There's a little over two months now for the release of my debut novel Tarnished Star, 95 days to be precise and I'm starting to feel a level of excitement that I've not known since I was a ten year old waiting for Christmas. The book is doing well on pre-orders and to ensure you get a copy you can order with free worldwide delivery HERE. No monies will be deducted until the book is ready to be sent. The book can also be bought from AMAZON, WATERSTONES and other online retailers.
If you want the book, and I hope you do, pre-ordering is a good option because my publisher specialises in small print runs and at the moment the pre-orders are dictating the extension to the usual print run.
David Cramer and Elaine Ash have kindly given their excellent Beat to a Pulp over to Jack Martin/ Gary Dobbs during the novels publication week and will be running two stories from me . Firstly a Jack Martin western, The Devil's Right Hand and the second a curio called The Way to a Man's Heart written under my own name. I hope you folks enjoy them. And sticking with the Beat to a Pulpsters, anyone interested may want to check out a previous Jack Martin western, A Man Called Masters HERE. Also check out the sidebar on this blog for links to my other online fictions.
The Tainted Archive will be celebrating the publication big time but as well as Tarnished Star centric news, there will be features on my March 2010 book, Arkansas Smith as well as the usual blend of features and reviews. I'm especially pleased to inform all you archivists out there that I have a Dean Koontz interview in the pipeline. Also the first Tainted Archive podcast should be ready by July - the first issue features audio interviews, a short story and anything The Archive can beg, steal or borrow to boost content.
Exciting times, indeed. And please forgive me for blowing my own trumpet but understand Tarnished Star is my debut novel - I've been writing for over twenty five years, have several unpublished novels in the loft, and the upcoming publication is probably the biggest single event of my life in 2009. I think I've produced a damn good western, an enjoyable read with characterisation that, hopefully makes the players in the drama seem real. Ahh well, I do hope you all like it and will be back in 2010 to buy Arkansas Smith.
Nuff said - bye for now.
8 comments:
big congrats.
A bit of crowing is to be expected and well understood. It's such an incredible feeling to see that first novel in print. It does mark a watershed moment in life.
Seeing my name in print for the first time resulted in buying six copies of the magazine. I can only imagine how excited I would be with a novel.
Congrats Gary. I put in an order through the Book Depository, which seems to be a great site. Free delivery worldwide! Can't beat that.
Laurie
It had better be a "damn good western", Gary! Considering all the work you have put in with your online sales drive, you deserve the commercial success the book already is. Several visitors here have been writing Black Horse Westerns for years, and depending on our publisher, Robert Hale Ltd, to market our books, seeing that as part of the publishing process. None of us has seen the pre-publication orders success that you have achieved though your own publicity efforts here and elsewhere.
But all coins have two sides. For many of the people ordering The Tarnished Star, it will be their first reading of a Black Horse Western. I've no doubt all the other BHW authors -- several dozen of them -- are hoping your book will encourage its customers to buy more titles in the series. Six new books are published every month, and have been for ages. We've seen no big rush to sample them. If I were you, it would worry me greatly to think that such an astonishing number of new readers were taking their BHW gamble on my debut novel. What a responsibility!
That said, I can't see how else a determined, younger person should have proceeded. I'm very happy to see someone proving at last how timid all established approaches to publicity and sales for these great (largely) books have been.
Chap - I do feel trepidation at the number of people going to read the book but then - hell, it is a good western. And Arkansas Smith in 2010 will be just as good.
You've got to belive in your work, I guess and I stand by Tarnished Star and hope it does encourage readers to discover the many excellent books out there published under the Black Horse imprint.
Keith - how long before the actual publication is it usually before the author gets his copies?
It varies, Gary. And obviously how far the books have to be sent has a bearing, too. Best I can offer are the posting dates in Sevenoaks, Kent, where the warehouse is located and from where the parcels of complimentary copies are mailed out. For my last two books these were:
Misfit Lil Cleans Up (published Oct. 31): October 13.
Blast to Oblivion (published Feb. 27): February 9.
Appreciating your excitement over your "first baby", I'm sure the people at Hale will do all they can to expedite delivery.
Enjoy the very special event!
Keith
I can only imagine your excitement in receiving that very first copy. I once read another authors routine for that first book arrival, and how he props himself in a chair at his favorite coffee shop and reads his book from cover to cover. I imagine my own excitement for my own manuscript, the first glance of the cover, that new book smell, and the pages so crisp and unturned.
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