Hello again, I am very pleased you are here. I want to tell you more about 'My journey to publication', and I am sure you understand that it is never an easy journey.
The 'Proof' copy of my book arrived, and excitement was high. I read it through, and marvelled at seeing 'my book' for the very first time. The illustrations looked amazing, and with more than 100 of them in the book, they really brought the stories to life. Then I spotted a problem. The back cover was in the wrong colours and had marks where they should not have been. The front cover was 'dull', probably caused by the general fault in the print. It was quite a disappointment, but it did not stop me from showing it to my friends, who failed to notice the faults.
I contacted the publisher and explained the problem, and they assured me that they would get the printing facility to put it right, and then send me another 'proof'. Happy with that, I waited, and waited, but no replacement proof arrived, and it was of course delaying my release date.
This book is for children, and Christmas was fast approaching, and I could see that I would lose the potential sales Christmas could bring. I chased the publisher, but got nowhere, so emailed their 'emergency' line, and found I had contacted the Managing Director. He did say they were having 'technical problems' in resolving the issue, but he would do all he could to speed things up.
It took 5 weeks to 'get it right' and another 2 weeks to arrive with me. This time the cover was perfect, and I signed the book off for release.
Because of this my release date was the 16th December 2008. I had missed the Christmas opportunity, and was disappointed about that.
I was invited to place an order for my 'Author Copies' and I did so. I could barely wait until my precious box of books arrived.
As soon as they did arrive, I arranged for my first 'Book Signing' event. At last I was an 'Author'.
I will tell you about the 'event' on my next blog.
In the meantime, as promised, here is another short excerpt from my book.
The Circus Ponies Visit the Fair:
William the fairground car and his friends thought today would be a quiet day, after all the excitement the clowns and elephants gave them during their visits to the fairground.
Tom arrived to take off their covers, and he had a secret. Tom was smiling and he whispered to them that today would also be very exciting. He would not tell them yet what was going to happen, so William and his friends started playing a guessing game.
William guessed that maybe the President was going to visit them. Jake thought that would not happen, so maybe all their favourite children would be there today.
Joanne the pony said that would not be possible, so they would have to wait until Tom told them.
They all agreed that they would wait until they were told, but they were very excited.
Please visit me again soon, and feel free to 'Share' this blog with your friends and contacts.
Irene.
