I can certainly ask Simon, but publishers are (in my experience) very prescribed as to how things are done. In other words, they call the shots and maybe that's OK.
I remember well that intially I had offered my first concept and draft chapter 1 to Veloce Publushing. They were 'lukewarm', which was disappointing. A month after I signed the deal with Crowood, after being offered an open door by an MG author, Veloce pinged me to ask how it was going. Had they been more receptive intially, that's where it would have gone. Crowood were very receptive from the start, but as I've said before, publishers demand strict adherance to their in house style, so any works must be shoehorned into that. This time, they gave me a copy of the XK history from the same group, and that gave me the story book approach which they wanted.
As Waikiore noted ^^^ the long doors are arguably the best resolved Trads, and the least well covered in publications. Even in 2018!
I will do a signing at BHM soon after publishing. Sarah is aware but we can't firm that up until closer in, although it's likely to be at a Breakfast Club. I will get some bookmarks done as soon as the cover images are firmed up, so that I can offer a signed bookmark to those who are distant, as I did with the first book!
