A Reluctant Spy - Launch Day
Well, the day is finally here.
My debut novel A RELUCTANT SPY is out! Something I've been working towards for thirty years (somewhat inconsistently at times) has finally come to pass. You can buy it pretty much everywhere, but my Linktree has a whole range of options, including hardback, special edition hardback, eBook and audiobook from multiple retailers.
Here's a few launch day questions and answers for you:
Where can I get it?
Pretty much everywhere! Check this link or just search the name of the book plus your favourite place to get books.
Where should I get it?
I've had this question a lot, either because someone wants to know what book format (hardback/eBook/audio) will give me personally the most benefit, or because they want to know if there's something they can do to help the book succeed.
The answer here is to buy it wherever suits you best, and in whatever format suits you best. Once you've worked out all the differences in shipping, storage, royalty rates, cover price etc, it's pretty much a wash financially.
That said - if you're buying the hardback, the best thing you can do for your local community and the visibility of the book is to order it from a local independent bookshop. You're putting money straight into a local business, the order means they will very likely order another copy (or two!) which increases the visibility of the book, and you get to go to a local independent bookshop, which are very often the coolest places for miles.
Wait, I'm not in the UK, when can I get it?
The eBook edition will release today, everywhere, so if your priority is reading the book, that's the way to get it. If you're in North America, the hardback release is on the 7th of January (although it is still showing at 15th January in some places). This is to allow for the physical books to literally be shipped across the Atlantic. You can also order from Blackwell's in the UK, who do free international shipping to some countries.
When can I get it on audio?
The audiobook is very slightly delayed, and will come out on Tuesday 17th September on all services. Don't worry, I'll be posting reminders. And you can still pre-order it.
You must feel pretty amazing right?
I do, yes! And tonight at Blackwell's in Edinburgh, I get to celebrate with a whole bunch of amazing book world folks, and possibly even some people I don't know at all who just liked the sound of the book!
What else is going on?
I have a small piece in today's Express about my five best spy shows. No link yet, but I'll update this post as soon as I find it.
There's also new reviews going live throughout the day. I'll add them as I see them. Here's what's live now:
- The excellently-named 'Mayhem, Murder and Long Dogs' blog by Jeff Popple called my book 'a very impressive debut'.
- Ed Crocker at FanFiAddict said A RELUCTANT SPY is 'an intelligent, modern, sleek machine of a spy thriller stripped to the core and programmed to entertain'
Finally, there's some BIG NEWS hopefully coming today (possibly tomorrow) which I'll write separate post about. But for now, I'm going to make another cup of tea and figure out what I'm wearing for my launch tonight. If you're coming, I'll see you there!