Monday, 31 March 2008

Coffee and Chick Lit to go, please

Ooh, my first international blog comment, from Emma, who obviously has impeccable taste (I hope you’ll forgive me repeating it, as she’s commented on a previous post):
I bought The Bride Hunter from one of the biggest bookstores in Helsinki, Finland. I read it and thought it was very good and funny, not like every other chick lit book. I hope you finish your second novel soon, I can't wait to read it!

I had no idea my book was on sale in Helsinki and it has excited me a great deal, so thanks, Emma…I do know, though, that The Bride Hunter is going to be translated into German and Russian. I did get a B in German at school, but I have forgotten most of it, sadly, so I am not confident that I'll be able to read the end result. However, I’m thinking that Bride Hunter is Der Brautjäger, which sounds very fierce, though of course there’s no guarantee that a) I have got it even vaguely right or b) the German edition will use a direct translation. On the Russian front, google suggests that in Russian it will be охотник невесты (I don’t have the foggiest idea how that is pronounced) but then I tried another site and it said: Брайд Хантер – it’s a mystery to me (ah, have just realised when I try doing a German translation, it comes up as Der Bride Hunter so I am not really trusting that site).

Still hoping it might make it into some other languages…in French, might it be Le Chasseur des Mariees? In Italian, perhaps Il Cacciatore di Sposa? Both sound like very tasty casseroles to me.

Anyway, talking of tasty things, I have more news. As an unpublished author, I dreamed of Tube posters featuring my books. Or ads in Heat magazine perhaps. But never did I imagine it would end up on coffee cups. Well, coffee wraps (I call them sleeves, those cardboard things you use to stop your hands burning when you’re carrying your drink around). Apparently they’re going to distribute thousands and thousands of these at various coffee shops in Central London, featuring the Bride Hunter website and the competition. As I don’t live in Central London, I haven’t seen any yet, but I would love to know if you have…

I’ve never come across the idea of advertising on your coffee cup before, but I can see it makes sense. You buy a coffee and take it to work and then when you’re staring at the computer screen the title works its way into your sub-conscious and at lunchtime you find yourself walking into a bookshop, consumed by the desire for a certain book…

Let’s hope that’s how it works. I LOVE coffee. Make mine a double espresso.

4 comments:

HelenMWalters said...

I've read the first few chapters now and I have to agree with Emma that it's slightly different from the usual chick lit. It has an edginess about it that I really like.

Anonymous said...

Oh how fabulous does everything sound!! Congrats! I saw the book shining at me in ASDA yesterday, I'm just waiting for pay day (next week) and I'll be getting a copy!
What a great idea about the coffee sleeves - love it!

Eva Fernandez said...

I've just came back from Paris...I found your book in "The Red Wheelbarrow Bookstore" and decided to buy it. I'm loving it so far. Are you planning a spanish edition?? It would be the "La caza-novias"!
Love from Barcelona

Karen said...

What a great idea! I'll have to look out for the coffee sleeves. I'll have to start drinking coffee though...