Here I was, planning to launch the book in the next couple of weeks, and suddenly I get a phone call telling me I’ve won the ‘PR and Communications’ category of the Guardian [...]]]> That’s what I like about life. You’re busy doing one thing, and something else comes and happens out of the blue.

Here I was, planning to launch the book in the next couple of weeks, and suddenly I get a phone call telling me I’ve won the ‘PR and Communications’ category of the Guardian / Bristol Media sponsored ‘South West Freelancer of the Year 2012‘.

I’ve won for the online engagement work I did for Worthy FM at Glastonbury Festival last summer, where amongst other things I designed and built their website, established then integrated together various social media channels for them, and provided a load of the content too. It saw them shoot from 145 to 3,515 Twitter followers, increase their Facebook followers from 50 to 838, and gain over 125,000 views on their Youtube channel in just a few months.

So, an award I’m very glad to have won, but have now got to work out how best to fit into the plans for the book!

A finished printed copy of the book I’ve spent the last 9 [...]]]> So, last Friday I ordered a single copy of ‘The Principles of e-Participation’ from self publishing website www.lulu.com. All rather exciting, and now all rather surreal, as the postman knocked on the door this morning to deliver this.

A finished printed copy of the book I’ve spent the last 9 months or so working on, and the last 6 years planning.

It’s a satisfying if nerve wracking moment. After all, what if it looks awful? What if it’s not of a credible thickness and weight? After all, let’s not pretend we don’t all weigh reference books in our hands to judge whether they’re comprehensive or not.

Anyway, having torn the wrapping open*, I was pleased to find the book felt sturdy enough to be credible, and the first bash at the layout and design doesn’t look too terrible. Of course, there’ll be some tweaks needing to be made here and there, but overall it doesn’t look too far from finished at all. It certainly looks better than the draft copy I was working on in the new year…

So then, now to proof read the thing one last time!

* and in my excitement stupidly not taken photos of it to go with this blog post

That said, today marked a real milestone, as I finally ordered a single proof copy of the [...]]]> The actual writing of ‘The Principles of e-Participation’ was finished a good while ago now. Indeed, it sometimes feels like I’ve spent more time editing and laying it out than I have writing it in the first place.

That said, today marked a real milestone, as I finally ordered a single proof copy of the book through bespoke ordering website www.lulu.com.

This is important for lots of reasons;

• I can finally proof read and edit something that looks ‘real’, which often reveals all sorts of interesting things
• I will finally know how much the book weighs, which means I can calculate the postage and packing costs for it, which means in turn I can calculate the final cost per book needed for the pledge to work
• But most of all, it means I’ve spent long enough squinting at draft copies to be able to order a very nearly final copy of the book. The layout and design stage is over, on to the bit where I tell people about it!