At last - into the blogosphere we go!

'Start a blog' has been on our 'to do' list for an embarrassingly long time, but we've finally made it.
For months there always seemed to be other items on the list that were more urgent, but as we're re-launching the websites of both Moorhen Publishing and the Book Review Service, the time to venture into the blogosphere has arrived.

It's been an interesting few months. We published my novel, Dartmoor...The Saving, and have explored a host of ways of promoting and selling it. It's gone well, with one local retailer selling 120 copies. Sales are running at around 125 copies a month and I now have a literary agent who seems confident of securing a contract with a mainstream publisher.

One of the reasons that I like the Richard Charkin blog is that it gives a picture of life at the other end of the scale of publishing. We feel we've had a good week if we sell 40 copies - he writes of Macmillan's multi-million-book sales in exotic locations.

Speaking of multi-million sales, this week sees the publication of J K Rowling's Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. What an extraordinary phenomenon this has become. The publication date of the versions for children and adults is the 21st, and all over the country bookshops are staying open until midnight on the 20th. Jo Rowling has become a very wealthy lady. I've bought the books and been to see the films, but the amount of money she has made out of me is tiny - certainly in relation to the entertainment I have enjoyed. If you are capable of providing millions of people with that level of entertainment, you deserve the benefits that result. And the charities she supports appear to be benefitting, too. I wonder if Jo will ever write anything again.

The dreadful weather continues. Local bookshop owners tell me that it's good for business. The more it rains, the more books they sell to holidaymakers unable to head for the beaches or the moors. It's an ill wind...