Publication Day!

 

Apologies for the crap graphic there - a very obvious sign of why my talents lay in writing rather than in anything visual! Stuart Manning and Andrew Orton who created the wonderful cover for The Long Game will be rolling their eyes if they see it, no doubt.

But I wanted to show off some of the lovely comments I have so far received from readers of the book. Because, frankly, who wouldn't?

Today is officially publication day for The Long Game. But thanks to the hard work and efficiency of publishers Ten Acre, most people who pre-ordered a copy of the first printing will probably have already received it over the course of the past week. Hence the very nice comments coming in, via Twitter and the Gallifrey Base message board, where this whole thing really started with me posting a timeline of this era for fun a few years ago.

The first printing has now completely sold out, but don't worry - the second will be ready very soon, and can of course be ordered via the Ten Acre website. 

Speaking of which, I ought to remind anyone reading this who doesn't yet have a copy that the book is only available online directly from Ten Acre. I mention this as during this week it cropped up on various top wishlists on Amazon, including in the top 20 for the "Most Wished For in Television". Which is very pleasing, of course, but ultimately rather pointless as you can't buy it on Amazon!

The book has certainly come a very long way this year. The manuscript was pretty much finished by the start of the year, but I could never have imagined that it would actually be out there in the world and being read and enjoyed by people before the end of it!

Here's the finished article alongside the print-out I had done back in the spring to use for checking for typing errors and any other assorted mistakes. Yes, the title did change - but for the better, I think. Although a little part of me will always think of it under the Resurrection name, as that's the working title it had for so long, and my folder with all the research, drafts, interviews and so forth in it still has that name!

On a publicity note, I have been continuing what I am now rather pleasingly but stupidly referring to as my "Podcast Book Tour"! I recorded an interview with another Doctor Who podcast on Friday evening, which should be out very soon. And then yesterday, Paul Kerensa released the latest episode of his excellent British Broadcasting Century podcast, which charts the earliest days of British broadcasting and the BBC. 

Obviously my book concerns a somewhat later era, but Paul often intersperses the historical elements of the podcast with guests discussing other bits of broadcasting history, and I was fortunate enough to be invited to come on and talk about The Long Game. In any case, I highly recommend the series to anybody with an interest in the history of the BBC. You can find the latest episode with my guest appearance here:

If anyone reading this happens to have their own podcast about either Doctor Who in particular or British television history in general and would like to have me on to talk about The Long Game, I'm very happy to consider any and all requests! Do please drop me a line.

Finally, I mentioned in the previous entry how much I was enjoying seeing people tweet photos of the book after they'd received their orders, and very pleasingly such pictures have continued to be posted throughout the week! There are a quite a few of them now, which is very nice. It's great to see something I only ever really wrote because I wanted to read it now being out there in the world and enjoyed by other people!