The Manuscript Now Available in the U.S. on Amazon.com!

Yes, that's right – while no one seems to be able to tell the same story twice about about actual release dates in the U.S. or Canada, I simply woke up a few days ago to find that it's already on sale NOW on Earth's largest bookstore.

And it's a trade paperback, and only $11.16 – about a billion dollars cheaper than was spent by you sainted heroes who bought hardback copies, for inflated pounds sterling, and had them shipped across the Atlantic. (God bless you, every one.)


Yip! Long-awaited, very exciting. For me, at any rate. Moreover, this is the bit where I beg you to please kindly send e-mail to everyone you've ever known, suggesting they buy and read this book. Those links again to send around are:

    http://www.the-manuscript.com/

    http://www.amazon.com/dp/0230007430

And if you don't get around to doing it now, don't worry – you (along with everyone I've ever known) will be hearing from me personally, as I beg, borrow, steal, cajole, and blandish to try and get the word out.

The horrible thing is: If I'm even a line in my publisher's marketing budget, it's pretty much a zeroed-out line. The wonderful thing is: word of mouth is still the most powerful magick for selling books. It's a longshot – but books by writers no one has ever remotely heard of still sometimes come out of nowhere to take the world by storm. It happens because they are great books, and because people like them, and because these people tell their friends.

As the drummer boy hath said, "Anything can happen." (He also said: "A dream is only over if you give it up – or if it comes true.")


Film Rights Optioned

Actually rather old news at this point – any of you who have been checking the news section of the book site, and/or this here blog, and/or have actually spoken to me, will be aware that a deal was finalised in October granting a twelve-month option on the film rights for The Manuscript, to a UK production company. (I had a long, lazy lunch meeting with their principals, and they're lovely and funny folks – and endearingly willing to talk at length about this book of mine.) They are using the option period to approach some of the bigger U.S. and international studios for funding for the project. Wildly originally, I've demanded a bit part. But, moreover, and as I've quipped: it gets me closer to having a film of the book made – in the same way that standing on a step-ladder gets you closer to the sun. But of course I'll take it – and smile!


Two New Interviews

The always-lovely folks at Goldsboro Books in London did me an e-mail interview for their author profile page. I had fun with it.

'What are your favourite and least favourite things about being a writer?'
'Favourite: that chicks dig it. Least favourite: that, somehow, still, none of them have gone out with me as a result.'

I was also interviewed for an article in the current Poets & Writers Magazine. (At a flash club for media types in Soho!)

'The fast-talking writer has a successful day job as an Internet consultant, peppers his conversation with literary aphorisms, and, like many debut authors, can talk with an eloquence borne from personal experience about the iniquities of the publishing business.'


The Manuscript Now Available As E-Book

My initial reaction to this news was that I got in just under the wire – I always wanted to have a book published while it was still a book, and not a blip on some rogue file-sharing server. (Though, if I ever start acting like Lars Ulrich, I beg you to shoot me in the head.) In any case, the future won't be put off, and Macmillan is boldly moving into it. Now you can read me on your computer screen! Wait a minute . . .


UK Release Dates Moved Forward, Backward

The release date for the new novel, Pandora's Sisters, has been moved up slightly – to July. (I've got copyedited proofs in-hand now. Hmm, should probably do something with those . . ) And the web site for the new book will be launching shortly! (Actually, it happens to be up now, though hopelessly under construction – and if you're curious and even very slightly clever you can very probably find it.)

Contrariwise, the release date for the UK mass-market paperback of The Manuscript – originally set to coincide with the release of Pandora's Sisters – has been moved back to January 2008. On the upside, it's got a complete and total arse-kicking new cover which I'm evidently not allowed to show you yet . . .