Number One (with a bullet)

It may be the only time I'll ever top a bestseller chart. It will almost certainly be the only time I figure ahead of a Booker Nominee (Colm Toibin), Carlos Ruiz Zafon and one of my all time heroes John Connolly. I think I should just call it a day right now - or maybe just savour the experience a little while longer.

Update August 3rd: Still Number One. That's four weeks. I'm getting delusions of Bohemian Rhapsody or Brian Adams right about now. Steady!

Getting Noticed aka DIY Marketing

Now that The Third Pig is on shelves, I, of course, want people to flock to bookshops in their thousands and buy it. As part of that grandiose aspiration, Harry needs as much publicity as he can stand (and that's quite a bit). With that in mind, we came up with a cunning plan to try and get review copies noticed.

Firstly, we mocked up a Thid Pig Detective Agency complimentary slip. Using the magic of Photoshop, a copy of the cover, one used coffee stain and judicious application of filters we produced:



Aha, we said, that does look quite nice, now how else do we get our book noticed amongst the hundreds (if not thousands) of others that arrive on a weekly basis? In keeping with the crime theme of the book, we mocked up an evidence bag (see, watching CSI every week can be educational) complete with red tape and included the book and press release in it (excuse quality of photo).



It may work, it may not; but if it gets Harry noticed only once by the right people it will have served its purpose.

Busy, busy, busy.

And still the publicity machine rumbles on.

The Clare Champion did a good interview and photo recently. They're still working on their online site so for the moment you can have a gander here:



I've had a couple of good reviews recently also (which is great).

Award-winning crime writer Matt Beynon Rees enjoyed the book and followed it up with a Q&A session which you can read here.

Caroline Smailes, author of the dark but very satisfying Black Boxes and In Search of Adam, also liked it. If you don't believe me, check it out here.

I contacted the two big local bookshops and asked if I could come in and sign their stock of The Third Pig. Both were delighted for me to do so, so signed copies are now available in Eason and O'Mahonys and both have said it's selling well.

And not letting the grass grow under my feet, I've just started sending out a horror trilogy to agents and publishers to see if any of them will bite. It's very different to the Third Pig so we'll see how it goes. I expect much waiting and "Dear Johns" but maybe someone will like it. It has received good feedback from people in the industry so perhaps...

Sign Here Please.

Yesterday's signing was a hoot. It went off well and a goodly crowd (who weren't all family and friends) showed up. I was signing for about 40 minutes and then did a quick reading. As the signing went on, my handwriting deteriorated so those at the top of the queue got wonderfully legible messages, those at the end may have trouble deciphering what I wrote.

Kudos to Dervilla and the girls at the Ennis Bookshop for organising and hosting and to everyone that actually turned up on what was a dreadful day.

After the signing we all (family, that is) went back to my mothers for some grub and excellent desserts.

Here are some pics of the day and I'll throw the rest up on Flickr in due course.


"Look mom, he can do joined-up writing"


"And he'd be able to read too if he looked down at the book"


I was going to mention that I'd done an interview for the News of the World but what ended up in the paper after a 45 minute conversation was short, inaccurate, mostly pointless and didn't mention the book by name once. Still, I did end up on the same page as a huge picture of the girls from Baywatch so it wasn't a total disaster!
At least it didn't have something like "My Stalker Hell!"
Welcome to tabloid journalism.

Last Minute Reminder

...if anyone happens to be around, do drop in.



Hopefully I'll have some pics of what went on (assuming someone, other than me, is there to use the camera)

Updates on My Quest for World Domination

There seems to be a lot of activity around Harry Pigg at the moment. Hughes & Hughes in Galway (hi Liz!) have sold out of their current stock of The Third Pig and O'Mahony's in Limerick have said they're almost out of theirs. Means someone is buying it at any rate!

The Ennis Bookshop contacted me and asked would I be interested in doing a signing. Would I, heck! If anyone is in the Ennis area at 3pm on Saturday July 11th and fancies having a heckle at the sweaty guy standing in front of the table of books, do drop in. I'm fully aware that there could be anything from 3 to 30 people turning up but it'll be a useful experience whatever happens. If you're around, call in and say hi. They've also given it pride of place in their window - alongside John Connolly again. Hmm, I detect a trend here.

Mention should also be made here of my niece, Aislinn who did the spiffing poster that you can see advertising the signing and Conn, who took the photo.


Local newspapers have been very supportive too. Both of the papers in my home county did an article. The one from the Clare People is below and I'll scan in the other over the next few days.



All in all it's been a busy few weeks - so much so that writing has temporarily taken a back seat, but it'll be back to the grindstone as of next Monday as work continues on Harry 3 (working title: The Curds and Whey Mystery).

The Ego has Landed

What a crazy few weeks it's been! Two frenetic weeks holiday in Orlando for the theme-park junkies (recommend Manta, Kraken, Hulk and Simpsons rides) followed by a jet-lagged return to Ireland to discover The Third Pig Detective Agency had already gone on sale. I was so out of it I walked past the local bookshop, saw something in the window that struck a chord in my befuddled mind and went back for a second look. The (badly-taken with phone camera by tired jet-lagged individual) is below.



In the window I'm (not literally) sitting beside John Connolly (a huge fave) and in the shop itself I'm sitting alongside Darren Shan (another fave). Very exalted company indeed.

My son had blagged copies of the book for his school class when we visited The Friday Project in May, and these arrived the following day. I was asked to visit the school and say a few words. Two hours later I came out after a fantastic reading, Q&A sesssion and my first set of autographs (followed by tea and chocolate with the teaching staff). A great day was (apparently) had by all.

Late last night I got a request to revisit Clare FM and do some PR (including a quick reading from the book) on their morning show. After a quick straw poll, consensus was that the poo section was the most appropriate extract to read (which says something about the readers, but I'm not sure what). The show and reading seemed to go ok and feedback was good.

Two local newspapers have expressed an interest in doing an interview also so I'm waiting to hear back from them too.

All in all, a hectic few weeks where I've been making it up as I go along.

I need a holiday.

Normal Service Will Be Resumed

As I'm on hols right at the mo, opportunities for blogging will, I suspect, be limited - especially when they're up against all the attractions Florida has to offer.

That having been said, I got to read (The Artist formerly known as Colin) Bateman's latest, Mystery Man, while waiting in airports, waiting on planes etc. I'l stick up a proper review in due course but in the interim, it was an hysterically funny detetctive story with the fictional owner of a real-life Belfast bookshop (No Alibis) as the protagonist (hero would be stretching it a bit!). I got many strange looks as I giggled, guffawed and laughed quite a bit as I made my way through it. Definitely a huge improvement on his last, Orpheus Rising

How Bateman can write such funny stuff and, balance it with a clever and engaging plot I have no idea (and can only look on enviously) but I'll have whatever he's having.

Bateman back on form again is no bad thing at all.

You Vill Answer Ze Questions

Crime Always Pays, brainchild of renaissance man and criminal mastermind Declan Burke (no relation) keeps tabs on all aspects of Irish crime writing. Occasionally, Dec will strap someone into a chair, attach electrodes to sensitive areas, beat them with some rubber tubing and shine bright lights in their eyes while brutally interrogating them about their writing*.

I was lucky to survive such an inquisition recently and, from my hospital bed, I can the reveal the results here.

Thanks Dec, the medical bills are in the post and you'll be hearing from The Boys sometime soon, just when you least expect it.


*Some of this may be untrue or slightly exaggerated.

More Blood, More Sweat and Another Cup of Tea

The sequel to Tom Reynolds Blood, Sweat and Tea, his memoir of his experiences as an inner-city ambulance driver is now available. Friday Books are also making it available to read here:

Open publication - Free publishing - More tea

Do have a look, bet you'll like it.

And the hits just keep on coming....

Following on the school visit yesterday, I got a call from Scott at The Friday Project this morning. He told me that the advance copies of The Third Pig Detective Agency had arrived in the office and that they looked fab. More importantly, a copy of the book was winging its way to me through the miracle of the postal system as we spoke.

As news goes, this was as exciting as it gets. Hopefully I'll have it in my sweaty hand before I head off on holidays next Tuesday.

I Am Harry, Hear Me Waffle

Yesterday I got an opportunity to talk to a class of 9-10 year olds at a local Gaelscoil (for the benefit of those of you watching in black and white, a gaelscoil is a school where education is carried out via the Irish language). The school itself is very forward-thinking and the original plan was to talk to a group of students about how to add flavour and characters to virtual worlds that they were developing but when we arrived one of the teachers asked would I mind talking to her class.



The talk itself went fine. There were lots of questions following my on-the-fly delivery of bits about me, the book and how I came to write it. Apart from one boy who seemed to have an obsession with films in which people are dismembered via the skilful method of chainsaw, the class seemed interested in the book and the process around how it came into existence.

After we were done, I got to talk to the boys devloping the virtual world - which in itself was quite impressive - and hopefully gave them a few ideas about how to embroider their creations to give them both a distinctive look and feel.

All in all, it was a very enjoyable day, especially as it was my first time in front of a group of children to talk about my book. Thanks to James and Keith of daynuv for setting it up.

Support Your Local Bookstore

The more I read about the publishig industry, the more I've become aware that regardless of how the publisher works, when it comes to selling and marketing the book a lot of the heavy lifting is going to have to be done by the writer. With that in mind (and not being the 'cold calling' type of individual) I approached my biggest local independent bookshop with some degree of trepidation to see if they'd be interested in stocking The Third Pig Detective Agency.


To my surprise and delight, not only had they a small number already on order but, when they heard I was a local writer, they promptly went back to Harper Collins to increase the order. They've also asked me to get in touch formally next week to see what else - if anything - can be done.

Result!

Now that I've got one out of the way, I won't be as nervous about approaching others, though I'm fully aware that not all will be as accommodating as O'Mahony's.

All We Hear Is...

Well the radio chat went reasonably well - according to those who listened in. As it was a morning show, the chat was short and snappy but I didn't screw up (to the best of my knowledge) and answered what I was asked without getting tongue-tied or saying any rude words.

Rumour has it I might even get asked back for a more detailed chat around the book's release date.

I should have a copy of what went on fairly soon and I'll post it here once it's available.

All the News That's Fit to Print

Well there have been some developments on the Harry front over the past while...

Waterstone's are quite enamoured of our porcine detective, so much so that they want to include TPDA in one of their summer promotions. As a result, publication has been brought forward to 25th June. From what I'm hearing, it's going to be part of the Crime section. Does that mean I have to change my job description to Crime Writer now???

TPDA is going to print first week in May (finally) so it won't be long before I get to hold a copy in my grubby little fist.

As part of my ongoing quest for domination of the world's literary scene, I'll be on Clare FM radio tomorrow morning. As it's based in my home town of Ennis, I'm delighted to be going back and getting the opportunity to waffle at great length on whatever arises! Although the station is only available in the mid-West region, it can be streamed for anyone with a passing interest. Drawback (for me as well) is that I'm on at 8am so it looks like an early start.

And finally we enter the realms of fantasy. 20th Century Fox have taken away a copy of The Third Pig to have a look at. This, of course, means absolutely nothing in real terms other than that it gives them first dibs should they decide they like it. They may say 'no thanks', they may option it, they may even come back and decide thay like it so much they want to make it into film. Either way, I've been around the block enough times to not start spending my 10% of the backend just yet. There's a long way between someone saying 'can we have a look' to seeing the famous Fox logo on the screen. It does make things a little more interesting though.