Andrew Toynbee's Blog, page 21
November 21, 2012
It’s been a busy old month!
Hello Fellow Bloggers!
I haven’t posted anything for nearly five weeks now and I feel terribly guilty.
You may (or may not) have noticed.
The lack of posts, that is,not the guilt.
Following the upload of my book to Amazon, I have had my head down and have been peddling (!) furiously in an effort to spread the word about ‘A Construct of Angels’.
Complimentary PDF copies have been sent out to those who assisted me in the research phase back in 2010.
I’ve produced laminated posters and around 300 bookmarks (Excellent idea, thanks Sonya!) which have been passed out to everyone who admitted to being a reader of books. The bookmarks have also been liberally scattered wherever reading material (magazines and books) were found to be clustered on waiting room tables.
My works vehicle has become an advertising hoarding, plastered with magnetic signs in the hope of generating further interest.
I’ve fluffed up my Facebook account, joined MySpace, KindleBoards, a dozen authors’ forums at LinkedIn, the World Literary Cafe, Goodreads and sent links to half-a-dozen book review sites.
Next up is CreateSpace, Search Inside the Book and Author Central.
I’m even considering contacting regional newspapers as a ‘local author’ to see if they’d be interested.
I have, however, stopped short of Tweeting, although it has now become apparent to me how useful it could be. Tweeting 140 characters instead of waiting for a spare half-hour (which never seems to arrive) to compose a full post? That has possibilities. I may yet find myself becoming a Twitter convert.
Naturally, with all the new traffic, I now find that my Inbox is overwhelmed *sighs* and is now in need of a re-jig, i.e. creating new folders for comments, updates and notifications to flow into.
An on top of all that, I have finally, finally managed to forge ahead with my sequel, ‘A Vengeance of Angels’.
By an odd and completely unplanned coincidence, I began it on the first day of NaNoWriMo. Not that I could keep up that sort of pace. 1500 words a day? The first day saw me pen around 1000 words. The second? About 500. And so on down a sliding scale until I found myself not writing at all on some days.
But I’m back in the saddle and currently 10,000 words or so into ‘Vengeance’ and re-discovering the joy of ‘pantsing’ - but more on that later.
The project that I’m most excited about is slowly coming together. Normally, my work bats me around the country like a ping-pong ball, but lately, I’ve been working in one place for the past six weeks and that looks to continue up until Christmas. So, I’ve contacted a local drama group with a proposition; Would they like to be actors and extras in a three-minute video that will ultimately serve to promote ‘Construct’?
My question has apparently caused a great deal of excitement amongst the students. Their Head of Department is currently reading through ‘Construct’ and is very keen to discuss my ideas.
Watch this space…
So, what I now ned to ask is; in addition to the endeavours above, has anyone had notable success with any particular method of advertising?
Bearing in mind that ‘Construct’ is an eBook, activities such as book signings and book parties wouldn’t work, unless anyone has a ‘twist’ that could be applied…
As always, all ideas and comments are welcomed. 
Write on!
October 26, 2012
A Construct Of Angels - Author Interview
Reblogged from Candace Knoebel:
Hello once again, Readers!!! It is crazy windy here! I hope it dies off by tomorrow for the craft fair. But enough about that. Today I have a special guest, Andrew Toynbee. He just published his debut novel, A Construct of Angels, and I have the pleasure of sharing with you an awesome author interview. But before we dive into that, lets take a look at the beautiful cover created by…
Thank you Candace. That was fun.
October 19, 2012
An Open Letter to Agents--Open Your Minds or I'm Leaving
Reblogged from Jacqui Murray's WordDreams...:
Times have changed–photo credit: Nemo
An efriend of mine had a very public self-described ‘meltdown’ over her lack of progress in finding a publisher. Her words were heart-rending because they reflected the fears of every low- and mid-list writer I know. We all worry that we won’t
find an agent or our agent won’t find a publisher, that the words we struggled over into the wee hours of the night will not resonate with the gatekeepers.
This exactly mirrors my current feelings about agencies and the publishing industry. Agents want to sign the BIGGEST BOOK ON THE PLANET.
But if they don't have faith and sign up a number of smaller or mid-list potential books, how are they going to know when they have found the next (insert current blockbuster here)?
Well, I’ve only been and gone and done it!
Well, I’ve only been and gone and done it (as they used to say in the old Brit flicks).
source: Stock Xchng
Yep. It’s done. Too late to back out now.
What? I hear you cry in exasperation.
I’ve only gone and published on Amazon.
Yes, you heard it here first. ‘A Construct of Angels’ is now available in Kindle format.
This wasn’t the way I’d planned it – I’d envisioned a daily countdown post, teaser artwork, a larger-than-life countdown button on my blog and a big launch on Saturday at 8pm, sitting in a West Midlands house with some good friends and fellow writers.
But, being a pessimistic sort of a chap, I thought I’d better be prepared ahead of time. So, with my Kindle’d version of ‘CoA’ to hand, I nervously hit Amazon’s ‘upload’ on Wednesday afternoon, anticipating the odd glitch, an inordinately long upload time or perhaps a rejection email from the Eye of Amazon that said ‘Hey, kid. You’re no damn good – get outa town.’
Or at the very least, I would have accidentally loaded the wrong format of Ravven’s artwork (Amazon are quite specific about the sizes) and had to begin all over again.
I had an overwhelming sense that if I counted down, teased and announced that my book was going live on Saturday at 8pm, something would leap up at the last minute and sabotage everything.
So, in order to prevent a massive false alarm and a failure to launch (even Felix Baumgartener had to endure that!) I began early.
The result? By Thursday lunchtime, my book was published and LIVE.
Oh, hell.
Too early!
I scoured my account for a way to delay visibility, a way to hide it until Saturday night, but to no avail.
It’s published.
It’s live.
It’s there for all to see.
And by 2pm I’d already sold two copies. Weird, huh?
By now it’s responsible for a friend gaining new determination to publish and another friend installing ‘Kindle for PC’ just so they can read it.
That same friend’s sister-in-law will be taking a look at ‘A Construct of Angels’ because she not only lives in York (the city in which ‘CoA’ is set) but she’s a book reviewer to boot.
Karma? I like to think so.
Which is why I am posting this, as a celebration that 37 years of ambition have finally borne fruit and as a call to all newbie and wannabe writers;
YOU CAN DO IT TOO!
Many bloggers have repeatedly reiterated the point that we are no longer slaves to the agencies and publishing houses. We can go it alone. We can publish on our own terms. If fifty or a hundred (or more) agencies tell you ‘no thanks’, there is an alternative.
And if, in a year’s time, we experience record sales and are eagerly approached by an Agent or Publisher thirsting for profit, we can ask them; ‘Where were you when I needed you the most?’ and proceed to name our own terms.
On the other hand, royalties notwithstanding, it’s a chance to share your work, your ideas with the entire, internet-using world for 99 cents or less if you choose.
Was that a little gushy?
Maybe a little too ‘I-am-celebrating-for-once?’
Perhaps. But then it’s not every day that an eleven-year-old wannabe writer (as I was when I began this journey) finally gets to have his day.
Now, another pint of that frothy stuff, please barman…
Write on!
October 14, 2012
Six Sentence Sunday
source; Stock Xchng
As its Six Sentence Sunday, I thought I’d post another sample from my (soon to be Kindled) WIP ‘A Construct of Angels’.
This short extract describes Sara Finn’s experience as Michael (the Angel) decides to prove to her that he has a pure soul as opposed to the dark-souled, malevolent beings that she has encountered thus far.
Just prior to this extract, they touch the tips of their forefingers together, a gesture that instantly reminds Sara of the poster for ‘Bruce Almighty’.
Then;
I was suffused by a pure white Light that washed away all sight of the rain-lashed street outside. The Light was more than just brightness – it was physical; tangible, rippling the air around me like a warming breeze on a spring day.
My eyes watered as waves of joy suffused me and I felt my hair floating freely around me, unhindered by gravity. The Light flowed into my body to warm me from within, beginning in my bones, working outwards, infusing my muscles and my flesh with liquid bliss. Every corpuscle of my blood sang in harmony, raising a forest of goosebumps on my skin.
I stared along my arm, following it to my crooked finger that pressed gently against a figure that was glowing, not through some trick of transparent skin, but from every molecule of his body that was alive and buzzing with Light.
I hope that this helps to convey some of the wonder that she feels in his presence.
Write on, everyone!
October 11, 2012
Brand New Award
My blogging history has been quite short, unlike my desire to publish a novel, which stretches back to my schooldays in the 1970′s.
I’ve been blogging since 2010, but only produced my first post in June of this year, thereby announcing to the blogsphere that I had finally screwed up enough courage to let others read my random ramblings.
Since then, I have been blessed with an avalanche of hints, tips and encouragement, without which my WIP would not have been catapulted forward to the very doorstep of eBook publishing possibility. Yes, it’s imminent!
So I say, to all those bloggers who lowered down the golden hair of assistance from the towering heights of publication, a big, heartfelt THANK YOU.
In recognition of those who have helped me most directly, I have created this;
I hope it goes some way to illustrating my gratitude towards aspiring authors those who pause in their headlong race long enough to help us – the stragglers.
They didn’t have to…they could have simply concentrated on their own compelling journey. But they didn’t – they reached out and shared their experiences; their knowledge.
Ryan Casey said to me; In this age of eBooking, writers are no longer in competition with each other – there’s enough room out there for us all.
And these helpful souls illustrated just what can be achieved if we all work together.
Now, I’m aware that every single post, every tiny nugget of information that a blogger publishes in a post can accumulate to contribute to the whole and this invaluable advice is reason enough to send thanks out to those who share.
But I can’t simply nominate everyone that I follow, even though I am already developing a guilt complex for not doing so. *sigh.
So, I will nominate a small number of Most Helpful bloggers, those who have most directly inspired me and ask that you spread the nominations in turn to those who have offered you a helping hand along the way.
I’d also suggest that you might want to mention how they helped you and perhaps what kind of a difference their advice has made to your WIP.
Besides the above suggestions, there are no hard and fast rules to this award. Let it evolve…feel free to improve upon it as it goes.
It will be interesting to see how it develops.
So, without further ado, I hereby nominate the following bloggers for their help, advice and encouragement;
Ryan Casey – for all his eBooking assistance and for pointing me towards Guido Henkel’s invaluable ‘Take Pride’ tutorial.
Sonya Loveday – for her love, encouragement and going ‘above and beyond’ (ie without sleep) to provide critique.
Pat Wood – for her constant encouragement and witty repartee. Thank you, Ms. Arborea! :)
Candace Knoebel - for blazing a Ravven-coloured trail that showed what could be achieved with hard work and dedication.
CA Hustead – for providing constructive comments when they were needed most.
Michelle Proulx – for inspiring me with her blow-by-blow descriptions of her ePublishing adventures.
Jon Simmonds of Jumpingfromcliffs – for his wise, thought-provoking comments and words of wisdom.
M D Kenning - for his guidance, hints, tips and experiences with eBooking and social media.
I also extend an open-armed and warm-hearted thank you to everyone else who has inspired me - even indirectly - and ask that you continue to share your wisdom and experiences so that we may all benefit and flourish as writers.
Write on!
September 21, 2012
Beautiful Blogger Award.
This has been a busy couple of months for me. Ever since I stepped up my blog-followings back in June (on my birthday, as it happens), I have been nominated for no less than 4 awards.
Thank you, everyone. I’d just like to *sobs* thank my mother, my neighbours, my cat…
Just kidding. I’m no Gwyneth Paltrow. Except maybe at the weekends,but that’s another story.
I was a little surprised by the award. I mean, I know I keep the blog area tidy. But for it to be truly beautiful, I’d have to get some flowers around the place, maybe a couple of potted plants.
Still, the award nominations look nice over the fireplace.
But I digress. Thank you, Jon at Jumping from Cliffs, for nominating my blog. I will try to keep the cobwebs at bay.
The rules of this nomination stipulate that I am to tell you 5 beautiful/interesting things about myself or my blog and nominate 5 other bloggers for this award to spread the beautiful feeling.
Also, the award must be handled with humour and humility in equal measure.
Beautiful fact 1; I only began to blog because it seemed like a modern way to keep a writing journal. Since then my blog has become as essential to me as my novel. I enjoy being able to access it from anywhere on the planet (all right, within Europe).
Beautiful fact 2; My blog enables me to chart my journey. I’m often startled when I read what was troubling me as a writer back in 2010, or how little I had written back then. It all seems so long ago. Nostalgia’s not what it used to be, you know.
Beautiful fact 3; I love the way that my blog has enabled me to ‘reach out and touch’ so many like-minded people, some of whom have become friends. I’m talking about you – yes, you. No, not them behind you. You.
Beautiful fact 4; Having a circle of friendly bloggers is like having a big, warm, cosy blanket to wrap around me on the ‘down’ days. ‘Alone’ is not a word that I use much anymore.
Beautiful fact 5; I once read that the definition of old age is; ‘You have all the answers, but nobody is asking the questions.’ Well, blogging enables me to ask of that which I do not know and pass on that which I do (does that make grammatical sense?). I don’t have all the answers (who does?), but together we can ensure that fewer of us now tread this uncertain road in lonely ignorance. Thanks go to everyone who has offered advice and ‘steered me right.’
To vary my previous nominations and to ensure that there is no favouritism, I will nominate five bloggers that I haven’t nominated before. The alternative is to nominate only five that I follow and exclude many worthy bloggers that I would also wish to nominate. Guilty feelings for me and perhaps unhappiness from them for being omitted.
So, five bloggers that I think deserve this award and who haven’t been previously nominated by me;
1) Em Types - a rivetting read. I found myself simply unable to stop.
2) Paulina Czarnecki - who lurves Emoticons 
so much she blogs about them.
3) J-Bo Love the picture, love the chatter.
4) Jacqui Murray - I always leave here enchanted AND educated.
5) Norfolk Novelist - every glance draws me in to read more…
Enjoy, check out these great blogs - and keep widening the circle of bloggers.
The main reason I am following so many fascinating blogs is because of this type of awards system. *Cheers!*
Write on!
September 20, 2012
New artwork for A Construct of Angels
Ravven has come up trumps again.
After producing the stunning cover for Candace Knoebel’s Born in Flames, she has created this front cover for ‘A Construct of Angels.’
Whilst working on this, we also generated some useful ideas material for the proposed sequel ‘A Vengance of Angels’, so watch this space!
I’ve very pleased with this and hope you will be able to see it soon at Amazon.
Write on!
September 17, 2012
It’s all about the journey
source: Stock Xchng (whiplasher2)
I’d long been an avid cynic of reality TV shows such as X Factory, Pop Idle, Big Brooder, (disparaging mis-spellings intentional) et al, citing them as simple ratings magnets that were all hype and no substance.
I’d avoid them like the cliche, eschewing Saturday night television altogether, tutting at the oft-hyped results and the acres of tabloid coverage they seemed to generate.
But little by little, weekend visits to a friend’s house resulted in the television (which seemed to have no ‘off ‘ function) drawing my eye and ear towards the (often hapless) auditionees on ’X Factor’ and ‘Britain’s Got Talent’ every Saturday night.
I found myself becoming intrigued, for no reason that I could fathom. I didn’t know these people, these fame-seeking wannabes (only some of whom were quietly talented and later became successful) and yet I found myself increasingly drawn into their stories as they inched their way towards the stars. I followed them from their earliest beginnings. I saw their spotlight-dazzled faces as they shuffled reluctantly onto an over-large stage to croak out a few nervous bars of their favourite song. And then I watched their eyes light up as the crowd called out its approval.
But why was I watching this IQ-sapping drivel; this thinly-disguised attempt to solicit viewers (and before you mentally compose hate-mail, please let me finish), this apparent waste of valuable writing time?
It suddenly became clear to me when I unexpectedly became hooked on yet another reality TV show – Masterchef.
Hooked? Why? I know nothing about food. I can barely make mashed potato or an edible cheese sauce. To this day I am still able to slide rock-hard frozen food onto a microwave platter with only a basic idea of why it emerges twenty minutes later as a hot, steaming meal. I have no aspirations to create Langoustine consommé with lemon tuiles and pea puree, or to begin experimenting with molecular gastronomy (although liquid Nitrogen does look like a wonderful toy).
The chemistry of food defies my kind of logic. It’s a pleasure to eat, true, but the assembly is an alien process to me and most likely will forever remain that way.
But there I was, week after fascinated week, watching untrained but enthusiastic amateurs, their fumbling fingers creating elegantly-assembled dishes of confit duck on a bed of celeriac mash to Michelin-class standards. But why? In the name of the knife, fork and spoon, why??
Then it finally clicked. The title of this post says it all. It was about the journey.
We aspiring writers have very similar goals to those clumsy cooks, those shaking singers, those jittering jugglers. We are all on the same journey of self-discovery - with the hope of our own selves being discovered. Or our work, at least.
I realised that by watching these rising stars gain new skills and achieve undreamed-of heights, my thoughts were paralleling their journey with my own aspirations, because I hoped that I would also (one day) experience a similar journey.
My mind had latched onto these stories in an unconscious act of self-preparation.
It may be that every individual who achieved the final three of Masterchef, X Factor and Britain’s Got Talent has already inspired me; proved to me that it IS possible to lift our (literary) voices from behind the background noise of society enough to be heard.
Ordinary mortals like us can achieve great things. But it takes time. It takes a measure of confidence. But it can require a good measure of encouragement from our peers too.
It is perhaps because of all of this that I am mentally prepared for the next step of ePublishing, the quiet, stealthy equivalent of seeing my work in Bookers or Waterstones. I dare to touch my toe to the chill waters of public consumption and say to them ‘nibble on that,’ whilst thinking ‘pleasedon’tbite, pleasedon’tbite!’
The journey from ‘I could write a book’ through ‘could I write a book?’ to ‘I have written a book’ is moving forward. Who was it that said; ‘The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step’?
But where is your journey taking you? How far have you already come?
Have you been inspired by stories of success or sheer determination?
Have you watched others climbing the ladder towards success, feeling that your journey was headed the same way?
Do you feel (particularly with ePublishing opening up new possibilities) that the impossible is now possible?
Share your story with us. Tell us where your journey is taking you.
Write on - and encourage others to do the same in every way that you can.
September 12, 2012
Reader Appreciation Award
This post has been a long time due and so, for that, I apologise.
The whirl of completing my Twelfth Draft, the decision to ePublish and the creating of my book cover scoured my brain of much of my daily to-do list.
Anyway, last month I was fortunate enough to receive a nomination for the Reader Appreciation Award, not once but twice!
Thank you Mymagical escape (I tried to find your name on your blog, but couldn’t) for this award. I love the image – it just so happens that big, bright sunflowers are a favourite of mine.
Also, Sonya Loveday nominated me the following day, a lovely thought.
The conditions of this award seem to be similar to those of the Liebster and Lovely Blog awards.
I tried to back-track through Mymagicalescape’s nominator, Pat Wood or as I like to think of her, Caress Arborea *winks*, but I couldn’t find any specific conditions listed on her blog.
Sonya mentions that the Reader Appreciation Award Foundation stipulate six nominations, so I will do that, but add in Mymagicalescape’s format and write seven things about myself first – stuff that I haven’t already said after receiving previous nominations.
.
1. I believe in Angels – just not necessarily the kind that appear in popular literature.
2. I live in the same town as Jenna Burtenshaw and have received a great deal of encouragement from her.
3. It was my wife’s tottering stack of vampire novels that compelled me to write ’A Construct of Angels’.
4. Movie soundtracks inspire my writing.
5. My ’day job’ takes me all over the UK. 75% of the time it gifts me writing opportunities that I wouldn’t otherwise enjoy.
6. Currently, my favourite writing tool is my Acer Netbook.
7. I am the closest I have ever been to publishing a book and cannot quite believe it.
.
Now, the nominations;
I’m supposed to nominate six bloggers for this Reader Appreciation award, so here are my choices;
2. Ryan Casey
3. M D Kenning
5. Carly Sarah
Oops – I can’t count. I know Candace, Sonya and Carlyysarah had already been nominated by Mymagicalescape and Pat Wood nominated her in the first place, but I love them so much, I felt compelled to repeat the nomination.
Who’s to say that I can’t? :p
Oh, oh. Yellow card approaching from the Reader Appreciation Award Foundation.
Enjoy, bask if you like, but don’t forget to spread the love!
Write on!
