A new home

This blog could never be accused of being prolific. The last post was last January, so if you want more recent news on what's happened in the world of The Bromley Boys, go to www.daverobertsbooks.com - it's really good. Honest.

Getting publicity

Publicity. I naively imagined it would be a question of sending copies of the book to reviewers on the national papers, then sitting back and waiting for their glowing reviews. It is beginning to occur to me that this is a flawed strategy and that the chances of someone even reading the book are incredibly slim. So I've taken to trawling newspaper and magazine websites, finding names of journalists who might possibly be interested and asking if I could send them a copy. Most ignore me, but maybe one in twenty get back either asking for a copy or saying that it doesn't sound their kind of thing. So far, after literally hundreds of emails, I'm still waiting for the first national review..


For further thoughts on publicity and more about the book , check out my blog at daverobertsbooks.blogspot.com

It's all change

There have been changes aplenty in the world of The Bromley Boys since this blog began. Tom, the editor who commissioned the book has taken redundancy, as has Helen, who handled publicity. I've moved from New Zealand to Hartford, Connecticut, which is arguably not a good thing.
Still, there have been a few pluses recently. Time Out published a 3-page extract last week and the Kentish Times called The Bromley Boys "one of the year's best sporting books". Sales in December were good, especially in the South-East, where it was the Xmas bestseller in a couple of shops.
The problem is still getting the national press interested. I think most of them still see it as a local-interest only kind of book. But it's not. Honest. As a new review on Amazon says: "Why don't Waterstones stock books like this?"

Reviews and news.

The book's been out for a couple of months now, and after googling it on a daily basis, I'm now starting to see some reviews. They've all been pretty good (so far) and my particular favourite is one that appeared in the Yorkshire Evening Post, as well as the Birmingham Post.

I realise that readers of this blog are busy, successful people, so I'll just give you the highlights: "exceedingly funny...this marvelous memoir is a must-read...the type of book you could read on a train and suddenly burst out laughing...it ranks among the very best books with a sporting theme."

That'll do me.

I also had my first ever experience of a mass book signing (well, 20 of them) at Waterstone's in Bromley, where I can be seen above in an entirely natural pose. They told me that sales were "going through the roof." If only that was the case at all Waterstone's branches...

Still, I have to say I'm pretty happy with everything so far.

When Reviews Come

With the book all finished, and the orders all taken, the focus now moves towards the publicity for The Bromley Boys. And it's a nice way to kick off proceedings with a very positive review in When Saturday Comes. The reviewer, John Carter says

'Robert's wry, self-deprecating style is his book's biggest asset. Football fan or not, it's a genuinely funny read ... if you've ever endured a season like Bromley's, you'll recognise the tears hidden behind the smiles ... thoroughly recommended'

In fact the only thing that the reviewer doesn't like is the shoutline on the front -- written not by Dave, but by me (oops). So sorry about that, Dave.

The eagle has landed

As Tom touched on below, it's one of the best parts of writing a book. When that first pristine copy arrives in the mail. And that's what happened today. What made it even better was that I wasn't expecting it until the end of the month. I think the book looks great - I especially love the jacket and keep reading the cover quotes over and over. Even the Shakespeare quote at the beginning (not the result of a good education, but stolen from a recent Eastenders episode) seems perfect.
I never thought a book about a non-league football team's 1969 season could be made to look so sexy...

Back of the Net...

And after all that effort and writing and editing and tweaking and fine tuning, a finished copy finally rolls off the printing press. One of the nicest moments in the publishing process.

Well done Dave!