Finally we have lift-off. Paperbooks (an imprint of Legend Publishing) have completed the printing and The Singer-Songwriter’s Last Stand and is out now on Amazon and should soon be stocked in stores. The accompanying CD of the same name is also listed on Amazon and other sites for download or as a hard copy. It’s been a long and arduous journey – as my friend Jimmy from singing duo Jiva (who built the website) said recently, the musical bit it is the fun part – the real work is organisational, management, selling, etc. And, unless you’re an established player with a team to back you up, all that has to be done mostly alone and unseen.

But this is just the beginning. Now we have to get news of the book and CD out there to potential customers. It’s a daunting prospect as there are hundreds, maybe thousands, of ways to do this through media sources such as magazines, newspapers, radio stations, websites, and so on – then promotional events to attend in shops, libraries, music venues, etc. It could be fun, but also hard work and with much uncertainty about the outcome.

A couple of weeks ago I attended a workshop in London’s Charing Cross Road run by my publisher on many aspects of the writing business (for business it very much should be considered, we were told). Many valuable points were made but probably the most important (assuming one has written a decent book in the first place) was simply to be as energetic as possible in promoting one’s work. What more is there to say?