Crime writers, it turns out, are often obliged to go poking about in strange places. Research is all very well, but when one finds oneself – say – thoughtlessly reciting easily available poisons or attempting to impress friends with Viable Methods Of Corpse Disposal, it becomes problematic. Given that my debut novel CONTRACT revolves around a hitman whose victims (somewhat unfairly, he feels) keep coming back to life, it’s fair to say my mind plumbed some uncomfortable depths while writing. Even so, there’s one abyss of oddity I never predicted I’d have to explore. I speak, of course, of marketing.

Back at the start, greener than a diseased frog, I naïvely thought that Writing A Good Book is the solitary test of authorial success. I’ve since read dispiriting accounts of other first-time authors visiting the high street to behold their masterpiece in situ, only to notice with the clarity of self-interest all those other masterpieces jostling for attention. Marketing matters.

This helps explain why Headline Review have for the past month been giving away CONTRACT – with great fanfare – free on the Internet. It’s a brave, bold step; though I confess that I (still awaiting my own Bookstore reality check) found it initially bewildering. I needn’t have worried. Among the barrage of blog-entries, message board announcements and blush-inducingly positive reviews, it’s quickly become clear that when a satisfied online reader is told, ‘Paperback Available Soon’, they – and their pals, and their pals’ pals – are waiting.

We’re not trying to replace paper and ink here: CONTRACT’S availability online expires long before the paperback hits stores. But the publishing world has been a touch tardy in acknowledging the existence of the digital realm, and Headline’s grand experiment may be just the kick up the arse the industry needs. The Internet’s not going away, and it’s time we – as lovers of fiction, and explorers of those uncomfortable depths – started poking in strange places there too.

 
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