Where to next

No sales, no recognition.
Have not been blogging lately, I lost a child. It's tough when you outlive your children.
Enough of the depressing stuff although I have to report that I still have no job after more than one year. The recession is biting and I am the verge of losing my home. My home, my inspiration. My relationship with the woman I love is suffering too.

On a brighter note, I got my manuscript professionally critiqued. I am working to extend it and making a few suggested changes. On the whole I was encouraged by the very comprehensive report I received.

Must go now, got cards to deliver.

Despair

Not a single sale since last November. Poetry launched; I expect that to fail also. Have contacted mainstream agents. The first rejected my work and I suspect never even read it. There is one response outstanding. I hope for a better result, but on past performances that cannot be relied on. I still have no work and my finances are heading for dangerous times. This has put an unbearable strain on my relationship with my partner. Everything is failing around me. I do not know how to get up from this; perhaps I'll just stay here.

Video Link Changed

Here is the new link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7sHn7FyD1Y

This one has not got the obvious spelling mistake.

Something for the recession

Walking back across the green following delivery of my three girls to school, a short poem came to me. This is the way it usually happens for me. From out of nowhere, along comes a phrase that forms the backbone of my poem. Here it is.

Phoenix

Douse flaming fires that lick and scorch my soul
Come waves of fortune crash upon my shore
Leave only ashes let me rise again
And like the Phoenix stronger I will soar

So come you waves and turn a twist of fate
Leave nothing here, relieve me of my pain
Crash down upon the torment wrenching me
So I can love and laugh, reborn again

Look at this!

Hey, look at this. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dxgBhaaGSQ
This is my book on youtube. Will it get any hits? Let us wait and see.

Review

Got the review in Solent Life yesterday. I was much encouraged by it. I now need to see if this results in sales. If it does then maybe I'll have the exercise repeated in another region. Solent Life has several and I only advertised in the central edition.

Still got no job.

Long Time

It's been a long time since I visited my Blog. I'm losing heart Can't get a job and certain persons are not happy with me and I do not know why. Still thats life and I have no choice but to keep going.
I've sent back comments on the galley proof for The View Through My Spectacles. Many problems hoghlighted.
I have made slow progress on the re-write of The Green Wall. I have the Writers and Artists Yearbook and will select a potential agent from there. That will be a long time in the future.
I am expecting a review soon which will be published in a local magazine. I hope it is good. YA Readers have not come up with a revew yet. I don't expect anything soon.
Still, here is a taster of my poetry:

The Beast

From out of nowhere something stirred
It grew in size, the sound I heard
An awful scream, which rose from floor
I’d never seen what here I saw

It’s twists and turns and cries out loud
Were seen and heard from here to cloud
It rose right up and then it spun
I felt the urge, the urge to run

But then it thrashed its thousand tails
And then it wailed a thousand wails
And when all that was well and done
It cried out sorry, sorry mum

And then I saw within its eye
A tear, the beast began to cry
It shook and wailed, its face it hid
To tame the beast I made a bid

My head was in a spin, but clear
It reached to me, I pulled it near
I knelt beside it on the ground
Within the beast my child I’d found

6th. April and all's sorta OK

I have an advert running in a local magazine and that magazine will review my book next month. Will it increase my sales? I'll just have to wait and see. On another note, still no sign of my galley proof yet. I'll write to the publisher today to find out why I have yet to receive it.
I have the children with me today as my partner is working and they are on a school vacation. Lucky me.
I gave a way another copy of my book yesterday, at this rate I'll be going broke because I published a book.
One of the last of my elderly aunts has died, it's a shame, but that whole generation is leaving us and we are replacing them as the elderly family members. However, the sun is still shining, the kids still fighting and I'm not dead yet. Some things provide me with a degree of optimism.

Michael John

More dissapointment

27th. March; still no job and the group of persons who are writers helping writers, upon hearing that I may wish to find an agent, seemed to imply that they would review my work and help me get it to a state where and agent would be interested, all for free. Got the come on and then got asked for £426 to do it. I declined the offer.
On another front, I've still to receive the galley proof for the long awaited 'View Through My Spectacles'. It promises to be good, but who can tell.
I'm going to check the post and have a late bath now.

St. Patrick

Yesterday was St. Patricks day. I remembered my father with a pint or two. Still no job in site and I am running out of money fast. I have approved the design for my advert; it looks really good and I'm tempted to buy the book myself.
No sign of the galley proof for my poetry book. It's all agreed now and I can't wait to see it in the flesh.
Another funny thing happened yesterday. I've googled my book title a few times and found a site in Finland that sells it. However, I found a site in Germany listing it yesterday. All in German of course it provided a short biography of the author, me. Strange but I never knew that I was born in 1954 and educated in Germany resulting in a professorship in sociology. Strange what you can read about yourself and I must say that I am tempted to adopt this new found youth and high qualification.
I will take this as a sign that things will soon get better.

Michael John

A New Day

Well, here we are with a new day. Today I created an advertisement and sent it off to a local magazine with a large circulation, I also enquired with other local magazines, but with no results so far. I was so taken with my advertisement that I printed six copies of it off and then went to the pub for lunch. The young lady in this first pub posted my advert. in a prominent position; I couldn't have asked for more. Encouraged by this I went down the road to another pub. However, the atmosphere was such that I secretly found places, hidden till someone comes along and looks, to place copies. We'll see how that goes.
I've decided that I must do my own marketting. Maybe this was obvious but, I needed to learn and believe it for myself. This I have now done and I am embarked on a marketting campaign, so watch this space.

Michael John

BookEnds, LLC — A Literary Agency: Publishing Advice

BookEnds, LLC — A Literary Agency: Publishing Advice

Progress

Well I've agreed both the cover and the printing blocks for my book of poems. Should be receiving the galley proof in the near future.
On the agent front, no success. As usual, despite my wishes otherwise, my book was only scanned. They cannot seem to understand that scanning and reading bring forth entirely different reactions. There is so much hidden in my book that they just do not see when they scan. Still I asked the question 'Which parts didn,t you like and why?' As I suspected, ask an awkward question and there will ne no answer forthcoming. How am I expected to take my work and get it to the point where professionals will like it if they will not tell me what it is they don't like?

Still, that's all for today.

Getting Worse

Now the agent I approached has rejected my work. 'Unfortunately we do not feel enthusiastic enough about it to take this further.' If I was a celebrity and they could smell cash then it would be different, even if it was a pile of rubbish, which it is not.
Stil, no time to stand around feeling bitter. I have instead mailed another agent with a nice long text to introduce myself. Lets see what response that gets.
On anther note, I have now agreed the cover concept for 'The View through My Spectales'.

Michael John

Confused

My birthday has come and gone, again. I can't get a job and no-one seems to like my work otherwise maybe I would be selling more copies of The Green Wall. I'm confused.
I believe that I have now got the design of the cover for The View through My Spectacles going properly. One guy wanted $1200 to design it, but I am able to get it done for $150. Text blocks have come and I have returned my comments; there are problems. Still some weeks away from publication. I want to get it done before my mother passes away. She is 93 and there is a risk that I will not get it done in time. The next revision of the print blocks will dictate how long this is going to take.
Still no news from the agent I approached, nor the magazine that seemed keen to review my book. No-one, it seems, wants to know me.

Regards .. Michael John

Despair

Following the first flush of success, despair soon sets in. I have discovered to my horror that writing a book and getting it published are the easy part. Selling it is the hard part, or more precisely, being accepted in the mainstream of the book business when you have self published. No-one wants to know, no reviews, no articles and I couldn't even get a PR company to take my money and campaign on my behalf. There seems to be a stigma associated with self publishing. This needs to change. Talent abounds in the masses, and many a good tale will never see the light of day without the self publishing facilities. It is tough getting into the business, I have even now approached a mainstream agent to see if I can't switch to a traditional publisher. The chances that I'll get a respose of any sort are slim, but I'll keep you posted.

Cover Problems

It seems that my desires for a cover do not fall into the normal realm of the Cover Designer. My requirements, it seems, are Bespoke. I've contacted the Art department and asked whetrher this will be possible. Watch this space!

Michael John

Not much reponse so far

Not getting much interest in my journey so far. Still have progressed most of my publishers mails and am moving towards getting the fist draft print blocks published for my book of poems, 'The View Through My Spectacles'. I have yet to see any suggestions for the cover, any output in that direction promises to be interesting. I submitted three of my poems to the designer so that she could get a feel for the book. With luck, the book will be ready for my Birthday in early February. I look forward to sharing the details with you then.

Bon Voyage ... Michael John

Happy New Year

Another week has come and gone. Xmas and New Year have taken their toll, but I march ever onwards. Had to replace my partners car which had decided that it would present us with a fault that no-one could fix but would mean failing it's MOT. Had to spend even more money I don't have. Still little movement on my novel. No reviews yet; this I believe is a real problem. The book in the pipeline is stalled awaiting information from me to the publisher. I never seem to have the time; three children take it all up even though I have no job. No job, no money what next?

We'll see, can't get much tougher.

Still, happy new year to everyone... Michael John