Get thee to a bookstore
It’s out! And oh, it’s good to see the thing in an actual bookstore. It’s such a long process to get a novel from idea to bookshelf—I began writing it in November 1999, if you can believe that—so it’s very satisfying to be done. It’s also great to see
Jennifer Government and Syrup side-by-side. It makes me
look like a real writer. A real writer who can’t decide what his name is, sure, but still.
Early signs suggest the book is selling well, although it’s hard to be sure. Book stores generally don’t report this information to publishers, so I can only get an indication from store re-orders, my Amazon.com sales ranking, and bestseller lists (which lag by a couple of weeks anyway). But so far, so good!
On the road
Tour dates! This is where I travel around the country, perform to packed houses, and dangle babies off balconies. No, wait, that’s Michael Jackson. I just read from my book, sign copies, and answer questions. But still! You should come along. It’ll be fun.
I’m doing two appearances this month: one in New York and one in LA. If you can’t make it but want to get your hands on a signed copy, contact either bookstore and have them reserve one for you.
The critics speaketh
Early reviews! The first couple are in and now available in the
Reviews section.
I’ll add more here as they come in.
In film news, Scott Burns has been hired to write the screenplay. Scott recently adapted another book for Steven Soderbergh, Kurt Eichenwald’s The Informant: A True Story. So I’m guessing the man can write. He’s also something of a legend in the advertising world, with credits including the “Got Milk?” campaign. That won’t go astray with Jennifer Government. The corporate advertising experience, I mean. I have enough milk.
Aaaargh
Displaying impeccable timing (with Jennifer Government just six
weeks away), Viking (USA) has decided to take Syrup out of print.
They’ve even deleted it from their online catalog, so it’s like it never
existed. This means unless a bookstore has Syrup on the shelf,
they probably can’t get it.
Thanks to those people who have written in about their Herculean struggles to find a copy. It seems that Amazon are out, but Barnes & Noble.com has a few left; apart from that, your best bet is probably picking one up second-hand.
In the long-term, there are two possibilities: either I convince Viking to crank up the presses again, or I get the rights back and find a publisher who will. Since I’m now with Doubleday, this might even work out pretty well.
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Aaaargh
We have a mole
Two sites,
Ain’t It Cool
News and
Cool Happenings
Under Development, have published the Jennifer Government blurb,
which I reckon they must have cribbed from an advance reader copy. This may or may not be the blurb that appears on the final jacket. But that’s okay, because AICN quotes someone who says the book is “simply awesome.” Oh yeah!
Audio Jen
Today I received the script for an audio version of Jennifer
Government. Yes, that’s right: if you like to read books without moving your eyes, your prayers have been answered! It’s an abridged version, which as far as I can work out means you get the whole plot but nothing but the plot. This may or may not be a good thing, depending on what you think of my writing.
I won’t be reading it myself. Trust me, this is a good thing. You don’t want to spend four hours figuring out my accent, no matter how sexy and authoritative I sound. And frankly, it’s not that sexy and authoritative. So to hear me in person, you need to turn up at one of my bookstore readings next year. Or else get hold of my home phone number and make prank calls. But don’t do that.