Shameless Advertising

I've reduced the price of the paperback versions of Undercover and Wee Rockets on Amazon. The prices will remain low until after Christmas.

Let me be clear, I'd prefer it if you bought my books from No Alibis in Belfast, but that just isn't physically possible for everybody. So this is for the readers who can't make it to my favourite bookshop.

If you want to put a physical copy of one of my books into a friend or relative's hand, using one of the following links is probably the easiest way to do it:

Paperbacks (Ireland &) UK

Paperbacks US

Paperbacks CA

Merry Christmas, folks.

Paperback Pricer

EDIT, 13/10/14: You snooze, you lose (out on saving a couple of quid). I've put the price up to £8.99. Still a quid cheaper than it'll eventually be. Might even set the price at over a tenner to take advantage of Amazon's free delivery, but for now, it's £8.99.

It'll be a couple of hours before the Amazon page updates, though, so you still might get it for £6.99 if you get clicking right now.

Ahead of a bricks and mortar launch for the paperback version of UNDERCOVER, I've managed to put together a version that I'm proud of through a print on demand service. That means a great version of the cover thanks to those generous professionals at Blasted Heath (thanks, Kyle!). Blasted Heath were also cool enough to send me the mega-edited and proofread-to-within-an-inch-of-its-life version of the manuscript. I've also paid for professional typesetting. And I've been assured by people better qualified than me that I spent my money well in this area.

The launch will be in early December. I'm sure you can guess which independent bookshop in Belfast has given me the go ahead for this. Really looking forward to it. Here's the thing, though. I know many of you wonderful UK and Ireland readers out there can't shop in Belfast. Also, I wish that I had some way of sending out free proofs without imagining that I've set fire to a wad of money that should set aside for household expenses.

So, what can I do?

Work with what's available. I can't offer free books, but I can lower the price for a few days so that I don't actually make a royalty on it.

Well, if I'm completely honest, I've set it at a royalty so small that I'd have to sell 143 copies to cover the typesetting, which was a deeply discounted "mates' rates" fee to begin with!

But, yeah. Boo hoo, right? So I'll not make a living out of paperback sales just yet. That's fine. I've mostly put this version of UNDERCOVER together to please those who prefer an actual book to an e-reader. And I honestly don't mind losing out on a little money so long as there's food in the fridge. There is.

So, until Sunday night (or Monday morning depending how quickly the price update applies), you can get UNDERCOVER as a real book for the lowest price I can set it at.

£6.99.

And what's the standard comparison? A cup of coffee? You'd maybe get three large Americanos in a half-decent coffee shop for that price. You wouldn't get two pints of lager for £6.99 at your local pub unless there was a promotion on. You definitely can't get a fish supper for that price in the town I live in... do I need to go on?

Purchase the UNDERCOVER paperback here:

UK
US (and ROI, I think...)
CA

UNDERCOVER Paperback (and some tl;dr economics)

Okay, people. It's here.

The one question I constantly get asked about my books is, "Where can I buy the paperback?" If you're a local (local to me, at least, or within a reasonable drive to Belfast), the answer is easy. No Alibis Bookstore, all day long.

Here's the thing, though. Most of the people who ask me, don't go to bookshops. Usually they're just asking me out of politeness.

Now, I've worked with (and had a publisher or two work on my behalf with) the larger chain stores. They're not even entirely massive chains, but once you start introducing managers and people who work with spreadsheets and guys with calculators glued to their hands (not a criticism -- some of these people could lose their job without that stupid digital abacus), then things get complicated. And I have a complicated enough life. I'll not chase down some accounts payable keyboard monkey to claim the 50p I'm owed for the one title of mine they sold some time last year.

So, as magical as it is to walk into a random shop and see that my title has been stocked without me having to stalk half of the store's workforce, I'm not going down that avenue with UNDERCOVER.

Here's what I'll do instead:

I'm going to ask No Alibis to carry a small number of copies of UNDERCOVER for me (and hope that Dave is cool with this). And that's it. If you don't want to deal with Amazon (a word I don't use in independent bookstores for many of the same reasons that I don't drop C-bombs in chapels or churches), you have to deal with No Alibis. This will happen in October(ish). I haven't decided whether or not to sort out an official launch yet. I've a feeling the No Alibis BELFAST NOIR launch (date to be confirmed) will be adequate. But we'll see.

The other thing I'm going to do, is purposely make the book more expensive to buy via CreateSpace/Amazon. It'll be set at a 9.99 RRP. No Alibis will sell SIGNED copies a little cheaper.

But here's the thing. Just to get things moving a little, I'm going to allow it to sell at £8.99 for a few days. So, if you want a slightly cheaper copy... go here today and pick it up.

This isn't any grand marketing scheme or a well thought out financial tactic. I simply priced it incorrectly by mistake when I set up the Amazon page. Take advantage of my hamfisted generosity.

All the above applies to copies sold in the UK, I should say. I'm not great with conversion rates and whatnot, so if the price of the paperback version of UNDERCOVER looks particularly inflated in your territory, let me know. Chances are my deficit in knowledge of global economics is to blame. Also, if it's worth my while and not a fucking rigmarole, I'll try to work something out for book festivals, but if you want me to start printing off invoices and all that shite just so you can not pay me for over a year, don't expect me to waste my paper or ink.

Links for purchase of UNDERCOVER:

UK
US
CA (link currently unavailable)

The rest of you, use Google. If that seems dismissive to you, please feel free to let me know, but to the best of my knowledge my books only really get noticed in the above territories.

Things you should know before you part with your hard-earned cash:

The cover is gorgeous
The book feels nice in your hands
It's been edited and proofread to within an inch of its life
It's been typeset by somebody who knows what they're doing
I wrote it

4/5 ain't bad.

Did that all sound a bit grumpy? I've not allowed myself a weekend off in a while. Blame it on that.

Wee Rockets in Paperback

WEE ROCKETS is available in paperback, y'know.

I'd prefer it if you bought this book from No Alibis (Dave can get you signed copies, y'see), but for those who have a geographic challenge (i.e. if you don't live or spend any time in Belfast), you can get it here:

UK
US
Canada

And many other territories, but you resourceful folk can use search engines if required, can't you?

Have at it.