The Accidental Wife launches 21st Sep

Why didn’t I write this book twenty years ago? Why on earth didn’t I take my first steps into publishing back when a writer wrote a book, got a contract, did some radio interviews and either had some success or gently faded away, depending on how good their publisher’s publicity department was?

I’m joking, I suppose, but my God, this self-publicity is tough work! Even the largest and most well-known publishing houses have slashed their publicity budgets and passed a lot of that work onto the already bowed shoulders of their writers. I’ve seen the hundreds of hours of  blogging, interviewing, radio and television features and thousands of words of self-promotion by some of my favourite, most successful Irish writers. I knew it would be difficult to be published by a small American publisher, with no reach or personal contacts into the Irish market, but no idea how difficult.

Every time my hand hovers over “publish” or “post” I hesitate and think…oh God, they’re all going to run away, or unfriend me, or unfollow me, or whatever you do to social media mosquitoes when they buzz around whispering “…did I tell you I’ve published a book? let me tell you a-a-a-a-ll about it…” They roll up a virtual newspaper and they look round for a bottle of DEET.

So, for absolutely, categorically the last time…I’m launching The Accidental Wife at Barker and Jones Bookshop, Naas, Co Kildare at 7pm on Wednesday 21st September. My friends and writing mentors Margaret Scott and Martin Malone are launching it with me. There will be wine, and chocolate and an opportunity to tell me I’m great. There’ll be a gathering next door in Lawlor’s Hotel at 8pm, where there will be wine, and cocktail sausages and more opportunities to tell me I’m great (or to distract my children, for which I will be even more grateful!)

And in the interim, to the dozen hardy souls who have braved the soulless wastes of amazon.com or amazon.co.uk or Goodreads to spontaneously tell the world about The Accidental Wife…many thanks! Readers don’t always realise how much those reviews mean to writers…every review increases the visibility of the book to the all-powerful Amazon search engines…get enough reviews and Amazon starts to prick up it ears and whisper to itself…I wonder should I tell people about this book…so thank you. (And remember, computers can’t read, and they don’t care what the review says, two lines is enough!)

The Accidental Wife is available at Barker and Jones, Naas, at Farrell and Nephew, Newbridge, to order from most independent bookshops, and here.