In the meantime, was given new hard disk to work on so began clawing back information from emails (still on the server) to try and have some kind of information about the recent titles we're trying to promote... ho hum... needless to say this pathetic attempt at technical wizardry was sabotaged two weeks later when the IT support (if ever a term was so inappropriate) in this building were sacked and the new IT support team (are these guys even human?) decided to give back my new hard drive, erasing all the data I'd so lovingly amassed.
Now weeks behind schedule in attempt to launch next in my brilliant series of novels for teenagers from writers of note in their own countries, but unheard of in celebrity-obsessed, Ipod ears wide shut, property ladder climbing Albion.
(...not averse to some property ladder climbing actually - currently renovating home and living with builders, so no functioning kitchen and dust creeping into places unmentionable at every opportunity but won't bore you with details... )
Emailed our popular New Zealand writer (David Hill see www.bookcouncil.org.nz/writers/hilldavid.html)
who is coming to UK next month as part of his European Book Tour - well, he's off to see his publishers in France (Flammarion) and Slovenia and fitting in a cruise to Scandinavia as well as coming here , so nothing if not varied...
Any of you who'd like to get a signed copy of his new book 'Coming Back' can see him in action at the Lambeth Readers and Writers Festival, South Lambeth Library on 3rd May at 5pm, or you might get a ticket to hear him as one of the key-note speakers of the New Z
ealand Cultural festival at New Zealand House on 3oth June at 11am. This is being organised by London University and is being held on the 17th floor of New Zealand House which is just off Trafalgar Square. Last time I went there, there was an amazing view of the London skyline at night and I got to hold a glass of wine for the High Commissioner while he made a very nice speech... the exciting life we publishers lead...Like all antipodeans, he's hoping the weather here might be warming up, but had to disabuse him of this notion, explaining recent snow, he wrote back confirming that things do come in bigger packages down under:
The crater lake of Mt Ruapehu in the middle of the North Island has been gradullay filling up, and it breached the crater wall last week, sending a layer of mud and snow and water tearing down the nearby river valley. But there's a substantial Early Warning System, and there were no problems. Not like 1953, when a similar layer swept away a railway bridge, and 150 people died when the overnight express went into the river. I wrote a YA novel about it!
So enjoy the snow!
David H
Putting last finishing touches to our catalogue - have to squeeze all our titles into a 40 page colour booklet, as can't afford to spend more than £1.00 per copy on these. Not sure what they are useful for really - they don't seem to lead to book sales. The bookshops file them in the bin, teachers don't have time to read them and the audience generally leave them on their seats at literary events... still they look good on the stand at Book fairs and we've got one coming up next month at Earls Court where you can come and meet us on stand J205... and even deliver your manuscript in person.... though we don't really have the staff to read the unsolicited pile we have, so it inevitably gets passed to 'readers' - euphemism for volunteers who would like to work in publishing- and if they give it the thumbs up then it may eventually land on my desk...
Then need to send proofs of our next title back to Gill our trusty typesetter in Bath. Hop
e to bring the author over from Greece but as she is elderly and we need some funding for travel expenses, still waiting to hear result of request for assistance from top literary organisation in Athens, where time seems to stand a lot stiller than it does here on the outer rim of the great metropolis.... Hellenic Centre need to go to print with brochure so our proposed book launch won't be included if we don't get a 'yes' soonish and not sure what else we can do to promote book - it's about a teenage girl who gets drawn into drug-taking - maybe contact some drug agencies... ...come to think of it, I did do a stint as a volunteer in the Golbourne Road at one such Health Information project as they are known but main time was spent either handing out free condoms in the market at Ladbroke Grove or going into yoof clubs to try and get the local yoof to talk about their feelings... about their friends... about anything really and then they were handed free cameras to photograph each other and the whole thing was edited together with vox pop sound track and displayed in one of said yoof clubs for young people to invite their families and friends along... a great success really, looking back on it and even more satisfying for being totally unpaid... good for the soul as they say...
have to do some real work now, so signing off until next week...
potted (or simply potty) ? bookperson.
PS As Mark Thwaite of READYSTEADYBOOK.COM got me going on this you can check him out on:
http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/WEBSITE/WWW/WEBPAGES/listarticle.php?type=blogarticle
but more of that next time.
www.aurorametro.com
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