Rain Dog coverRain Dog

In Christmas 2007 I received a copy of The Australian Writer’s Marketplace 2007/2008 edition, as a gift from my daughter. On looking through the book I came across Create a Kids’ Book in the Writers’ Services section and decided to send my manuscript of Rain Dog for assessment.

The assessment process was extremely helpful as I learned about writing as people speak, to make the language more authentic. (This was mentioned to me by an adult who had read and loved the story of Rain Dog.)

Grammatical corrections too were made such as reducing the number of commas. I had also fallen into a bad habit of placing commas before conjunctions something I should have remembered from school days but had forgotten.

After five assessments and quite a few changes and edits, my manuscript was ready and I received the letter of recommendation from Dr Virginia Lowe.

Then began the process which went on for some years, of sending the manuscript to well-known and many less well-known publishers found in the above mentioned book. Sadly, the story of Rain Dog remained unpublished but not forgotten.

In March 2017 while returning on a flight from Brisbane to Melbourne and reading a magazine I had taken with me, an advertisement for a self-publishing firm caught my attention. I had avoided the thought of self-publishing as being too expensive but after discussions with my husband decided to go ahead and have Rain Dog published. Rain Dog was published in December 2017. It is so satisfying to hold a book one has worked on in one’s hands.

Rain Dog by Sybil Rowlands has not been officially launched. The book can be purchased online from Koorong Bookstores or Dymocks Bookstores. Benn’s Books in Bentleigh have some copies of Rain Dog. The former distributor Dennis Jones went into liquidation in July 2018. All enquiries for Rain Dog are to be directed to me on 03 9563 8864 or by email.

Sybil Rowlands, November 2018