Just Words

Announcing the publication of 'Just Words', a collection of writing by the Headington Writers' Group, of which I am proud to be a member. All profits from the book will go to Reading Quest, a local charity. You can find out more about them at http://www.readingquest.org.uk/

Octogenarian Ski-jumper reviewed

I'd like to express my great appreciation to Kate Kasserman of Booksquawk, who has posted a review of The Octogenarian Ski-jumper. You can find the review here - and while you're there, check out the best website for book reviews!

I'm a featured author!

In a previous post I put in a link to the excellent bookbuzzr widget which I've used to put in sample chapters - ages 20-69 can be found at http://www.freado.com/users/books/3780/martin-mcgovern. I'd also like to thank Vikram Narayan at www.freado.com, since I am now a featured author on that site!

Bookbuzzr chapters being uploaded

I've had a lot of feedback saying how pretty the bookbuzzr chapters are. It doesn't display very well on the sidebar of this page, but you may have already checked out the full screen version at http://www.freado.com/read/4806/The-Octogenarian-Ski-jumper. But the biggest criticism was that it only contained an arbitrary subset of chapters. To rectify this, I'm now in the process of uploading many more individual chapters at http://www.freado.com/users/books/3780/Martin-McGovern . Happy reading!

Now available in bookshops

It's been a long journey, but The Octogenarian Ski-jumper is now listed at online retailers! If you'd like to buy a copy The link to Amazon US is here and the link to Amazon UK is here.
Of course, Amazon isn't the only place you can buy it: the book is also available at Blackwells (UK) ,
WH Smith (UK) , Amazon Canada, and Booktopia (Australia) .

Researching ebook directories

I've been researching ebook directories, and where appropriate, putting my free sample of 'The Octogenarian Ski-jumper' on them. I thought others may find this information useful.
http://www.elibrary.net/ - fairly straightforward to register. Requires a reciprocal link.
http://www.ecourseweb.com/ - despite the name, does have a section for ebooks as well.
http://www.ebooks4free.net/ - as the name suggests, you can't charge for your ebook if you list it here. And I had to upload my book using Word - it failed to take my pdf twice. The site is very primitive looking.
http://www.free-ebooks.net/ - professional looking site - requires you to pay USD 19.97 to upload your book.
http://www.ebookheaven.co.uk/ - I didn't look at this, since it only lists fantasy and sci-fi.
http://www.ebookjungle.com/- requires an image, not just a reciprocal link, from your site to theirs, and warns that 'it may be a long time before your submission appears, if ever'. which doesn't seem an incentive for an author to load anything.
http://www.ebookdirectory.com/ - advertises 'how to get rich quick' books, which doesn't fill me with confidence.
wisdomebooks.com - has no searchability; just a flat listing, and doesn't even display covers. You can pay extra and get your book in bold.
http://www.ebookslibrary.com/ - looks moribund - many categories don't have any books in at all, and very few books have been added in the last year or so.
Jogeena's - ok I spelled that one incorrectly - it only has one e - but I did list on their site, posted a reciprocal link, and a week later my book wasn't on their site. I don't want to add to the number of matches they have.
http://www.myebookcenter.net/ and http://www.onlineebookdirectory.com/ both appear to be defunct.

Free e-day tomorrow

Just a reminder that tomorrow, 1 December 2009, is Free e-day - the celebration of free writing, art and music on the internet. Details of the participating writers, artists and musicians, and details of the events, both physical and virtual, can be found at http://freeeday.wordpress.com

See you there!

A second retail outlet

I am delighted to announce that Albion Beatnik, Oxford's trendiest bookshop, situated in Walton Street, Jericho, is now stocking 'The Octogenarian Ski-jumper'. Many thanks to Dennis Harrison of Albion Beatnik!

First retail outlet signs up!

I am delighted to announce that The Octogenarian Ski-jumper is now stocked at Daisy Chain, the greeting card shop in Windmill Road, Headington. Many thanks to Louise Ryan of Daisy Chain!

About Free-e-day brochure November 1st by Dan Holloway-fReado

About Free-e-day brochure November 1st by Dan Holloway-fReado

New website for book reviews

If you like books, you'll love www.booksquawk.com. It's a website run by professional writers, and offers daily book reviews. It's less than a week old - you heard it here first. Maybe.

At last

The Octogenarian Ski-jumper has now been published. It's been a long time coming, but I took delivery of the first copy earlier this week. The book is now available through the publishing company, and can be purchased by clicking here. It will take several weeks for it to be available through the likes of Amazon and WH Smith, but I will update this site when it starts to show up.
If you aren't sure, feel free to download some of the sample chapters for free by clicking on the links to the right. And if you like what you read, I'd be delighted if you forward the downloads to others you think would enjoy them.

Planning ahead - paying tax in the right country

I am a UK citizen and resident. However, I intend to sell The Octogenarian Ski-jumper in the USA as well. And lulu (and, I assume, other US-based organisations) have to withhold tax on US sales at 30%. There is, however, a way to get your US-sale royalties paid without this deduction of tax (didn't somebody once say 'no taxation without representation'?) In this post I describe what I did to achieve this. I should preface it by saying that I am not an accountant or tax adviser - I'm just recording what I did.
The steps are (1) get an International Tax Identification Number (ITIN) from the IRS (the US government's tax department), and then (2) record that information with lulu. The first step requires the completion of the W-7 form, and the second step requires completion of a W8-BEN form. Both forms can be downloaded from the IRS website at www.irs.gov.
the W8-BEN form is pretty straightforward. The W-7 has boxes to complete which vary from the trivial (you do know your name and address, don't you) to the arcane. And there are lots of stories on the internet of people submitting forms only to have them rejected three months later.
I am fortunate in that I live within striking distance of London, and there is an IRS office at the US Embassy. I opted for this route since the instructions on how to get an ITIN by post require not only the form but also either the submission of your passport, or notarised copies of various documents. I tried really hard to understand these instructions, and didn't get anywhere - if you have to follow this route, I recommend telephoning the IRS to determine precisely how to get the acceptable copies of your passport or other information.
Anyway, to the W-7 form itself.

1. For most lulu authors for whom this is relevant, you are trying to get an ITIN so that you can avoid the 30% withholding tax on US sales. I was, so I was concerned about withholding tax on royalties. Therefore, I checked boxes A and H in section 1. Next to H I wrote 'Exception 1d-royalties'. My treaty country is 'United Kingdom', rather than 'England' or 'Scotland', for example.
2. For the treaty article number - I wrote 12 for royalties. You can read the actual text of the treaty at http://www.treas.gov/offices/tax-policy/library/uktreaty.pdf, and there is a summary of treaties between the US and other governments which can be found at http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p901.pdf. Table 1 in this document (on p39 in the 2009 edition) indicates that column 12, and therefore number 12 applies for royalties.
3. The form's written instructions do tell you to write 'N/A' for 'not applicable', rather than leaving any boxes blank.
4. I used by passport for ID - I asked what I should put for 'Issued by' and was told that 'UK' was fine.
5. If you are going to the office in person as I did, you will need ID (e.g. a UK passport), and you should NOT bring anything electronic (so no mobile phone, no iPod - I was even asked if I had electronic car keys). Leave stuff like that at home - you don't want to be turned away and have to make another trip.
6. I had to queue up in the 'Citizen Services' queue at the US embassy in London in order to get into the IRS office.

I was told that it would take about three months to get the ITIN.

Two items

In my previous post I noted that I had had contact with a new small press. For a variety of reasons, things don't appear to be progressing, so I have been re-evaluating the lulu route. The most significant change is one of cost, due to nothing more than the exchange rate - essentially, pound sterling has slipped against the US dollar, making a book published from within the UK a much more attractive proposition. Lulu.com have also changed their publishing options to some degree.
So I'm currently waiting for the first proof copy of 'The Octogenarian Ski-jumper', and hope that it will beat the postal strike. If that's fine, this book could be available publicly very soon!

The second item is that 'The Octogenarian Ski-jumper' will be featuring in the free e-day initiative. This takes place on 1 December, and details of it can be found at http://freeeday.wordpress.com/. This is an online 'carnival of independent culture', all available for free. Check it out.

Back from the summer break

After a pleasant summer, back to the grind. As the posts earlier in the summer indicated, the investigations with lulu.com weren't really what I'd hoped for. I don't have any problems with the process, and I hope that my experiences are of benefit to some of you. But in my view, the cost per copy probably isn't justifiable.
But I have been in contact with a small press, and there's a possibility of publication via that route. There are still discussions under way, so I won't write more for now, but I'm hopeful that something will come of this.

Four months on - the reckoning

I've had a few weeks away from the blog, but wanted to summarise my results for the appearance of the test book, which was uploaded to the lulu.com site in February 2009. the lulu.com site says that a book published should be available through main bookseller websites in the 2-3 month timeframe.
I have been periodically checking a number of websites, and list below whether the test book has appeared on them:

• 
  amazon.com Yes
• amazon.co.uk yes
• amazon.ca yes
• barnesandnoble.com no
• whsmith.co.uk yes
• waterstones.com yes
• blackwell.co.uk no
• borders.com no
• borders.co.uk no

A google search on the title had six hits - amazon.com, amazon.co.jp, along with two lulu.com hits and two reseller sites - one American and one Japanese.
Given the amount of time that has elapsed since the test book was posted on lulu.com, and the claims on that site, I find it hard to believe that any of the sites on which the test book isn't listed are actually going to list it. I think this may be an important lesson for those considering lulu.com - it's true that Amazon in all its international glory is the biggest bookseller in the world, but it does look like the other sites DON'T list all books as standard.

The trial book appears on a wider range of web sites

More progress on the ‘trial run’ showing up on various booksellers’ sites on the internet. Clearly this is important since any book published by lulu but with an ISBN is going to be sold primarily through the main bookseller sites.
The story so far was that the trial run book showed up on amazon.com a couple of weeks ago – I even had time to go through the ‘search inside’ process and have that show up on amazon.com. but there was nothing on any other site.
I am happy to report that this has now changed. The trial run book is now appearing on amazon.co.uk, amazon.ca, amazon.co.jp (big in Japan!), and also on whsmith.co.uk. It does not yet show up on barnesandnoble.com, waterstones.com or borders.com or borders.co.uk.
It’s probably also worth noting other items: the publication date is listed on amazon.com as 8 February, and on the other sites on which it appears as 13 March. This probably says more about the publishing cycle than anything else. Also, the amazon.com site has listed the book as ‘in stock’ since it first appeared; the amazon.co.uk says ‘temporarily out of stock’; the whsmith.co.uk site says ‘available in four or more weeks’, and the amazon.ca site says ‘currently unavailable’. I don’t think there’s a way within lulu.com to influence any of these things. With respect to the sites that don’t list the trial book, I think I just have to keep checking.

Two items of news

The first item is that Search inside took about two days after last week's post to appear on www.amazon.com. However, I am still waiting to find the title I put through lulu.com on *any* other bookselling website. I'm keeping regular tabs on www.amazon.co.uk, www.barnesandnoble.com, www.blackwell.co.uk, and www.waterstones.com (a UK site, despite the .com suffix). The title I posted hasn't shown up on any of them yet. I regard this as quite a serious shortcoming, since lulu.com claim that the book will be listed on a variety of sites. It may just be a matter of patience, of course...

The second item of news is that I've seen a landmark in print-on-demand - one which may change the direction I go. Blackwells bookshop in London's Charing Cross Road now have an 'Expresso Book Machine', which can print a book on demand for purchase. The day when we can browse an on-line catalogue in the shop and have the book printed just got a lot closer.

You can check it out at http://bookshop.blackwell.co.uk/jsp/editorial/browse/espresso.jsp

How to – turn on ‘Search Inside’ for a book listed on Amazon.com that you’ve written

1. First find the link. Scroll down to the bottom of the www.amazon.com home page, and click on the link that says ‘Self-publish with us’.
2. On the left-hand side, click on ‘Search Inside!’
3. At the bottom of the page, click ‘Sign up now’.
4. Note that the next page is a legal one – I am not a lawyer and this blog does not give legal advice. But the key point is that you must be the exclusive rights holder – you mustn’t do this for someone else. This is the page where you specify what book or books you are turning this on for.
5. Most of the fields are self-explanatory. Note that you can use either the 10-digit or 13-digit ISBN, but you shouldn’t include dashes – which is odd because on the Amazon.com page for your book, you will notice that the 13-digit ISBN has a dash after the first three digits.
6. After that, you’ll see a page which asks you to email Amazon, so that an upload account can be set up. You will use this account to upload a PDF with your book in it – since in our scenario you are self-publishing, you should have already prepared such a PDF.
7. You will receive two emails – mine came within about an hour of the completion of the previous steps. The first has a URL to Seller Central, and gets you to create a Seller account. At the end of the process, it provides you with a confirmation code. The wording in the email is slightly strange – step 4 says ‘Tell me your confirmation code’, but it doesn’t indicate how. The page with the confirmation code on it is no more forthcoming – it says ‘Please give this code to the user that invited you to Seller Central so your registration can be completed.’ What you have to do is email the confirmation code to the sender of the first email.
8. Within five minutes or so, I got a third email telling me that I had access to https://sellercentral.amazon.com. Seller Central requires either ONE PDF, including the cover and the text; or ONE zip file, containing a variety of files including jpg files for the frontcover, back cover, and spine. The full details are in the attachment to the second email. The minimum you need to provide is the full text as it is in the printed book, and the front cover.
9. Once you have uploaded the information, you will receive a submissionID, which you are advised to retain. Mine is 1241682544117.
10. The cover showed up a couple of days later, but the appearance of the ‘Search Inside’ logo on it has not appeared at the time I write this post.

Consistency

Last week the subject of my post was proofreading. This week I'm addressing an important sub-category. "Everything else is irrelevant. What matters is consistency", as the logicians say. I find it interesting that a moderate glance though the history of mathematics leads me to deduce that more logicians went mad than any other type of mathematician?
Anyway, what do I mean by consistency? For my book, it was very important to have consistency of style. To consider just two examples, use of italics, and capitalisation should be the same throughout the book.
With respect to italics, I confined their use to the names of particular planes, trains, ships and cars, and the names of newspapers and magazines. As part of my proofreading, I did a special pass through the book looking for these - since my book often refers either to the foundation of publications, or newspaper reports, and to achievements related to transport, there were a lot of references to track down and italicise.
Capitalisation was even more of a problem. Since my book deals with achievements of people, and I have tried to cover all spheres of human achievement, I refer to political leaders frequently. Should I capitalise 'President' or 'Prime Minister'? I decided against, except where the term immediately precedes the name of the office holder - in the USA, 'President' can be a title, but in the UK, 'Prime Minister' isn't. Overall, I found myself taking out a lot of capitals, and not only is the style more consistent, and more correct, but also more readable. The book has many more capitals than one would typically find in a modern novel, since there are lots of names of individuals, and also names of books and films which require capitals anyway.