Latest project - Leah and the Football Dragons

I've been collaborating on a new project to get this children's story published as an ebook. I designed the cover, formatted to book and wrote the blurb. Paul Mullins did the hard work and wrote the book! It is a fun story written from the heart:

Here is the blurb:

There are all kinds of dragons. There are successful dragons who always win and sit on their piles of gold. And then there are the Deadtail Dragons, a boys football team who know only of defeat. 

There is only one talented footballer who can change the fortunes of the Deadtail Dragons. And there is just one problem. That footballer is a girl. 

How can Leah win when her local football teams only accept boys? How can she succeed when they tell her that ‘Girls can’t play football’? 

Taking her own destiny in her hands Leah comes up with a bold plan to both fulfil her sporting dreams and help the Deadtail Dragons to fly. 

Written by football reporter Paul Mullins, Leah and the Football Dragons is a story for children aged 8 upwards.

A lot of the ebook was effectively crowdsourced - we let other people decide on the best cover and title.

So well done Paul on your first published tale.

If you get the time, check out the book on Amazon: Leah and the Football Dragons.

Freelance Writer - Nick White Writing

Today I’m setting up my freelance writing business. So this is the launch of Nick White Writing. What has largely been a hobby should, from here on, be a comprehensive writing service.

Back in the noughties I was a freelance journalist for a while so I have an idea of what to expect. I also have the professional training, experience and qualifications. I retrained recently to update my skills for online work.

My specialties are going to be the things I have in-depth knowledge about, which are:

•          Spirituality, faith and Christianity
•          Writing itself (most fields/genres)
•           Mental health
•           eBook publishing

Along with these subjects I also have good knowledge of computing (including retro gaming), folk-lore, poetry, guinea pigs, cats, politics, current affairs, revivals/awakenings, psychology, eschatology (end-times) and musicals (especially Sondheim). I’m not sure there is currently much of a market for eschatology, Sondheim and revivals/awakenings – but someone has got to know about these things!

I’m also planning to expand my knowledge-base with further research.

So, if you, or anyone you know needs any copywriting, proof-reading or editing done for websites, books, newsletters or anything else then please consider using my skills. I can also help with eBook publishing if you are writing a book.

More information on my website soon (www.nickwhitewriting.com).

Watch this space.

Compliance is Futile

We live in an instant world and suddenly the world of publishing seems to be relatively instant too. I made my first venture into the world of self-publishing yesterday. Determined to get my first book published I opted for Smashwords as a publishing platform and I now have an ebook.

The whole process took me about a day (the poetry collection itself took place over years). By midnight I had clicked the 'publish' button. Strangely my upload was in a queue of about 400 other works (it was day-time in America where Smashwords are based).

I wrote the blurb and picked a cover image (a sculpture of Joan of Arc at the Louvre in Paris 'listening to her voices'). I played around with the picture a little and uploaded the finished result. Then I got my free ISBN number.

The whole process was free and that was what I liked about it. Sometimes it seems as if the entire world of writing and publishing is there to make money from writers. There are so many scams out there for writers that it is necessary to be very careful.

But now I have an ebook of poetry published (finally) and I am ridiculously pleased with the whole thing. The finished product is available as an ebook in different formats for devices ranging from the Kindle to the PC. It is poetry rich in metaphor and simile and it is written for everyone.

If you want to see a sample of the book or even buy it (for $0.99), then you can see my Smashwords page at:

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/73333.