Send off the PDFs to Bookforce for the proofs – but fail to hear back from them. Spend most of the rest of the day checking and rechecking facts and the endnotes. I could never be a proof reader – I’m far too impatient. But I am getting there.
Spend day fact checking and sorting out end notes again. More exercise as up and down between manuscript and Google. Hear that Vertigo Communications don’t want to take on the book for distribution – so everything points in the direction of my doing it with help from the Travel Bookshop. I know getting a distributor … Read more
The proofed copy is delivered with what seems to be an incredible amount of corrections and facts to check. Actually when I start doing it – its not too bad – but it will take the weekend to do. My computer with the invaluable Google is down a flight of stairs from the kitchen table … Read more
Finish typing the labels for people who have ordered the book. I manage to e-mail most people who have ordered it to let them know that it is delayed until May. The next big push must be to bookshops – I met someone from Heywood Hill last night and he told me that they are … Read more
Talk to the proof reader about my muddled footnotes – I think we sort something out. The book now won’t be ready to be collected until Friday. I start typing out labels for all those who have ordered the book. When the postcards arrive – I’ll have to send one to everyone who has sent … Read more
Drive to Battersea to deliver the manuscript for a thorough second proof read. It should be ready tomorrow … at some point I’ll have to do the index but not before the corrections are inserted. Send off press releases to the Bookseller and Publishing News and I let Great Ormond Street Hospital know about the … Read more
Check that Nielsen Book Data have the details of Halfway to Venus on their database. They do – although the information evidently hasn’t filtered through to the shops yet. Finish the proof reading and I finally get the footnotes sorted. I start to think seriously about publicity – whether in fact I can cope with … Read more
Back from a soggy weekend in Gloucestershire. Collect the proofs from my sister – a pro – and start incorporating the errors I have found from my set into her copy of the manuscript. My punctuation is abysmal – I was always teased about my commas (or lack of …)
Send off the artwork for my postcards – I have decided to order 1000 – somewhat ambitious but the price differential between 500 and 1000 is minimal. I also redo the text for the book’s cover which, although it’s going to be a paperback, is going to have flaps. I continue to proof-read ….
Spend day proof-reading and checking some of my sloppier references. Why can’t I be more organised when I’m doing research? Although what I have discovered is that you can put whole chunks of text into Google and it will come up with the right reference within seconds. Magic.