Monday 2 February 2009

Countdown

Recognise this? Of course you do! It's the front cover of the paperback edition of Little Monsters. It's slightly different from the hardback - my name's now larger and centred (an entirely thrilling development) and Beryl Bainbridge's generous endorsement has been replaced by a quote from the Daily Mail review saying that the book is 'beautifully written, and more compelling than many thrillers', which says something about the book (its aim) and something about marketing (not its aim). This obviously takes nothing away from my joy, which is unbounded, but I just thought I'd mention it. 

The book hits the shops on Friday, 6 February, and on this occasion I'm not indulging in wishful thinking or hyperbole because it actually will be hitting a much larger number of shops than the hardback edition did. This is because Waterstones branches nationwide (including Wolverhampton - I know, I checked) will be including it in their 3 for 2 offer, so the book should be stacked up on tables all over the country, rubbing shoulders with The Gone-Away World - Hi, Nick! (It's 3 for 2, I can afford to be magnanimous) - and all kinds of other great reading experiences. (This is what happens when I slide into promotion mode - my language goes.) And those of you who are travelling in the next few weeks should see even more copies at WH Smith Travel shops in stations and airports throughout the UK, where it will be available in their Buy One Get One Half Price offer. Yes! Naturally, since I won't be there to witness this, I'm looking forward to all your sightings, preferably with photos. So prime your mobiles...

I was going to save this post until Friday, but I couldn't wait. Now I'll have a dreadful sense of hollowness for the next four days. 

PS I wanted to call this post 'Countdown to...' well, something, so I googled 'countdown to' for inspiration and found, to my dismay, that the two most frequent words to follow the phrase, apart from Christmas, which clearly isn't appropriate except metaphorically, are 'extinction' and 'armageddon'. 

8 comments:

Nik Perring said...

Congrats, Charles. I'll make sure I wander into a Waterstone's at some point very soon...

Nik

Charles Lambert said...

Thanks, Nik. Don't forget your camera...

Caroline said...

My paperback of Black Boxes is out on Thursday and on 3for2 and in Smiths Travel too! And now I am rather excited at the prospect of being next to you on the tables ... and really that sounded a lot better in my head, before I typed it! x

Tania Hershman said...

Charles, how exciting and what a great quote from the Daily Mail, although it doesn't make it clear if your book is a thriller or just that it is better than a thriller! Anyway, fabulous about the 3for2 and the Smiths stuff, I will look out for it the minute we land in London in a few weeks, and for Black Boxes too, Caroline :)

Charles Lambert said...

Caroline, how fantastic, we must try and meet up vertically some time (and that sounds even worse!).

Yes, Tania, it's a bit ambiguous, but in a way that may encourage two quite distinct sets of people to buy the book, so I can't complain!

Anonymous said...

WOOHOO!!! It looks great. It all sounds great. I'm impressed and I hope you'll remember to say you knew me when.

Charles Lambert said...

Barring dementia, I'd say that was a pretty safe bet, Ms B!

Tyla said...

In Celebration, I am going to have a drink and a steak! XO

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