Other writers, other words

Well, I had a great a time on Saturday night. It was the designated launch of the UKA Press, my publisher, and a great many of the writers who haunt UKAuthors were invited. It was an energizing - if warm! - evening, and reinforced my opinion that the spoken word has a power orders of magnitude greater than its written counterpart. I'm not sure I pulled off my own reading too successfully, but LittleRedSteve treated us to a wonderful performance of his story 'Double Drop'. And the poets were great orators too. All in all, a great evening. Take a look at some pictures.

Unfortunately, there were no pre-order forms available for Deja Vu, but I'm not sure I would have shifted too many copies even if they had been available. The atmosphere of the bookstall was definitely one of gentle perusing and handling - without a physical copy of my own book, it would have been difficult to compete with the glorious covers (well done, PJ) of 'The Mackerby Scandal' and 'A Bowl of Dry Soup'.

The evening certainly gave me lots to think about. It reminded me that promotion and marketing are essential parts of the publishing industry; but it also reminded me that, at root, the industry is about writing.

Back to work...