The Barrow Blog has been more than a bit quiet since the R2D2 goes to the movies series at Christmas. R2D2 came with me to get a haircut, came shopping for Christmas pudding, and eventually came out to see the Force Awakens. He had a great time but we were all a little sad at the ending. (Catch the whole series in the general silliness section with the first R2D2 post on December 21st and just keep pressing next at the top of the page.)

huge

Since then things have been unbelievably busy with work coming in from all directions, so much that eventually I had to turn some of it down. I had an offer to write for a web site about living as an expat and another to write for a website about smartphones. This was at the same time as suddenly being asked to write for the printing industry that is taking up eight or nine hours a day and could go on for months longer. Meanwhile I’ve been finalising the edit of In SatNav We Trust ready for submission to an agent or publisher. Something had to give and after writing a piece about the top-ten expat destinations and something about mobile phones I had to drop both of them for the more profitable printing industry and the more creative travelogue.

So now the manuscript is ready to hand off and I’m investigating publishing options. As well as seeking a mainstream publisher one possibility is that I might start a KickStarter campaign. The plan would be to not mess about and go for a serious amount of funding, enough for proper print and distribution, an advertising campaign and perhaps even an extravagant launch party, complete with jazz band, in Oxford where the journey started back in May 2013. The intention would be to sell the book to a wide commercial audience and have it in high street bookshops such as Waterstones, supermarkets, etc.

swanky

I’ve not done all of the sums yet but I’m wondering if it can be funded in such a way as to mean that everybody who pledges the minimum amount gets a copy of the book at less than the cost of the high street cover price, so what’s not to like? Of course this is dependent on the print run and I don’t know if this is even economical, but it’s worth considering. I’m also thinking about other rewards for more generous supporters such as invitations to the swanky Oxford launch party.

However, before then I need to put a few things in place so I need your help. To run a KickStarter campaign I really need a promotional video and a good graphic. I can do a bit of Photoshop myself but I’d really like a proper book jacket designer so if you know one please get in touch. The image has to work just as well as a thumbnail as it does a full sized book. A proper book designer would understand this sort of thing as well as understanding current trends in the publishing industry. If you know someone who can do a proper promo video, perhaps with a music track and some captions/titles ect, then I’d also love to hear from you.

stuff

So you don’t have to wait until the KickStarter campaign begins to support this project. Many of you have read the blogs since I went on the travelogue tour and have read and commented on the posts about the edit. So thank you for your continued support, comments on Facebook, and all that good stuff. Perhaps you could help by forwarding this blog to people whom you think might be interested in helping or would just like to read the book when it’s published. Don’t forget to look out for it, In SatNav We Trust: a search for meaning through the historic counties of England.

Please follow to ensure you get the updates as things develop. Just click the little blue button at the bottom of the page and don’t be too shy to comment.