Editing my trousers to the bone . . .

Work proceeds apace to bring out a print edition of 'Take The Star Road'.  It should be available by mid-June, all being well.  I'm being helped very much by Grace Bridges, an online correspondent and friend of long standing.  She's the owner of Splashdown Books in New Zealand, a small independent press.  She's helping with the preparation of the .PDF file for the print version, as she's used to preparing manuscripts for publication in that way, which is saving me a lot of time and effort.  I'm using the time she's freed up for me to continue editing and preparing Book 2 of the series, which will be out in mid-July, hopefully in simultaneous print and e-book editions.

Readers may not realize just how much effort goes into preparing a book for publication (at least, if you're doing it all yourself).  You've got to liaise with alpha and beta readers, and incorporate their feedback into revised editions of the book;  edit very critically and very carefully to catch mistakes;  format the book for different forms of output;  make arrangements for cover art and design, interior layout, etc.;  and so on.  I've been running pretty much non-stop since the beginning of April to get TTSR ready for publication in mid-May, and thereafter trying to get the print version ready and prepare the second book.  I don't think I'll have time to relax in the short term, because as soon as all that's finished it's on to Book 3, which I hope to have out by mid-November.  (That may be a bit optimistic, but I'll try!)  Miss D. is being very helpful and supportive, particularly as an alpha reader and demanding critic.  She doesn't let me get away with waffle or slackness, which is an excellent thing!

Thank you again, dear readers, for all your support with Book 1.  It was launched in the afternoon of May 14th, and over the remainder of that month, it sold well over a thousand copies.  Sales volume isn't declining, either;  it's on a steady upward trend, and its reviews on Amazon are generally very pleasing.  I could never have achieved results like that without your help and support, and I'll always be grateful to you for giving me such a lovely start to my fiction career!  I hope Book 2 will be an even better read, and an even better performer in terms of sales.

I apologize for fewer blog posts than usual - but I'm sure you understand that I'm working so hard on the books that the blog has to take a back burner for a short while.  I'll try to get back to normal as soon as I can!

Peter