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News 13th June 2007
New Acquisition:
Mainstream is delighted to have acquired world rights to GHOSTS AT THE TABLE by Des Wilson, the definitive history of poker, compellingly told as a detective story. Wilson, a journalist and author of Swimming with the Devil Fish, Under the Surface of Professional Poker (Pan Macmillan 2006), goes back to the roots of poker and investigates the myriad myths and legends surrounding the game. It is almost entirely set in the US and is divided into what Wilson terms the four ages of poker – The Old West and the River Boats; the Texan road gamblers and Las Vegas before going on to analyse the 21st Century phenomenon of cyberspace gambling and the dramatic growth of poker into the internationally popular game of today. GHOSTS AT THE TABLE is unique. No one has ever gone back to all the key places, interviewed all the survivors, uncovered so many stories and solved so many mysteries. .
We already have pre pub quotes from Poker Hall of Fame star T J Cloutier ('Because he goes where no writer has gone before, this will be the most talked-about book on poker ever.'); former world poker champion Tom McEvoy ('An extraordinary history of the game – makes you feel you were right there.') and World Poker Tour presenter and top player Mike Sexton ('This is the new poker classic…a must read.'). The author is extremely well connected and keen that any US edition of the book comes out in time for the World Series next year to maximise sales. We are therefore sending out sample chapters to all interested publishers this week to enable you to squeeze GHOSTS AT THE TABLE into your Spring 08 list. Bill Campbell at Mainstream bought the book direct from the author. For further information contact fiona.brownlee@mainstrempublishing.com
Rights Deals:
Both Fiona Brownlee and Amy Mitchell were at BEA in New York recently where they had an enormous amount of interest in some lead titles, notably GHOSTS AT THE TABLE, MA! HE SOLD ME FOR A FEW CIGARETTES, THE OTHER MRS JORDAN, HOLLYWOOD UNDERCOVER, FALLING, FINDING MERLIN and interestingly our big Christmas humour book, MRS MILLS SOLVES ALL YOUR PROBLEMS.
Recent rights deals include ONCE I WAS A PRINCESS to Romania (Rao) and both ONCE I WAS A PRINCESS and SINCE I WAS A PRINCESS to Italy (Piemme). We have also sold FAKERS, FORGERS AND PHONEYS to Poland (Bellona).
Serial deals have been going really well. The News of the World ran serialisation for three Mainstream titles in as many weeks. THE BOYS FROM BAGHDAD (27 May), RONNIE'S LOOKING FOR TROUBLE (3 June) and THE ICE MAN (10 June) with BIBLE JOHN'S SECRET DAUGHTER set to run in The News of the World later this month (24 June and 1 July).
Bestseller:
SOMEONE TO WATCH OVER ME by Izzy Hammond went straight into the Sunday Times bestseller list at no.8 and after two weeks at no.5 has just gone to no.4 in the paperback non fiction chart beaten only by three big names in completely unrelated fields, Gordon Ramsay, Richard Dawkins and Bill Bryson. Mainstream is proving itself the master of the misery memoir.
Publicity:
The Guardian serialisation of THE OTHER MRS JORDAN (26 May) triggered yet more interest in the book resulting in blanket coverage throughout the media. Weekly magazines followed weekly magazines, national newspaper followed national newspaper, all usually unheard of. Mary's appearance on This Morning was excellent and has resulted in a request from the Trisha Show, Channel 5. Her interview with Jon Ronson on BBC Radio 4 (29 May) was selected as Pick of the Week and broadcast again (3 June).
Other serialisation deals have also had a big impact on publicity. Simon Low, the author of THE BOYS FROM BAGHDAD, has been in great demand throughout the media with appearances on Channel 4 news (30 May) and ITV main evening news (30 May), Radio 5 Live (1 June), Evening Standard (1 June), News of the World news story following serial (3 June) and Scotland on Sunday (3 June).
Steven McLauglin, author of SQUADDIE, has established himself as a spokesperson for the war in Iraq. He was on Newsnight, BBC 2 (6 June); More 4's Current Affairs programme (1 June) and frequently appears on BBC Five Radio Live, BBC World Service, BBC Asian Network and other Regional Radio stations as a military expert.
SQUADDIE appeared in The Times, The Guardian and the Daily Express. Steven was interviewed in Zoo magazine and The Big Issue ran a competition
Events:
The Edinburgh International Book Festival launched its programme this week and the following Mainstream authors are confirmed:
John Purser, 13th August 8.30pm, Scottish Power Studio Theatre
Don Jordan and Mike Walsh, 14th August 11am, Peppers Theatre
Loung Ung, 19th August 7pm,RBS Main Theatre
Kevin Cahill, 24th August 2.30pm, Peppers Theatre
Adam Ardrey, 27th August 11am, Peppers Theatre
Craig Murray, 27th August 3.30pm, Scottish Power Studios
And Finally...
Congratulations to Lindsay Ankers who has just got engaged and bought a house. That makes three imminent weddings at Mainstream at the moment. Fiona Brownlee continues in her quest to get at least one of them to have her daughters as flower girls but to no avail!