Interim Update

Hello sweet friends, you may not believe me but I haven’t forgotten about you or the Friday Five. The thing of it is, I’ve been ludicrously busy around the publication of Local Gods in the US and UK, as well as working towards two other deadlines.

All of which means the keen eyed amongst you will have noticed there hasn’t been a Friday Five for the last couple of weeks and I’m here to tell you there won’t be one this week either, simply because all I’ve been doing is working and not really doing or seeing anything worth talking about. And while I feel like I could probably get some mileage out of Widow’s Bay and my new and immediate obsession (PATRICIA FOREVER), I’ll do it more justice a little later in the month.

But I do have a couple of things while I’m here.

Firstly, I am flying to Dublin on Thursday 13th (this Thursday!) to do an event at Chapters Bookstore with the amazing Deirdre Sullivan, Dave Rudden and Courtney Smyth. I’m not doing many events this summer for Local Gods and this one is FREE! So if you’re in Dublin on Thursday 13th, or you know someone who is and fancies listening to four authors talking about their books and whatever else comes up, please reserve a spot and come along. I hope to see you there! I’ll be gutted if I’ve put myself through the Ryanair experience for nothing!

Secondly, the book in question, Local Gods, is officially published in the UK and the US!

Early sales make a huge, HUGE amount of difference to author’s trajectories and whether they get to keep writing within traditional publishing. Early support for a book show bookshops and their inhouse book buyers there’s a demand for stories by that author which—in a climate where dozens of books come out every month—means there’s a better chance that high street bookshops will actually stock our books, and that’s imperative to get it in front of customers - we live in such a fragmented, algorithmic society that the old ways of letting people know about books simply don’t work anymore. We really need to have our books on shelves and on tables to stand a fighting chance.

And it also shows publishers there’s an interest in our writing too and that makes them more inclined to direct marketing resources and opportunities towards us and buy future books from us. Modern publishing is very reactive, so every single sale makes a world of difference. Local Gods is the price of roughly two coffees—one and a half in London. So please think about investing in it and me instead. Just this once.

If you’ve already bought it, I’d be so grateful if you could review it, especially on Amazon and Waterstones. I feel like most people know by now about the ‘Magic 50 reviews’ figure on Amazon, which is the point where Amazon starts recommending your book to readers who’ve purchased similar titles. And again on Waterstones - every review increases a books’ visibility and your review could be the thing that convinces a potential reader to pick up a book—especially one written by an author who doesn’t have a Big Five publisher throwing everything they’ve got at it!

FINALLY! If you can’t afford to buy a copy right now, would you consider taking it out of the library? As long as the author has registed their book with the British Library’s PLR scheme, each library loan of their books will net them around 12p, and authors can earn up to £6000 a year through library loans, which of course cost readers nothing and makes a huge difference to authors. Plus, there’s nothing chicer than supporting your local library. Free books? Delicious, delightful.

I’ll be back with a Friday Five soon, and some updates on what I’m working on next.