It's taken a while to sit down and write another blog, but I've had so many things on the go - I didn't really know where to start. So I will mention them as I remember them.
Firstly, I totally nailed the 'e-pub' issue and now have two titles published on the Waterstones website. Considering I starting from a zero knowledge base three months ago, I am quite "chuffed" that I managed it and can see a definite future for myself as a writer and HPM Media Ltd as a company.
I accept that Ebooks are not 'the only future' but they are going to play a major role for children's picture books in the coming years and I am hoping to be there as a 'playa'.
With sales figures being collated on a daily basis Waterstones, both titles:
Be Careful Ethel and
The Hairy Plug Monster, have both enjoyed positions in the top 10, and it is only a matter of time before they will eventually occupy the top two positions in the children's e-book charts.
I have already almost finished the Polish translation of
The Hairy Plug Monster, and this should be uploaded to the Waterstones server within the next fortnight. The Italian version is underway and the Farsi translation is due to be sent to be typed up this week. I also called on an old friend who seems quite keen to organise the French and German versions, while another older friend is hopefully writing up the story in Russian. Such is the power of social networking. :)
I still haven't quite figured out my marketing strategy for the foreign titles as yet, but to have them registered with their own ISBN numbers and made ready for sale seems a good starting point.
There's Something Wrong with Grandad is also nearing completion; requiring a couple of illustrations by Jodie Muir - and hopefully (this time I mean it!!!!!) I will be going into the studio to record the audio book versions in November. I need to rethink the target age group as 9+ maybe slightly too young for some of the stories: Zombelina and Child on the Hill in particular.
Kim Eagle is working on illustrations for The Pot Bellied Cook and the Three Legged Dog and as soon as I have them I can start work on the book. It will probably be January 2012 before it will be ready to upload, but I am hoping that I will remember everything I have learnt over the last three months and cut the production time in half. One of the benefits of learning the e-publishing process is that I am now in a position to offer this service to other writers and illustrators - with a collection of Jodie Muir's pictures being the first to be published sometime in the very near future as well.
At the end of the month I will be going to London to attend the National Teaching Awards with one of the schools with whom I have built up a good relationship. I cant really say more than that as I don't want to jeopardise their chances of winning, but they will win and I might meet the 'Fonz'
Another 'hush-hush' project involved me nipping to London at the start of the month acting as a consultant for a possible future project with the BBC, but again that is all I am going to tell you at this stage.
Staying in London; I sent off three songs to Steve Ancliffe at
Popblast World and am in the process of writing another three for him, I did develop writer's block due to having to assume a certain level of 'geekiness' with the e-pub projects, but hopefully I am over that now. Still inspired by the Children's Media Conference in April this year, I am finalising ideas for a T.V. series involving Popblast World and the band members and hope to have something tangible to present to them in November. Then if I can get them on board, I need to recruit some additional animators and then prepare a bid to entice someone to pay for it.
So that's about it for the time being. It's nice to write about projects that I have completed rather than write about things that might happen.
