New projects

Dear All,

It has been far too long since my last post, but life has most definitely got in the way. Nothing bad, just a new day job that I'm passionate about and want to do to my best in.

So this post is titled 'New Projects' and no doubt most people would be hoping for a progress report on a sequel to Dead South. However, I'm afraid that I must disappoint you if you are.

Progress on DS2 has been incredibly slow. I've been encouraged by some to just put anything out there, just to keep people interested in Dean, Sarah, Troy and the gang but I can't do it. I'm only going to publish something that I'm truly happy with. I'm not going to let a less than perfect sequel devalue the original.

So I've decided to take a break from that world and write a different story in a different genre. I'm hoping that the break/ change of pace will reinvigorate me to continue Dean's adventures soon.

I'm sure that you understand my reasoning and I hope to be able to update you on my new story soon.

All the best

Dave

Winners of Dead South Retweet Competition

Dear All

Last Sunday saw my week long Twitter retweet prize draw competition come to an end. The prizes were 3 signed copies of Dead South.

In the week long competition my tweets were retwewted 125 times by 44 people. These retweets were posted to over 5000 people so I've been very happy with it. 

Please see the below video showing the prize draw in all its glory and congratulations to the 3 winners:

1. Zombie Response Authority (USA) 

2. Nadir Farrel (UK)

3. Greenwich Hour (UK)

Stay posted for more competitions.

Until next time.

David 

Signed Dead South Paperback Retweet Prize Draw Terms & Conditions

Signed Dead South Paperback Retweet Prize Draw


Dear All,

Below are the terms and conditions for the Retweet Prize Draw.

David

Terms & Conditions

• This prize draw is open to anybody in the world aged 14 and above excluding anyone who is connected with the administration of this prize draw.
• Access to the internet is required. Entry is online only. Entrants must have an active Twitter account, follow the Twitter profile @dbrinsonauthor and retweet any promotional tweet from the Twitter profile @dbrinsonauthor containing the hashtag #deadsouth between 10pm on the 23rd May 2015 and 6pm on the 31st May 2015 (the "Promotional Period") to be entered. There will be multiple tweets containing #deadsouth shared from the @dbrinsonauthor Twitter account during the Promotional Period. Entrants need to follow and retweet one of these to be entered into the draw. No purchase necessary to enter this prize draw.
• The Promoter will not be liable for entries which are not received or which are incomplete, corrupt or delayed for any reason. Proof of transmission will not be accepted as proof of receipt.
• Only entries meeting the criteria outlined in paragraph 2 above which are received within the Promotional Period will be entered into a prize draw. Any retweets made outside of the Promotional Period will not be entered into the prize draw.
• Three prize winners will be picked at random from a random selection process. Entrants cannot win twice.
• Entries are not limited. Each retweet will result in an a prixe draw entry for that Twitter profile. Entrants are discouraged from creating multiple Twitter accounts for the purposes of entering the prize draw. Any entrant found to have done so may be excluded at the discretion of the Promoter.
• The prize is a signed copy of the Dead South paperback worth £8.99, and there are 3 prizes to be won (one per winner). The prize must be accepted as offered, it cannot be transferred, sold or exchanged. There is no cash alternative.
• The winners will be notified on Twitter by direct message (using the Twitter profile ID used by the winner at point of entry) by 2nd June 2015 and will be required to respond to the direct message in order to accept the prize and provide their postal address before the prize can be delivered. The Promoter accepts no responsibility for any incomplete or incorrect postal address provided. Email is not a secure method of communication and any such transmission is sent at the sender’s own risk.
• The name and country of residence of each winner will be posted on the David Brinson Author Blog (davidbrinson.blogspot.com blog) no later than 6 weeks after the end of the competition.
• In the event that contact cannot be made with the winner by 10th June 2015 23:59pm or a full address is not provided, then the original winner will forfeit the prize and a new winner will be selected in the same process under these terms and conditions.
• Each winner should allow 28 days from notification of winning for delivery of the prize. The Promoter accepts no responsibility for the prize being lost or delayed in the post or for and additional costs incurred for re-postage. Prizes will be delivered worldwide (postage included).
• The Promoter reserves the right to substitute the prize for one of equal or greater value in the event of unavailability.
• Multiple entries or entries that are deemed by the Promoter to be offensive or to constitute spam may be disqualified at the discretion of the Promoter. The Promoter also reserves the right to disqualify from the prize draw any entrant suspected of fraud or cheating including, without limitation, through the manipulation of codes, multiple computer generated entries, or otherwise fraudulently falsifying data or acting fraudulently or dishonestly in the opinion of the Promoter.
• The Promoter will not be liable for system failures, network errors, errors or unavailability to the Twitter website, or the entrant's Twitter account, hacks on the system or personal computer/mobile device issues.
• The Promoter reserves the right at its absolute discretion to cancel this prize draw without prior notice and without liability in the event of circumstances that make it necessary to do so.
• The Promoter’s decision is final in every situation (including any not covered by these terms and conditions) and no correspondence will be entered into.
• This prize draw is not sponsored, endorsed or administered by or associated with Twitter and Twitter shall not be liable for any breach of these terms and conditions. The entrant is providing information to the Promoter and not to Twitter.
• By entering this prize draw the entrant agrees that the Promoter may use their name and their photo (obtained from the entrant’s Twitter account) for promotional purposes, including on the Promoter's website, social media, blog or within promotional emails. The winners may be required to take part in publicity accompanying or resulting from the prize draw. No compensation shall be awarded for such participation.
• The Promoter may collect personal information from entrants under the Data Protection Act 1998 and other applicable data privacy laws. Unless the entrant has expressly consented to the use of their personal information for future marketing purposes or if the entrant is selected as the winner, the entrant's personal information will be used by the Promoter for the purposes of the administration of this prize draw only.
• Entry to this prize draw shall constitute the entrant's acceptance of these terms and conditions and agreement to be bound by them. These terms and conditions take effect immediately upon entry to the prize draw. If these terms and conditions are not accepted in full, then the entrant should not enter this prize draw.
• The Promoter reserves the right to amend these terms and conditions at any time. Revised terms and conditions will be available on the Promoter's Twitter feed.
• The prize draw and the terms and conditions are governed by the law of England and Wales.
PROMOTER: David Brinson @dbrinsonauthor

Writing on the move

Dear All

I must apologise for the delay in writing this post. It has been far too long.

I just started a new job 4 weeks ago - and because of it, I haven't done any writing at all and Dead South 2 is gathering cyber dust in the cloud. I'm travelling an extra 1.45 hours a day and I'm exhausted. That is a lot of time traveling and it is for all intents and purposes essentially being wasted. I'll usually just sit there reading about the 2015 election, playing flick cricket or reading a book. (In fairness to me reading isn't a waste of time. But I'm not doing enough of that too.)

Today is the 30th April and I'm again just sitting on the bus doing nothing. Then bang. I just asked myself if it was possible to write something meaningful and substantial on the road? Even as I get thrown around in my seat on the top deck?

So this is a little experiment and you know what?

I actually think it is. And if you think this post has been readable than I'd hope you'd agree too!

Perhaps the scores of minutes spent on the bus every week is the time that I can dedicate to writing; no more than that, this is definitely the time I should dedicate to writing.

And that is the point of this post. A writer should take every opportunity to write. Technology has made it possible - smart phones and tablets are incredible and they can make us more productive. I wouldn't have been able to use a typewriter whilst going from North Greenwich to Eltham but an iPhone, not a problem.

So you guys are my witness to this pledge. I'm going to use the bus to start writing again. Hey it might not be perfect, but it's certainly better than nothing!

I'll keep you updated on my progress.

Until next time,

David

Dead South Paperback For Sale on Amazon.... Finally!

Dear All,

The title of the post says it all really; the Dead South paperback is now on sale across all of the Amazon websites worldwide. It is £8.99 on Amazon UK and $13.70 on Amazon USA.

I wrote about the challenges of publishing a paperback last time round and to be honest this post is more of a pat on the back for myself for getting it done than anything else!

Here is the book in all of its glory in the below picture.

So not only that... Day 1 sales were so good that the book made it into the Top 10 of books on amazon.co.uk in the Zombies, Werewolves and Vampires Best Seller List. So happy days!!

Fingers crossed it will continue to be a success over the weeks and months.

Until next time,

David

Going from digital to paper...

Dear Everyone,

Over the past few months I've been in the process of getting Dead South published in print. You'd be forgiven for thinking that because I have a digital file that it'd be easy; but it really isn't! You need the manuscript to be formatted for print, you need new artwork, you've got to wait for the hard copy to be delivered and then you've got to proof it all.

The artwork, although time consuming, was actually pretty easy to get done. I used James from GoOnWrite.com again, and again he came up with the goods. He kept the original eBook cover and expanded on the rest of it.

Next up was formatting the manuscript. This was not a simple process. There are so many things that you need to do right to make sure that the book has a professional feel. Microsoft Word is great to write in, but not very user friendly when it comes to doing more complicated formatting. In the end I got it professionally done, via Create Space. The service cost $199 which is pricey, but it ensures that the book has a professional look.

After you've chosen what colour paper you want the book printed on (white or cream) and what finish you want the cover to be (glossy or matte) your proof will be sent out to you. These options are where I made my first boob. I chose white paper with a glossy finish and whilst the book was excellent quality, it looked a little bit like a text book. So, I've swapped it all around and have chosen cream paper with a matte finish. And I am pretty chuffed with how that looks.

The most difficult part of this process was the final proof read of the manuscript. You might think that it would be a waste of time to do so, considering that I've read it on numerous occasions and paid for it to be professionally proof read. But it really wasn't!

The book has been available in digital format for nearly 4 months and I'd removed a handful of errors that a few eagle eyed friends had found for me. So, I was pretty certain that the manuscript was going to be error free. Well it wasn't. I found 3 pretty annoying ones. One case of poor grammar and two cases of missing words. I have since amended the eBook and I have also submitted my changes to Create Space. However, this is not a free service and has cost me an additional $79. I could have left them there, but I wanted this book to be as close to perfect as possible.

I am now awaiting my final, final proof from Create Space. If it is ok, I'm hoping that the book can come out the week after Easter. That may be a stretch, but it will definitely be out by mid-April.

When it's out you guys will be the first to know!

Until next time,

David

Social Etiquette

Dear All,

Following on from my last guest post by Skid (@SkidsGig) from skidsgig.weebly.com,  I have the pleasure in introducing you to the author and blogger Amie Ryan (@AisforAmie).

Amie is an American author who examines American culture. Amie frequently addresses the theme of how people communicate with each other and her blog post today examines the differences between Americans and the British. 

I have already downloaded her essay collection, Green Shoes Mean I Love You, and am looking forward to reading it. I implore you all to do the same via Amazon.

Check out Amie's blog: seattleamieryan.blogspot.com

Until next time.

David

***

Greetings, all, and thank you to Mr.Brinson for allowing me to say hello. My name is Amie Ryan and I write essay collections about American culture. This post comes all the way from the rainy city of Seattle!

I often write about the way people communicate and today my thoughts are on the very different way Yanks and Brits express opinions.

I'm speaking of Constructive Criticism. I wonder, do Brits feel the same spine shiver when they read those words? In America we volunteer our opinions 24 hrs a day. Actual knowledge of the issue at hand is never a requirement. In fact, often the least informed have the quickest (and loudest) things to say.

All too often we phrase our observations with "You should" or "You need to" or "You have to", as if we are the experts of the world. We force our views on friends and strangers alike: how others should look, how they should raise their children, whether they should divorce their spouse and how they ought to be making that sandwich.

This is not Constructive Criticism. It's DEstructive criticism. And it's usually voiced in a loud monotone, command-style, so that the already often hurtful statements sound even worse.

When confronted with what feels like a verbal attack, the listener feels upset and defensive. It instantly becomes a me vs. you battle, with one person right and one wrong. Even if the advice is good, it isn't heard: the hurt gets in the way.

The British seem to do the remarkable act of sometimes keeping their thoughts to themselves. You who gave us The Beatles, oh how I wish you could give us this also. Even when a Brit is required to give advice, it's often phrased "I wonder if you might.." or "Perhaps one way to go would be.."

This is marvelous, not just because it's kind and respectful but because it makes the listener feel as if the two of them are a team. Instead of feeling upset or defensive, the listener is interested and may readily agree about the idea. In fact, he or she may feel HAPPY because the person has helped them.

Construction should mean helping to build things, something Brits seem to already know and something Yanks might do well to remember.

I hope you'll visit me at amazon.com/author/amieryan and thank you for letting me say a hello from across the pond.

Enjoy more from Amie at seattleamieryan.blogspot.com and follow her on twitter @AisforAmie