Thanks Cym - it's going to be a rainy weekend here in Kent but I'm sure it will be great. Thanks for your vote - much appreciated!

Thanks for all the comments. I think this one is run out frankly. To return to my original article... I was merely floating ideas, not proposing them. I wasn't suggesting we didn't need copy editors or cover artists. I wasn't primarily suggesting this was a cost cutting exercise, more a way of finding a new publishing model that removed some of the existing barriers between authors and readers. Nor was I suggesting some new form of self publishing. Nor that we should somehow have inferior books, as the commenter above seems to be suggesting. It's amazing how people begin to read things into your statements on the web. Oh well. Thanks for your interest!

I imagine I don't count, David, because I - shock horror - write books set in another country, full of Johnny Foreigners, what? This kind of thing baffles me on so many levels it's difficult to count them. I suppose the principal problem is this. If, as Archer says, Brits are the best in the world at writing thrillers why do we need a rather sad, whiny and xenophobic campaign to remind readers of this? Wouldn't it be easier just to go out and write books they might want to buy instead? I object to anyone telling me what to read or write. That's my choice, the same as it is for everyone. The idea that books from one country are, by definition, better than books from another is so ridiculous it scarcely bears consideration. So now I shall shut up.

The Facebook posting doesn't work on my site. When I pointed this out I got this reply from tech support. 'The FaceBook prompt is a third-party tool created by FaceBook, not TypePad. We have integrated the tool into TypePad, but it was developed by Facebook. We have had some users report success with getting the Facebook Beacon to work after adjusting their security software or firewall settings, so we recommend disabling the security temporarily to see if that resolves the problem. Your router may have a firewall installed which you may want to look into. You may also want to report the problems you are encountering to Facebook to see if they have any recommendations for adjusting your computer and network to allow the beacon to work correctly.' Nice to see Typepad taking responsibility again. Of course it may be not working due to the domain issue at Typepad which has taken my domain offline for three days now, a problem TP say they will look at tomorrow when they get round to it, unless I want to take out a $90 a month business account to get premium support. Would-be TP customers note - this it the support you can expect from this company. A downed web site, killed by a TP error, is not regarded as a priority.

I love having a web site. Unfortunately since switching to Typepad I no longer have one and no one in tech support has been awake for the last 24 hours to fix a problem which is yours and yours alone. Why do you ask these questions when you can't even serve your existing customers?