Thread: thanks to all concerned

Hi,

Just wanted to post a thanks to all concerned for the positive reviews of 'Sharp Practice' - you've all been very kind.

In general, the feedback I got from everywhere was very good (although there's a barber who posted on amazon.co.uk to the effect that men shouldn't try to use a straight razor - any rebuttals here welcome).

Regrettably, sales of the hardback edition were pretty appallling. It's sold about two thousand copies, as opposed to the 40'000 projected. All isn't lost, however. They're bringing out the paperback edition for father's day with a new cover (a bizarre one) and fresh publicity. And based on the critical feedback, they've asked me to write a novel (which I'll probably finish in about 20 years at the rate I'm going).

Hope you're all well - anders

Anders, I'm really surprised... Your book was both informative and entertaining; a truly great read. I hope that the paperback edition more than makes up for the lack of h.c. sales and gives your writing the publicity it deserves. Now where's that barber, so I can give him a good ton.. naa... finger-lashing

So tell us about this diving to the bottom of the North Sea in your trousers?

Surely standard practice for the diver to leave layers under the drysuit? Don't know what the berk doing the review finds so unbelieveable?!

that's a shame, Anders. The book is certainly top notch. So much so that I will be on the lookout for your novel.

Someone needs to point that barber to us. I think he'd be surprised that there are so many of us that don't realize we can't use a straight to shave ourselves

in fact, it wasn't in the north sea - i was diving in the persian gulf at the time - a lot warmer.

Anders

I work for a books publishing company and all I can say is that, at 40,000, your editor must have been very impressed and optimistic of the market. Sharp Practice is a great read, but 40,000 for hardback is a lot for a niche interest!


( A 35,000+ over-print is far from disastrous though. My friend at Dorling Kindersley was responsible for the current world's record for over-printing. They let George Lucas talk them into printing 14 million copies of the DK Star Wars book just before he released Phantom Menace. In the end they had to pulp 9 million copies. Ouch!)

Do we get a heads-up on what genre your novel will be?

Cheers
M.

Originally Posted by Zerco_1

in fact, it wasn't in the north sea - i was diving in the persian gulf at the time - a lot warmer.

In that case you are barking mad!

Hi,

Not exactly sure about the novel yet. It will be commercial fiction for sure. I'll probably try to make it as international as possible, using my memory banks to fill in the details. I'll probably start in Beirut.

anders

Was there a 40,000 printing run, or was that just the projected sale of the book? I'm sorry to hear of the undersales. I really enjoyed the book, both in content and physical construction. Any word on US availability?

Actually, I have no idea how many they printed. The stated target was 40'000. I know that they were able to place 9'000 in bookshops across the UK/Ireland coming up to the Christmas market, but I don't know how many they printed.

As regards an American edition, that's looking unlikely at the moment - depends on how the paperback does though, I guess.

Anders