Trying to find a publisher for Pearced is proving challenging and it is very difficult not to question the quality of your writing when you get so many 'thanks but no thanks' or simply no reply at all. I got another 'thanks but no thanks' this morning and it is hard not to take it personally! So much time, effort and heart goes into my writing.
I am taking the time to advertise my speaking services more and last week sent out introductory emails to a list of philatelic societies where I am hoping to get the chance to talk about HMS India, Arnold and his letters in a slightly different way. I will forever be grateful to Roger Partridge for the research he did, he is another in a long list of people that I wish I could have met. For those who haven't read A Bare Chronicle of Existence - Stories and Letters from internment in Norway during WW1, Roger Partridge was a philatelist who came to be in possession of a significant number of Arnold's letters - we don't know how. He undertook interesting research and was in the process of writing a book about HMS India and her men and in particularly the mail being sent to and from the camp. Apparently he gave up his writing when the research had taken him away from his philatelic centre and branched more into family history - what I have focused on. Roger was a fantastic researcher and I am surprised at how many of the people I
contact know of him or met him. I am certainly indebted to him and the work he did. Even more so now that I am writing talks for philatelic societies! Roger's work will make mine so much easier and so much more relevant for those attending the talks.
I have received three offers so far from hybrid publishers and I am waiting on replies from a couple more. I have accepted that hybrid publishing is probably the only option for me unless I want to self publish and for all of the down sides of hybrid publishing, the one that published my first book has, to a small extent, assisted with promoting my book. They have also provided me with promotional material for a small cost, as well as publishing to order all over the world, and they have got my book onto Amazon and a large variety of other online sellers. I think I am more prepared now to know how to work with them and have accepted how active I need to be. I am hoping to have signed a contract by the end of this month.
Time to sign off from this random ramble and get back to doing some real work!