‘The Rugby Blanket’ …another update.
Well this old drafting process has me beat. Every time I think an episode is shiny and readable I see something new; a subtle change here or repetition to remove there. There really is always something. On the bright side the draft is fairly polished now and I will be happy enough to commit it to Kindle in the near future.
In terms of dates the October the 23rd anniversary of the All Blacks World Cup win has passed me by but this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The All Blacks are about to embark on the Autumn Internationals and this is a flexible window in which to release an e-book such as this. I will tentatively suggest my launch date will coincide with the first weekend of that tour. The test is against Scotland on the 12th of November and is entirely appropriate now that a subtle splash of tartan drapes my cover.
Yes that’s right I now have a cover to launch the book with. It is simply a matter of making my dedication, choosing an appropriate quote and crossing my fingers and toes. The cover is simple but it carries the most important object in the story, a stylised section of the tartan blanket that has followed me from World Cup to World Cup tormenting me as we moved along.
As far as pricing goes in European territories it’ll be less than a fiver (five Euro) and in NZ it will be more than five dollars (NZD) but not much more. I will set the pricing closer to launch. If you can wait, which I imagine most people can, I will be offering a ‘free’ weekend. I plan to set the price to zero for the weekend of the last All Black test of the year so anyone with a kindle friendly device can get ‘The Rugby Blanket’ for nothing on the 1st & 2nd of December. Be sure to pick it up on the Saturday so the time zones don’t snooker you.
Please feel free to subscribe to my blog here at www.kdmuir.com and I will happily send you the first couple of chapters to give you a taste of the book. They say ‘slow and steady wins the race’ but I hope I can call on ‘hare-like’ swiftness to keep to these deadlines. I will provide another update next week with clearer details.
Until then look at this:
I read your book with enjoyment. As a rugby fan, I was familiar with much of the territory, but the section that I found most intriguing was the description of your father’s experiences during the anti-apartheid protests. I was aware of the flour-bombing and to be honest, I always thought it sounded like student japes. Your book really brought home to me how brave and committed the protesters were, and how divisive it was at the time.
I was wondering if you’d consider packaging up this section and publishing as a Kindle Single – these are often factual/journalistic accounts. I feel it’s a period of sporting history that has been perhaps unintentionally suppressed – I understand why kiwis wouldn’t want to rake over old coals when the cause moved on, but it’s still history, and personally I found it fascinating.
Best of luck with your next books.
Hi Casey,
Thanks very much for your feedback. I’m glad you liked the book and some of the sections focusing on NZ history. I will definitely consider putting up ‘My Folks’ as a kindle single.
There’s no such thing as ‘raking over the coals’ when it comes to history. As an example, when NZ historian Michael King died in a car crash in 2004, we lost such an important knowledge base for history in New Zealand. There is never any harm in reviewing history. I say make it your business. Thanks a million. K.D.