An Introduction

I asked for advice. None came. So I thought I'd do it anyway.

Do what?!

Publish on Kindle of course.

You missed out – I was going to ask you to provide a pseudonym - but at least that saves me a dilemma, namely…

… a word of warning, or rather to put you at your ease – I shall not be telling you the name of the book here, on Twitter, or on any other network social or otherwise.

I am not selling.

This blog is my record and my present to you – you can learn from my mistakes. And while you learn , you can laugh both at my incompetence and my soaring, pathetic hopes matched by my despair as such hopes are dashed, cruelly but inevitably.

Although to be honest, I have no hopes and nothing to lose – 'nah, nah' as they say.

Let me state what I’m risking:

This is my first novel I am ‘publishing’. I don’t think it is badly written and I am not ashamed of it. But it is unpublishable in the sense that like most first novels, it really should be left in the drawer. It simply fell between two stalls and should be treated as a training exercise, something to learn from and move on. So no risk at all. Except…

...except it is an asset. I have invested what – three hours a day, five days a week over six months? Does that sound reasonable? 390 hours. If I was paid cash that would be a reasonable sum. Plus the hours I have spent thinking about it, submitting it, pointlessly, to agents.

And I’m broke. But that is not the main reason. 

The main reason it that my dear friend Pk sent an email around the other day, pointing to a blog which suggested that the age of the agent might be over. I hope it is wrong (and I intend to try the traditional route for the novel I am in the middle of now - if I ever finish it).

But if the blog was correct, then the lesson will be invaluable. For us all.

Follow me on this journey. See me fail.