Success? On the magazine article front.

A while back I submitted an article to Latitudes and Attitudes, a California based sailing magazine. Today I had an email asking for more photos as the article was just a bit on the short side (3500 words) for a full-length feature.

The editors wish was my command and 14 photos of assorted whales, dolphins, palm-fringed beach anchorages and impossibly beautiful Pacific sunsets have been sent. Not often a writer gets told an article was a bit too short!Sounds promising though.

As always you'll be the first to hear of any successful outcome. Oh, here is one such impossibly beautiful sunset.

Mid August e book

The final 'quality check' is being done on the manuscript. The publisher has emailed me and said that they'll pull a couple of random chapters and proof read. Provided nothing 'comes up' then 'we are good for publishing mid-August Houston'. The actual comment was that manuscripts from the Gilbert Literary Agency are usually ready for publication, so well done Emma the Agent!

Getting just a bit exited now because mid-August isn't that far away! I'll start my marketing campaign right now :)

If you buy the book from Vamptasy then I make more out of it than if you buy from Amazon. As far as I'm aware you can buy from them in a suitable format for most readers (Ipad, Kindle et al), but however you choose to buy, please do just that! I'm told that one advantage in buying from Amazon is that you get a preview of the book for free, but why not check out the free preview if that is the case, then buy from www.vamptasypublishing.co.uk/

...In the meantime work on the follow-on book continues and I would think should be finished in three or four months.

Signed, sealed and almost delivered.

The signed contract has now been returned (hurrah!) and the book should be out in August. I've given final approval for the book cover, which is the one you've all seen earlier, but without the 'stock photo' imprint.

Now I apologise in advance, but once the book is available I'm going to be marketing as hard as I can (as will the publishers). This will include a lot of social networking activity and whilst I won't be passing out others email addresses willy nilly, without looking at the sites suggested by Emma the Agent I suppose there must be the off-chance that somehow or other my address book gets accessed.

 I will do my best to avoid this happening!

Where does the time go?

Not a lot to report on the book front I'm afraid, although I have sent a 'howgozit?' email to Emma the Agent. I've managed to get some work done on the follow-on book, revising all that's been written so far, doing some additional research and writing the last chapter! I know where the story is going and what happens along the way, so all I have to do now is join up the dots!

Writing this book has/is different from the others in that I conceptualized it as a series of essentially independent short stories which occasionally refer to each other, woven into one continuous narrative. Do I hear you say, 'yes Peter, we call those chapters'. Not quite, think of it as a series of stand-alone episodes or an 'Arabian Nights' set up, where a central character tells a series of independent but linked stories.

Anyway, on the boat front things are progressing slowly. This last week was spent in deep cleaning the inside of one hull and I expect that there's another two weeks work to finish the boat off. I'll be trying to spruce up the woodwork whilst mentally remodeling the interior of the boat and writing a chapter or two as I apply the linseed oil. Very therapeutic!

All systems go?

I've signed the contract and I believe Emma the Agent has as well, so just waiting for the publisher. I've seen a new proposal for the front cover, which both Emma and I like so that's pretty much settled, and I've sent a short 'bio' and an even shorted 'dedication' for the book.

/www.vamptasypublishing.co.uk/


So now we wait. I'm hoping that the book will be coming out this week. If I understand correctly it will be possible to download the book directly from the publisher in pdf format which a Kindle reader automatically converts. At least, that's what I thought I understood from the publishers website.
Now for yet another Sunday Lunch. I'm really not too sure where this last week has gone. Oh yes, work on a follow-on book is progressing reasonably well. I've edited what was already written and researched a few more ideas so the story is reasonably clear in my mind.
I've not heard anything from Latitudes & Attitudes magazine yet, but early days. The Guernsey Press ran an article on me that was basically lifted from my blog, http://blog.mailasil.com/troutbridge but unfortunately they didn't get it quite right. They have promised to print a follow-up article on August 2nd, with corrections. We'll see!

Exciting stuff!

I now have a slightly amended contract following a couple of questions I put to Emma the Agent. I've also seen a proposed mock-up of the front cover, which both Emma and I felt was a lacking a certain 'je ne sais quoi', so a counter-suggestion has been made.
Timescale? I should email the signed/scanned contract within the next twenty four hours, so presumably by the middle of the week it will have been counter-signed by all other parties. I think the book will be available fairly shortly after that in e format and if 'things' are encouraging in paper form two months after that.
Today really will be 'Roast Beef on Sunday'. The weekday chef at the Marina Restaurant has been persuaded to work Sundays to produce an 'English Sunday Lunch'. He was a cook in the British Army for eight years so he can 'do the biz'. Probably won't be as good as mine of course (NO comments from any ex-crew required, thank you), but sadly it will be a while before I'm cooking on Troutbridge (unless of course about thirty thousand of you decide to buy the book, in which case I might be in Australia by Christmas.....just kidding....no I'm not, buy it, you'll love it!)
Hey Ho, back to the magazine article, which I've provisionally titled 'The cost of a long blink'. Blinking high, is the answer to that!

I have a contract!

Great news, this morning Emma the Agent emailed a contract, so todays 'boat jobs' will be primarily printing off a copy, signing it, scanning it and emailing it back. Then I guess I'd better post off a hard copy.
The book will be initially published in e format, and available in Kindle/Ipad & pdf formats. If all goes well, some two months after that it will be available in 'paper format' and will be carried by Amazon and other major retailers.
Right, so now this weekend I need to finish the article I am aiming at a couple of sailing magazines then review what I've written so far of the follow-on book, which Emma feels the publisher would also like to carry.
Other works will be easier to sell once I have some sort of track record. Good news indeed, but no champers just yet, there's a lot of books to sell before my home is afloat again and I can continue my adventures in the Pacific. Hopefully, I've already experienced all the really exciting adventures and I'll be able to enjoy peaceful sun-downers with convivial company in quiet anchorages.
The publishers web site is being upgraded right now, but the address is:
http://www.vamptasypublishing.co.uk/

Thanks doesn't begin to cover it.

Carolyn & Andy are off early tomorrow morning, so we had a farewell lunch/beer and they dropped me off back at Rose & Vince's, nobody likes protracted goodbyes. All I can say is that a lot of 'boat jobs' have got done over the last two weeks that most likely wouldn't have been done and the boost to my morale has been immense.
So, today was spent mainly collecting my Mac from the Apple dealer then returning it when I found the the 'o' & '9' keys didn't work. I have to go back tomorrow to pick it up, by a combination of 'shanks' pony' and taxi rather than hire car!
Tomorrow then is Apple day and 'drop off the davit for repair' day. That will probably do it, but I'll most likely remove if not clean the headlining in my cabin.
Now pay attention, although I'm certain that I'll be saying this more than once in the not too distant future. I'm pretty damn certain that I'm going to have to find gainful employment, doing something somewhere in the World.
Flying is out because it would take too long/cost too much to reactivate my medical and licence then find a job (:
Standing under a lampost is out because at 6p a go it would take forever to raise what I think I'm going to need :)
Anything else would be considered anywhere where I can legally work. Apart from the obvious menial jobs I reckon I can turn my hand to pretty much anything, maybe something in the writing line?
Anybody got any ideas/jobs? Please contact me at either email address



Fiji: +679 9212518
http://www.blog.mailasail.com/troutbridge