Sneak peek of my 'Snipped Tales' book cover

I'm publishing a book!

I mentioned it a few weeks ago.  You might remember. It's called Snipped Tales, is a book of colour photographs of my short-short-short-collaged-stories, is approximately 70 pages long, has a gorgeous cover (scroll down for a sneak peek!) and is out ... soon.  

And - if I'm really honest with you (which I'm rather prone to being) - it feels a bit strange that I haven't shared more of the process with you here. This wasn't a deliberate decision and it's not like I'm coy with you here (I mean ... there's that time I talked about my experiences of depression,  and I annually share the worst photos of myself, and we mustn't forget the time I told you how my period almost got out of hand while in fancy Fortnum & Mason's.)    

But, as much as I'm usually free and easy with the revelations ... there are several reasons why things have been a bit different with the book ... things such as ...

• I'm not 100% in control of the process, I'm using a local indie imprint to create my cover, copy all my images and format them into a book, and arrange the whole printing process. 
• I'm not superstitious but ... I've been really wary about sharing everything before I knew it was definitely all going to go as planned!
• My brain's bursting with book-related decisions and I'm a bit book-blind right now. Have you ever built a house? Or completely redecorated? Or re-designed a garden? Or something like that? Then you'll know how there comes a point where what begins as "Yay! I get to start from scratch, get everything I ever wanted, and make all the decisions myself!! Woo hoo!" .. turns into "Oh my goodness. I have to make all the decisions. On my own. What if I get it wrong??!!!" ... that's where I am right now! 
• I think I'm a bit too close to the whole thing right now to really be able to say anything useful yet. I haven't fully digested the book-making process which reminds me ... there's a actually a story about someone who eats the dictionary in the book. Naturally. Anyway - I reckon that in a few months/a year I'll have some great content to share to help anyone who fancies doing something similar themselves. Just not this week. 

What I can share right now though ... is a sneaky snippet of my front cover. My. Front. Cover. Mine.  (Still doesn't feel entirely real just yet.)

Are you ready? OK, here it is: 

Pretty much everything the book is about is right there:

• VINTAGE PAPER!!! (Sorry to shout but vintage books pages are what inspired the idea of my Snipped Tales at the very beginning. It was only right that the cover reflected that vital aspect!)
• the vintage, battered, well-loved feel.
• the tag-line ... which must have been re-written at least 20 times - at least - until it said what it needed to say.
• illustrations by Kirsty Neale - the most talented, patient, and supportive of friends a debut book-creator could hope for!
• the idea of the book as a bundle of stories held together in a printed book you can hold. 
• the idea that the book as a gift (to yourself, to someone else .... and one I've given to myself.)

Now that all the design work etc is complete I now need to decided how many copies to print as an initial print run and so ... can I ask a big favour? 

If you think you might consider buying it (once you've seen more of it, and once you know all the details, of course), or if you know of a shop that may consider stocking it, would you let me know? 

• You can leave a comment here - as some of you have on my earlier post (thank you - you're so lovely!!)
• you can email me at withjuliekirk (@) gmail.com (remove the brackets!)
• or you can get in touch via Instagram, my Facebook page or on Twitter.

I'm only looking for a very general idea of how much interest there is out there; you will not be held to any kind of commitment, and I certainly won't be making a list and checking it twice! Promise. It's purely for my own confidence when I have to make that final numbers commitment. 

Some people have suggested I take pre-orders before deciding but the printing process takes a little while so I need to get a move on to have a chance of having it ready for the Christmas gift-giving season. Anyway ... 

I love my little book and while I'm aware I'm introducing you to one another slowly ... I hope that this tiniest of glimpses might help you feel friendly towards it. 

Thank you for all your support so far ... here's to the final push! 

Julie x