h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hi there! And welcome to h2g2. My name is Solnushka and I am one of the volunteer ACEs, which basically means that I flit around greeting new researchers like yourself, spelling really badly in the process and helping out wherever I can.

Ooooh, you've written a book! I admire your stamina... (I'm sure I would admire your book, too, but, obviously that's a bit difficult from where I'm sitting...). Good luck with it! What's it about?

Anyway, if you have any questions about this place, please do hit the reply button below and ask away. Go on, you know you want to...

Here are a couple of other links in the meantime, but feel free to ignore them if you have already found them. Or just ignore them :

Ask h2g2, where you can ask anything except 'What is the meaning of life, the universe and everything?' : <./>Askh2g2</.>

The h2g2 newspaper, The Post, which as well as being a hugely entertaining read also has pages of usful links, including one to all sorts of clubs, gangs, societies and cliques you can join here: <./>ThePost</.>

Thanks for the welcome - excellent.

My book... (notice how I slid that in)...

I have had friends and family read it... and they really did say... it was really good! So I laughed out loud when I read the article here about being a writer.
I need someone else. Is there anywhere here that would read it through..?

Yeah, that was pretty subtle And the plot sounds like the sort of thing I'd love to read. Future technothriller! It sounds suitably wideranging, with a bit of human interest to, er, keep our interest. And I love the sort of books that have a well planned out 'different' workld, which yours certainly seems to I'll be looking out for it once you've got it published.

Thing is, you want to be careful about sticking the book or bits of it up on this site. If you read the terms and conditions:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/terms/

...especially point 5 which states:

'Where you are invited to submit any contribution to this site (including without limitation any text, graphics, video or audio) you are required by such submission to grant the BBC a perpetual, royalty-free, non-exclusive, sublicenseable right and license to use, eproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, perform, play, and exercise all copyright and publicity rights with respect to any such work worldwide and/or to incorporate it in other works in any media now known or later developed for the full term of any rights that may exist in such content, consistent with privacy restrictions set forth in the BBC's Privacy Policy.'

Now that sounds pretty scary: Don't Panic! Essentially you don't want to be doing anything to scare off potential publishers at this point (quite apart fromn anything else I'm looking forward to being a freind of the stars...), so I suggest you remove your sysnopsis. It's a shame, as I really think you have found a site full of readers who will fully appreeciate this paerticular book as much as I do, but there you go. You can get it reemoved by pushing the "yikes" button, which is either a horrified green face at the bottom of the post, or is a exclaimation mark somewhere to the side. If that doesn't work, then we can go a bit higher...

Whew. I hope I haven't scared you off The good news is that I'm sure any number of us (me most definitely included) would be willing to give our opinions on anything you mauy wish us too. Just don't post anything opn site : this is why god invented email...

There are a few placces people hang out and do fiction here I think. I'll just post this and pootle off and see isf I can find a few more links...

Hiya
Thanks again... you did scare me a bit.

Can't see a yikes button... so maybe fate has taken hand.

I would never produce an extract of the book in anycase - and certainly never in software. Hardcopy only...

I feel confident that the Synopsis would be okay here but if you can help more - I learn and that's good!

I am still obviously very new and this all seems a bit strange getting used to the interface here... maybe one day!

Thanks again for your help, you've been great!

L4

Well, actually, it was one of the staff who alerted me! So I can't look as intelligent as I might otherwise. So I'll 'yikes' it for you to be on the safe side for the mo...

We aim to please!

Because any publisher that might show an interest in a book would probably not be happy about sharing copyright with the BBC, we've removed the synopsis for you. Good luck with it in the future.

Cheeers Mina!

Hope that all this hasn't put you off, but look on the bright side: they coulda kkept it for themselves!

I promised you a link. Here's one to 'fiction central', the page is pretty explanitory, and there are some more links to other places here where strictly factual styuff is not the norm... A294833

hiya

You really are very good - I am impressed!

Thank you so much - the synopsis is gone... I can see (and appreciate your concern) - sorry for being so niave and stupid.

am i a total pain...? Maybe one day I will do the same for someone else.

Anyway - feel I have hassled you more than enough!

I will check the links and let you know, if you want?

take care and thanks again

Laurence

Ach! Don't worry about it... I can't see why the synopsis thingy would put your book under copyright eitjher, so I'd have done the same

Please do get back to me when you've finished scouting around! You don't even have to have a problem