Wahey! My book is out

[mistri]

It's not actually SF/F writing news - but it is writing news, so I'm posting it anyway :)

I mentioned this a while ago, when I posted here under a different name, but last year my husband and I sold (and wrote) a book on videogaming and now it's finally out! I haven't talked about it much, because it felt totally unreal until a) we got our free copies delivered to us last week, and until b) I actually found a bookstore that stocked it (Waterstones, Piccadilly - UK).

It's a small (96 pages, 37,000 words) and cheap (cheap cost - not cheaply made!) book that covers the history of videogames, mini-reviews of the most important and best games, and cultural essays on videogaming. It's aimed at anyone who might want to know more about games - gamers, children, academics, parents - anyone. It was a lot of fun to write as we are both passionate about videogames, and my husband is actually a games journalist - although we had many, many arguments whenever we edited each other's work.

[Lucky Joe]

Congratulations mistri, really well done. It must be huge kick the first time you see your work on the shelves.

[Ouroboros]

Congratulations!

[fluffy bunny]

Congratulations.

Did you also write the synopsis that's shown on amazon.co.uk? (http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/190404820X/qid%3D1051798591/026-5842936-2366044) Seems like an interesting read. Looks like the random type of purchace I pick up from time to time if the film or music magazines on the shelves aren't so appealing. Will have a flick though if I catch a glance of it in store. Not fully convinced by the cover though- a book on videogaming with the actual game filling less than 1/8 of the cover.

Congrats again BTW

[Miriamele]

That's awesome Mistri! Congratulations! :)

[juzzza]

Fantastic news Mistri , well done.

[Erebus]

Well done, Mistri! :)

[Mamb]

That's great to hear Mistri! I'll have to take a look when I'm next in Watersone's.

[choppy]

Congratulations Mistri,

It's always encouraging to hear that someone actually got more than a rejection slip.

Cheers!

[mistri]

Thanks everyone for the congrats - much appreciated.

Yes, we did write the synopsis that's on Amazon - we wrote it (the synopsis) a year ago now, so I'm trying not to reread it, or I'll be bound to want to change it.

The covers are like that for all the pocket essentials books - to give them a uniform look. Consequently the images on all the books are all that size. I actually quite like it - especially if you see a lot of their books all together (you normally get some in the film section of mid-big bookshops). In any case, if you had a big picture of any one computer game, it might make the book look out of date.

We actually got the contract for the book after writing a proposal, rather than the whole thing. With non-fiction it's common not to write the book until a contract's in hand. They knew (at least a bit I suppose) that we'd be able to produce the goods as my husband had written a book (by a different publisher) on the X-Files when he was sixteen, which we sent to them after our inital query, and we had written a lengthy outline, as well as a list of reasons why such a book would sell, and who it would sell to. I have to admit, without my husband having already had one book published, I would be unlikely to be published now myself.

Sometimes, it's all down to luck in the end.