http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/simpleSearch.do?simpleSearchString=trucking+hell&searchType=0&Image1.x=0&Image1.y=0

http://www.whsmith.co.uk/CatalogAndSearch/ProductDetails-Trucking+Hell+-9781409258575.html


Woot!

Hmm...Monday Book offices open at 9am...I had the rejection email back bu 22 minutes past...

Right...I may have done a bad thing, but...
Friday Project didn't publish is...lets see if Monday Books will...I just sent them The First Chapter and the foreword ...

Well, what's the worst that could happen?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_ss_b?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=gaz+Hunter+trucking+hell&x=0&y=0

It is not current;ly available, but hopefully shortly...

...for the ISBN to show up on any online book seller *at all* other than Lulu...it should show up very shortly, as Lulu say 6 weeks from publication to distribution.

Until then...it appears to have died a death, sales-wise, with a grand total of 14. Three of which I have...

Finally got my *final proof* copy today...the book is smaller than the pre-proof copy I got yesterday, but it is nice and shiny, and real, and in the back are the acknowledgements, and it is *mine* and I did it, and I clicked on *accept* on the Lulu website. And two things happened. Firstly it is ging to be available in Amazon.com within 6 weeks, with real, physical copies being made available to retailers (so go ask your local book stall for a copy! get them to stock it!) and the other, rather annoying thing that happened is that the price promptly went up to £11.50.

£11.50? This is not what I wanted! Apparently though, the fact that retailers and wholesalers have to buy it at a discount to get their money means the price has to be set there for Lulu to make anything. Lucky them. I;m not making a penny out of it! Imagine the price if I had been!

So...I am sorry, if you think that eleven and a half quid for an amateur book is too much, well, frankly I don't blame you...

*I'll tell you what,* I thought,*I've cracked the 100 barrier...I said that when I sold 100 books I would call myself an author. And I have. So...what I will do is, I will set Trucking Hell up with an ISBN and sell it via Amazon and such. Yes! What could be easier?*

Well, slamming a revolving door, for a start.

See, to do the *Published by Lulu* thing, which gets you an ISBN, you have to re-do the entire book...which is fine, as it meant I cold use the very final update and edit, so it is really polished (Thanks Suzi, Random, Kim et al who did the final proofread)

And, having got the files up, the book size (and price) down[1], and Lulu having given me an ISBN...it crashed. Spectacularly splattering files over seven dimensions, none of which I occupied.[2]

Luckily I had kept back-up files.

Upload. *Crash!* Nooooooooooooo!


It took me five attempts. FIVE! Every time it tried to set a *Shop* price...*Kaboom!*

So...finally...just after midnight, Bowen T Hunter managed to get Trucking Hell on Lulu

Which means that the first ten people to buy it have a remarkable rare pre-okay copy, but it is, I hope, of the same standard as the finished article.
Those who buy it after midnight last night will get the final draft (I hope, barring any massively obvious cock-ups), and for that I thank you all.

Best wishes.

Bowen T (now Gaz) Hunter. Author! :) [3]


[1] Only way I could do this, of course, was to set *Writer Revenue* to £0. Needs must, however...the book has to get out there...I've put too much of myself in to it to let it fall on its arse!

[2] At one stage it said *Done* and offered me the chance to download a proof copy. Normally I don't, as I trust Lulu, but this time I did. And boy, am I glad...the opening chapter had every third line reversed, and every single page...every single one, was in a different typeface.

[3] Special, oh so very special. thanks go to Caroline Smailes, my editor, friend, shoulder to cry on, all round good egg, and owner of this website!

...is now available on Lulu.

Hee :)

Seems I am already 12th from top in the *True Life* section of the website, in less than 24 hours :)

And people I don't know are commenting on it favourably!

Nothing ventured...I have just uploaded Trucking Hell to the Harper Collins website


http://www.authonomy.com/ReadBook.aspx?bookid=2919&chapterid=23871#chapter

Currently 11 chapters, I will be putting more up over the next few days...

Please read, if you so wish, and comment ditto :)