Let the Blog Tour Begin

Well, Rosy Hours' blog tour began today. It's the first time I've been on one of these, and I must say it's nerve-racking.

A blog tour is where your publisher sends out advanced reading copies to book bloggers, and they post their honest reviews of your work on their website. As with normal reviews, you've never met the reviewers and they have a developed sense of what they like and don't like. The difference being that their review is the only one on display. If they hate it, there's no positive reviews to even out the rating.

All you can do is sit back and wait for opinions to roll in.

Auspiciously, Rosy Hours has thirteen chapters, and thirteen blogs have signed up to review it!

Little spooky.

So far most of the advanced reviews have been good, some have been stunning, and a couple underwhelmed. It's a tricky book, firstly because it's based on a classic novel that already has a cult following, and cult followers always have a strong sense of ownership over the original characters, and secondly because it's very dark. When you send out ARCs, you don't know whether the person who is going to read it likes dark books. If they prefer RomComs and feel-good literature, they're unlikely to give it a thumbs-up.

I am nervous, of course I am. Anybody who's poured six months of typing and almost a year of pre-production angst into something is bound to hold their breath. I hope people will like it, I know some - my publisher included - already do. But I don't mind too much if it gets a few duff reviews.

I don't mind because I know it's good work. If people don't like it, it's likely to be down to the genre, or failing to meet preconceived expectations about how the characters would look or behave. It won't be because the prose are poor quality or the product looks shabby. Ghostwoods have done a truly incredible job.

This is my best foot forward.

I do read reviews of my work, though I'm selective about what I take to heart. It's always amusing to find a literary review by a reviewer with less than a rudimentary grip on grammar. It's also entertaining to see the 'Hell, no!'  reviews. People who feel strongly opposed to something, but refuse to explain why. Thankfully, I've had very few of those in my career to date.

Like any writer, I do so love to hear nice things. There's special satisfaction in knowing your characters are well developed, or that you've managed to surprise someone. Nothing worse than being a predictable writer. There's even more pleasure in reading reviewers who overcame their aversion to the darkness in order to discover that they really loved the story.

Good literature should make you feel something, whether you love it or hate it.

I rarely feel injured by anything anybody says. I'm very much in Voltaire's camp:

I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it.

I've written a few underwhelmed reviews myself in the past, though nowadays I tend to forgo comment on books I haven't enjoyed in order to focus on those I have. Somebody will love even the worst literature, so why not speak of the merits of literature strongly, that people might find what they enjoy faster?

We all have our preferences.

When it comes to criticism, if something is offered constructively, in kindness, I will listen. But, like science had proven of the teenage brain, when parental wrath opens its mouth, it falls on deaf ears. I take a very philosophical approach to reviews. For every review that states it is too dark and ugly, there are connoisseurs of dark ugliness that realise they have found what they were looking for.

Thankfully, my first ordeal by fire has passed pleasently:

I found myself at various times enchanted, revolted, horrified, relieved, exulted and most of all thankful that I’d read a book that challenged me as much as this one did.

Phew.

One down, twelve to go.

You can find the rest of that review on Broken Teepee.

If you're in the US or Canada, there's also a chance to win a free copy on that blog.

I'm off to do some press-ups (who am I kidding? I've never done press-ups in my life!) and prepare for the next round.

*quiet voice* I've been advised not to share the blog tour dates in case something ghastly gets said, but here on my blog I feel in safe company. If you would like to bite your nails alongside me, the line-up is here. Celebrations and commiserations always welcomed.

Isaro Foundation

In my other life, I work in international development. The other day I had the great pleasure of meeting a fantastic organisation based in Kigali. It's called the Isaro Foundation, and aims to promote a literary culture in Rwanda.

Their key activities include:

1. Shipping books from the United States to Rwanda.
2. Organizing reading and writing competitions and empowering Rwandan teachers through creative writing training.
3. Sponsoring young Rwandan writers who are limited by lack of means in the publication of their books.

Each year they receive around 40,000 books from America, with the support of Books for Africa. They use these books to stock local public and school libraries. Books here are really expensive in terms of average income, very much a luxury item. Although Rwanda has a relatively good literacy rate, lack of reading materials hamper the development of a literary culture, with most books being academic textbooks and few people reading fiction for pleasure. What literature there is tends to come from the international market, rather than from within Rwanda itself.

Something that completely amazed me was that they've set up an e-library. They are piloting this, with around 40 Kindles and a stock of free ebooks. Early indications show that around 70% of kids who didn't read before are now reading regularly, thanks to access to e-readers.

Some time back, I wrote a piece on this blog about the lack of ISBNs holding back local writers in developing economic countries. There's a very similar article on Isaro's website.

It was a really interesting morning and we seemed to be reading from the same page, as it were. I recently established a non-profit called Nushu to act as a UK partner for publishing and writing projects in developing countries, to help promote writing and to help publishers and authors reach international markets. 

Nushu's been quiet whilst we search for appropriate partners. Perhaps in Isaro Foundation we have found one. I'm hoping to go in this month and deliver a strategic planning workshop with them. After that, we'll see how we might be able to work together more closely.

Very excited by their enthusiasm and commitment to literature.

Musical Interlude: Crimson & Clover

Audaciously Audio

My publisher sent me this cute picture of a shelf full of ARCs (Advanced Reading Copies). Sweet gesture. Looks real nice.

Just finished listening to the epilogue of the draft audio. I mentioned a while back that Rosy Hours is being turned into an audiobook by the talented Emma Newman. I've never been an audiobook before and it's been an incredible experience.

She's been reading it in sections and Salomé at Ghostwoods and myself have been listening through, reading the text at the same time to check for consistency. It's been quite fascinating, listening to my characters speak through somebody else's voice. Usually they just live in my head.

Couldn't have conceived of this when I first signed the contract. I'm honestly blown away by the commitment and enthusiasm of the team. It's so rewarding for anybody to have their work opened up for collaboration. It brings so much more to something than you could achieve by yourself.

Now the proofing's over, any glitches get ironed out, including a couple in print which reading aloud brought to our attention. We've already had back half the finalised chapters. It's quite a different experience listening to the story without scanning the text at the same time. Feels a bit real all of a sudden.

Emma's done an excellent job - everybody has. 

Very excited to see it go on sale.

Only two weeks to go!

Out of Africa

A while ago I was in Nairobi and a friend drove me through Karen.

"Those are the Ngong Hills," she told me. "Don't you know, from Karen Blixen?" and she quoted the first line of Out of Africa.

After I left, I thought I should look into this, and picked up a copy of Blixen's short story Babette's Feast. I enjoyed it, so decided to continue on to Out of Africa. I was hesitant. I really knew nothing about it, though I've heard it talked of, mostly by film buffs, in the past. I absolutely hated Heart of Darkness, and suppose that's where my reserve stems for colonial-era Western literature. 

I'm so glad I put aside my prejudice. Yes, it was of a different era, and reference to the noble savage made me wince now and then, plus I was astounded there were any animals left in Africa after she'd shot them all, but my gods, what a writer!

I didn't get the full sense of it with Babette's Feast, because it was so short, but her narrative blew me away. Beautifully written, with such fine intertwining of truth and myth. 

Haven't read something as sad as The Grave in the Hills for a long time. When she first mentioned Denys Finch Hatton and his flying machine, the part of my brain which deals in literary plots instinctively knew that they were in love, and that it would crash. I put down the Kindle and looked up her life on Wikipedia for confirmation. 

I was in tears from that chapter until the end.

There is a quote by Jorge Luis Borges:

When writers die, they become books, which is, after all, not too bad an incarnation.

I feel this most clearly when reading Diana Wynne Jones, as her voice is so alive. I feel it again with Out of Africa, but what astounds me is that her words have provided not just immortality for herself, but for all those that she knew. People no one else would ever have written about. Names living on forever between the pages of a Penguin Classic.

There were some incredible moments of humour, of human connection, and startling sorrow amongst her prose. I really wasn't expecting to be so affected. Perhaps it's reading her in Africa that struck a chord, and having left Africa once before, crying all the way back to the UK across the English Channel. Perhaps it's just that it is extremely well written and remarkably touching.

One day, I'm sure I'll get around to her Gothic collection. For now, I've just downloaded Crome Yellow, a book by Aldous Huxley, which she mentioned having loved. I have a lot on my TBR pile at the moment, so it may be a while before I get to it, but I'm not quite ready to let go of Baroness Blixen just yet. I'd like to know her better through the things she loved to read.

Pretty Things

The incredibly talented Stephanie Piro, who did the doodle for Rosy Hours, also happens to make Phantom-inspired jewellery. This one's called Rosy Hours of Mazenderan! How gorgeous is that?

Cover Story

'To the End' by Babak Fatholahi

An absolutely fabulous article about how they made the cover for Those Rosy Hours at Mazandaran. Fascinating stuff.