Author: John Barlow

John Barlow writes both fiction and non-fiction, publishes occasional food journalism and also works as a ghost-writer. In addition, he is a translator, and has a side-line in eBooks for language learning. His John Ray / LS9 crime thriller series is currently exclusive to Amazon. If you'd like a review copy of The Communion of Saints, please contact John through his website.

Publishers Launch

ISLANDERS by John BarlowA traditional book launch, at least in my experience, is a pretty nerve-wracking affair. You wait to hear whether the pre-publication orders are good, and a week or two prior to the launch itself you get the Publishers Weekly and Kirkus reviews. If you’re lucky you also get some early reviews in newspapers and magazines. For most books, that’s probably the high-point. Because few books gain any real traction immediately after their release, although of course this is exactly what is needed if your book is to remain on the shelves of bookstores for more than a month or two.

[ANECDOTE. When my first book was out in the UK, a beautiful hard back, my partner went into a large branch of Waterstones in London and asked for it. ‘Oh, yes,’ the guy said, ‘we have it in the storeroom. We didn’t think it was going to sell, so we didn’t put it out.’ This was on the very day of its launch.] Continue reading “Publishers Launch”

Bilingual eBooks

Bilingual-ebooksYears ago, when I was learning Spanish, I used to read a book of Spanish short stories published by Penguin. Twenty-odd years later, it’s still in print.

All the stories in it are by great Spanish writers. But that’s not why I read them; apart from anything else, my Spanish in those days was nowhere near good enough to appreciate their literary quality.

I read them because they came with parallel translations in English; Spanish on the left page, English on the right. In theory you could read a line in the original then jump across to the English version and check how you were doing. Even if you don’t like jumping, you always have the translation to see how you’re doing.

I still have the book, and I still read it occasionally. There’s something reassuring about having a full translation at your fingertips when you read in a foreign language, the idea that you won’t be left stranded if a tricky verb construction simply defeats you at a key moment in the story, ruining everything. These days parallel bilingual books for kids are pretty common, but not so much for adults. Continue reading “Bilingual eBooks”

Retro-sausage

Author John Barlow
Author John Barlow

I am sitting in a tent in the Yorkshire Dales. Even when it’s not raining (and it generally is) there’s enough damp in the air to leave a fine dew on the surface of your clothes. Sometimes the sun does come out, but it never seems to stay around for very long. This is what vacations are all about, breaking free from the routine to do something less pleasant and comfortable instead. And in our case, it also involves sleeping in nylon bags that have defective zips, and being awoken ridiculously early each morning by a bird whose stage name is, I’m pretty sure, Cocky the loud-as-@#%& cockerel.

Not that I’m complaining. Because over the course of a camping trip that’s taken us from NW Spain all the way to northern England, via France, I have made a small but significant discovery. E-books are no good in a tent. If you want a convincing argument in favor of the long-term survival of paper books, especially paperbacks, invest in a tent, borrow a couple of kids, fill the car with the myriad necessities for three weeks on the road, then toss in your Kindle Fire. You’ll wish you hadn’t. Continue reading “Retro-sausage”

Trad. vs Indie, a Personal View – Encore

Author John Barlow
Author John Barlow

[John’s on hiatus, so let’s revisit his post which started it all. Enjoy. – The Editors.]

I’ve been lucky as an author. Without ever making it onto the bestseller lists, I’ve managed to keep going as a free-lance writer since I quit my day job in 2004. Work as a journalist and ghost-writer has helped to make ends meet, but writing books for traditional publishers has been the main focus of my energy.

However, I recently began to ask myself whether it still made sense for a mid-lister like me to keep chasing traditional book deals as part of the professional mix of a free-lancer? As the indie revolution gains momentum, more and more writers are thinking of jumping ship. Last year I indie-published a humorous novel to test the water, using a pseudonym. The experience was strangely enjoyable, so with my latest serious work of fiction, a crime mystery, I’ve gone totally Kindle (and Kobo etc.). Here are a few thoughts on my experiences on my trad-to-indie switch. Continue reading “Trad. vs Indie, a Personal View – Encore”