The Launch Date for ‘The Moment Collectors’ is almost here!
The last 6 weeks have simply shot by! I love this time in the life of a new book where all the work that has been done by the author (in this case 19 other authors), the team and the printers comes together.
The boxes of books arrived with us just over a week ago and with the truck driver gone, we had that nervous moment of opening the box on the top of the nearest pile. Nervous? Would a year of work from so many people look as special as we all hoped? Would the colour of the cover be wrong in spite of the proof? Would there be loads of damaged books? Yes, that’s happened before!
The next tense moment was opening the first copy, with fingers crossed again. Was the layout going to look great and would the colour photos look crisp and rammed full of colour?
I had to head to the door of the rather poorly lit storage facility. Daylight was needed.
Yes! Gorgeous. I couldn’t help a grin. In fact it was a huge grin! The Moment Collectors feels and looks fantastic. We’d chosen the right paper for the cover, the colour photo pages and for the text pages. The colours of the cover and the photos shone back up at me. And the layout with all the wonderful illustrations ‘feels’ just right. Phew!
Putting The Moment Collectors together has been a full on adventure; at times a tale of the unexpected. It’s been both fascinating and a huge amount of fun. First of all, what amazing characters to spend a year working with. Though each author has things in common; they all travel by motorcycle, all write wonderfully and every one of them has a strong sense of curiosity, they are very different people. It’s a privilege to write alongside of them.
Producing a book like this has been an adventure filled with smiles. I have a huge amount of respect for the authors and the rest of the team. The illustrator Simon Roberts, the designers and techies Paul Smith, Fil Schiannini and Mike Fitterling, and the editors and proof readers. Every single one is a motorcycle traveller. What a buzz. I am certain that readers are going to pick up on the fun of this book really quickly. It’s a book full of the magic of long distance motorcycle travel.
If you’d like a copy, you can still pre-order and we will get your book straight out to you. I’ll tuck a signature in the corner of the leading page so you have room to collect the 19 other scribes signatures over the coming months art various events.
I hope you enjoy this celebration of long distance motorcycle travel with us. And now we are nearly there. The launch date. February 19th. From that time on copies will be available direct from us
From Waterstones, Stanfords and all good book shops.
Also from The Book Depository with free worldwide delivery. And from Amazon in both paperback and Kindle formats.
With the Foreword by Lois Pryce, and in order of the chapters, these are your Storytellers ‘The Moment Collectors’.
Claire Elsdon – The Unthinkable Happens
Geoff Hill – Far from Home
Spencer James Conway – The Bi-polar Pole and Joey the Camel Collider
Brian Rix & Shirley Hardy-Rix – Iron Angels
Ted Hely – Escaping the Net
Lisa Morris – The Final Frontier
Mark Donham – The True Value of Travel
Graham Field – Finding the Rhythm of the Road
Tiffany Coates – The Kyrgyzstan Eagle Hunter
EmmaLucy Cole – A Return to Sinai
Tim & Marisa Notier – Hooked on a Feeling
Christian Brix – The Road to Myself
Helen Lloyd – The Africa I Love
Michelle Lamphere – The Kindness of Strangers
Travis & Chantil Gill – I Still Haven’t Found what I’m Looking For
Simon & Lisa Thomas – The Rough Side of Silk
Daniel Byers – Cycle South
Geoff Keys – Alone with the Grass and the Sky
Michnus Olivier – The Road in the Sky
And the final chapter from me, Sam Manicom – When Life is Full of Firsts
I hope you enjoy travelling the pages with us. Cheers. And thank you!