If you’ve ever thought about writing a book, or dreamt of having something published, you’ve probably walked into a book shop and idly considered what it would be like to discover your book on the shelf. Equally, if you’ve been browsing an online bookstore. We’ve often wandered through a town centre, wondering what that it would be like to see The Dead Shadow at Waterstones, stacked on one of those shelves for future readers to buy
We received an email from the publisher’s marketing team last week, saying that they have included the Dead Shadow in Nielsen Book’s data and NetGalley – these sources of data are used by media professionals, booksellers, librarians, and reviewers. They form the first concrete step towards that idle fantasy becoming a reality
Almost immediately, we ran off to our nearest web browser and found The Dead Shadow on the Waterstones website; also at Foyles
So that’s kind of exciting
The book itself will be released in August but you can already pre-order The Dead Shadow at Waterstones, Foyles, and even Amazon
Of course, there are many more steps to go. It will be included in the Bookseller’s guide, so that book shops and libraries are able to find it, and a copy will find its way to the British Library, which feels incredible (in all senses of the word)
How does seeing The Dead Shadow at Watersones make you feel?
As someone involved in writing this book, this leads me to using phrases such as ‘someone involved in writing this book’ instead of ‘author’: which would seem to be the usual way of describing someone who writes a book. Why is this? I’m not entirely sure, I think partly it is because it somehow feels surreal, maybe even ostentatious, to use the word ‘author’ about myself. I grew up being in awe of authors: their ability to create worlds, build characters, and weave multiple threads of ideas into deep stories
Story telling has also been very deeply rooted in human culture for many thousands of years. The Epic of Gilgamesh is one of the oldest written stories that we know of, being many thousands of years old. Yet I remember hearing of tales even older than that – passed down by oral tradition and speaking of Australian landscapes submerged at the end of the last ice age, over 10 thousand years ago
Layer on top of this knowledge your average layer of imposter syndrome and it makes it all a bit harder to say ‘author’. Then there are the nerves that, in the midst of this uncertainty, the book that you’ve put together is going to be exposed to a public who, not having the same emotional investment in your work as you have, are going to point you out as the clown that somehow, deep down, you suspect yourself to be
All of this said – it’s also incredibly exciting to see the cover of The Dead Shadow at Waterstones. I have heard very famous and much-loved bands talking about the stage fright that they still experience – even after decades of performing. Apparently, some find that fear and excitement are very closely related and that they take the nerves they feel and turn these into excitement and energy
I’m hoping that, in some small way, we can do that as we travel further down this road. Maybe even one day I’ll feel comfortable writing ‘author’ about myself. Meanwhile, releasing to the public allows people to start pre-ordering and, eventually, leaving reviews. Hopefully, this will lead to more exposure and more opportunities for people to discover, read, and enjoy The Dead Shadow. I’m hoping they do and I’m hoping that it speaks to them. I also hope that they want to see how the story develops and what happens to the characters. We love our people and we’re desperate to keep writing their stories – we’re already well into the midst of book 2 and the next set of saucepans and bananas!
