A week ago I challenged my foreign rights agent, Alexis Hurley at InkWell Management, to find 20 overseas markets for The Hundred-Foot Journey. Just a few days after delivering Finland, Alexis has delivered Poland – our 20th territory. Pretty cool.
So a warm welcome to Bellona SA of Poland, a half-century-old publisher best known for non-fiction, but making moves into fiction. Witamy!
Umm, Alexis? Clearly I have to raise the bar. Can you do 25? Huh? Can you manage that?
Finnish Publisher WSOY
The terrific Alexis Hurley at my agency, Inkwell Management, just told me that our enthusiastic and hard working Scandinavian sub-agent, Ulf Töregård of the Sane Töregård Agency AB in Sweden, has just sold The Hundred-Foot Journey to Finland’s 19th century-founded publisher, WSOY. My humble thanks to WSOY and the fantastic Ulf.
WSOY, the largest publisher of general literature in Finland, was just acquired by the Bonnier publishing group in Sweden. Does that mean Sweden might be up next? Hope so. Norway’s Versal Vorlag was among my first foreign publishers, so I have a particular soft spot for the Scandinavians. GO ULF!!!!!!
I’m as excited as if the Beaujolais Nouveau just arrived at the stores, and it’s not just because the stock market recovered a hefty chunk of losses today. The real reason? The U.S. paperback of The Hundred-Foot Journey was officially released today.
In celebration, I am reposting The New York Times‘ “editor’s choice” review that ran last year. To read the piece in its entirety, click here.
And I am also posting a link to the interview I gave NPR’s wonderful, The Diane Rehm Show. Click here and hit the “listen” toggle after the page has loaded.
In Britain, The Hundred-Foot Journey can be had at a terrific bargain price, along with an exclusive essay, through the Mail On Sunday‘s book store, where the book is the UK newspaper’s, Book Of The Month for August. For full details, click here.
And, finally, I warmly welcome any and all to join my facebook page where I routinely post updates and answer questions about The Hundred-Foot Journey and my next novel, Buddhaland, Brooklyn. Please do so by clicking here.
Aaah. Makes me homesick for my beloved London.
The Mail On Sunday, the 2.9 circulation British paper and its YOU magazine, has made The Hundred-Foot Journey its August Book Of The Month.
Bless them. And be sure to check out their detailed reader’s notes, with an extra essay I wrote about how the book came about.
Now In Independent book stores across the country
Now that Borders has collapsed, sadly taking out a third of book store distribution in America, it is greatly hoped that independent bookstores will be in a stronger position going forward. Need I say such stores add so much character and life to any neighborhood in the country blessed to have one. So please go visit an indie and buy a book, preferably, if you live in the Chicago area, at the literary haven called The Book Stall at Chestnut Court, in Winnetka, Illinois.
Why am I so partial to this particular store and its respected impresario, Roberta Rubin? Very simple. Roberta’s advocacy on behalf of The Hundred-Foot Journey got my book (paperback due out Aug. 9) on the prestigious Indie Next List for the month of August. I look forward to the day I can thank her in person.
In the meantime, please, for the good of your local neighborhood, swing by an independent book store and revel in its warm and learned atmosphere. Such lively stores remain an oasis of pleasure in a parched and uncertain time.
Oprah WInfrey
Was delighted to discover that The Hundred-Foot Journey was No. 8 on Oprah’s 20 Books For Armchair Travelers to take on vacation. Yahooooo.
On May 16th my UK publisher, Alma Books, launched The Hundred-Foot Journey with the cover that created a best-seller down in Australia and New Zealand. Late yesterday evening my UK publisher, Elisabetta Minervini, sent me an email stating, “We have just sent a reprint order for The Hundred Foot Journey as we have sold out the first print run (just released).”
Ten days to sell through the first print run in the UK?
Pas mal, as the French say.
In celebration of May’s launch of The Hundred-Foot Journey in the UK, the Bookhugger website is running a competition to give away a copy of the British edition published by Alma Books. Also running a Q&A with me and some writerly gasbagging.
Check it out here – and snag the free copy for yourself!
Sales for The Hundred-Foot Journey are still going strong three months after my book was published in Australia. It’s pretty surreal to be sandwiched on a bestseller list between Annie Proulx and Man Booker-winner, Howard Jacobson.
Indie Top 10 Bestsellers
1 Five Bells, Gail Jones (Random)
2 The Leopard, Jo Nesbo (Random House)
3 Jasper Jones, Craig Silvey (Allen & Unwin)
4 The King’s Speech, Mark Logue & Peter Conradi (Quercus)
5 Jamie’s 30-minute Meals, Jamie Oliver (Penguin)
6 Franklin and Eleanor: An Extraordinary Marriage, Graham Dunkley (MUP)
7 Bird Cloud, Annie Proulx (HarperCollins)
8 The Hundred-foot Journey, Richard C. Morais (Allen & Unwin)
9 The Finkler Question, Howard Jacobson (Bloomsbury)
10 Life: Keith Richards, Keith Richards (Hachette)
Indie bestsellers at 19th February 2011. This weekly bestsellers list is compiled from data from a cross-section of independent bookshops, all members of Leading Edge Books.
My former Forbes colleague, Kiri Blakely, just made me aware of the Kindle highlight. (Kiri has a lively book out called, Can’t Think Straight.) The nifty Kindle feature allows readers to highlight their favorite phases. Here’s the shortlist of favorites from The Hundred-Foot Journey.
“never forget a snob is a person utterly lacking in good taste.”
Highlighted by 20 Kindle users
“You have made me understand that good taste is not the birthright of snobs, but a gift from God sometimes found in the most unlikely of places and in the unlikeliest of people.”
Highlighted by 15 Kindle users
“My dear man, a gourmand is a gentleman with the talent and fortitude to continue eating even when he is not hungry.”
Highlighted by 14 Kindle users
“there are many points in life when we cannot see what awaits us around the corner, and it is precisely at such times, when our path forward is unclear, that we must bravely keep our nerve, resolutely putting one foot before the other as we march blindly into the dark.”
Highlighted by 10 Kindle users
“taxation was the art of ‘plucking the most feathers with the least amount of hissing.’”
Highlighted by 10 Kindle users
“A powerful thing, destiny. You can’t run from it. Not in the end.”
Highlighted by 8 Kindle users
“Never be afraid of trying something new, Hassan. Very important. It is the spice of life.”
Highlighted by 8 Kindle users
“It was such a small journey, in feet, but it felt as if I were striding from one end of the universe to the other, the light of the Alps illuminating my way.”
Highlighted by 7 Kindle users
“A lot of emotion went into that hundred-foot journey, cardboard suitcase in hand, from one side of Lumière’s boulevard to the other.”
Highlighted by 7 Kindle users
“bhelpuri, a newspaper cone of puffed rice, chutney, potatoes, onions, tomatoes, mint, and coriander, all mixed together and slathered with spices.”
Highlighted by 6 Kindle users
