Signing Events.

Mark,

How did the signing events go last weekend? Were lots of people getting the books to give as Christmas presents? :)
 
Events went well, thanks Patrick. It was busy, busy, busy in Milton Keynes. I've yet to put a proper schedule together for next year, but for those who have offered suggestions I can tell you that Waterstones HQ have given me carte blanche to go to whichever stores I want in the country next year. A lot of the suggestions will be followed up. :)

I'm a bit behind with writing Aurora (am about a third of the way through with only six weeks to the deadline - could be tough to finish on time) but I'm going to work all over Christmas to try to make sure I deliver on time. No rest for the wicked and all that! The light is shining at the end of the tunnel, though. I'm looking forwards to a bit of a break from writing next year. Some idea building time will be good.
 
Sorry to hear that you're going to be working over Christmas - but only sorry for you! :) Obviously, from the point of view of your waiting fans, the sooner you get Aurora written, the better... :D

Hope the launch of Shadow goes well too - I guess it's going to be a busy few weeks for you!
 
Hope you still have a good christmas. Fortunately, I'm still playing catch-up with your older work, but I can see a time where I'll be chomping at the bit to get new material too!

Which leads me to question time again :D

Who dictates your deadlines? Surely something like drafting and re-drafting is impossible to predict a schedule for. Or do your publishers simply take an educated guess at how long they think it'll take, and then shorten it by a couple of months? Do you ever see yourself in a position where you can turn around to your publishers and say, "it'll be done when it's done?"
 
The deadlines are written into the contract. This is the time by which you are supposed to submit the first draft. Re-writing takes as long as it takes to get the story the way the publisher wants it. If the publication schedule then has to slip to accommodate the changes, then that is what generally happens. Sometimes an author cannot re-write in a way that the publisher is happy with - this is not good(!) and can result in the book never being published.I've found my publishers to be pretty understanding when I've needed a bit of extra time, but then I work faster (and harder) than most, so they have been on my side pretty much throughout. There will never be a time when I do not have deadlines, but I should be able to negotiate more sensible ones than those I've had for this series in future.
 
cocob3an-xx said:
anything planned for Cheltenham soon? would love to see you in town. :D
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Coming to Cheltenham next month (May 09) on the final Saturday of the month. I've also booked to come to Bristol (Cribbs Causeway WH Smith) for 3 days at the end of August, which should please at least one regular visitor here! :)
 
Signing in WH Smith, Cribbs Causeway next Thursday, Friday and Saturday. If anyone is around, please do drop in and say hello. Always nice to see friendly faces at these things. :)
 
As in Thursday 27th etc. or the week after?
Whichever week it is, I'm fairly sure I'll be able to make it.
 
Will be in Oxford Waterstones on Saturday 7th November 09. David Melling will be there with me, doing one of his amazing drawings. The attached was us at Abingdon last weekend. Hoping to see lots of folk there. Do come along if you're in the area.
 

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Mark Robson said:
Will be in Oxford Waterstones on Saturday 7th November 09. David Melling will be there with me, doing one of his amazing drawings. The attached was us at Abingdon last weekend. Hoping to see lots of folk there. Do come along if you're in the area.
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How did it go, Mark? A good event? Sorry I couldn't be there: the children seem to dictate our agenda on Saturdays these days...
 
Hi, Patrick and Dwndrgn. To answer Patrick first - very well. We ran out of books and packed up about 3pm.

Dwndrgn, there are developments in my bid to cross to the US, but the step is only by association at the moment. I've recently done an event with Renaissance Learning, the US company who run the Accelerated Reader Programme in about 75 000 schools across America. They have now set up in the UK and are spreading their programme quite quickly over here. I'm going to be setting up a teleconference talk into several schools in New York in January, followed by speaking at the UK National Conference in March, where I will be introduced to a few key people in the organisation from the US. I am going to become something of an ambassador for the company into schools in the UK. The idea is to get some of my books included on the US Programme in due course, which will be a big carrot to the US publishers, as it will spread the word to roughly ten million young people across the US. Let's hope it's a big enough carrot for someone to bite at.
 
Mark,
I've got in my diary that you'll be signing books in the Waterstone's in Aylesbury this Saturday - did I get that right? If so, look forward to seeing you then! :)
 
It was great to see you in Aylesbury on Saturday, Mark - did you have a good day? Thanks for signing a copy of Firestorm for my cousin - she will now be the envy of all her bookworm friends at school, having a book with a personal dedication from the author! :)
 
It's always a pleasure to see you, Patrick. I should get copies of The Devil's Triangle at some point during the next 2 weeks. Your review copy will wing it's way to you ASAP. :)
 
Many thanks, Mark - I'm really looking forward to seeing the new book!

And just to let you know, we had a thank you note from our cousin in the post today - she's already read the copy of Firestorm that you kindly signed for her, and enjoyed it so much that she went to the shops and bought Shadow with her own money! So that's another new fan for you - Happy New Year! :)
 
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