BE AWARE!!!

CAROUSEL AWARE PRIZE for INDEPENDENTLY PUBLISHED AUTHORS - will close on the 29th April 2016!!! This competition is for all non-traditionally published books with ISBNs published in the last five years. (Limited to those resident in Northern/Southern Ireland)

The cost of entry is €50, most of which will go directly to mental health charity Aware. The Competition is sponsored by DUBRAY BOOKS & EASONS.....GET SUBMITTING FOLKS!!  Full Details here.....http://writingcap.ie/

The 6 categories are: Best Novel to be judged by International Bestselling Author Jax Miller.

Best Short Story Anthology to be judged by Bord Gáis Award Winning Author Louise Phillips.

Best Non-Fiction Book to be judged by Books Ireland Magazine Editor Tony Canavan

Best Poetry Anthology to be judged by Award Winning Poet and Writer Eileen Casey.

Best Young Adult Book to be judged by Bestselling Young Adult Novelist Claire Hennessy.

Best Junior Book to be judged by Novelist Carolann Copland in conjunction with St. Comcille’s Junior National School, Knocklyon.

Carolann Copland of Carousel Creates says, "These awards aim to provide a platform to showcase the cream of Irish Self-Published authors, bringing them to the attention of book shops, distributors and the media in Ireland and abroad. Self-publishing is changing the face of publishing world wide and we think that Ireland could do with a little nudge to help it along."

Signed copies of THE GAME CHANGER......

After a day of whizzing around the city, there are now a zillion (well not quite) signed copies doted around the city....Easons O'Connell Street, Nassau St, St Stephen's Green, Blanchardstown, Swords, Liffey Valley, The Square and Dundrum, Dubray in Grafton Street,  Hodges Figgis in Dawson Street, WHS in Arnotts Henry Street and at the Airport!!! It was great to meet everyone, including the staff at Argosy Books!!   

And I will be signing books for The Gutter Bookshop, Dublin​ today....so there you go!!

Book Signing around Dublin!

There are SIGNED copies of The Doll's House available in Easons Tallaght, Dundrum, O'Connell Street, St Stephens Green, Blanchardstown, Liffey Valley and Swords, along with Dubray in Grafton Street, WH Smith Terminal 2 Dublin Airport, and Reads of Nassau Street, and a couple left in Hodges Figgis Dawson Street! 

Easons now have it in the 3 for 2, so if you're planning on picking up a few books for holidays etc, it might be a good place to go.

Here are some pics from book signings last Tuesday!! Have a lovely weekend :-)

An Extraordinary Journey!!

I had a crazy, wonderful day yesterday! But here is the thing - despite all the wonderful people who bought RED RIBBONS,(and now) THE DOLL'S HOUSE, up until the book signings around Dublin yesterday, I had yet to see anyone physically buy a book!!!

While I was with the lovely Annmarie and Dave in Easons Swords, someone picked up BOTH BOOKS and asked me to sign them! I could have been knocked over by a feather. Then a man came over and told me how much he loved RED RIBBONS, picking up THE DOLL'S HOUSE, and asking me to personalize his copy which he eagerly brought to the checkout. And so the day went on, and the amount of goodwill and positive feedback was utterly amazing!!

My thanks to all the lads and lassies from the Dublin bookstores yesterday, and I thoroughly hope you enjoy THE DOLL'S HOUSE!!! And......

TONIGHT IS LAUNCH NIGHT - The Gutter Bookshop - 6.30 - Cow's Lane (off Dame Street) 

We have a great crowd building up, and weather looks good, so there will be singing, book signing, laughter, fun and general madness both inside and out, if you make it down. 

I would love to see you there, and if for whatever reason you can't make it, you can ring in your order for a personalized signed copy from the Gutter bookshop at (353 1 6799206) or email  info@gutterbookshop.com

Thanks everyone for making this journey an extraordinary one!! xxx Louise

Pics of the Week!

Window Display Lahinch

After a full week of RED RIBBONS in bookstores and supermarkets nationwide, it got to number 12 in the Mass Paperback Sales Market in Ireland. Not quite the Top Ten, but I'm a happy camper!!

I've also been thrilled to hear this week that many bookstores throughout the county are choosing it as their FICTION BOOK OF THE MONTH, including Hodges Figgis in Kilkenny, Book Value in Killarney, and Barker and Jones in Naas. I also hear it's for sale in outlets of Spar, Centra, and the Post Office in Athboy!

Again special thanks to Easons for facilitating pictures with The Echo last week, and also to Dubray Books for choosing it as one of their Staff Recommended Reads :-) And because I know how much you love pics here are a few for you!!!

Dubray Books Stillorgan

Easons The Square with Trish Nugent

Tesco Rathfarnham

Book Value Killarney

Finally many congrats to Anne Casey, Sharon Wilden and Siobhan Maher, all winners of a FREE COPY of RED RIBBONS this week!

Red Ribbons has gone all Blue!!!

Thrilled with the new look smaller paperback of

 RED RIBBONS 

Release date May 1st 2013

It will be available in Tesco, Dunnes, and book stores nationwide, as well as via Amazon!

View new paperback trailer HERE

Novel Madness - The Journey goes on......

Well the DNA festival reading went down a treat, and I had my very own copy of Red Ribbons to read from!! How exciting is that?

Spoiled for choice as to which part of the 115,000 words I would choose from, I went for the killer's voice!

Feedback afterwards was amazing, and the general consensus was the killer was very scary, and so too was my voice. Obviously I was taking this getting inside the head of the killer very seriously!!!

Other news, Red Ribbons, the 'Book Launch' got a mention in the Irish Times on Friday, Hughes & Hughes, St Stephen's Green Shopping Centre, on the 5th September 6.30.

The novel also got a mention in Liberidi Scrivere, courtesy of the lovely Brian Mc Gilloway - read short but sweet segment here  

And Crime Fiction Lover has also featured the chilling pre-release trailer on Red Ribbons, on their website here (scroll down to find introduction on the story of Red Ribbons etc, etc, etc...

You can also find another link to the trailer on The Red Line Book Festival 2012 here - have a look around when you visit as there are lots of things happening at the festival, brilliant writers, and also yours truly will be reading at The Loose End theatre at the Civic.

Last thing on the trailer, I heard on Friday that book selling giants like Hughes & Hughes, Dubray, Easons etc will be featuring the fab trailer too - so before the rest of the world calls to visit, have a sneaking look and add your comments to the trailer HERE

But the biggest news of all is......the books have arrived into the publishers at long last - which also means they are making their way to a lovely shop near you!!

Publication September 3rd 2012

Now I thought I would be emotional the moment I finally held the novel in my hand, and I was, I was over the moon with excitement. I kept rubbing my hand up and down on the cover, I looked at it from a distance, from close up, I placed it down on table, feeling it had a whole life all of it's own, but the real emotion came later, the same way that sometimes life can take you by surprise.

The real joy was seeing my very own book on my very own bookshelf at home. And, because you all know how I love to share, here's another little pic for YOU!!!

Just in case none of this got you particularly excited - Watch out for redesign of blog, and launch of new WEBSITE in the next few days!!!!