Karl hopes new book will help fellow authors

DUMFRIES author Karl Drinkwater has taken a step in a new direction with his latest book. As well as being a fiction author, Karl spends a lot of time teaching, mentoring, and advising new writers, running the the WRITE! monthly creative writing sessions at The Stove. In his new book ‘From Idea to Item’, Karl dives into the creative process and the ins and out of the modern publishing industry. He said: “Attendees often told me they wished the information from my sessions was available in a book. So here it is! An overview for prospective authors to peruse at their leisure, covering modern publishing options for authors and many things they need to know. Contracts, publishers, editing, distribution, cover design, marketing, metadata, and figures on author earnings from international surveys. “The key for all creatives is to take an initial idea, to shape and translate it into a form, to refine it which requires mastery of technique, and hopefully the end result is an amazing item that people will buy and appreciate. Hence the title of this book, From Idea To Item: the journey from inspiration to publication.” Karl is proud of this informal overview of book publishing, which draws on years of research, adding: “This book will be useful to anyone with a part-finished manuscript who wonders: what on earth am I going to do with this labour of love? “It is aimed at new authors, yet packs in enough information and tips that even experienced writers should learn something new.”