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| The one on the left still rules. |
I planned on taking the past week off. Just play with my grandkids, enjoy Mykonos in
July, do nothing but chill. Not to
happen. A request from my publisher for a “brief” contribution to its in-house
author website on the subject of “Practical
Advice on Setting up a Book Tour or Signing,” took up the weekend (check
out the photo of two silver-haired MIEers headlining the post). I’m really not complaining. After all, it’s the least I could do now that my
publisher has agreed to announce that Jeffrey Siger is actually only a pen name.
My real name is Jesus Christ.
No disrespect intended, but that’s just about the only name
I can conceive of possibly driving J.K. Rowling off the top of worldwide
bestseller lists before Christmas.
Unless you’ve been locked up incommunicado in a cave for the past week, if you’re reading
this blog you undoubtedly know that Harry Potter’s creator saw her first crime
novel, The Cuckoo’s Calling,
published in April under the pen name Robert Galbraith. It received terrific
reviews (no surprise there) but sold only 500 copies of 1500 shipped until some
lawyer for Ms. Rowling (presumably her soon to be ex-lawyer) told the secret to
his wife’s best friend (interesting
story possibility there, Ms. Rowling) who leaked it on twitter, leading to the
grand denouement in The Sunday Times
this week.
It is said that Ms. Rowling is very “disappointed” at the
behavior of her attorneys who swear there was no promotional motive whatsoever
behind the leak and that their client was thoroughly enjoying her anonymity. Whatever the case, and I tend to believe Ms.
Rowling, mystery authors everywhere owe her a distinct debt of gratitude for several
reasons.
First, for letting the world know what it’s truly like for virtually
everyone but she to be a mystery writer: Even if you publish a book that reviewers
love, selling it to the public is a whole different thing. Second
(though absolutely not the situation with my publisher), for sticking a big moutza (see my post
of two weeks ago) in the face of every publisher who, as a matter of
routine, blames the book rather than inept or non-existent promotion for
underperforming sales. And, third, for
giving many of us the satisfaction of bragging to the world that, for one small
moment in time, our book sales actually out performed J.K. Rowling’s!
Which brings me to the point of all this.
I’ve tried to keep it quiet but Edward Snowden has learned
that my new book coming out September 3rd, Mykonos
After Midnight, is actually the secret life story of Jacqueline Kennedy
Onassis as told to Princess Diana through Shirley MacLaine. And if you don’t
believe me just ask my editor, Edgar Allen Poe.
Order now, before the rush.
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| My chance at my book appearing on the same page as J.K. Rowling's. |
Jeff—Saturday
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