Writing a book is a bit like a pregnancy.
Often you think about it for quite a while before you get on with it.
Then there’s the long gestation period, the hard work you put in trying to make it the best it can be, and finally, the long-awaited arrival of your carefully nurtured baby.
Birth of a book
With the actual birth, there can be debate about the best way for this to happen. A c-section or a natural birth? An epidural or go natural?
Likewise with publishing, there are also plenty of options. However, it’s becoming more difficult to have a book produced in hard copy – REAL PAPER – with publishers unwilling to take risks on untested authors.
\With the eBook business booming, it would seem more and more established publishing houses are moving with the times and looking to the internet for success. Whether you like the book or not, E.L. James Fifty Shades of Grey made it’s incredible leap to the top of global best-seller lists – selling more than 125 million copies worldwide – starting off life as an eBook.
Of course authors have choices. If you can’t find a publisher, you can always opt to self-publish – whether it be hard-copy or online.
Making HeadlinesFor myself, while I’d love a hard-copy version of my own book MAKING HEADLINES – to have and to hold – it seems for the moment, I’m going to be marching forth into the world as a new author – waving the PLATFORM PILGRIM flag.
(Thanks to my ever-encouraging writer friend Lisa Bigelow for coming up with that innovative tagline!)
Yes, thanks to Harper Collins Publishing, I am about to become a Platform Pilgrim. My eBook will be launched on Thursday, February 4. And that’s because I would much prefer my book be given the tick of approval from a recognised publisher that has a wonderful heritage as Australia’s oldest and one of the most respected companies in the business, than do this on my own.
Sure, in the long run I’d love nothing more than to have a REAL book in my hands – but for the moment, I still consider my eBook to be an achievement of which to be proud.
And LOOK, it’s already listed on the Harper Collins website and you can pre-order!!!
Harper Collins websiteYep, and it even costs less than a cup of coffee!!
My biggest dilemma with becoming a Platform Pilgrim was deciding whether to host a book launch or not. Would people think it was over-the-top and silly – given they couldn’t leave with a signed copy of the tome itself?
In the end, after much debate with Fletch and friends, I have decided to go ahead and have a party. After all, it’s the end of a VERY long and arduous road and I think I deserve to celebrate my baby’s birth.
Harper Collins have also kindly agreed to provide ‘Book Samplers’ on the night of the launch, so guests WILL leave with a couple of chapters in a small printed mini-book, as a taste of what’s to come in the novel. So yes, there will be REAL PAPER given out on the night.
It’s taken many years AND tears to finish MAKING HEADLINES and I am so delighted and relieved that it is finally making its way into the world. All up, it’s more than eight years since I started thinking about this project. Now that’s one helluva long pregnancy.
Bring on the champagne!
A champagne moment
It’s hard to believe it was more than a year ago that I wrote a Blog explaining why I’d be taking a blogging respite. If you’d like a re-cap for all the reasons why, you can take a look here:
https://jenniferhansen.com.au/wp-admin/post.php?post=6893&action=edit
Otherwise, let’s push on, because I have an announcement.
FINALLY MY BOOK IS GOING TO BE PUBLISHED
Yes, I needed that Blogging break to get it finished.
That it’s finally being published is extremely exciting because it’s been a dream of mine since childhood.
Right now I am extremely time-poor as it’s my last week to work on the FINAL edit of the manuscript. A laborious and challenging task but also thrilling because the light is at the end of the tunnel.
I’m going to write more about the writing process and what changes are happening in the world of publishing down the track, but for now, this is just a quick post to give you a sneak preview of the cover of my book.
HERE IT IS!
Making HeadlinesIt’s a work of fiction – completely made up – about a young television reporter named Rachel Bentley who aspires to be a newsreader. You see, working as a TV reporter has it’s challenges but aiming high leads to a whole minefield of explosive scenarios.
Rachel’s path sees her pitched against egos in the newsroom, office politics and corrupt politicians, not to mention rampant sexism and a mystery stalker. Juggling a messy personal life doesn’t help either. Not does the emotional impact of reporting on life’s daily tragedies and when it all takes a toll and Rachel starts partying too hard, she finds herself making the headlines instead of reading them. Will she survive a world where dreams are shattered daily and will she find the man who can help her keep her soul?
You’ll have to wait to read the book to find out of course!
I’m delighted MAKING HEADLINES is to be published by HARPER COLLINS PUBLISHERS who are Australia and New Zealand’s oldest publishing house and arguably, the most respected.
My book will be available online as one of the Harper Collins Impulse books from late January, 2016. Stay tuned for more info and an exact date soon….
