Now I know how it feels to be sandwiched between Susan Boyle and Theo Walcott

My morning at Transworld

One of the benefits of having 32 Programmes published by a major outfit like Transworld was that I got to visit their offices and have a look around. It got even better when I spotted a couple of Derren Brown books and pointed out that I was a fan. "Go on, help yourself" was the reply. This scenario was repeated about half a dozen times, when I confessed to being a big fan of, amongst others, Lee Child, Paul O'Grady, Jamie Carragher and Bear Grylls.

The highlight, though, was meeting all the people that had worked on the book, from Lisa who came up with the brilliant cover design to Vivien, the apparently unflappable production manager. The gentlemen in the picture are the ones I've been most closely involved with; on the left, the book's editor Giles Elliott, who made the whole thing happen AND came with me to a Bromley match, while on the right is Ben Willis, who never seems to stop promoting various books, including mine.

It was a fantastic day, capped off by a champagne celebration and a hugely flattering speech by Giles.

Why write books when you hardly make any money out of them? Here's why.

A couple of days ago, I got this email from Brian Kennedy, an Irish writer who had just read The Bromley Boys:



"I've just put the book down with tears in my eyes at how beautifully nostalgic the story is.
How innocent, gulliable and yet loveable you and all the characters are.
Funny, witty, and I adored every page - what reduced me to tears was the way you told the story of everyone in the epilogue. Ordinary everyday people , with everyday jobs that gave no less , and probably more, then any Premiership player dispite the handicap of being, well, woeful!
It was the promotion in 2007 and seeing Roy in the backround that killed me you sod!!! I'm 41 !! I don't need to have tears rolling down my cheeks reading about people I've never met!
Just needed to email you to say you've filled my heart with a warm glow, and its even made me track down all the 14 members of my Kilbarry Rangers side that played 18 games of the 1992/93 season, winning 0 drawing 3 and losing 15 so I can invite them all to the launch. Our "Corinthians Casuals" were Stradbally FC and we avoided finishing stone last in Division 4B of the Waterford Junior & District League (the lowest league available) by draw 1-1 at there ground with a last minute goal by our "Phil Amato" - George O' Mahoney who seemed to run 100 meters from the half way line to get a touch on the ball 2 yards from the goal-line I'd chipped over the Stradbally keeper to steal my thunder.
Thank you my friend. Loved it . And hopefully I'll get the pleasure of meeting you in real life some day.

Like Bees to Honey - Caroline Smailes

In a shocking turn of events, I am turning over today's blog post to a subject other than ME. Caroline Smailes, who is a fantastically good writer, has a new book out next week called Like Bees To Honey. Having read a fair chunk of it already (as well as all her other books), I am confident that this is going to be her breakthrough. So, as a way of grabbing a slice of the glory showing support, I am hosting this stage of what modern book-types call a 'Blog Tour'. Here, for your pleasure, is Chapter Nine:

Open publication - Free publishing

Buy the book at Amazon:

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Like-Bees-Honey-Caroline-Smailes/dp/0007356366/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1273227630&sr=1-1

 

Find out more about Caroline:

 

http://www.carolinesmailes.co.uk/blog

 

Read the next chapter:

 http://nikperring.blogspot.com/ 

New site and other news

After a mere four years of writing books, I've finally got around to putting up a website at www.daverobertsbooks.com. One enormously popular section of the new site is the 'sightings' section, which has had ONE RESPONSE in three days. Come on, people, you can do better than this. Send me a picture of you posing with The Bromley Boys, and it'll go up on the site, ensuring you'll be recognised everywhere you go.


Will the book be coming out in mass market paperback? It's a question I'm often asked (really!). The current version, a C format trade paperback, is a bit expensive for some at £10.99, especially when similar football books are less than half the price. Well, as far as I know, there are no plans to do this.



Finally, Waterstone's have changed their approach to book selling, and are now concentrating a lot more on local markets. This seems to have helped sales of The Bromley Boys, as it's being promoted quite heavily in branches like Bromley, Orpington, Bluewater and Croydon. Before that, they held a single copy in branches throughout the country, which wasn't particularly successful. Sales have definitely improved since the change of plan and that's why Waterstone's are my favourite bookshop.

A reader writes...

Sometimes, I get an email which makes up for the lack of money, fame and everything else I've got from writing books. A few days ago, I heard from a Swansea fan who had read The Bromley Boys and had recommended it to a friend of his. The friend, Dave, then went away on holiday and managed to read it while he was away. As my correspondent reported: "he loved it so much he found himself trawling through various bromley fc websites when he got home....exactly as i had done." They had become Bromley fans, which was beyond brilliant. But this is not always a rewarding experience, as the next part of the email clearly illustrates. "when i got home from swansea's tuesday's nil-nil draw there was one email in my "in tray". it was from dave & it simply said "bromley lost 6-1 tonight".
This was possibly the most poignant email I've ever seen.

Mentions in the press and Amazon rankings

The Bromley Boys got a nice mention in Monday's Independent and I was hopeful it would lead to a few sales. So I checked Amazon and was dismayed to see it falling. It continued throughout the day, ending up in the 70,000s.

The next morning, something changed. Suddenly, people were buying it and at one stage it was around 4000, which is probably the highest it has ever been. It started to taper off that evening and went back to normal.

This was the piece, from Sam Wallace's column:


I read The Bromley Boys this summer, Dave Roberts' book about his tragic adolescent obsession with Bromley FC and their disastrous 1969-1970 season. On one occasion the teenage Roberts paints "Ellis Must Go" on his T-shirt in protest against the club's inept manager Dave Ellis. As he prepares to reveal his T-shirt he realises that the person sitting next to him in a virtually empty stand is Ellis himself. It's the kind of story that reminds you of Danny Baker's 606 at its vintage best.