In my earlier post about my trip to the Midwest Booksellers’ Association in Minneapolis, I mentioned that at the dinner hosted by Penguin on the Thursday night, there had been some spirited discussion between booksellers about what made for the best author events. Certain booksellers felt that, as a general rule, authors should never read from their books at book …
Goodreads Giveaway!
If you read this blog, the chances are you’re interested in books. And if that’s the case, may I humbly suggest that you join Goodreads, if you haven’t already? Goodreads is a great online community of readers. It’s like a book-centric facebook, but without all the annoying games, aggravating political inanities, and pictures of other people’s puppies. It’s the largest …
Where Are All the Boys?
Recently the site Reading Group Guides very kindly did a giveaway of 100 copies of the galley of A GOOD AMERICAN. They published the list of winners, and this list gave me real pause for thought. Of the 100 winners, two were men. Put another way (showing off my maths skillz here), 98% of the winners were women (unless there …
DIY Book Trailer
Last weekend the kids and I discovered a new website, xtranormal, which is a brilliant place where anyone can make movies simply by typing in dialogue and having characters speak it. I have seen several extremely funny videos made this way, including this one about writing a novel which I posted a while ago. Author Laura Zigman has made a whole …
Spot the Difference
I’ve written here at some length and on numerous occasions about just how much I love the cover of A GOOD AMERICAN. I think it oozes class and is both evocative and beautiful. Of course I am biased, but most people I’ve spoken to seem pretty keen on it, too. But these things, I am learning, are fluid and can …
Audiobook!
Over the past few years I’ve occasionally given readings of A GOOD AMERICAN while it was still a work in progress. Invariably at the Q & A part of the event, someone would put up their hand and ask, often a little tentatively, “Shouldn’t you be reading that with an American accent?” It’s a fair question. The answer is that …
It’s Social Media Gone Mad
Just wanted to bring you up to date on a couple of social meeja developments round these parts. First of all, with many thanks to everyone who took the time to leave comments, I have no chosen a new design for this website. It was the most popular one, as voted for by you. Click here to see what it …
Booksellers Roll! – MIBA Trip – Part 2
Continuing from my last post… After the excitement of the previous evening, I had the following morning to myself. I stayed in my room, grudgingly allowing the real world to intrude for a bit as I did some legal work and answered non-book-related emails. Later on, I went out and explored downtown a little more, and went on a small …
Booksellers Rock! – MIBA Trip – Part 1
I love booksellers. There is no feeling finer than walking out of a bookshop laden down with all sorts of books that you didn’t know you wanted or needed when you walked in. Whole new worlds lie inside those covers – and now they’re yours, all thanks to the person who helped you choose ’em. So, yay booksellers. You rock. …
New Website Design – Your Thoughts Needed!
As we approach the run-in for publication of A GOOD AMERICAN, I thought it might be a good idea to redesign this site to make it a little more user-friendly (= help people to actually buy the book.) To that end, I am presently running a design contest on the site 99 Designs. The idea is that having written a …