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 …
Blurbalicious
I hope you’ll forgive a just little bit of trumpet-blowing. Can I use the cover of the book as an excuse? Since I put up this blog post about my lovely galleys a couple of days ago, several people have written to ask me what is written half way down the page, between my name and the cornet full of …
Galleys Ahoy
On Monday morning, the nice UPS man knocked on my office door with a package from New York. In it were five galleys, or Advanced Reading Copies, or ARCs, of A GOOD AMERICAN. These are, essentially, final softcover versions of the book (it will be published in hardback) complete with (brilliant) cover art, embarrassing author photo, blurbs, and what-have-you. Penguin …
Take Cover!
I am very proud finally to be able to show you the US cover for A GOOD AMERICAN. I had discussed various possible themes with Amy soon after the text was finished, but really had no idea what to expect when this little electronic file plopped into my inbox. I was, I can admit now, a little apprehensive. But I …
UK News
I’m just back from a wonderful and refreshing vacation in Maine, which I will write about shortly, but I wanted to share a little bit of exciting news before then. The UK edition of A GOOD AMERICAN now has a publication date. It is scheduled to be published by Fig Tree Books, an imprint of Penguin UK, on August 2, …
Music for the Ages
Finally, a respite from all the advice. Now it’s my turn to ask for your help. (And, I know. You never asked for mine.) I’ve been having a fine old time lately enjoying Spotify, a music website that has (finally) been made available over here in the US. It is an amazing resource and I have been discovering lots of …
Writing for My Life
Look, I know. This is supposed to be a light-hearted blog. I’m supposed to serve up wry, self-deprecating posts about me and my writing. I’m meant to be developing, God help me, a brand, in the hope that you’ll all go out and read my novel when it comes out next year. But light-hearted is a bit tricky right now. Earlier …
When Imagination Meets Reality
As regular readers of this blog (and especially my twitter feed) will know, I have just returned from a quick jaunt down south to New Orleans. It was a great trip. New Orleans is one of the few places that managed to live up to my preconceived notions of the place. I had a blast, ate far too much (the …