Oct 27, 2018

Perhaps the best thing about publishing in this way is that you folks get to influence the manuscript before it’s committed to print. Sure – if just one of you tells me you don’t like something, I might choose to leave it for now because I honestly think I’ve done the best I can. But when two of you make the same point, that’s proof that something needs sorting straight away...

That’s why I spent some time this afternoon editing the first section of my first chapter. For at least two of you, Jake’s section had appeared a bit too staccato, disjointed, and repetitive. While both these readers agreed it was a good way of conveying the youthfulness of Jake’s POV, they also made the valid point that it could be too difficult a read for the very first page of the book. And, after all, we want folks to read on...!

Not only that, but it seems a few of you have missed the fact that the first chapter comprises several sections – not your fault in the slightest, but rather due to my own decision to put each section on a different webpage. So I’ve cleared that up (I hope) by putting all of chapter 10 on one page, marking each section with a new header. That’s probably closer to how it’d look in print or ebook format anyhoo.

There’s the odd little change elsewhere, but nothing major beyond the edit of Jake’s section. So if you haven’t read the whole sample chapter already, please give it a go now – or else, maybe just cast your eye over Jake’s section and let me know if you agree that it works better now.

Or perhaps you preferred it the way it was...?

Any which way, thanks for getting me to 5th place in the competition! It’s currently very close, though: if only 13 more of you pre-order, I’ll be in 3rd – and thus guaranteed a publishing deal.

So if you haven’t pre-ordered yet, please consider it now – it’s just $10 (c.£8), and you get that money back immediately if the book doesn’t win or raise enough crowdfunding.

And if you have pre-ordered, please encourage as many of your friends, family and colleagues to do so as you can!

Thanks again for all your help, folks. Now I shall spend the rest of the weekend working on the second chapter for you to enjoy...