One Big Dilemma

Aspiring author down in 'that London.'

I'm trying to decide what to do about what could be a marvellous opportunity.  Or alternatively, a spectacular waste of time and money.  I've no idea which, but I have an uncomfortable feeling that if the opportunity is presented to me, it'll be because the latter guess is closest to the truth.

Enough riddling, though.  The dilemma is whether to try and hastily knock the last rough edges off of 'Limited Capability', the paperback doorstop of last autumn's ebook serial, in order to enter it into a competition, or allow myself and my 'proof-reading' team of friends time to get it just right. 

With the book almost 600 pages long, proof-reading isn't a task to be taken lightly.  I've had the advantage, not that he might see it that way, of having a housebound husband recuperating after a foot operation to read my copy too as reading text aloud, especially after you haven't seen it for a few months, is a really good way to track down the bugs.  It's not just that the text needs the odd 'typo' zapped.  Already, I've found a few lengthy sentences that don't flow at all well when read aloud; since they are dialogue, they'll need restructuring to ensure that they do.  I'm sure my CAB colleague Tina (who is both proof-reading and, I trust, spotting legal errors) will notice that twice at least I've referred to the 'Personal Capability Assessment' when I mean the 'Work Capability Assessment' (the former being the now redundant 'medical' for Incapacity Benefit, the latter the test for Employment and Support Allowance).  It may not matter to many readers, but I bet Dick Francis didn't misname bits of tack when writing his horse-racing thrillers nor Hilary Mantel send Thomas Cromwell off to the Globe to watch The Tempest.

And I'm not really satisfied with the cover.  I think I need to re-align the image on the front and definitely adjust that on the reverse to make the text more legible, and tackle 'the mystery of the vanishing apostrope'.  I wonder whether to include a 'by the same author' list inside the first title page, or whether that looks pretentious with just two earlier non best sellers to my name, or the 'blurb' for the earlier books at the end of this one.  In short, there's a lot to do to get this book right and I only have a week to deal with most of that and submit my entry if I want to be considered for CompletelyNovel's 'One Big Book Launch' event, where ten selected writers will get the chance to share a central London venue, with the obligatory wine and nibbles and, hopefully, a few movers and shakers from the publishing world.

Now if this really is a great opportunity for self-publishing authors to get noticed by the big guys, thus getting deals and publicity beyond their wildest dreams it'll be very heavily subscribed and, if I am successful, it will be a reflection on the quality, potential and relevance of my work.  If it isn't, and the only entries are a handful of the most confident CN authors rather than the more talented, I'll be in with every chance of winning a place, but for what?  It's the 'Big Book, Little Book' competition from last summer that makes me wary.  Five authors had the chance to be featured on a blog's 'Self-published Sunday' slot; four of us won the opportunity.  As they say in the USA, 'you do the math.'  And it had no impact on sales either.

So, on balance, I think I'll probably pass.  If it is a success for the people involved, hopefully CN will do similar events in future and I can have a go with a completely fresh story, not the equivalent of  The Empire Strikes Back for the rebels at the Solent Welfare Rights Project.  With a little luck and perseverance, 'Limited Capability' might be good to go in time for Stoke's literary festival in June and as it doesn't open with the villain being compared to the Daily Mail I may yet blag a mention in the local paper.  In the meanwhile, at least I've finally plucked up the courage to send my dad a copy of 'Severe Discomfort'.  But that's another story...