Those Post Publication Blues

[Tom Cain]

Okay ... so The Accident Man has been out for about 10 days in England and I am going slowly nuts. It's like waiting for exam results. I've done everything I can. Now I've got to find out my grade. So far, I'd give it a low B ... The first chart week I'd only been out two or three days and I crawled in at 42 on the UK hardback fiction list. Second week, I staggered up to 20. The publishers are reasonably satisfied, but they're still wanting that big breakthrough moment, maybe from a piece of media publicity, a touch of controvery, anything that makes the damn book a talking point. Other than that, there's not much we can do. The product is good, I think (reviews have been positive so far), the cover does its job, there are 400 posters up at railway stations and tube stations. One specialist store (sells signed first editions) in London took 50 copies, which i signed on Friday and sold out the whole lot by Monday, now they want 100 more. I've been online emailing and blogging all day, every day, trying to get some more momentum ... All we can do now is wait and hope that word-of-mouth starts to buils up. But really, people, is there any part of the publishing process MORE stressful than this? (Apart from getting the deal in the first place, of course)

[Tom Cain]

Don't go there ... just don't!

[James Twining]

Getting remaindered when everything comes back! That must be worse.