Last week was a busy one. Not for me, I just looked after the cows and sheep as normal, did a little writing in the evenings and enjoyed the company of my better half, up from Wales for a few days.
No, it was a busy week for the lovely Juliet Mushens, my newly-acquired agent at PFD. In the build up to the Frankfurt Book Fair, she managed to sell the German translation rights to both Natural Causes and The Book of Souls for what I consider to be an awesome sum. She also fended off pre-emptive offers for UK rights for the books, building up enough interest to start an auction.
Arriving in Frankfurt, she was assailed by US publishers wanting to buy the rights over the other side of the pond. The Italians were interested, and so were the Brazilians. In the meantime, five London publishers were slogging it out to see who would get the UK and Commonwealth rights. It went to five rounds, at which point three publishers were still in the bidding. Final offers were all over six figures for three books.
When I got the call, I was busy mending a fence, having chased some Highland cows out of the woods where they weren’t supposed to be. Not the glamorous lifestyle of an author most people imagine, I’m sure. But the news was good, and I am to be published by Penguin.
Italian rights are going to auction, and it looks like the same might happen in the US. I’m wandering around with an idiot grin on my face and a suppressed feeling of absolute terror deep inside.
Dear James, I have absolutely and thoroughly enjoyed both books in the Tony McLean series and I wait with baited breath for the next installment.
As a expat living in London for the past 3 years it was fantastic to read both novels , entertaining enough but made all the more enjoyable by reading about Edinburgh in the passages.
Meat and bones being grown on all the characters and what a wonderful and eclectic group they are.
I hope Emma is okay and Dagwood gets his comeuppance
Kind regards
David
Thanks David. You may have heard that Penguin are going to publish the books from now on. I’m working away at book three at the moment, but they’ll want to get print editions of the first two out before releasing number three. I hope you can wait a little longer. As for Emma and Duguid, well… No, I’d best not spoil it for everyone.