Publication blog

I promised to blog about non-sekret communications with my publisher, giving you an insight (hopefully) into the process.

I can't talk about this or that or even the other, but I can mention that I'm meeting with Clive and Claire from FP next week to discuss a major publicity idea for Hal Spacejock. (My idea of having a lifesize Clunk crash all the breakfast TV shows fell on deaf ears. It seems they're already hosted by expressionless old robots, so another one barging in wouldn't raise any eyebrows.)

I can't even discuss my grand idea yet, but it involves zero cost and isn't the least bit illegal. Bound to fail, in other words.

I also have five review copies of Hal 4 sitting on a shelf above my desk. At this stage I can only send them within Australia, so if you're in any way connected with a reviews site, blog, major daily newspaper or breakfast show (creaky robotic presenters notwithstanding), please leave a comment.

I'm guessing copies will start appearing in stores mid-May, which is just four weeks away, so I don't suppose there's any harm in posting a review from early May onwards.

The other thing I got was a nice poster with nice covers of the four Hal books and my ugly mug in the corner just to even things up. It's a good poster though - nice quality - and I'm sure I can organise copies for any bookstore staff who happen to be reading this. (Three that I know of, plus the incognitos who drop by to see whether I've finally written something other than Hal. Sorry.)

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)