Joseph D'Lacey signs a two book deal.

I met a guy a long time ago called Joseph D'Lacey. I was doing a signing at Borders Leicester at the time (later Borders went into liquidation) not because of me you understand.

Joseph approached and we talked. He had just signed a deal with a publisher called Bloody Books. He's a horror fiction writer and his book was called, Meat. He did a second book with the same publisher called Garbage Man. I, must admit that I haven't read any of them (what can I say, horror scares me), but the books went on to greatness. Stephen King even quoted this man as 'Joseph D'Lacey Rocks!' Things happen in recession and Bloody Books went under! This left Joseph with nothing.  His agent parted ways and he struggled to get a small publisher from the states to take on his work. I found it crazy at the time, I mean he was famous in my eyes and all his fans, but couldn't get another contract. Now things have changed.

   He recently got a fabulous agent and a publishing contract with Angry Robot. He secretly wanted to work with Angry Robot for a while and now he's signed a duology deal. The two books will be; Black Feathers (April 2013) and The Book of the Crowman, following in 2014. I am really pleased for him. He's a nice man and great author.

Keeping you up to date. I'm sort of inbetween things at the moment. I've got the new book, which is in the process of coming together. The cover art and page templates are almost done at the printers, so there's not a lot more I can do at this point. Registering the book details and so forth are being sorted.

    I did my last book-signing at the weekend at Waterstones Weston-S-Mare on Sat July 21st 2012 and, I'm not doing another until September 1st this year. I have a project which I'm waiting to hear about, one way or another, so there's nothing I can do there either.

  I have a manuscript that I was doing a couple of months ago called; House of Darke. I may well go back to that and get it into shape. I've done around 35-40,000 words on that particular story, so I think I'll take it up to the 60,000 mark and maybe get it edited. I can then send it to agents and see if I can get a publishing contract. It's a hard life when you're trying to get on as a writer.

   I like to keep my readers in the loop as to what I'm doing. Maybe I'll have some news later. I'll definitely keep you up to date. For now though, I have a bit of free time.

When I visited the Caerleon Lit Fest recently, I saw an author talk that inspired me. The man doing the talking was none other than Tim Lebbon. Horror and Dark Fantasy writer.

This guy has written around thirty novels so far and has won many awards in the process. They include: The Bram Stoker award for short fiction, British Fantasy Award for best short fiction and the Scribe Award for best adapted screen play - 2007 30 Days of Night. He's only recently been commissioned to write a new novel for Del Rey/ Star Wars books. The novel will be called Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi - Into the Void. Not just any author is asked to do something as important, as you know Star Wars; books, comics and movies are known the world over. He was kind enough to chat and give me a few pointers, on the day. I aspire to be as good as him someday.

The cover design for 'Crank Tech One: DESTRUCTION is ready, and does look really fab. The pages are being set up at the printers and will be put into a template, shaped into book pages. I'm writing the prologue as I write this. I know the launch is a while away yet, Saturday September 22nd at Waterstones Cardiff 2012, but all these things must be set in place before hand.

  The book also has to be registered with an ISBN number (a serial number specifically for that book. Like a National Insurance Number that identifies us). This puts it on a database so shops can order it. The blurb (the information on the back cover that gives a hint about the story), is also set and the price and so forth.

It is an exciting time for an author, I know, I've already produced five books, to date, but it's always special when the next comes out. I can still hope that one day all this will be done for me, when I get a publishing contract with one of the biggies. Until then though, I have to produce and distrubute the books myself. I do this in book-signings at Waterstones shops and indies (independent book shops), throughout Wales and the UK.

I've already done a seventh manuscript (the hard copy of a book before it actually becomes a book) - still needs a few tweeks,though. I'm also a third the way through book eight - House of Darke. I've also got the idea for Crank Tech One: Guardian, which will be the second book in the Crank Tech series of stand alone novels. Projects, projects, projects...I'm always working on something.

Keep watching and I'll fill you in on what's happening.

I spent a wonderful evening at the Swansea Town Hall on Wednesday July 4th 2012. I gave a talk on writing and publishing. Also I talked about how to promote a book and deal with customers in book-signings. Alan Bryant runs the writing circle and Catrin Collier is the chairman.

 David Thorpe, joined the group the same night as I did the talk. He is an award winning author of Hybrids, published by Harper Collins Childrens Books. There was a lot of fun and information bouncing around the hall. The audience enjoyed the evening and my wife and I loved it.

 Thank you to the members of the circle for making it a great night.

Tallyberrry Publishing, is my own publishing house. I self published my first series Wizards' Kingdom with Athena Press. This (author funded) publisher has since 'gone under' and I retain the software and hope to reprint in the future.

    The Curious World of Shelley Vendor, was traditionally published by North Staffordshire Press under the editorial guidance of Malcolm Henson. When it came to the sequel; The Curious World of Katie Hinge, Malcolm's finances were stretched (recession and so forth) so, what was I to do? I'd had great success with Wizards' Kingdom and now that was frozen! I had a second series that I couldn't produce with my publisher, and I was at a loss.

  My wife suggested that 'we' go alone. To be honest, I was scared. I'd always had someone else doing all the printing and setting of cover design (Derek Jones the artist though, never let me down), ISBN numbers and so on. But, it was do or die. I had by now built up a relationship with Waterstones book shops in the UK. My books were selling pretty well too.

  So, in August 2011 with the help of Glenside Printing (Glyn and Mandy and their team) Tallyberry Publishing was born. We reprinted Shelley Vendor under the Tallyberry umbrella and produced for the first time The Curious World of Katie Hinge. Since then, and at this point in time; Crank Tech One: DESTRUCTION is in the middle of production in 2012. I have sequel's and new projects on the backburner, so Tallyberry will go on. I will honestly still try and get a traditional publisher and agent in the future. That has always been my goal.