A380 'superjumbo' takes off for maiden flight

With some relief - because this aircraft is described as in service in my book, Deja Vu, which is set in the year 2023 - I note that the Airbus A380 has successfully completed its maiden flight. You can read all about it on the BBC (naturally):

Thousands of aeroplane enthusiasts, many of them clapping and cheering, witnessed the twin-deck "superjumbo" taking to the air for the first time.

Rather them than me:

The crew was equipped with parachutes. A handrail has been fitted, leading from the cockpit to an escape door.

Now, as long as Heathrow's terminal five gets built on time...

Marketing in the modern age

An interesting article over at The Alien Online concerning marketing, particularly genre vs. consumer types. It's an age-old debate, but the article takes an intelligent look at it.

The UKA Press

This post has caused a few problems, folks, so it's gone the way of the dodo. I can't offer my opinion of what I think about taking it down, because that we be tantamount to putting it back up. Confused?

Audio of Radio Cornwall Interview available

Thanks muchly to Emma Lloyd over at BBC Radio Cornwall, who has (i) conducted a very pleasant and easy-going interview with me and (ii) allowed me to host it on my website.

If you wish to listen to it, here you go: interview in Windows Media format, interview in Real Media format, and interview in MP3. Please note that all of these are biggish 5 meg files, and could take you a while to download if you don't have a broadband connection (get one here). One of my writing mates, David Gardiner, is kindly hosting a cheap-and-cheerful lo-fi version in MP3 format (cool echo!).

Questions or comments, let me know.

Bits and pieces

Well, a few things have been happening this week. First up, Déjà Vu has been noticed by the behemoth of SFX, a renowned UK science fiction magazine. It's the only small press review in the magazine. The review is pretty patronsing (hell, that's par for the course; no complaints) but generally positive. Here's a snippet:

The splitting of the narrative between characters helps maintain a strong pace throughout, scattering neat bits of near-future technology on the way. The fact that Déjà Vu is a small press book might lead you to expect an experimental or radical work. Instead, it's a very readable narrative with an emphasis on twists and turns, which wouldn't be out of place on a shelf full of Michael Crichtons.

In case that isn't blurbtastic enough, Stan Nicholls - an author I admire greatly - has gone to Herculean efforts to provide me with some blurb for the second edition of Déjà Vu, which I hope send back to my publisher next week. I say 'Herculean' because things are not going 100% smoothly for Stan right now. I'm therefore especially grateful for his comments on Déjà Vu:

Déjà vu is a pacey, crisply-written thriller set in a plausible near future. A clever blending of traditional sf tropes with cyberpunk shadings, there are some intriguing notions and a skilfully woven mystery element. Ian Hocking’s debut novel displays both sound scientific extrapolation and a mature confidence.

Thanks, Stan! You can buy his books here. Trust me, you won't be disapointed. This quote has already gone onto my website, of course, but hopefully it can be squeezed onto the new jacket, which PJ, my graphic designer, is working away on as we speak.

I have to confess that the second edition of Déjà Vu has sent me into another tailspin of editing. When the new edition got the green light, I promised myself that I would only add a brief flyesheet of reviews for the inside cover and correct the odd typo. Well, that plan went out the window in short order because, although Déjà Vu is a plot-heavy book, I like to work at the level of the sentence: if the cadence isn't right, I fuss over it until I can find a better way to express myself. I've given myself until next Wednesday to get everything sorted, and then it's good-bye forever to Déjà Vu.

Until I write the sequel.

Another bit of fun this week was an interview I recorded with BBC Radio Cornwall. It was due to air towards the end of last week, but wasn't, so I presume it will be sent out next week. Emma Lloyd, the show's presenter, has promised to email me with further details but she's a busy person, so there's a small chance I'll end up missing it. But we'll see. Wtih any luck, I'll record it and post it on my website. This week I also completed an interview for the Eternal Night (who have reviewed Déjà Vu, though the review is not yet posted at the time of writing) plus another for the Open University magazine.

Meanwhile, in the interstices between one second and the next, I've continued work on Proper Job. It's coming up to the 60,000-word mark now. Comedy fiction is, I guess, a little shorter than most other genres, so I've got about 30,000 to go, maybe 40. But I'm disappointed that I didn't reach my original deadline of March. This time of year is a nice one to finish a novel. I remember, about five years ago, announcing with some triumph to my girlfriend, Britta, that I had finally completed a novel called 'Déjà Vu'. Hah! It's good to release yourself from the stress of the novel in time for summer. Maybe I can still do that, but I need to pull my finger out. Currently, I write about 500 words a day - that's about as much as I can manage while working full time. So I might be able to get the first draft finished by the end of the May. Then it'll be straight on the sequel for Déjà Vu, to be finished by the end of the summer. Hah!

Amazon to do 'itunes' of short fiction

Amazon is set to launch a pay-per-download service dealing in short fiction, in a move that has echoes of Apple's Itunes. Right now, I don't believe it will make huge changes to the industry - people just don't seem to like reading from a computer screen - but it sounds like short fiction may well, one day, become the paying market it once was. You can read the original article over at Publisher's Weekly.

'Who' reverses the polarity of the neutron flow

I see that, on the science fiction news blog, the latest episode of Doctor Who, 'The Unquiet Dead', captured almost 36% of the UK audience share (that's eight million people). This is excellent news. Hopefully, the Doctor is back and here to stay!

On a personal note, I have to say that the Doctor's skill in bumping into evil aliens is second only to my girlfriend's skill in avoiding the programme itself. If I can watch an episode of Raumpatrouille Orion then surely she can sit down for a bit of Who. This week she went as far as Lundy Island.

Thoughts on this blog

Well, all good things come to an end. This blog was originally intended to provide some coverage of the publicity for Déjà Vu and now, getting on for three months after the book's release, it's time to think about either (i) closing this blog or (ii) re-tasking it.

I think I'll go for option (ii). Though the evidence of my comments on this blog may suggest otherwise, I've never been entirely comfortable with the naked self-promotion that we small-press authors must peddle. Some people write books because they think success will change their lives, and others find it a form of self-help. For me, writing is about honing a work of fiction for it's own sake, just to see how far it can be taken and how much potential energy can be stuffed into its pages. It appeals to my pedantry and obsessivenesss. Some aspects of publicity are fun. Interviews, for example, because they force me to engage with the issues I've touched upon in my work (in fiction, of course, you can write about a character going through a crisis of identity and, so doing, raise a number of questions; in an interview, it's not enough to raise these questions - you have to answer them!). But I think I've grown weary of walking into bookshops with Déjà Vu and receiving the polite shake of the head that means Déjà Vu does not show up on the bookshop's computer because my publisher doesn't use the same distributor as, say, Waterstone's. I'm also tired of my myriad strategies for slipping my Guardian and SFX reviews into the conversation without sounding like a complete twat. To be fair, I've got quite good at this, but I find myself returning to a thought I had at the beginning of this song and dance: publicity is not writing; a beautiful and successful campaign will founder if it is not, at base, supported by a strong product. For the time being, I will continue with my policy of creating marketing opportunities for myself (I seem quite good at generating them, despite my moaning!) but I don't want to lose sight of the fact that my talent is for writing, not marketing.

OK; so I want to take a step away from the main aim of this blog, which is to comment on publicity and marketing. In future, I'll try to blog the nice stuff happening to writer friends, wider literary news, and perhaps some personal stuff if it's worth a grin.

Before I do, I'll give a brief summary of what's been happening in This Writing Life. Aesthetica Magazine arrived this morning. It contained my short story 'Jubilee' - a cheerful one, inasmuch as the hero doesn't commit suicide. No; he's already committed suicide. Hmm. What was I saying earlier about writing being a form of self-help? Hello? Irony?

I'm set to record an interview for Emma Lloyd's show on Radio Cornwall next Wednesday (that is, the recording is Wednesday; I'd don't know when the interview will air). Emma has asked me to provide a couple of copies of Déjà Vu for a competition; happy to do so.

I also completed two further interviews this week (I don't include Joe Gordon's on Forbidden Planet Interview, since I mentioned it in my last blog). One for the Eternal Night website and one for the Open University magazine, which goes out to all staff and students.

Meanwhile, with Proper Job, my next novel, the hilarity continues apace. I've passed the 50,000 word mark (as a rule, about 100,000 words is good number at which to aim a novel; I've no doubt I'll overshoot it, but as editing is, for me, very much a process of reduction, I'd anticipate the final book will be 80-90,000). I want to crank up the wordcount by 2000 words a day, but we'll see how that goes. As I may have mentioned, I've determined to hire an editor for this book before I submit it to publishers or agents. Why am I doing this? Well, Déjà Vu was rejected every whichway by publishers and agents (those that replied, anyway) in the form I presented it (unedited), but has been gathering some good reviews following its publication (and therefore following its editing). In fact, I've had eight reviews for Déjà Vu and not one has been negative; writers at the forefront of science fiction have been extremely positive (Ken MacLeod and Jon Courtenay Grimwood). On the assumption that this edited version would have found a publisher, I want to get Proper Job into the best shape possible. If you'd like to help me out by proofreading a pre-publication copy of Proper Job, let me know and I can send you a copy nearer the time (June/July).

Interview on Forbidden Planet International

Joe Gordon over at Forbidden Planet International is hosting an interview with me. It has an interesting political spin...

Group hug

A few days ago, we created an email list for UKA Press authors (if you're a UKA Press author who has not yet joined the list, email me.) So far the discussions have been quite revealing. It's great to share experiences and marketing tips with people who are in the same boat. Talking of marketing, there's a plan for me to be on Radio Cornwall this Wednesday (you can listen live on the web). I'll be sure to report the experience on both my blog and the email list.

While you're here, you might be interested in this cautionary tale about a spat between a reviewer and a writer. These things always end in tears.