ProJo Review

We just found this little but great review from the Providence Journal from October.

Mom's Amazon Blog

Click here for mom's blog on Amazon (which has recently been hijacked by the more computer-savvy me).

Product Search

If you do a Google product search, you can see all the crazy places that sell our book online. "Looney Tunes CD store." What??

Last Week In Real Life

Good week in Dirty Water land--the Colin McEnroe show was fun. He's really anti-Joe Lieberman, and not afraid to say so. I kind of wanted to join in that discussion, but I figured I'd better talk about the book as planned.

Then we had our event at Broad Street Books in Middletown. Everyone there bought a book--one woman bought six. Another had come to our Hartford signing but came to Middletown to get more copies! Awesome. After our reading, we had a really good Q & A, too. One guy was an old Brooklyn Dodgers fan, and was aware of the old Hartford National League team from the 1870s.

And today, the book had a serious spike on Amazon! Thanks to all of you. Nice job.

More events coming soon....

This Week In Real Life

We'll be on Colin McEnroe's radio show on WTIC-AM 1080, which you can listen to online if you're not in Connecticut, Tuesday, November 18th at 3:30 PM.

Then we'll be reading and signing books at Broad Street Books in Middletown, CT, Thursday, November 20th, at 7 PM.

Found a brief mention of Dirty Water in the Seattle paper. Thanks, Danielle Dreger-Babbitt.

And also in Washington, we have a page on the Tacoma Library's site (which shows the Booklist review that normally requires a subscription.)

Sales

It's so funny the way I constantly check Amazon to try and figure out how well the book is selling. There are websites which try to explain the true meaning of the sales rank number--it's almost like the way scientists monitor lists of random numbers for decades trying to unlock the pattern. But from what I can tell, the number basically tells you how recently you've sold a book. Every time your number spikes, you've made a sale.

I think.

But there are other things to watch. The list of "people who bought this book also bought" is fun, because the more that list grows, the more books you can be sure you've sold. It was fun to watch that list go from just a couple to now 15 pages worth (6 to a page.) Of course, technically, that could just mean one person bought our book in an order with 90 other books. And the fact that when I click on one of those other books, our book isn't necessarily in their list. Who knows.

But I was very happy to see a new thing on our page today. It said "customers bought these two things together," and showed our book next to the 2009 Red Sox wall calendar. It didn't go so far as to offer a sale price for buying both together, but it did give the option of adding both to your cart at once. You know what this means, though? Why do you buy a wall calendar? As a holiday gift. And people buying our book as a holiday gift is exactly what we're looking for. When you've got a baseball-related book out after the baseball season ends, you've at least got the holidays going for you.

90 Miles

One of the storylines in our novel involves the smuggling of Cuban baseball players. Our book is fiction, but part of the story is inspired by the case of Gus Dominguez. Gus is in jail right now. He was an agent for Cuban players like Yuniesky Betancourt. He was accused, and convicted, of smuggling, transporting and harboring Cuban players.

It's a long, complicated story, and I'll let you do the research on your own, but whether you are for or against what he did, I think we can all agree that this story has been swept under the rug by Major League Baseball.

Jungle Boogie

Today I have a guest blog up on Jungle Red Writers. Check it out, and feel free to leave a comment over there.

I wanted to put some other pics in there, but we couldn't work them in. So I'll post them here. First, my mom when her first book, The Book of Phoebe, came out, at the party her friends threw for her:
Check out those frames! Oh man, my mom's gonna kill me when she sees this up here.

And here's the shot of my sister and I in her memoir, Girls of Tender Age:

Us On (Internet) TV

Check out the podcast of mom and me on Henry Delangelo's internet TV show, "HDTV." It was a fun interview with a fellow Sox fan who like me has lived in both Rhode Island and Fairfield County, CT. I like the way he did the podcast, with pictures shot by me in a slideshow, since we were on the phone, not with him in studio.

Thanks, Henry!

Shrinky Dinks

When I got the book from Amazon, I noted it was shrink-wrapped. What I didn't realize was that they're all shrink-wrapped. Yes, the ones that got shipped to stores, too. I couldn't believe my eyes when I went into the local Barnes & Noble and saw my book for sale on a shelf for the first time...and it could not be opened. (I don't know if you know this, but a key element in the reading of a book is the ability to OPEN IT.)

Of course, I ripped the thing open--and you should, too. If you see it in a store, rip it from its cocoon. I'm the author, I authorize it. Turns out our distributor does art books, which are normally shrink-wrapped and...I'm not even gonna finish this explanation because I've already wasted enough time unwrapping books. But the key is, all printings from now on will come without the dreaded SW.

Oh, and here are some more indy bookstores who we support and who support us (and who have some de-shrink-wrapping to do. Ugh.)

Mystery Loves Company, Baltimore

M is for Mystery, Palo Alto, CA

Clues Unlimited, Tucson, AZ

Mystery Lovers Bookstore, Pittsburgh

New Comment Section Too Scary?

I saw the other day that Blogger came up with a new option for allowing comments--letting you type it right onto the window in a box. I've received plenty of comments since then, but I have also heard of people having trouble. So, if you have tried and can't comment under the new system, e-mail me and let me know. Two2067 at aol dot com. I do have moderation on, so you should at least get the "comment awaiting moderation" notice if you try to comment. So if you haven't commented in the last few days, do a test one and see what happens.

Thanks. Happy Halloween.

(Ooh, new top banner at redsox.com.)

Options

I was thinking, what are the other big national booksellers besides B&N and Borders (and Amazon)? I actually had to look it up. Turns out the next biggest is Books-a-Million. They've got our book, and their on-line "club member" rate is a couple cents cheaper than Amazon's. So, you can choose them, or one of those others, but we hope you'll get it from an independent bookstore like Kate's in Cambridge, Bookworm in West Hartford, Broad Street Books in Middletown, CT, or Murder by the Book if you happen to be in Houston, Texas.

I've had a lot of really cool experiences with putting out my first book, but one I haven't had yet is seeing it for sale in one of the chain stores--B&N shows every New England store having Dirty Water in stock, so I'll have to check out my nearest one tomorrow.

Ya Gotta Have Hartford

Last night in West Hartford was fun. I posted about this one at my main blog. At our reading, I told people about where I'd just been--at the old home of the Dark Blues, Hartford's only major league baseball team, from back in '76. 1876, that is.

We also had a great time doing Robin's radio show a few days back. I'll post the link to our interview when she puts it online. And we had fun on Diane & Ray on WTIC--Diane was there tonight and has been hyping our book on air, despite being a Yankee fan.

Our next event will be another Connecticut one--details coming soon.

Reading/Signing This Tuesday In West Hartford, CT

Tuesday, October 28th, 7 PM, we'll be at the West Hartford Library for a free reading/signing. Come on down and listen, chat with us, or whatever. If you buy a book, we'll be happy to sign it. We'll also be doing a little cross-promotion with my girlfriend's soap company, Stella Marie Soap. The first 50 people to make a purchase will get a "Big Poppy" soap. (Her soap smells so good, you'll want to eat it.)

Details from the library's website:

"Author readings are held at the Noah Webster (Main) Library, 20 S. Main Street, West Hartford, Connecticut. Readings are free but seating is limited. Parking is also free for those who park in the Isham Garage and bring their parking ticket to the event. Books will be available for purchase at each event. For more information, please call the library at: 860-561-6990."

Reading With Robin

Tomorrow, Saturday, my mom and I will be interviewed on Reading with Robin, on 920-AM Providence. It's also on the web here. Her show runs 7-8 AM. I think we'll be on around 7:20 or so. If you miss it, it'll be available on Robin's site eventually.

It's a call-in show, so prepare to call and ask us a question!

We'll also be at the West Hartford Library this coming Tuesday night, 10/28. More on that soon.

The Big Day

The interview on WTIC (the station I grew up desperately trying to pull in over static to hear the Red Sox games on) went great. My mom and I were on from our separate houses, and we didn't talk over each other once...

Then at Redbones, lots of people were there, lots of books were sold and signed, and everybody seemed to have a good time. Kate of Kate's Mystery Books, who puts on these parties, was really nice, and invited us to sign at a holiday party at her store. We met a lot of other really nice people, too. Even though I used to live right near Redbones, I never knew how Red Sox-y their bar was. The owner showed us around--they have these giant posters with every Sox player's stats, and trivia questions on the wall. I'll have to watch a game there next year. (She assured me they have some good vegetarian stuff.)

We got to sign a book for Stephen King! Granted, he hasn't gotten it yet, but Kate said he does go to her store sometimes--so if he does, he'll get our book. That would be the holy grail, right there. Of course, his buddy and ours, Stewart O'Nan, gave us a blurb for the jacket, so maybe Stephen will see our book, turn it over, and say, "Ah, approved by Stewart....I wonder if these authors would like to sit with me in my sweet box seats at Fenway...." (Notice where my priorities are. Then again, I'd be happy with a signed copy of The Shining. With Red Sox tickets inside. There's a lot of ways he could go, really....)

[Update: Terribly, I forgot to mention I also got to meet Bill Nowlin, and sign a book for him!]

Season Over

The Red Sox season is officially over, as they finish a game away from the World Series. We are bummed, but remember, in our book, which takes place in 2007, the Red Sox win in the end. No matter how many times you read it.

The book is finally listed as "In Stock" on Amazon--I'm glad we got to see that before the end of the baseball season. If you ordered a while ago, because of the delays, you may have to go and "approve" your shipment. So if you get an e-mail from Amazon, read it carefully.

If you're in Connecticut, flip on the Diane & Ray show on WTIC-1080 AM Tuesday morning around 8:20 AM, as we'll be getting interviewed.

That night, we'll be at Redbones in Somerville, Mass., 5:30 to 7:00 PM for a signing/release party. Free appetizers!

Release Date

The release date put up by Amazon was October 12th. That date has come and gone, but the books are currently being distributed--so if you ordered through Amazon, they should be shipping it soon, despite the fact that you'll probably get the "sorry, this title has been delayed" e-mail.

If you're looking to get the book at an actual store, go ahead and try it--let us know when your bookstore gets it. I can't wait to see this thing on a shelf!

Schedule

Sat, 10/11, 7:00 PM: Professor Thom's, New York City (signing before Sox-Rays, ALCS Game 2) (more info here)

Tues, 10/21, 5:00 PM: Redbones BBQ, Davis Square, Somerville, MA. (book party by Kate's Mystery Books, reading/signing, on eve of World Series)

Tues, 10/28, 7:00 PM: West Hartford Library (reading/signing)

More details on each appearance as they get closer.

Rocky Mountain High

Nice review in the Rocky Mountain News. "Grade: A." I haven't gotten an A since fifth grade!