Change

Well, big change is taking place in my life. I am leaving Scotland and moving to England. This is for a number of reasons, but mostly it's to be close to my family and to lean on them during the difficult time of being unemployed and still struggling with various health related issues. Writing has taken a backseat while I’ve tried to figure the details of moving etc, but I wanted to update briefly on a few writing related things.

The Marketing has ground to a halt as I’ve done nothing. I also did not hear back from the local newspaper. When I move I will try again with local papers down there and try to think of other things I can do. I stand by my comments about marketing and how I’ll keep trying in the hope that in time I’m able to get the exposure that allows me to find the people who will enjoy the Book of Prophecy.

I have had some lovely feedback from people I know who have read it since it was published and this is encouraging. I have also had three reviews on Amazon and I’m very thankful for those who have taken the time to leave feedback.

As for actually writing I have nearly finished a novella version of my Frankenstein story. Once it’s done the next main project will be a very different avenue of writing. I have decided to start writing a blog about some of the Mental and Physical health struggles I have. I will still continue trying to promote the Book of Prophecy and writing other fictional stories, but it feels like a change in writing will be good. I’m writing this new blog in the hope others may benefit from the experiences I’ve had and to continue the important growth of awareness that is taken place in our society. Then again maybe the blog will not help anyone in anyway, but I’m going to give it a go. This will be the priority but I have the sequel of the Book of Prophecy waiting for me to go through so I’ll dabble in this as well. There’s a lot to do but I’m trying to juggle it all as best I can. I’ll update this again when there’s news or anything significant to share that relates to my journey of writing stories.

Marketing: A Numbers Game?

The theory is that if you have something for sale i.e a book (imagine that) which has had the seal of approval from honest friends and family, been enjoyed by a few people who have no connections to you, and has had investment by those who have a high skill set in the field of whatever product is being sold, then really making sales is a numbers game, right? When I say numbers game this is what I mean: the art of getting the item for sale to be seen by as many people as possible, because amongst all those people there will be those who enjoy it. Funnily enough this is the point I’m at with my book, and obviously why I am writing about it. The question is, how to you gain sufficient exposure to find those people who will like my book?

Well, that would be marketing... ‘sigh.’ I both love and hate marketing. I think marketing can be fun, as it’s another way to be creative, but I also hate it as being an introvert those initial steps of selling yourself and the product are very difficult. I have thought about door to door sales with the book, as I think it could be pretty productive, but due to nearly giving myself a panic attack when I was about to try this I’ve had to come up with a happy medium. So thanks to the help of my good friend Vix I had some posters designed and printed; I’m no good with computer type stuff but having a friend to help to make a poster was awesome, so thank you Vix.

 

The posters were printed yesterday and I put some at the University where I studied and still have friends. Then today I asked a number shops in Stirling’s town center if they would allow me to put one in their windows. A huge thank you to all the shops that did, your support is immensely appreciated. Obviously, some of the shops I picked intentionally as they relate to the target audience of those who like reading and enjoy a fantasy story, but having posters in as many places as I can sticks to the theory this blog update addressed at the start.

I also went into the local newspaper’s offices, the Stirling Observer, to hopefully rely on their kindness and support once again. I left them a copy and my details so I’m hoping they do a review.

Now that I’ve done some marketing it is time to see if the above theory plays out or not. So I guess I’ll keep an eye on sales. If you are reading this because of the posters then thank you for taking the time to see if my story the Book of Prophecy might be something you would like to read. I hope it is and if you haven’t done so feel free to read the first three chapters via the Amazon link on my website and then clicking ‘look inside.’ If you do buy it I hope you enjoy the story and thank you very very much.

I guess the next update will probably be how well putting up posters did, and if it didn’t help what I will try next to help people know the Book of Prophecy exists for their reading delight.   

Happy Book Birthday To Me

Today is the day!! The Book of Prophecy is for sale and published. I can’t express how wonderful it is to be able to write that. It’s been a long journey, but I'm so thankful to all those who have supported me a long the way. I should have paperback copies on Monday and I cannot wait to hold a copy in my hands. To take a look at the book or buy it you can follow the link below. 

UK Amazon

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Book-Prophecy-Steven-J-Guscott-ebook/dp/B00MNUE4OS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1407927487&sr=8-1&keywords=steven+j+guscott

US Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/The-Book-Prophecy-Steven-Guscott/dp/1909845450/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1408201438&sr=8-1&keywords=steven+j+guscott

Permission Granted

As the titles suggests there has been some good news. Frank Herbert's estate has given permission for my book to have the Dune quote at the front! Words cannot express how super special awesome this is to me so as you can imagine I'm very happy we are able to use it. A big thank you to those involved and for the estate letting us use the quote.
  I'm also very happy because I've just given the Book of Prophecy one last read through. It's looking wonderful and it can't be too long now before everything is sorted and this book is given tangible life.  

Patience!

Well, it's looking likely that today is not the day of publication :( There's still five hours left...maybe it will happen, but it's not looking likely. It's okay though!!! :D I'm always a fan of opportunities to see if I've learned something from my life, and I think I can be proud of myself for being relatively sound minded with having to wait.
  So, what's going on you ask. Well, as always things just happen, but to put it blunt, the book just wasn't up to the standard it should have been. Ultimately, that's my fault, and I really need to up my game with the technical side of my writing. The minor mistakes have now been corrected so I believe we're almost there. There was also an issue with the Blurb and me being an idiot as to which it should be, but thankfully I was proved wrong. Another issue was the wrongly titled prologue (actually a preface) needed improving and after some debate a quote from my favourite book, Frank Herbert's, Dune, actually worked really well to replace the weak preface I had written. So, we're currently waiting to hear back from Frank Herbert's estate if we have permission to use it.
  And that's where we're at with it all. Not ideal, but I'm a believer in order out of chaos (a phrase I didn't know was actually coined by the Masons until recently), and, positives often come from negatives. As always, only time will tell how things turn out, but when the Book of Prophecy does get published in the next few days or so I will be a very very happy person. I just can't wait to share it with everyone!

Twelve Days and Counting

Yep, only twelve days!!! I really thought I would have more news about what's going on, but I don't. That's mainly because I've decided to sit back and watch things unfold until the book is actually out. Once that happens I'll jump into action and hopefully have more to report. I'll update as things unfold, but until then it's kick back and let the publishers do their thing.  

Call me paranoid, but...

About three months ago I got bored and decided to pitch my story, Empiphany, to American agents. I expected rejections on every front, and wasn't disappointed. However, this email came through this morning, and fed the paranoia that almost all who have created something would have when reading it... 'THEY'RE GOING TO STEAL MY IDEAS!!!' (They're not really, well, maybe a one percent chance they are, but I can't help but worry a little).

Here's the email.

'Dear Stephen,

Thank you so much for sending us your query and especially for your patience in waiting for a resoponse. I'm happy to say that I enjoyed reading your first few pages and see a lot of potential in your writing and style. I found however, that your descriptions lack a certain touch of detail that prevented me from connecting or envisioning the sorroundings and connecting with Blair. The story also has aspects that are too similar to another project I'm currently pitching, and so I'm going to have to pass on further consideration. I wish you the best of luck and look forward to the opportunity to read more of your work in the future.

Regards,
Marisa

Marisa Corvisiero
Literary Agent
Corvisiero Literary Agency'

I know I'm over reacting, as of course someone else in the would could have had the same or very similar ideas as me, I'm not that unique, and why would the agent bother to reply if they were stealing my ideas, but there's a part of me that will always get irrationally protective of my work. When you spend thousands of hours on something you can't help but be a little paranoid at times like these.

Ultimately, there's no way of knowing what the circumstance are around this situation, and I'll just have to forget about it. However, I wanted to do a little blog about this just for the fun of it as it's another experience on the journey.