Want to Appear in This Glossy Magazine? (Podcast)

Not only could some of you appear in this magazine, there's SO much more exciting stuff that has happened and been arranged for you. I told you I was up to something - conspiring behind your backs to make great things happen for you - well here's the first part of that. It's AWESOME!

Listen to the podcast above for the AMAZING news about what has happened to me, and what I have negotiated for you as a consequence. I said I would find a way to pay you back for all your support, and I have. This is the biggest ever opportunity for the Word Nerd Army to show their stuff. Leave loads of comments! 

• How much would you be comfortable to pay for an annual subscription? 
• What about a digital version? What device do you use, what country are you from, and what do you think would be a good price?
• What kind of content do you want? 
• What questions do you need answered?
• What excites you about the idea of a regular self-publishing magazine?
• Of course, as I'll have a column in the magazine, I'll be looking for people to interview. Why should you be featured in Publish Now! ?

Leave your answers in the comments section, and please ask everyone in your own blog communities, and on Twitter and Facebook, to come here and leave their own comments. The more interest there is, and the more magazines are sold from this blog, the more likely you'll get the magazine you really want, at last.

bit.ly/publishnow

Want to Appear in This Glossy Magazine? (Podcast)

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Free Books for Beta Readers

Would you Like to Beta Test a Novel?

It is still possible that my novel could be out by the deadline I set myself last year - the end of September. It would be great to launch the book on 18th September but funds are still a little too low to go ahead. As many of you know, doctors discovered my father had an aneurysm a couple of months back and that has thrown many of my plans out of the window but I am a writer, and I've been told - often - that writers write. They also publish on occasion. Dad has made it clear that I'm not allowed to shelve my dreams of publication just because of a bit of medical drama so I won't. Somehow, I'll get this book out this year. It would be amazing if I could do that by the end of next month.

While I scurry around looking for things I might be able to sell to make up the rest of the budget, it would be great to get a little Beta Team of word nerds together to read my book on different devices. With the budget being as tight as it is, I may be forced to abandon the idea of a physical book for now (cost of buying and sending ISBN'd copies to all the relevant libraries is just too much) and focus on ebooks. If that goes well, it will fund the physical book launch. Seems like a sound business decision.

So - what's your device? I plan to focus on Kindle as the Kindle App can be used on iPad, iPhone etc too, but I also want to release a Sony Reader version. I have no plans for DRM, and it may be possible for me to release on all kinds of devices, but the Amazon contract could make things a litttle tricky so I'll only promise Kindle for now, then anything else will be a bonus. In any case, let me know your device. To improve your chances of being picked to receive a free book you need to be:

• a fast reader
• a book junkie
• prepared to keep your mouth shut about the plot until the book is launched
• respectful of my copyright
• a reader of e-books
• prepared to send me an email of your thoughts on the book
• interested in reading English English (I would love it if most of my books were bought by Americans, but I want them to be read in the English of England rather than American English. I've noticed so many publishers produce American versions of English books, and I think that cheats Americans out of a great experience. I love reading books from America in American English, and I hope I can tempt Americans to read some modern books from England written in English English - the term 'British English' is misleading by the way. It annoys Scottish people. I don't like to annoy Scottish people.) 

Leave your details below, or contact me through the contact form. Here's the book trailer:

Good luck!


If you want to help raise funds so I can release the book by the deadline, that would be very kind. Don't give more than you can afford. It all adds up:

Thanks for helping to prove that the pen is mightier than the pin-up.


Rebecca

Free Books for Beta Readers

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The Smiley Face of Publication - Update

This is what I raised. Thanks guys. 

Thanks so much to everyone who took part in my funding project over the last couple of weeks. It wasn't quite enough to get me to my target - but I'm very near it now. If you didn't help, but would like to, go along to http://bit.ly/writersandreaders - every penny helps get me closer to publication.

As I didn't quite reach my target, it throws off my timing again. I may also have to reconsider what I had planned to offer. My first run of books will need to fund any further publication, so I may just release an e-book to Kindle first time around. That way, I can monitor demand for other formats and launch those that make the most sense. It seems the most intelligent approach. I may even release only on Kindle, but run competitions where I release only 5 or 10 in another format. There's stacks of different ways to approach it. The better funded I am, the more options I have. The first book is where all the set up fees go. Once this book is out in the world, it's plain sailing for books two, three and four.


Rebecca

The Smiley Face of Publication - Update

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In the Agent's Office, Nobody Can Hear You Scream.

For me, it won't be the agent's office because I don't want to be published by someone else. What's an agent going to do? Negotiate with me on my own behalf? Wouldn't work. Publishers are still approaching by the way, and very confused when I turn them down. Increasingly, with tech nightmares and so forth, I think I'm an idiot to try to do this alone, but I'm going to and that's all there is to it.


Anyway, leaving my own situation aside for a second, regardless of your route to publication, there will be a day when nobody can hold your hand. Maybe it's the first time you receive a rejection. Nobody is in the house. It's just you and the agent/editor/publisher's sub-sub-sub-sub assistant. How do you handle that? Let's, for fun, imagine the electricity has gone out and your phone doesn't work. You can't access any of us. You're on your own. How do you cope when you don't have back-up?


My scenario's easy to work out. I've put myself in a trickier than necessary situation because I so want to publish myself, but for you it might be the opposite. Maybe you struck a deal with an agent, who struck a deal with a publisher. Maybe wine was quaffed and plans were made. Maybe, now, the publisher can't live up to their end of the deal due to the climate. Maybe they're not returning your calls, or you're being handed around to different editors. Maybe the new editor doesn't feel the same way about your work. You're going through the motions. The buzz has buzzed off. Maybe you need to put yourself into a difficult situation. Maybe you need to leave. When you have to make a tough choice, that may not make immediate sense to others, it's only you and yourself who can decide. When you're all alone, with only yourself for back-up, what do you do?

In the Agent's Office, Nobody Can Hear You Scream.

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