The Launch Meeting of the Writers’ Guild Books Co-operative will take place in central London on Tuesday 27 April 2010 at 11.00 a.m. followed by a celebratory drink or two and a sandwich lunch. It is the culmination of several meetings hosted by the Guild over the past three years recognising that self-publishing has become respectable and attractive to many serious writers, and is likely to grow as conventional publishing staggers from crisis to crisis and the world learns to love ebooks and print-on-demand.

The meeting will be open to any member of the Guild involved or interested in self-publishing who may not have caught up with the project yet.

WE NEED TO KNOW IF YOU INTEND TO COME so that we can book a suitably-sized venue and order the right amount of food, wine and soft drinks. So please RSVP to susan@writersguild.org.uk as soon as you can but in any case by THURSDAY 8 APRIL 2010 at the latest.

We plan to add more material to this website such as information and advice about self-publishing, marketing, print-on-demand and ebooks. If you have ideas about other ways we can improve the site, please bring them to the launch meeting.

Beyond that, we are investigating how the Co-op can offer authors a comprehensive ebook service. We would take your digital file, convert it to ebook files suitable for the Kindle, Sony Reader, iPad, etc., and make them available for download directly from the site at prices to be fixed by the author.

All these ideas will be discussed on 27 April, along with plans for making sure the Writers’ Guild Books Co-op is truly run by the members, for the members. We hope to see you there!