The British Railway Stories - eBooks on Kindle, iBooks, Kobo

[S.A.C Martin]

Some more cropped pieces today - centring on some shots of Copley Hill:

 

 

 

 

 

Any feedback in any form appreciated gents.

[Coldgunner]

Like I said on FB, I like the change of palette Dean has done. Have you based the workmen on anyone you know perchance?

[IanLister]

As someonewho spent much of his childhood on the cinder path overlooking Copley Hill, I'm really impressed with all of this. In particular,aside from the quality of the work, I love the fact that your subject is based around a typical working shed in an industrial northern city. So much of the stuff I see today, produced to and recreate the era of the steam train is too clean, too pure and too romanticised in nature. Stick with Copley Hill, Simon...and good luck with it. As someone who's starting to go down the e-publishing route myself, I'm sure you're heading in the right direction.

 

Ian

[IanLister]

Hi

At the opposite side of the running lines from the shed was a slope up, with a cinder path running along it. It gave a very good view across the mainline and into the shed area; a good angle for one of your pics. Incidentally, if you turned round you could look down the other way into a big Midland region marshalling yard...ex L and Y I believe. Nowhere near as interesting, of course........

Ian

[S.A.C Martin]

Ian, thank you so much for agreeing to look these over. I think we do have a piece as you described, overlooking the sheds in that way, but I will go back and check with Dean.

[S.A.C Martin]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doPNwjMJ4Pw

[Ian J.]

Nice teaser

 

In answer to a previous poster's slightly old question, yes there is VAT on e-Books, only paper books have no VAT.

[S.A.C Martin]

Thanks very much Ian

 

It'll be released around March 15th I believe.

[S.A.C Martin]

The release of the eBook has been delayed due to the vast swathes of paperwork I and my account manager have had to complete, in and around my day to day job. However it has given Dean and I some time to work on a logo, which I have just had approved for use on the Kindle version of the iBook. I intend to make this the main logo for the books.

 

 

The totem will come in different coloured variants depending on the region the stories are based on.

 

The logo is based on a never-used British Railways logo from 1948 and has been designed to suit the needs of the book whilst still having that link back to real history.

 

The series has not had a logo up until now, and I hope that this will mark a more recognisable "brand" per-say in years to come.

 

Any criticism, as always, very welcome.

[skipepsi]

Are you going to put TBRS under the lion?

[S.A.C Martin]

Are you going to put TBRS under the lion?

 

Yes, but it's been left blank for the moment as there will be a The British Railway Stories and The British Railway Series versions for the books and Youtube videos respectively.

 

Just had the last draft of the iBooks version emailed to me - lots of edits still to make, so not quite the "last" edit as I had intended!

[S.A.C Martin]

Final logo design which has been approved by Amazon for marketing.

 

I am actively looking into doing the physical prints still, but for the moment it will be on the Kindle in April (due to the paperwork issues), then iBooks later in the year, and I am looking at a variety of other platforms as well as dabbling in an audiobook for iTunes.

 

So we're onto the final straight before entering Gasworks tunnel, looking to get into King's Cross and the promised land of self publishing thereafter.

 

[S.A.C Martin]

Finally finished the paperwork, artwork is having a final going over, as is the text. Provisional release date is the 23rd April

 

Going to be such a relief when it's released!

 

If anyone is at the London Book Fair next week, on the Monday, I will be wandering about somewhere, feel free to come up and say hallo. I'll even have some promotional postcards to distribute!

[Stubby47]

Best of luck with the launch !!

 

Will copies be available mail order ? D'oh!

 

Will they be available as a pdf download ?

[S.A.C Martin]

Best of luck with the launch !!

 

Will copies be available mail order ? D'oh!

 

Will they be available as a pdf download ?

 

Thanks Stubby

 

Not until at least 90 days after release on Amazon. I will endeavour to make a PDF version available for a nominal fee thereafter. The content differs from Amazon, to iBooks, to the other E versions I am working on, in terms of the "add ons" available.

 

If I make enough money this year to cover the costs of the artwork, then I'll do a limited print run for anyone inclined.

[S.A.C Martin]

 

Possibly the "final" front cover before it's locked down for Amazon. Any criticism happily and gratefully accepted.

[Kris]

I would be inclined to have the "brighter images at the top rather than the bottom. It will give a more positive image.

[cary hill]

Purely a personal view, but the images don't quite "hang together" for me, as I find the differing styles of illustration clash with another, whereas I think the illustrations should compliment one another.

 

A possible parallel to my mind might be the box illustration of a multi-scene jigsaw puzzle and I think the artwork here should have a similar coherence.

 

I might be a bit "old school" on this

[Stubby47]

The top right picture is more cluttered than the rest - another loco, pointing to the left, might be a better option.

 

Stu

[laurenceb]

The top right picture is more cluttered than the rest - another loco, pointing to the left, might be a better option.

 

Stu

Agreed the image does not fit with the rest.

Laurence

[S.A.C Martin]

Thanks chaps, much appreciated for the feedback. My account manager put it together and I had mixed feelings too. Apparently it still needs to be a "compilation" of sorts, so I am going to have a go myself this afternoon.

 

Once again, many thanks.

[Stubby47]

Also, being hyper-critical, the logo in the middle doesn't look 'clean' - the flange around the wheel appears to 'wobble' and the left hand end of the sausage is not quite semi-circular.

 

I accept this is a hand-drawn image, and these slight points are not as obvious in the larger version on post #88, but they just seem to distract slightly.

 

Sorry

 

Stu

[Ian J.]

I think the logo is intentionally slightly wobbly, to give the appearance of being hand drawn so that it can be more readily identified with by children?

 

By the way, Simon, how was the London Book Fair today? I haven't been this year or last as my novels just haven't caught on, but back in 2010 everything was a bit quiet due to the Icelandic volcano spewing its ash into the sky.

[ess1uk]

Best of luck with this.

Looks like your hard work is beginning the pay off.

[S.A.C Martin]

Also, being hyper-critical, the logo in the middle doesn't look 'clean' - the flange around the wheel appears to 'wobble' and the left hand end of the sausage is not quite semi-circular.

 

I accept this is a hand-drawn image, and these slight points are not as obvious in the larger version on post #88, but they just seem to distract slightly.

 

Sorry

 

Stu

 

Hi Stu,

 

I didn't want the image to be perfect as, though hand drawn, it is entirely digital and technically could be "perfect" - I didn't want a perfect image in this particular respect. I hope - may be wrong - that the hand drawn nature of all of the drawings gives them "character".

 

I think the logo is intentionally slightly wobbly, to give the appearance of being hand drawn so that it can be more readily identified with by children?

 

^This.

 

By the way, Simon, how was the London Book Fair today? I haven't been this year or last as my novels just haven't caught on, but back in 2010 everything was a bit quiet due to the Icelandic volcano spewing its ash into the sky.

 

I thoroughly enjoyed myself, learned a great deal, and there were very many helpful and lovely individuals there to guide me on my way.

 

The problem with the London Book Fair is that it's a trade fair. Okay, let me rephrase that. The problem - for me - is that it's a trade fair. It's not for individuals to go round and try to ply their trade, sell their books, and so on and so forth. Therefore anyone turning up and expecting to find an agent or a publisher is laughable. You just don't it, it's madness.

 

So why was I there? I turned up simply on the off chance, to try and learn a bit more about the book world in general. The trends in eBooks, what publishers and booksellers are looking at and developing, and what perhaps I have missed with the development of my own "brand", so to speak.

 

What I came away with was both very enlightening, and worrying in the same breath. The following is just how I feel - personally - and if I've missed the point or got something wrong, tell me please.

 

As far as I can make out, none of the big publishing houses take on unsolicited work anymore. This much I already knew to some extent, but for the uninitiated, it basically means that if you don't have an agent, you can't get far with publishing your work, unless you go down the self-publishing route.

 

What was even more apparent was that agents simply don't want to know. I spoke to a few agents there and was rather taken aback at the dismissive nature being portrayed. "If it doesn't interest me, I won't take it on", "if it doesn't offer anything never been seen before, I won't take it on", or, the absolute winner of the day, "I don't take anyone on, it's a waste of my time reading new scripts. I have all the authors I need to keep going and there's not really any decent young talent coming though".

 

Now this was just aimed at the Children's Publishing I was researching. I was rendered utterly speechless by this when I heard similar things in other sections of the book fair. I was later told, on the quiet, by an employee of one of the big publishing firms there, that this is a more general view held by many agents in general.

 

The biggest publishing firms share it to some extent: all they want are blockbusters, every single time, so aren't interested in taking new people on, but just how much they can flog the current horse until it keels over and stops making them money.

 

Example: New Horowitz book (Alex Rider author), Oblivion. Front cover looks good, not much else known about it my end. What I came away with was that between it, and The Hobbit, they were grabbing a lot of attention and most of the interest.

 

So what about the smaller publishing firms? Well, it's a case of risk management. They can't afford to risk large sums of money they don't have, so print runs are normally smaller and the investment with authors equally small.

 

So with that in mind, you have to either be lucky enough to get an agent, and one passionate about your work, or turn directly to self publishing in some respects. I found one man who did, and I thoroughly recommend going and reading his website, www.gussytheicecreamman.com

 

A really nice chap, Gus, and I thoroughly recommend buying his books. I had a chance to look them over today and they are fabulous. Plus, he's a Gooner which isn't a bad thing in my books (I live with three of them, after all!)

 

Gus is a pathfinder and an inspiration. You only have to see how much thought, effort, blood, sweat and tears had gone into his and his daughter's creation, to understand why. For anyone looking to self publish their own books, look him up please.

 

Back to the rest of the book fair; and to be frank, the UK looked utterly out of place next to the giant section for China and ePublishing. In fact, the UK's publishing houses looked archaic next to the electronic publishing firms and devices on offer, and the frankly sensational stands the Chinese delegates had put on.

 

Where other countries are embracing the eBook and all that goes with it, the UK seems to be slow on the uptake, I was told, by someone from Simon & Schuster, early on. They were one of the few big publishers there who do eBooks quite markedly, but they are (surely?) far behind Amazon and the rest in terms of getting their eBook formats out there.

 

And on that point, eBook formats. My god. I thought it was hard when I was catering for literally two devices; iBooks and Kindle. Thankfully a few chaps from Amazon have offered to help me with the full formatting of my book, so that's not a problem. But the overriding feeling I had was that the sheer number of devices on offer actually made it more difficult for any author looking to self publish to make any return on his book.

 

You really have to launch a book simultaneously across platforms, and it's not always possible with the terms and conditions you sign up to with, for example, the Kindle Direct Publishing program, nor is your book file - lovingly made in Open Office, Word, iBooks Author or whatever, going to necessarily format itself perfectly for each device. I already knew and had been working on, in parallel, two versions of Tale of the Unnamed Engine for the iPad and Kindle, but I don't think I realized just how difficult it is to create all the alternate formats you need if you want it sold elsewhere.

 

And that's half the problem - there's no set standard for eBooks, all of the devices have different strengths and weaknesses - portrait, landscape, colour or grayscale, they take different file types (Mobi, PDF, EPUB, etc etc), and no one device takes exactly the same file in the same format.

 

In short, I can't see how I am going to get the book out on all of these devices without professional help (which I am looking to hire in the next few weeks once I've been paid!)

 

So the conclusion I took away from the book fair was simple. I need to work on Tale of the Unnamed Engine a bit more, and I need help getting it ready for a release across a variety of eBook devices, not one or two. So the 23rd April release is off - 5th May too - and I will endeavor to get the book ready for release, early this summer.

 

This might in all honesty sound like a setback. Actually, it's a much needed wake up call - because the good news for those who have been waiting patiently, is that I am now more likely to be selling a printed copy of the book by the end of the year than I was this morning, particularly because I've now made several really good contacts, and it looks more likely I'll do a print run than not, before August.

 

But I am going to work on the manuscript a bit more to bring it into line with other similar books, and just offer a lot more than I have currently in terms of writing.