I wrote a novel for you

and only you, my lovely reader

I have written a novel for you!

It’s called Well, This Is Awkward, and it is about a woman who has to look after her oddball niece for the summer. If you like my writing, you will like this book. I’ve tried to make it readable and on-brand, a sort of long-form Spike you can put on your bedside table. There are no self-indulgent dream sequences or very long descriptions of sunrises.

As a reader of this Substack you will know, because I keep going on about it, that publishers are absolute fiends for pre-orders. Why has been explained to me many times but I can never quite get my head round it.

But it’s A Fact that a book bought pre-publication is worth, to the author, I’d say twice a book bought post-publication. If this wasn’t hard enough, the orders have to be hard-back! Kindle orders don’t count. *Silent Scream Face*

But this isn’t about greed! I don't want your money. I am after respectable pre-orders because publishers like to see a certain level of popularity of an author before they agree to purchase a second book.

So, if you are likely to buy this book, please do consider a pre-order. It is out in September, but I wanted to catch you before you disappear for the summer to spend all your money on ice-cream and beaded anklets.

I will mention the book once more, close to publication date, and then will stop going on about it because authors endlessly rambling on about their boring novel is so tiresome, isn’t it.

One last thing! Some of you have read this book at draft stage and one or two have read the uncorrected proof. If you enjoyed it, please feel free to recommend it in the handy comments box below to encourage confident purchase. If you didn’t, well… perhaps pretend you never saw this post.