An Unexpected Tribute!

Delight can be infrequent in these troubled times, so Stuart Aken was both surprised and, yes, delighted, when he received a notice from his publisher, Fantastic Books Publishing, the other day. Attached was a link to a video produced by a professional in the TV industry. Ramon Marett from Adiq had wanted to try his hand at a book promotion video and decided to use Aken’s ‘Generation Mars’ series for the project.

The author posted it on his website, and you can see the result via this link.

Videos are a popular source of information for many potential readers, so he’s spread this one everywhere he can to get maximum benefit. He says it’s also had the effect of galvanising him into trying something similar for his other books! Watch this space.

Another manuscript on its way

Every author living knows that sinking feeling. The publisher / editor / agent says, ‘It’s very good but could you just change...’ The words that follow range from ‘beginning, middle and end’ to ‘a few words’.

In my case, it was the agent. The beginning and end were fine, but could I change the middle? Oh, and cut it down a bit. Of course, no problem. Edits don’t faze me these days. Please cut it by...

30,000 words! I know people who write whole books that have fewer than 30,000 words in them from start to finish. Deep breath. These guys know what they’re talking about, don’t they? Click the heels, smart salute. ‘Thirty thousand words? No problem. Consider it done.’

And it is. Done, dusted and shrunk. And off it’s gone into the stormy waters of 21st century publishing to look for a 21st century publisher.