When your book comes out, do you ...

[Tom Cain]

Constantly check its position in the Amazon chart? Read every review? Go into bookstores and re-arrange the shelves so that your title stand out?

Me, I'm a total wimp. I should be thrilled because The Accident Man shipped to UK supermarkets on Thursday and apparently bookstores have started racking it, too. But I can't bear to go into any stores or look on any retail websites. I never read reviews. It's pathetic, I know, but it comes down to a terror of being disappointed if/when I discover it's not doing nearly as well as I hoped.

The one thing I did do was post a thread on my West Ham (football club) fansite, letting the guys there know about it.

http://www.kumb.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=89902

So far I've had almost 6,000 hits on the thread, 102 replies and about a half-dozen confirmed purchases. Now THAT I can stand.

What about you folks? Are you bold and outgoing ... or wimps like me?!

[Tom Cain]

Fair point ... when people start ordering my book on Amazon, months in advance - like the fans who have kept JK Rowling at No.1 for the past six months - I'll know I've made it. Seems a fair way off, though!