Exclusive Front Cover Reveal

These last few weeks have been a frenetic time of checking and rechecking final proofs for my Children’s Book of Richard III. I am relieved to say that, at just gone midnight last night the book finally went off to our local printing firm, Soar Valley Press. I’ve used them before and so I know that they are four friendly, accommodating, award-winning printers. They hope to get the books to us in three weeks’ time.

Here is an exclusive peep at the front cover:

I'm so pleased with Alice's illustrations and design work. She has turned my book into something very special. You can see more of her work on her website, Alice Povey Illustrations.

So far, Independent Publishing has not been as scary as I had expected. I mentioned in an earlier post about the disparity of heading styles. I've certainly learnt a lesson from that, but this last week has been full of insecurities over spellings, word usages, spacing on the pages; all those small things that can make such a big difference. For example, on one page I’d put battle field as two words even though I know that it’s one word. On another page I’d repeated a word three times in one sentence. It was easily corrected but what amazes me is that five people have proof read this and I’ve proof read it many, many times. I suppose there will still be the odd mistake hiding amongst all those words but if you buy a copy and find one of them, I don’t think I want to know about it… ok, ok, you can tell me but please be gentle!

If you want to order an advanced copy please contact Lynn Moore at The Reading Shop. Lynn Moore is not only my publisher; she is also the owner of one of the few Independent Children’s Bookshops left in the UK. 

Quite soon there will be launch parties to arrange and school visits to plan but before all that happens I have to get back to working on my Cemetery Research Project. I’ve fallen seriously behind schedule… but it’s been worth it.

For those who didn't catch the announcement, the High Court Judges have ruled that Richard III will be reinterred in Leicester Cathedral in Spring 2015.

Independent Publishing and a Preview of Richard III

They say it keeps you young to learn new things but I think it batters your brain! Producing the text for The Children's Story of Richard III ready for publishing has been packed with new experiences and I now realise how daunting Independent Publishing can be.

It's not always the big things that catch you out. For me it's the little things like creating the Title Page.  I'd never thought about the Title Page inside the cover of a book. It's something that is just there. Fortunately Alice Povey is doing the Book Design as well as the illustrations and she came to my rescue. I'd never thought about the wording on the spine of the book either but again, Alice has got it sorted. As for the Acknowledgments Page, there is quite a lot of legal speak that we've had to include to cover copyright permissions from other people for images used and copyright claims on behalf of ourselves, not to mention acknowledging support and advice.

A preview of Richard III

One of the scariest 'almost mistakes' that I made was to not be consistent with my side heading styles.  I am eternally grateful to my publisher, Lynn Moore from The Reading Shop, for spotting this. Some of the side headings had initial capitals. Some just had a capital for the first word of the heading. Of course, I know how important it is to be consistent but I hadn't noticed the inconsistencies. So, how many more mistakes will I find before the book is out?

The illustrations have almost been completed by the amazing Alice Povey. I then get a penultimate opportunity to proof read. I'm feeling slightly sick at the thought of reading those words again but it has to be done! The final chance will be when the Printers, Soar Valley Press, produce their draft book. Once we say 'Yes' to that, there'll be no turning back. People keep reassuring me that even the most prestigious of publications have little errors but I so don't want that to happen to my book.

If that were all I was doing right now, then I wouldn't be feeling so brain battered but there's the small matter of continuing to catalogue the local cemetery and create a Website for Ancestry Research. Thankfully I have an expert in database building working with me but it's down to me to write the content of the Website text pages. This has meant a crash course in HTML coding and website design. Enough said!

So excuse me while I pop off and work out which letter to put in-between < and > to make things happen in HTML. It's all good stuff... I think!