My book and New Scientist

I just got a lovely email from the Opinion and Book Review editor of New Scientist - due to postal glitches, it has taken weeks for them to get a copy of The White Road and Other Stories, and I was biting my nails waiting to see what they'd think of it. I mean, I don't think they'd ever received a collection of short stories inspired by articles from their magazine before, so I knew it had novelty value but beyond that, I wasn't sure.

Well - the good news is that they really like it, and are hoping to mention it in the print magazine and online, where they may even include excerpts from some of the stories alongside the articles which inspired them. This is more than I could have hoped for - I thought they might give it a small mention, but this is excellent. More news as it comes in!

Also: the book is now available from two bookshops in Jerusalem, Rehavia Books and Libretto. The woman in there was so sweet, kept congratulating me. It feels so great that there is now a bookshop in my home town which has my book on its shelves. Now we'll see if they sell any. There is going to be an article about me in the English version of one of the national newspapers, HaAretz, so that might "drive sales", as they say!

More book news: I will be at the prize-giving ceremony for the Momaya Press short story comp at the London Review of Books bookshop and I emailed the bookshop manager, and he's going to get some copies of my book in for that. And Jewish Book Week has agreed to stock my book in their festival bookshop next February in London, which is run by Foyles.

I am getting used to my new role as author/marketer. Today I walked into the branches of two major bookshop chains in Israel brandishing my book, and got the phone numbers of their buyers. I will call them tomorrow. Let's hope they react positively. Will let you know.

Finally: I am now set up as an Amazon Author through AmazonConnect in the US, which means that they show my blog on the book page and other author info. Not sure how to do this in UK, any tips?