WEEKEND ROUNDUP

It’s great getting up at 5am on a Saturday morning … chucking it down with rain, slight headache, fancying a McDonald’s brekkie. On mornings like this, it makes me want to write my own ‘That’s Entertainment’, but then I realise I can’t write songs and would never even attempt to disguise it as a poem.

What’s been going on this week? I hear you ask.

Most of this week has been taken up with writing: a business plan and financial forecast for the Business Account Manager  – who if reading this, is the best business account manager I’ve ever met.

Work is progressing on the three new titles for 2009. Dirty Leeds edit has started, the cover will be finalised very soon and a launch party is in discussion. A couple of actors are lined up to read at the launch party – one of them was already in my list of favourite UK actors (yes, really), so I may have to start an online petition to get him to do it for free. We’ll soon be setting up events in and around Leeds – any bookstore people reading this, feel free to drop me a line to book events and signings for Robert Endeacott.

Slimmer Charlie is also progressing well. Charlie’s PR will soon kick in and I can’t wait to get the ball rolling. A top PR company will be handling the PR for Charlie and the book; he’ll be back on This Morning for the release of it as well as a few more appearances to be confirmed. For those unfamiliar with Charlie’s story, you can view the film inserts from the show here that made him the most talked-about guest in the show’s history.

The Road to Hell by Sheila Quigley is gathering momentum all the time. PR for this title will be handled by the same company as above, with much media planned around it. Sheila’s final draft manuscript came in yesterday and pre-production will resume next week. There’s been so much interest in this title – it’s unreal. To launch this one, we’ll be holding events around the north east in neutral venues and branching out from there into bookstores. Again, anyone reading this and interested in hosting an event for Sheila, get your bids in quick because dates are going fast. A full schedule will be posted up very soon. Phase two is to take to the road on a national book tour. After going on the road with Ashley Hames last year, my liver usually cringes at such fighting talk.

The final cut of Sheila’s book trailer is now complete and will be up on t’internet this weekend.

New Acquisitions:

I’m in the process of acquiring two new titles for next year. I had a meeting yesterday with one of the writers – an extremely funny man whose career I’ve followed for a number of years. Already with a Tonto connection, I look forward to working with him on his autobiography. Contracts have been exchanged and full details will be announced next week.  The other title is a true crime book I’ve been interested in for a long time by a best-selling author and an award-winning photographer.

More news as it happens…