Note this
The New York Times has released its list of Notable Books for 2003, and
Jennifer Government is
on it!
Admittedly, it’s a long list. But… the New York Times! I’m stoked.
Section 8 ponies up again
Good news for my
Jennifer Government stock holdings
on the
Hollywood Stock Exchange:
Section 8 and Warner Bros. just renewed their option on the film rights! This means they’ve got another 18 months to turn it into the world’s first movie with negative product placement. (Where companies pay to have their products not mentioned. I still say it can be done.)
This also means I get paid for doing nothing at all, a new experience for me, but one I could definitely get used to. I would work towards having this happen more often, but I think that defeats the point.
Syrup 101
Today I achieved one of my life-long goals: I was used as a case study in a marketing textbook! This is cool because in Syrup, Scat lives in fear of becoming a “How Not To” case study. Now I am one! Only in a good way.
Just in case this is of interest to anyone other than myself, the textbook is Strategic Internet Marketing 2.0 by Susan & Stephen Dann, and it talks about how the NationStates game I wrote helped promote Jennifer Government.
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Syrup 101
Virtual greed is good
The British and German publishers have both just gone into a second printing, so sales must be good. Either that or they thought it would bomb and only printed a handful of copies to start with. It’s hard to know for sure. No, wait! A reprint is always a good thing.
According to Amazon.com, who always find out this kind of thing before me, there are release dates for the American & Canadian paperback (January 6th 2004, US$12.95) and the British smaller paperback (February 5th 2004, �6.99). There’s also a chance I’ll be doing touring the US in January, but that’s yet to be confirmed.
Meanwhile, I’ve realized I can manipulate the stock market. The Hollywood Stock Exchange, anyway, which is just as fun and minus the risk of getting hauled off to jail. If I say something on this web site about the movie’s development, the Jennifer Government stock goes up; if I don’t mention it for a while, it sinks. This makes me want to announce that Nicole Kidman has committed to play the lead. (But she hasn’t. They’re still working on the screenplay.)
Behind the scenes with Jen
I’ve finally posted Jennifer Government
Trivia and
Deleted Scenes,
both of which are accessible via the
Extras page. Are there any other authors who post deleted scenes of their novels? I don’t think so. They probably understand that it’s not a great promotion for your work to take some of the worst bits and put them online. Come to think of it, I’m not sure why I’m doing it. I’m sure I had a reason originally. Hmm.
If you’re in the UK and keen to get your hands on an autographed copy, you can now do so via the Orbit Books website. At least, that’s what Orbit tells me. The page doesn’t actually say they’re autographed copies, so you have to take it on faith that Orbit isn’t a bunch of filthy liars. But I’m prepared to do that if you are. The books are large paperbacks with a signed book plate (i.e. sticker with my scribble on it) stuck in the front.
In film news, Section Eight has switched screenwriters from Scott Burns to E. Max Frye. I don’t know the details, so let’s just assume there was some kind of almighty screaming Hollywood brawl involved. It’s juicier news that way.
British Jennifer
At last! Jennifer Government hits bookstores across the UK today, in “ridiculously large paperback” format. It’s been a while coming, mainly for legal reasons associated with using real company names in a work of not-so-flattering fiction. Abacus, the British publisher, got several different lawyers to carefully study the book and devise a strategy for minimizing any potential legal exposure; they came up with: “Wait six months and see if anyone sues the American publisher.” (Nobody has.)
Since Syrup hasn’t been published in the UK yet, Jennifer Government is my debut novel there. It’s nice to be a first-time novelist again. I feel all clean and innocent.