Building a brand: Holo Sapiens

I've been hard at work ( as ever ) working on my latest novel, which is now being read by beta readers for editorial feedback. So far, one has commented that the novel is at least as good as Eden, perhaps even better. Editorials have been fairly light, with no major structural issues and the work limited to typos, clarity and general polishing of the manuscript.

I've also been busy enhancing the HTML coding for the book, ready for publication, by learning how to insert my company logo in the front in the manner of major publishers, how to remove the Table of Contents ( who uses these in fiction anyway? ) and generally sharpening up the presentation.

So far, everything's looking grand and the presentation of the e-book looks as professional now as a publication by one of the big traditional houses. I'll be updating Eden's file with the same logo and adjustments to maintain the brand appearance as soon as I can.

I'm also hard at work on the screenplay for Holo Sapiens. This may seem a bit premature, but the story concept is so unique that I want to put my stamp on it as early as possible. Having a full screenplay in place will help me to do that, and with the Knight-Hall Agency potentially able to put it in front of the Hollywood studios I'd be insane not to put it together.

I've let Eden slip down in the USA charts over the last couple of weeks, shifting my focus to Holo Sapiens in full. From all I've researched about self-publishing, the best advert for one novel is often another by the same author. I'm hoping that the release of Holo Sapiens, if all goes to plan, will push Eden back up the charts by association. That said, Eden is still in the top 1,000 or so in the UK so it's doing very well all by itself. In the USA it's around the 6,000 mark in Kindle Paid, still not bad considering the competition.

My next work will be for my literary agent, a crime-thriller with a twist that should take me until the early new year to complete. After that, it's a full year of writing for me, completing the following titles:

EDEN: Redemption.

Holo Sapiens: Homo Immortalis

Soul Seekers: Ghost Ship  ( Young adult series )

2014 is going to be as busy as 2013!