On Recognition, Or Otherwise, And Why My Diamond Shoes Are Too Tight

I did a live radio interview today with Wendy Austin on BBC Radio Ulster's Talkback programme. I've long since gotten over any nerves that I might have had in earlier radio appearances, so even when we couldn't get the microphones to come on in the remote studio (I was in Armagh, Ms Austin was in Belfast), I didn't panic. You can hear the results here, if you so wish.

Anyway, right up front, Wendy rattled off a list of quotes from the great reviews I've had on both sides of the Atlantic, as well as the best-of-2009 nods from both the New York and LA Times, as well as mentioning that THE GHOSTS OF BELFAST (a.k.a. THE TWELVE) has been optioned for a movie. Wendy asked how all this recognition felt, and at first I could only answer: "Not bad."

Then on further consideration, I made the point that recognition for one's writing is a wonderful thing. And it's not entirely because of vanity, though in all honesty, that must be a part of it. In reality, it's more about insecurity. I've made this point repeatedly in interviews, but it bears even more repeating: In my experience, writing seems like a completely ridiculous thing to waste one's time on. To sit for hour upon hour, staring [delete as appropriate] (a) at a blank screen (b) out the window (c) into space, deleting more words than you leave on the page, with no realistic prospect of anyone ever reading what you've done, is a completely daft thing to do. There are so many things one could do instead: clean the bathroom; take a walk; gather together bank statements and invoices for the accountant; play Grand Theft Auto 4. The list goes on. But instead, you sit there and grind it out, word after word.

Apart from the people I knew online in that clandestine way one knows people online, I didn't tell anyone except a very close friend that I was writing. I kept it secret, even from my closest family members. Why?

Because I was embarrassed.

If you come from the kind of working class background that I do, intellectual and creative expression don't come as second nature. And if, like me, you somehow get promoted from the working class educational stream to the lofty heights of a predominantly middle class grammar school by way of passing a few exams, you're taught to keep your mouth shut and be grateful for the chance to study algebra in such a rarefied environment.

I've told this story before on my blog, but here it is again: I spent my first two years of education at the little school on our housing estate that normally kept kids for three years. Because my reading was ahead of my classmates, I was moved a year early to the big school in town. On my first day there, at the age of six, the headmaster came around to see the new boy. He said he'd taught my dad years ago. He asked me if I was as stupid as my father was. This pretty much set the tone for the rest of my school life.

So, when the Observer or the Daily Mail, or indeed the NY or LA Times, heap praise upon my novel, it's not just the massaging of my ego that I enjoy (and of course, I do enjoy that a lot, I'm only human after all), but most of all it's the vindication. It's knowing that I haven't wasted years of my life chasing a dream that I could never hope to make real. It's realising that despite Mr Moffat dismissing me as just another dimwit from the estates, I can prove that old bastard wrong and achieve something truly worthwhile. Something I can be proud of.

And the recognition doesn't have to come from a famous newspaper or a well-known author. I get more emails from readers than I can ever hope to reply to, and they all make my day brighter. If someone tells me they couldn't put the book down, that it scared the bejesus out of them, then fantastic. If they tell me they learned something in the process, then even better.

The great reviews on Amazon mean a huge amount too, both in the UK and the US. But the shine can be dulled, if you let it, by a few people. I've had overwhelmingly positive feedback from Irish Americans who bought THE GHOSTS OF BELFAST for the obvious reasons. Many have told me they connected with the book in a very personal way, and that's wonderful. It would be easy to let a tiny minority of readers spoil that buzz when they express how much they dislike having their green-tinted glasses dislodged, but really, what's the point?

If, like one Amazon.com reviewer, one of your main criticisms of the book is based on where I went to school, and its sports curriculum, how can I take your views seriously? I didn't like my school either, or its sports, so what does that prove?

Or if, like a couple of Amazon.com critics, you start throwing words like "orange" around, then that says more about your prejudice and ignorance than it does about the book. As soon as your review is tainted by sectarianism, no matter how well-informed about the land of your forefathers you might think you are, I stop placing any value on your opinion.

And then there's the charmer who has so far placed six negative reviews, under three different screen names, across two editions of THE GHOSTS OF BELFAST/THE TWELVE, spread between the UK and US Amazon sites. The same wannabe critic also has grudges against my friend Tom Piccirilli, crime writer Laura Wilson, and, of all people, the velvet-voiced radio and television presenter Terry Wogan. On the spectrum of offensiveness, Terry Wogan is somewhere between vanilla ice cream and warm scones, so I really can't imagine what he's done to upset this particular critic.

A few days ago, I expressed a small amount of chagrin to my girlfriend about these minor blemishes on my otherwise shiny and bright critical landscape. As girlfriends are wont to do, she responded with some simple but truthful wisdom: Me complaining about such trivial annoyances is rather like that scene in FRIENDS where Chandler says, "Oh no! My wallet's too small for my fifties, and my diamond shoes are too tight!"

Yep, she nailed it.

Instructive, constructive, intelligent critique is a good thing. Affirmation from those who appreciate what you do is also great. Attacks from the ignorant and ill-informed are nothing more than a minor annoyance, like flies buzzing around the arse end of a cow.

So, with joy in my heart, here are a few other things that are currently floating my boat:

Tomorrow night, Thursday 8th of April, I will appear on the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson on CBS. I'll post a YouTube clip as soon as it's online so that, even if you're not domiciled in the USA, you can witness me blinking like a bunny in the headlights and mumbling incoherently on national television.

THE GHOSTS OF BELFAST is a finalist in the Mystery/Thriller category of the LA Times Book Prize! The winner will be announced at the LA Times Festival of Books, where I'll be appearing on a panel with fellow nominees, as well as signing at the Mystery Bookstore stand. Check my website over the next day or two for details.

THE GHOSTS OF BELFAST is also nominated for a Spinetingler award - you can vote here!

The audiobook of THE GHOSTS OF BELFAST has been awarded the Earphones accolade by Audiofile Magazine in a rave review that described it as "everything a listener could want from an audiobook."

And that's all for now. I'll try not to leave it so long next time.

A Busy Week: Interviews, Debates, Readings, Signings, Meetings and Tours

As per my previous post, I visited London last week for a few days. This was a spur-of-the-moment thing; I could have done the interview at the BBC World Service just as easily from Belfast, but I wanted to make the trip and do the interview in person, and meet some of the good folks who have been working on my behalf. I hadn't intended to cause a fuss, but all of a sudden meetings and dinners and office tours were being organised, and it turned into a very busy, but very worthwhile, trip.

At various dinners, office tours and visits to the pub, I met, amongst others, my editor Geoff Mulligan, my other editor Briony Everroad, Harvill Secker publishing director Liz Foley, my UK agent Caspian Dennis, my lovely and very patient publicist Kate Bland, and marketing director Roger Bratchell, as well as a host of other marketing, editorial and sales people far too numerous to mention. Suffice it to say that I was met with hospitality and warmth wherever I went.

I learned more about the publishing business over these three or four days than I have done in two or three years of following all the agent and editor blogs out there. Don't get me wrong - I still believe the wealth of information out there on the Internet is a key factor in my getting as far as I have. But actually meeting the people who are working on my book, finding out how they deal with the press and the retailers, how hard they have to strive to get me out there on the shelves and into the reviews - well, I have a whole new respect for what they do, and a whole lot more gratitude.

I'm a good example of a little knowledge being a dangerous thing, and I have gone into publication expecting a fight. All those blogs out there tell us writers we have to be ready to push and push, and as a result, those of us lucky enough to make it over the transom might wind up on a strange combination of the offensive and the defensive. For example, and I shall confess a big lump of naivety here, after the brilliant review I received in The Observer, I felt a little let down when it wasn't immediately followed by a plethora of reviews in other publications. It wasn't until I met the good people at my publisher that I realised those reviews have to be fought tooth and nail for, that there are dozens and dozens of books duking it out for those precious column inches. Then I realised how incredibly fortunate I've been to get the reviews I've had; there are any number of authors who would gladly give a significant body part to get in depth reviews in both The Observer AND The Guardian. And I also now know how very lucky I am to have gotten so much shelf space in the chain stores, like Eason's and Waterstone's, not to mention the fabulous placement I've had in the airport branches of WH Smith's.

Another valuable lesson has been having realistic expectations in terms of sales for a debut trade paperback. I am told my sell-in is fantastic, enough to make many more established authors envious, and the sell-through is very good from early indications. But something I didn't know, and this may be UK specific and/or particular to the thriller/crime genre, but next year's mass market paperback release is where the real show is. This is where the publisher wants the sales, the hard numbers, and consequently this is where the marketing budget is focused.

Anyway, some photos:



(l-r) Geoff Mulligan (editor at large), Yours Truly, Liz Foley (HS publishing director), Caspian Dennis (my UK agent), Briony Everroad (editor)

And here is my publicist Kate Bland outside Foleys bookshop on Charing Cross Road, where she took me to sign books:



And finally, in this particulr branch of WH Smith's at Stansted Airport, I was #1! I was #15 in a couple of others, but let's just focus on this particular branch, shall we?:



One of the big surprises of the trip came when I went to the offices of the Abner Stein agency in Kensington to meet my UK co-agent Caspian Dennis. I had no earthly idea who else this agency represented, and my jaw must have made quite a noise when it hit the floor upon seeing some of the names. I won't mention them, but we're talking the biggest of the biggest of the big among contemporary authors, as in none more big, like mastadons of modern novelists. I am in quite extraordinary company there.

And finally...

There were a couple of interesting radio bits and pieces recently, and I have saved the audio for anyone interested. The first is the aforementioned BBC World Service interview, which can be listened to here at this link, complete with sound effects during the reading.

The second, and most interesting, was a debate that aired on BBC Radio Ulster just over a week ago on the Sunday Sequence programme, in which the presenter Robbie Meredith discussed the ethics and politics of The Twelve with journalists and authors Henry McDonald and Ruth Dudley Edwards. It's about ten minutes long, and well worth listening to by clicking here.

London Calling: Signing at Piccadilly Waterstone's

I'm off to London this week. Among my activities will be an interview for the BBC World Service's Strand programme, which I believe will air on Wednesday (a link to the iPlayer version will be provided as and when).

I will also be doing some drop-in signings at various bookshops around the Big Smoke, and the plan is to be at the Piccadilly branch of Waterstone's between 12:00 and 12:30 on Tuesday 28th of July, so do come and say hello if you're in the area. As an incentive, the fist person to find me there (if any) will win a free copy of The Twelve!

In other news...

I'm led to believe that BBC Radio Ulster's Sunday Sequence programme will be "discussing" The Twelve this weekend. Again, a link to the iPlayer version will be provided when it's available.

Competition Results

The winners of the competition to win signed copies of The Twelve plus limited edition copies of The Six by answering two questions are Floriana of Ancona, Italy, and friend of the blog Mary from Cumbria - well done to you two, your books are in the post!

A Great Review, and Assorted Links

A fantastic review appeared today in The Observer newspaper, written by Nicola Barr. She said: "THE TWELVE is a brilliant thriller: unbearably tense, stomach-churningly frightening. This is the best fictional representation of the Troubles I have come across, a future classic of its time. Stuart Neville has finally given Northern Ireland the novel its singular history deserves." Read the full review here.

This review seems to have led to a boost in sales at Amazon.co.uk, pushing THE TWELVE into the top 100 fiction books, peaking at #65, and #10 in the Mystery category, sitting alongside the likes of CJ Sansom, Kathy Reichs, John Connolly, James Patterson, Patricia Cornwell, Stieg Larsson and others. Even now, at around 10:30pm, I'm hanging on at #67 in fiction, and #135 in books in general, and in Amazon's top 20 crime books - which I think is pretty good for my first weekend of publication.

I discovered today that Matt Beynon Rees, author of the Omar Yussef mystery novels set in Gaza, is not only a Soho Press stable mate, but he's also represented by my UK co-agent, Caspian Dennis of the Abner Stein agency. Matt kindly got in touch to tell me he'd reviewed THE TWELVE, and a very nice job he did too, saying: "As thought-provoking a book on the aftermath of conflict as you'll ever read. Neville's book is a thrilling record of the traces of crime and blood left behind when the politicians command us to move on." Read the full review here.

Finally, you may remember I mentioned an interview I did with journalist and broadcaster Malachi O'Doherty for BBC Radio Ulster's Sunday Sequence programme. It was for a feature on ghosts in contemporary fiction, and it's an interesting piece. You can listen to it online care of the BBC's iPlayer service. It starts at around sixteen minutes in.

On Publicity

Publicity is a funny thing. Although the distinction between publicity and marketing is, on the surface, pretty clear, I do sometimes struggle with whom to contact on certain issues. What I do know about publicity, though, is that it has a tendency to come out of the blue. Like Christmas time when my PR Hilary Knight put out a fairly straightforward press release about the local-boy-made-good author, and I'm getting phone calls telling me I'm doing an interview with the Belfast Telegraph in half an hour, or guess what, you're live on the radio this afternoon.

Such was the way of it yesterday when I made a stray comment on broadcaster and journalist Malachi O'Doherty's Facebook wall (he was asking about ghosts in contemporary fiction). Next thing I know, I've an interview lined up for a segment on Sunday Sequence on BBC Radio Ulster (a link to the iPlayer version will appear after it airs). Then that interview turns into a double header with another journalist writing for The Observer. Oh, and then a photo shoot which I knew was coming some time, but was hastily arranged to tie in with the visit to Belfast to do the other stuff.

And that's the other thing about publicity: it snowballs. One media outlet gets hold of a story, then another follows, and then another. The trick seems to be getting their attention in the first place. I have some excellent people working away on this as I type, namely the aforementioned Hilary, and Claire Jackson and Kate Bland at Random House, and Justin Hargett at Soho Press.

But it's all good. Even if I hate getting my picture taken, which I had to do today in a public place. A quite busy public place. It was my own fault, seeing as I suggested the venue (the Palm House in Botanic Gardens, where a scene in THE TWELVE is set). Justin the photographer was a consumate professional, I must say. He seemed to have a knack for finding good backdrops, and even foregrounds, and he made me feel about as relaxed as is possible for someone as camera shy as me. I don't know what will appear where, but you may see some shots of me staring wistfully into the distance from behind a greenhouse door in the not too distant future. During the lunch with Malachi, he took this snap, which reveals my horrendous double chin:



I share this because it reveals that, even though I'm as photogenic as a donkey's arse, I'm still quite vain; I put on my glasses as soon as the camera came out because I've got a nice little eye infection, and I thought they might distract from it. And if I look like I'm deep in philosophical discussion, that's probably deceptive; I might well have been debating who was going to get the last chocolate mint on the table.

Malachi made a post over on his blog, which I think is supposed to have audio from the interview, but it's currently not working. Check back, and you might get to hear my dulcet tones as I ramble incoherently about ghosts in modern fiction.

And lastly, still on the topic of publicity, it's looking like I'll be having a little trip through the US of A this October to pimp THE GHOSTS OF BELFAST. Locations currently planned are NYC, Indianapolis (for Bouchercon), Scottsdale AZ, Houston TX, San Mateo CA, then Denver CO for a few days at a convention and a little R&R, and possibly Boston to finish up. It's still to be absolutely and definitely confirmed (i.e. the tickets aren't bought yet), but it's looking hopeful.

That Radio Ulster interview...

Well, that was an interesting experience. I've done radio before in a musical capacity, but I've never been interviewed live on air. Another first was reading my work out loud for others to hear. If there's going to be a first time, I suppose it might as well be in front of tens of thousands of people rather than a handful at a reading! The presenter William Crawley rather caught on me on the hop by asking some rather insightful and intelligent questions, but I think I gave a reasonable account of myself.

Anyway, if anyone cares to have a listen, the BBC iPlayer show is here - though I don't know for how long. The programme starts with an interesting piece for anyone who likes Hunter S. Thompson, and my segment begins around the 8:30 mark.