In the Summertime . . .

I went out for lunch with The Curzon Group today and then called in at my local bookshop for a chat with the manager. The staff there are as helpful as they can be, but sadly they're limited in what they're allowed to do to promote Cut Short. It doesn't have a big enough marketing budget to interest Head Office. Such is the way of the world.


Why is no one buying Cut Short on amazon at the moment?

Here's a lovely photo of Cut Short in someone's garden. It looks like a good summer read, doesn't it?
(Cut Short, if you're new to my blog, is the first in my series of crime thrillers).

Here are a few links (yes, I'm being a lazy blogger) -

a link to The Bookseller blog
http://www.thebookseller.com/blogs/95602-no-limits.html

the link to my schedule of appearances on my publisher's website http://www.noexit.co.uk/features/authortour.php
and links to amazon
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cut-Short-DI-Geraldine-Steel/dp/1842432710
and
http://www.amazon.com/Cut-Short-Geraldine-Steel-No/dp/1842432710/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1240166084&sr=1-1

three gentlemen, one bag lady

THE CURZON AIRPORT TOUR.
We signed at a civilised time at Manchester Airport on Friday (midday start) - no photographers turned up. Here we are at East Midlands Airport (5am start) - and yes, a very nice photographer turned up to record the bags under my eyes for posterity . . . It's the best picture I've got, so I swallowed my vanity (not much to swallow) to share this with you. Also in the picture you can see, from left to right, author Richard Jay Parker, the manager of WH Smith's East Midlands Airport, me and author Matt Lynn (who is clearly a morning person.)
It sounds a little more glamorous on the East Midlands Airport website
http://www.eastmidlandsairport.com/emaweb.nsf/Content/BookSigning but you know the truth behind the real bags I carried with me to the airport . . .

I probably told you that my publisher is currently reprinting as Cut Short has been selling so fast! Thank you very much to all of you who have bought it and helped to create this fantastic success. If you'd like a copy - or even another one for a friend - order now for the first edition (!) and remember to email me on leighrussell2009@live.co.uk for a personal inscription and scanned signature.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cut-Short-DI-Geraldine-Steel/dp/1842432710

http://www.amazon.com/Cut-Short-DI-Geraldine-Steel/dp/1842432710

link to my schedule of events - please come along if you can!
http://www.noexit.co.uk/features/authortour.php

Following in Cut Short's footsteps...

This will be me tomorrow . . . on a train to Manchester Airport! Off on my holidays? Not exactly . . .

Tomorrow sees the start of the Curzon Group Airport Tour. Authors Matt Lynn, Richard Jay Parker, and I (yes, me!) will be signing copies of our thrillers from midday. When we finish, we're driving to East Midlands Airport for an overnight stay ready to start signing again at 5 am!!!

I'm feeling really guilty as I haven't posted here for such a long time, but I've been a whisker short of insanely busy. Bath, Bournemouth, Cambridge, Harrow, Hatch End, Hatfield, Henley, Central London, North London, London Colney, Pinner, Shepherds Bush, Uxbridge, Watford and after Manchester and East Midlands it's Brighton, York, Kenton, Heathrow T5, Richmond, Ruislip, Oxford, Ealing, St Albans - plus lots of local talks and signings. And then there are the festivals, and the radio interviews (yes, me on BBC Radio Bristol, BBC Radio Sussex, BBC Radio Solent - I have to go to BBC Studios!) Did I mention my interviews on the BBC ?

Other news - hot off the press - Cut Short has been selling so well that a reprint is in hand as I type this! New stock will be ready at the end of next week . . . but I won't be here to see the new books, I'll be in York, or is it Richmond . . . ?

Writers' block? No. Writers' panic? YES

Cut Short on amazon.co.uk

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cut-Short-DI-Geraldine-Steel/dp/1842432710

also now on amazon.com

http://www.amazon.com/Cut-Short-DI-Geraldine-Steel/dp/1842432710

I've been working, on and off, on Road Closed, the second book in the Geraldine Steel series. I've been happily travelling around, visiting reading and writing groups, and meeting people in book shops (still maintaining an average sale of 44 books at a signing). Staff in the bookshops are friendly, and the readers writers I've met have been really lovely. And all the while, the elephant has been in the room, lurking in the shadows . . .

Someone asked me recently if I feel any pressure having to live up to Cut Short with the next book. "No," I answered cheerfully. "I'm really enjoying writing it." That was absolutely true at the time. But the day approaches . . . Soon, I'll have to show my new MS to my publisher . . . my editor . . . readers . . .

I'm in a complete panic! No one has seen one word of the new MS. Should I show it to my family or just send it to my publisher and hope for the best? What if no one likes it? Help help help! (That's the sound of me panicking). As for my blase reply to the question about feeling under pressure - I wasn't feeling stressed then. I am now. Oh help!