We are short staffed which always causes problems.
Plus we are renovating (at work), we have been training staff, and interviewing for new team members.
So bottom line long days!
Hopefully, things will be more back to normal next week.
Thankfully, I have some time off over the weekend, which is good because we have visitors. My sister-in-law, her husband and children are down from Queensland.
I want to thank all of you who congratulated me about my news in my last post.
Christy Pinheiro of The Publishing Maven also reminded me of needing to get going with my first steps towards marketing. Namely, a website and (she suggests) a blog dedicated to promoting the book).
I am not quite ready to begin a new blog, but I have begun thinking about a website. In fact I have begun mocking up a design for a web page (this is just a jpeg nothing "works").
What do you think?This is by no means finalised rather it could be seen as a “rough draft.”
The image is dderived from the photo I am using on my cover.
For my final version of a landing page I will no doubt have a welcome of some kind. In the mean time I have used the blurb from my back cover.If you click on the web mock up it should be large enough to read. What do you think of this as a draft blurb?
I have really struggled with this piece of text, I think it is kind of catchy. But I feel it makes the novel sound like a romance. It has some elements of romance, but romance is a minor aspect of what is really an historical thriller.
Finally, I have applied for a Cataloguing-in-Publication (CiP) number from the National Library of Australia (NLA) which I need to put on my copyright page.
Under Oz Law, I will have to provide copies to the State Library of Victoria and the NLA.
12 comments:
I love the webpage design. It looks utterly fab. Make sure you reserve the domain for the book title and for your pen name RIGHT NOW before someone else snaps it up. Sometimes web guys troll the web just to find URLs that they can buy and re-sell back to you at inflated prices.
Eeven if you don't do anything with the URL, make sure you own it.
I think the webpage looks really fantastic. And I love the cover art of the book too.
And I am pretty sure my previous comment did not get recorded - congratulations on officially becoming a publisher. Wiki tells me that the plant grows a couple of inches in a century - hope your publishing house is a lot more prolific!
Hi Christy,
Thank you. I always feel I don't have much of an artistic bent. But then I take a photo I am really happy with, or something like this design works well...
I said you were a slave driver :)
Thanks for the advice, I'll register the ones I need ASAP.
Hi Rayna,
Thank you for your opinion of both!
Blogspot definitely has problems with comments sometimes.
Thank you also for offering your congratulations. I hope that my publishing house is a little more prolific as well. I was thinking more of the plant's ability to endure, rather than their slow life.
I love the design very cool
I really like the graphic and web design! Very "eye" catching! HAHA! I think a blog dedicated to your book and writing is the way to go ... I've seen a lot of author blogs and they are great tools for connecting with your potential readers/audience.
Hi,
I wanted to wish you the best of luck on your business venture. I blogged about squeezing writing time in today and your post has me wondering when you manage to find time to write. Your book cover is gorgeous and I like the first draft of your new website.
Hi Sarah,
Thank you for letting me know, pleased you like it.
Hi Jenners,
Thanks for the opinion. "Eye" catching, yes indeed.
I love the idea of another blog but the time...
Hi DJ,
Thanks! I looked at your post and I know exactly what you mean about no time.
Thanks for the feedback on the cover and draft web-page.
(Al, I must have missed your last post and can't find a way to getting back to it...)
I think this web design is really good - the beuiling eye works here as well. Your 'blurb' is very engaging and doesn't, I think, look romantic. Many thrillers or historical mysteries have relationships at their core.
Blurbs are always staccato and hyper-dramatic so reduce the subtlety and depth that we know is in our story. How about -in a box- including a fragment of the actual story - a bit of dialogue or one of your characters musing on their dilemma??? It need only be five or six lines, in a different typeface to the blurb.
Good luck with this great venture.
wxx
Dear Wendy,
Once again thank you for your praise, and for your wonderful advice.
To have such an accomplished author commenting positively on my efforts is a great thrill.
Thank you
Al
I think it looks great! I love the close up of the blue eye and the blue tabs. Beautifully done.
Hi Amanda,
Thank you. I know from your own blog that you have a great "eye", so I really appreciate the compliment.
Web page looks good. You could just add a "blog" tab onto the main website that will link to that then you won't have to maintain three sites. My only advice on the blurb--where it now reads "As they fight for their existence..." I would change the word "they" to the characters names.
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