An author in the Covid age

Writing and publishing during a crisis

Update: On August 5, 2021, after Amazon/KDP finally resolved the problem regarding unpaid royalties, I re-issued my books on Amazon.com. 

Available once more: The Batavian, The Cargo and Two Fathoms Deep.

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Fortunately I don't have to live off my writing career. Writing is only an expensive hobby to me and in consequence I have little to complain, compared to all those unfortunates whose business went bust or whose paid job became a victim of the economic fall-out of the Covid measures.

Many authors have had to suspend book presentations and lectures, except perhaps those best-selling authors who enjoy an invested interest by the media. Book stores have been closed, which inevitably translates into disappointing book sales. Nevertheless, I have sold dozens of copies of my last Dutch release Het Transport (issued last autumn), through both private channels and the publishers. The cost of publishing and printing was not met by far. 

My third book Drie Meter Zand  (in Dutch) is on hold for the moment pending developments, before I risk investing in a publication. I will need some kind of certainty that we won’t be locked down once more in the next autumn as a result of yet another virus scare.

Fortunately I have an advantage in being bilingual. English is my second language, as I have written previously in this blog, and from the start of my novelist career I have translated my manuscripts into English, initially just to share them with my English-speaking friends. 

A few months ago I took up the plan of publishing in English using an internet platform. The choice fell on Amazon (Kindle), but this proved to be an uphill race - as you have read above, I was forced to temporarily remove all my books from Kindle: The Batavian, The Cargo and Two Fathoms Deep. They are available once again from August 5, 2021.

The planned paperback version of Two Fathoms Deep is currently on hold - I'm monitoring the Amazon channel at present - once I'm satisfied, I will publish it.

 I will keep you posted.