I am so pleased to be back in my blog, and doing the update which is long overdue.
I am also pleased you are here with me. I hope you are finding it interesting.
If you are (or not) please leave a comment - be the first to do so, I value your opinions very much.
More now on my journey to publication.
I was invited by the Agency to go for a marketing system they called 'Aggressive Agent Program'
This was again stacking up the costs, but I knew I had no choice.
The idea was that an agent was appointed to market my manuscript.
Do research into who was publishing my type of work.
Send them the manuscript with a covering letter, pointing out the merits of what they were seeing.
They then followed up by both letter and telephone, to try to get the publishers to accept my work.
The first few they tried made comments like ' good work but not for us at the moment'.
I was told this was 'normal' with publishers.
However it was not too long before Strategic Publishing came in and asked them to get me to contact them directly, as they wanted information about me.
I was delighted to do so, and was pleased that they liked my manuscript.
It was decided that one of the publishers within their group would take my work.
A contract was sent to me - Wow was I thrilled!
Then came my first 'problem'
They needed me to sign a paper to confirm that the illustrations I had used were free from any copyright.
In my ignorance I had downloaded these from 'Clipart', and did not know if I would be able to publish them or not.
I went into their site, and found they were all subject to copyright, but I could perhaps purchase a licence to use images.
I wrote to them to ask. They did not reply.
I wrote again. They again did not reply. I then gave up on them, and decided to organise my own illustrations, to which I would hold the copyright.
I found an artist, local to where I live on the Island.
His name is I.E. du Toit, and he is brilliant.
I gave him prints of my stories, and we discussed what I wanted for each page, as well as the cost.
He started to make line drawings and visited me every day for approval.
He then started to paint in full color.
He worked very hard for seven weeks, and at the end we had 105 brilliant illustrations, which I loved. They really did enhance my stories.
Having an artist produce the illustrations was expensive, but I believe it was worth it.
The publisher was very patient, and was happy to wait while this process was completed.
The illustrator signed the copyright of the illustrations over to me, so I had no further problems on this matter.
We went through the process of preparation with various sections of the publishers organisation.
Finally - They were ready to send me a 'Proof copy' of my book.
I could hardly wait - I found the prospect of seeing 'MY BOOK' in print very exciting.
I am sure all authors will concur with me on that feeling.
I will tell you about 'what happened next' on my next blog. I hope you will join me.
In the meantime I offer another excerpt from my book. I do hope you enjoy reading it.
William Meets the Ride Next Door
William the fairground car and his friends on the merry-go-round were very interested in the new helter-skelter next door that was now working, as William and his friends wanted to see how the children would ride on it.
Some of the children took a small mat from the pile at the bottom of some winding steps, and started to climb up to the top.
They put the mat on the top of the slide and sat on it.
Soon they were whizzing down the slide and bumped to a stop at the bottom.
Some of the children looked a little bit scared, but lots of them were laughing as they ran back to their moms and dads.
Elle and Aaron were back at the fair again today and they thought it looked like fun.
They were soon climbing the steps, with a girl named Vikki, who also thought she would enjoy the slide.
At the top Aaron was not very sure, as it was quite high.
Elle sat him in front of her, and held him around the waist, so they came down the slide together.
They were both laughing and having a good time.
