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Anna

Society of Young Publishers

London traffic, motorway roadworks, pouring rain and the fact that it was in Oxford (anyone who studied at Cambridge runs the risk of being beaten to death with their own shoes if they venture into the rival city)...none of this spoiled what had promised to be a very interesting night with an audience of publishers, eager to find out what we had to say for ourselves.
We did our presentation for the SYP, complete with demo of the website. We wanted to have an energetic, interactive session and, not knowing the group, we had been a little concerned that they might need some encouragement when it came to asking questions. There was definitely no need to worry about that!

There were quite a few challenging questions (Amy, one of the Committee members, apologised for a slight 'Dragons' Den' element to the proceedings!) but I think we had won over a few sceptics by the end. Some very useful observations and advice came out of the meeting too - we even received a spectacularly long email shortly after the meeting from one of the attendees! All very welcome feedback and it's nice to know we got people excited about it all.

Next on the agenda is a talk for Women in Publishing on 11 June...more info to follow!

Print-IN-demand

We decided to leave the big smoke this week and pop and see what these print-on-demand specialists had to say for themselves.
I have to admit I felt a slight sense of disappointment when I had a look round the factory floor and failed to see a single monk hunched over some large historical volume with quill poised. I think it would be quite nice to keep a friar somewhere, as a kind of nod to history and recognising how far we have come. And also because you never really see monks, or at least not in the bars that I hang out in.

It was great to see the detail of their operations and exactly how it will tie in with our processes. Digital print-on-demand is a very exciting area and they have some pretty impressive machines whirring away. Joining their systems up with CN seemed to be even simpler that we had anticipated, which is a good sign.

All that remains is for us to decide which one to go with....I definitely feel a complex spreadsheet coming on!

We have a professional nerd!

CompletelyNovel are very happy to welcome Jon into the team. Coming from the company Professional Nerd Ltd, we were pleasantly surprised to find that not only is he a great Rails coder, he also has social skills....BONUS!

So, it's full steam ahead on the technical front...we should be launched in no time.

CN submit application to Technology Strategy Board

We submitted an application to try and get some extra funding to help get this project developed to a point so that when launched, it is a guaranteed success. We look like a really good match for the funding and seem to tick all of the boxes so fingers crossed!
I am much happier now that we have sent the form off, than I was a few hours ago when we were filling it in. Filling out grant applications is really not that much fun.
I think there needs to be a 'no win, no fee' service that fills them out for you. Applying for grants reminds me far to much of applying for jobs - a necessary evil that leaves you with an uncomfortable feeling that in the end you might find that all of that time spent has been wasted, and you could have just gone to the pub instead.
Of course, some people will tell you that it's good practice and will be useful for future applications. These are people who have only applied for a job once, got it, and have never had to go through the tortuous experience again. Or they are well-intentioned liars. It seems almost impossible to transfer what you've learned to different application forms because every form has its own agenda, text box size and will probably have some function which makes it impossible to copy and paste without losing the whole thing (and then losing the will to live).
They really don't like making it easy do they!

CN on a manhunt

The CompletelyNovel team are sad to see their coder Ben crossing the Atlantic to spend some time in the sunnier climes of San Francisco. As it seems like these ruby coders are nearly as rare as the jewels themselves...and in high demand, if you know any web developers who can work with Ruby on Rails, send them our way!

Note - I would have said 'person hunt' in order to be a bit more pc, but it seems that all RoR coders are, in fact, men. I am yet to find a woman who dabbles in the world of Ruby but there must be some out there. Let me know if you find any!

CN going to the Winchester Writers' Conference

I think it’s going to be fantastic to be somewhere that has so much creativity flying around. We are really looking forward to talking to more writers and getting their feedback on CompletelyNovel.com. Also excited about seeing Colin Dexter, creator of Inspector Morse at the conference...although I find I am always surprised to see that he doesn't look more like John Thaw. Too much exposure to Inspector Morse re-runs courtesy of my Dad I think!

FOr more information on the conference, see http://www.writersconference.co.uk

Bizarre bookshop!

I’m currently slightly struggling to understand the business model of the bookshop across the street (mentioned in earlier post). At first I thought it was odd that they only opened from 11am until 3pm. Then, after further investigation I discovered that they appear to have no customers. Ever. So, in fact, it’s not so surprising that they open for only a few hours, and more surprising that they open at all. The shop must be a front for something else...?

I will keep an eye out for suspicious activity.

CN Move into their new HQ

CN HQ has moved into new premises in Islington. Plenty of space and easy access to a brand new fridge are definitely going to be conducive to a productive working environment. Only thing missing is somewhere to set up a barbecue – lucky that we know somewhere with a garden down the road!

Another definite bonus is the Chinese takeaway which is just doors away. I also noticed that there is a book shop opposite - how fitting!