timescales that would result in publication at the end of August.
However, back then, as I imagined the proofs arriving either side of Easter Sunday, you could say I was in blue-sky thinking. That is, thinking that is not grounded in immediate reality. In my mind’s eye the proofs arrive on a spacious day where there is nothing to distract me from the task in hand. I settle to co-ordinate how my two buddies and I can send off a corrected manuscript to Troubador within the two-week deadline.
Switch now to the reality of 4pm on the day before the Easter Bank Holiday weekend.  I have just about recovered from arriving back a few days earlier from a five day trip to Ireland via Shannon airport. Believe me, there is no easy or quick way to get from Sheffield to the West of Ireland. The immediate choice is to take the train to Edinburgh or Gatwick airport to then fly to Shannon. My husband Denis and I are in the throes of ascertaining which days family members are visiting during Easter week. We are sorting who is doing what: shopping, cooking, bed-making … you get the idea. Denis has agreed to be a proof-reader and meantime the other proof-reader, my writing buddy Jan, has her own plans to manage. I’ve an unexpected deadline to do with last minute arrangements for a mid-April conference that I’m helping to organise. That’s before I even think of day to day domestics such as walking the dog.
This is the state of mind in which I open the email. I am in touch with the necessity of real-time actions. Let’s call it overwhelmed to the point of panic by what I need to do asap.
 
On reading the email, I am aghast to discover that the task involves using a set of conventional proofreading marks that I have never seen before. I realise I have to choose: I either print out the proofs (all 344 pages) returning only those pages that need amending by post, or I mark the amendments on the PDF proof and send the complete PDF file to Troubador online.
Somehow, I find the presence of mind to actually open the PDF … oh my goodness … it is so exciting to see Belfast Song laid out in book format. I can imagine it on a shelf in a book shop or being launched to real audiences in Belfast and Sheffield. Another instance of blue-sky thinking?
By this time my ‘manager head’ is screwed on firmly: this manuscript has been redrafted five times with feedback from various writing buddies throughout. This included a proof read of the 5th draft. And then, over three years later, I did a 6th proofread before sending the manuscript to Troubador. So, although there will still be corrections, I trust they will be few by now. Troubador allows a total of nine weeks to include up to three proof reads before the author signs off the manuscript. So I reckon that any slippage on this first round timescale will be offset by speed of dealing with subsequent rounds.
I trust that this estimate is grounded in experience of real-time action.
Mary

Welcome

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Welcome to my website and my blog.
 
Thank you for taking the time to have a look. Between now and the publication of Belfast Song, I will be blogging on the journey to publication as it happens. Publishing a first novel is a BIG step. In my case, even more so, as I will be self-publishing.
 
Self-publishing is rapidly expanding as a viable alternative to the traditional approach. Writers & Artists Year Book 2024 has a section entitled Self-publishing and indie authors whereas the 2021 year book included only a few entries within their listing of publishers. It is also becoming more complex. I hope my blog will be helpful to any writers who are considering this as a possible route.
 
It does mean more involvement in every stage of the process and in particular, in promotion and publicity. So, by way of establishing a base camp for the expedition to publication, I’ve invested in a website well in advance of the intended publication date of September 24. That’s been a learning curve in itself.
 
In my next blog, I’ll write more about why I chose this route.
 
The other two themes on which I intend blogging is on the writing of Belfast Song and also, on anything literary that catches my attention and spurs me to write a few paragraphs.
 
Thank you for reading this far. If you continue to dip in, I look forward to any comments or questions you would like to share with me.
Mary