Beating Bowel Cancer Fundraising Book Volume 2 - Theme Announcement

To get an overview about the book click here. 

I can now announce that the 2nd book in the Beating Bowel Cancer fundraising book series is going to be based on people, "Beating Bowel Cancer Fundraising Book Volume 2 - People". 

I wanted to come up with a slightly different approach to doing another book as I felt that simply compiling another 30 photos in a repeat format of the first book would not hold the appeal. However the feedback from the first book was good in that people liked the personal anecdotes accompanying each photo so I want to keep that style for the second book. So I have come up with the idea of doing a theme, which must be both fun and challenging for me and importantly something I am able to write about.

Initially I thought I might try portraits, but felt that this might be a little restrictive and take away some of the fun element of what might be possible with people more generically. With people the possibilities are endless. Yes portraits could play a part, but so could people in various situations such as work, rest and play. I will no doubt be pestering friends to be a part of this book, and also people who I come across on my travels. I already have a couple of photos of complete strangers that are up for inclusion. I am also hoping that if luck is my side I might be able to persuade a few celebrities or higher profile people to take part.

The plan is to have the book ready to roll out before Christmas, and once again I shall release it in both paperback and kindle formats with every penny I receive going to the Beating Bowel Cancer charity. Of course if there is a publisher out there wanting to come aboard I would be happy to open discussions :) As well as raising funds the one thing I quickly realised with the first book is that it can also play an important role in raising awareness about bowel cancer. I shall post updates regularly on the book's progress. If anyone has any suggestions of subjects to photograph I would love to hear from you, and also from anyone  who has anyone contacts with interesting / famous people who might be up for taking part.

I am really happy to have my friend Jo on board again, who will turn my incorrect grammatical ramblings into something a lot more readable. I cannot over emphasis how big a difference it makes to the whole feasability of the book project to have that kind of help and support.

What Is Your Favourite Photo In The Book?

To get an overview about the book click here.

With sales of the book approaching 300 now is as good a time as any to conduct a poll as to what people's favourite photo in it is? The idea is simple. Simply tweet "@timdarv My favourite photo in the book is ............... #bowelcancerphoto". It is important to include the hash tag as it will enable me to easily track responses and also it could generate a trend which would be great for the presence of the book. 

If you haven't got twitter you can post your reply on the book's Facebook page here. Alternatively you can leave a comment on this page.

I will get the ball rolling.... @timdarv My favourite photo in the book is Windsor Castle at Night #bowelcancerphoto

Don't be shy and let me have your responses asap. If this in any way helps raise awareness for this awful disease then a few moments of your time will not go unwasted.

Thanks to everyone who have bought the book so far, especially those who supported the recent Kindle edition promotion.

Kindle Edition is £0.99 in the UK for 7 Days

This is an opportunity for everyone in the UK to get the Kindle edition of the book for £0.99 for the next week ending at midnight on February 25th. This is an Amazon promotion tool I can use once on the Amazon.co.uk Website and it seems a good way of giving the book an extra push, and it hopefully might induce some people to buy it who otherwise might not. Short of giving the book away it's not going to get much cheaper than this! When the promotion ends the price of the book will go back to £2.05, and I am probably going to set the price higher soon to concentrate on maximising funds raised for the Beating Bowel Cancer charity.

When you consider what you can buy for £0.99 these days it seems great value. People think nothing of spending a few £s in a coffee shop. A couple of drinks in a pub is close to £10 now, and although I am non smoker I presume a price a packet of cigarettes is extortionate...

From the £0.99 of each sale, I get 70% royalties so if a decent number of people buy the book this week, it will still be a significant amount for the charity. There will probably be similar promotion on the Amazon.com in the future, but I am only allowed to run one of these promotions at a time.

Please support this fundraising book supporting a charity doing marvellous work with patients and their families  fighting bowel cancer. 

The Spiders Web

To get an overview about the book click here.

The support over the last 15 months for the book has been amazing. There have been times when I have wondered whether it has run its course and is best left behind, whilst I look at other fundraising projects such as climbing Mount Snowdon for Beating Bowel Cancer later this year. I always come back to the feeling that there is still so much more potential for the book still untapped. Take a look at the picture of the spiders web, and we all know how insects get trapped in the web and find it impossible to get out. Its an analogy I can apply to the book as in many ways the book has got a little stuck where it is and I don't quite know how to get it out and away into so many other different routes it could take. 

To date the book has sold about 280 copies with family, friends, friends of friends and the cancer community being the main supporters who I can't thank enough. Getting through to another level has always been a huge challenge, one that I still haven't managed to find an answer to. The aim is to sell 1000 copies and if it could just break out and reach the wider domain I am sure this figure is still achievable. I use social networking to publicise the book, I am on Goodreads, the local media have all covered and featured the book and I even gave it away for free last year for 24 hours. All these routes have helped, but there must been other ways that I haven't thought of yet? I am always open to suggestions and know that if I could harness the online community out there who have supported me so fantastically so far the potential is huge...

So please feel free to contact me with suggestions, and let's see where it can go moving forwards. 

My mum continues to do really well with a recent colonoscopy and blood tests showing her still in remission. Unfortunately there are still too many people who lose their fight against this awful disease, and I can only reiterate that as well as trying to sell as many copies of the book as I can, that if the book can help raise awareness it has to be a good thing...