New Edition of ‘An Unassuming County’ by Brian Kerr is now available

Author Brian Kerr decided that the time was right to update and revise his first book.

About the Book

“Landscape provides a rich recording of our past. In this revised and updated version of an earlier text, Brian Kerr traces the changes which have shaped the countryside of #Bedfordshire. Beginning with the fundamental #geology, the author describes the natural landscapes and then charts how these have been used, giving us the familiar pattern of #countryside, we see today.

There is a renewed interest in farming, #food security, the establishment of new #woodlands, and the impact of #climate change. Written in non-technical language, this book will appeal to a wide audience interested in the future of our countryside in Bedfordshire and beyond. This second edition of, ‘An Unassuming County’, has been substantially updated and includes many new photographs.

Brian Kerr is a soil scientist, living in Bedfordshire and is a Visiting Fellow at #Cranfield University.”

About the Author

Brian Kerr on one of our longest standing authors at Eventispress. He trained as a soil scientist and has applied this knowledge of the environment in unravelling the landscape history of Bedfordshire. He has published three books; the first two focusing on the shaping of the Bedfordshire landscape, and the second on the people who made the greatest impact. His third, ‘How to Value a Skylark’, debates current topics and controversies regarding decision making impacting the land in the UK. All are readable accounts, which will be of interest to anyone with an interest in the #countryside. Brian previously worked as a consultant on #agricultural projects worldwide, and during the past decade has engaged in land projects in the UK, Ireland, Rwanda, and Tanzania. He presently holds a post as a Visiting Fellow at Cranfield University in Bedfordshire, UK.

This revised and updated edition of ‘An Unassuming County ~ The Making of the Bedfordshire Countryside’ is now available for bookshops to order through:

Book Distributors Gardners

and for the reader to order at

Waterstones or any good bookshop

Amazon UK

or directly from ourselves, especially if you would like a signed copy as a gift; orders@ eventispress.com

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Watch this Space!

A New Revised and Updated Version of

An Unassuming County ~ The Making of the Bedfordshire Countryside by Brian Kerr

will be published shortly.

A Successful Weekend Event

Here’s a great picture of two of out authors, Ian K Pulham and Brian Kerr, plus Peter who will be bringing his debut novel out early next year at their bookstall last weekend.

Feedback:

‘The weekend was great. ‘

‘It was good to network and speak to potential readers.’

‘The venue at St Andrew’s Art Exhibition in Ampthill and the location beside the coffee and cakes was perfect.’

‘we all sold some books.’

Sounds like a good weekend was enjoyed by all.

Just shows it doesn’t have to be a book fair or bookshop.

Well done chaps!

Eventispress authors are out and about this weekend.

At St Andrew’s Art Festival ~ Ampthill

See website for more details

Eventispress Authors Brian Kerr and Ian K Pulham will have their books for sale at St Andrew’s Church Art Festival in Ampthill, Bedfordshire, this weekend. They will each be making an appearance through the couple of days.

Ian’s gripping novel is set in Bedfordshire, especially the Dunstable Downs:

Ticket to Eden

All of Brian’s interesting non fiction books explore environmental issues, two are based in Bedfordshire:

An Unassuming County &

A Certain Degree of Magnificence

and his latest How to Value a Skylark looks at UK wide issues.

Also present is our website designer and writer Peter, who will be releasing his debut novel with us early in 2023.

Many thanks to the folks at St Andrew’s for allowing us to join them.

Latest Update from Eventispress

All of our recent publications are now available for bookshops to order through Gardners.

Why and When to Revise Non Fiction by Brian Kerr

AN UNASSUMING COUNTY: The Making of the Bedfordshire Countryside ~ Second Edition

Order out of chaos!

This book was published by Eventispress in 2014, with much of the research and writing completed in the previous two years. Therefore, the book is now almost a decade old and beginning to show its age. It is surprising how quickly any non-fiction publication can become out of date. In fact, the gestation period for this first publication was more like a lifetime of accumulating reports, and maps, and newspaper cuttings with periodic half-hearted attempts to bring order to the chaos.  Writing a book was a novel idea, with the thought that at least the pile of documents would be shuffled into, at most, a dozen chapters.   A somewhat radical classification, during which a lot of stuff could be discarded.

How the world around us has changed?

A decade later the world has changed.  That sounds superficially trite:  how could global events have any impact on what we see over the hedge in Bedfordshire?  However, a moment’s reflection will surely bring to mind the speed and range of the changes and the accelerating trends which are already altering how the public perceive the countryside and how we use a finite area of land. The evidence for climate change is no longer deniable and the rush to plant trees has captured the political class and largely has public backing.  During the pandemic there was a renewal of interest in the ’great outdoors’, backed by solid evidence of the benefits of green space on mental health.  There is a rising demand for greater access beyond the eight percent of land presently accessible to the public from the footpath network.

… And we left the European Union. This has brought to reality the new funding arrangements required for agriculture, which will challenge the previous perceptions that farms were all about food production.  Public Funds for Public Goods, is now a firm policy stance, with payments linked to environmental improvements. More hedges better maintained, tree planting in field corners, and wildflower patches are all to be rewarded.  Add to this the trends away from meat to plant-based diets, with a corresponding reduction in livestock farming. The increased business opportunities in the countryside for leisure provision, such as cycle tracks and fishing lakes. Yes, in Bedfordshire the landscape will and is changing.

The Challenge of How to Revise the Text.

So, the challenge in updating a decade old text is how to reflect all this without overturning the structure of the original book entirely. Can we keep the original Chapters? New photographs perhaps? Do we need a new cover?  And yes, there is the opportunity to correct the odd mistake which, despite a tight editing process, crept into the first edition.

…and Finally

Will this sell more books? Unlikely, I think. However, we are committed, and three months into the process we have reached the penultimate Chapter. It is unlikely this new edition will be such a thrill to me as the first publication, but there will be great satisfaction in getting it right. And that matters! 

Eventispress says: ‘An Unassuming County ‘ was a success Brian, for yourself and us. It is one of those books which appeals to a local audience and has been seen for sale in many bookshops in the home counties, but your greatest achievement has been building such a wide network of places to give author talks ~ and yes, this has been an excellent channel to sell more books. Well done!

PUBLISHING A BOOK? ~ IT’S A GAME OF TWO HALVES by Author Brian Kerr

Savour the moment your book is published

So, you have just published your book: possibly your first – and it looks great.  Congratulations!  It is time to savour the moment. You have in your hand – or on your screen – the output from months, or perhaps years, of hard slog.  Sure, there have been some good moments but it mostly has been about gritted teeth and working at it. You deserve to enjoy the moment, but don’t become lost in the euphoria, and not think about how to sell it.

What next?

No matter how often you tell yourself it is not about the sales, or money, or recognition, it would be nice if someone read it, or better still bought a copy or even better lots of copies. Yes of course you have thought about a launch, and you have set aside a pile to pass on to friends and family and those who pitched in and helped along the way.  They deserve a free copy – but not absolutely free.   Perhaps a review could be encouraged.  A beer and sandwich session in a local pub with a book priced at a small mark down on Amazon, will start the process.  Worth the cost of a few beers?

…but remember, you are a new author to the block and you need to reach out to others but how?

Great Marketing Ideas for reaching out

Would your new readers and friends take a small pile of flyers to leave with other friends, or in the pub?  Are they a member of a book club and this is a good time to ask if book clubs are active in your area? Make sure the organiser of the club is aware that there is a published author on the doorstep.  Book clubs will often give an author a few moments if only to have a new voice in the room.

What’s App and other platforms such as Instagram and LinkedIn ~ the list goes on

For some people the business of networking is second nature and dropping in a reference to a new book would not seem intrusive.  For others the idea of self-publicity is cringeworthy.  Many neighbourhoods have shared WhatsApp groups and you can be sure that a reference to a new author with an invitation, ‘to look it up on Amazon’, will be more interesting than a moan about the parking of the need to find a plumber.

The list of useful initiatives worth a try is lengthy and can be exhausting.  Do you have presence on LinkedIn for example? This can be like a ripple in a pond?  Worth a try but be aware this will also attract offers of all types of publicity service, at a price. These may be tempting as you may want to move on to a new book or simply playing more golf

There are lots of ideas out there and it is worth making a list and dipping your toe in the water.  Many ideas will not appeal but you may be surprised at how the doors do open.

One final thought …

Before you finish the champagne a few sobering facts.  In 2020 UK book sales rose to exceed 200 million. The figure for new titles is more difficult to pin down:  in 2018 there were 185,000 new ISBN numbers issued. That would mean that, if my calculator copes with all the zeros, you need sell more than 1000 copies to beat the average unit sales.

Time to go and sell!

Eventispress adds: “It’s hard to begin at ground zero without a huge marketing budget from your publisher, but even those authors published by the large companies have to start at the beginning.

Best of luck!

HOW CAN SMALL PRESSES ENJOY BOOKSHOP SUCCESS?

It is important to acknowledge bookshops and give them thanks, because all of our authors now have the same treatment on bookshop websites as they do on Amazon, with author bio, descriptions of books and reviews.

It is harder for small presses like us to be visible in actual bookshops up and down the country, especially following the pandemic shut down, because we are in competition with all the huge publishing companies. This is an area we are working on both by email and by physically visiting and supporting bookshops ourselves.

Let’s look at author Brian Kerr’s books:

Please check out his pages on:

BRIAN KERR’S PAGE ON WATERSTONES

FOYLES

HIVE and WH SMITHS for Skylarks only

Hive is an on line bookshop where you can give a percentage of the sale to support a local indie bookshop of your choice. Ignore the ‘OUT OF STOCK.’ It is the cheapest site on the market to purchase the book and it will take a few days for the order to come through.

Brian’s books have always had orders from bookshops, especially locally in Bedfordshire, with whom we have a good relationship.

Author IAN K PULHAM’S debut novel

Ticket to Eden is on the WATERSTONES

website too.

Author DIANA JACKSON has several books on WATERSTONES including Riduna, Ancasta, Murder Now and Then, her latest mystery Missing Past and Present

and The Healing Paths of Fife, which is also on WH SMITHS.

Diana Jackson’s books have been stocked in bookshops in Bedfordshire, the south of England and on the Channel Islands.

However, all of our books can be ordered from any good bookshop.

We’ll let you know the progress we make in changing attitudes and acknowledging the contribution to publishing small presses like us make.

Let’s Zoom to Face to Face

As most businesses we at Eventispress have ‘met’ regularly on Zoom during the last couple of years, both as a whole group and in two’s, for particular in depth discussions, guidance and support. These meetings have been vital and energy giving, when the author’s life, especially during this pandemic, has been quite a lonely one.

‘You are the only people in my life I can really talk about writing issues with. My family and friends care, but they just don’t really understand,’ remarked one author.

We are pleased to say that our first ‘face to face’ meeting of our Bedfordshire contingent is taking place shortly. We hope it will help to:

• Re-energize individual authors
• Help to share and explore ideas for marketing
• Discuss best approaches
• Think of ways to be mutually supportive

The list could go on and on. Joining a writer’s group is similar but has a slightly different focus. More about that in another post. All of us at Eventispress have a goal to promote the Eventispress brand, as well as our own books. This is far easier than purely self promotion, where everyone benefits and everyone contributes.

Marketing Tips from author Brian Kerr

MEETING THE READERS

Brian writes:

“It may be spring but if you are charged with the task of lining up a list of speakers for your club or society next winter, this is the time to be active.  Suddenly face to face meetings with tea and biscuits, or perhaps wine and cheese in more affluent parts of the country, is back in fashion and speakers are in demand. Church groups, Rotary clubs, University of the Third Age, WI gatherings are all fruitful contacts.

In the last few weeks, I have spoken to a gathering of geologists in a school – only about a dozen; and a U3A group – in excess of fifty in a room at the back of a pub in Luton. This does generate book sales on the day – making the books a round price of £5, £10, or £15 helps otherwise there is a messy problem of carrying old fashioned coins as change.

Book clubs are interested in meeting a local author and many people have an interest in self-publishing which they have read about but few understand.  There is also an informal network of speakers and your name often is passed on generating more speaking engagements.

Some groups with sound finances will even pay for a speaker.  There is usually an acceptable scale of charges so it is best to find out the going rate before they pose the question.”

Good luck

Brian Kerr’s latest release is How to Value a Skylark ~ The Countryside in a Time of Change

available in Waterstones