My book is out

P314

Yesterday a courier delivered a cardboard box containing the 12 copies of my book that I have acquired for the book launch next week.
I am really proud of my achievement. It's nearly two years since I sent off my proposal to a few publishers, and 18 months since I signed the contract so it is great to get the book in my hand.
I've riffled through the pages but I daren't read it in case I see a typographic error or, worse, read a sentence I could have written better.
I know that there were pre-orders for the book so the next step is to face up to the reviews.

My book is published on 13 July

My_book_cover

My book is published in just two weeks' time. I still haven't received my author copies but they should arrive soon. I'm excited about that. Seeing it all typeset when I was checking the proofs was great but the proofs were in pdf files and my corrections were marked-up digitally. Getting the book in my hands and being able to put it on our bookshelves will be the achievement of a long-held ambition.

I have no idea how many copies it might sell. The publisher, Routledge, must believe that it will sell enough to cover the cost of publishing it. I've had fun over the last few months watching my placing on the best-seller list at Amazon.co.uk. It has languished around 2,700,000th to 3,000,000th but just lately it has moved up and when I last looked it was at something like 140,000th. For all I know this might just be the result of 2 or 3 copies being pre-ordered. For me, I'm simply proud that I have written a book that a respectable publisher thought would be good enough to publish and that some people have been prepared to pay for.

I've been firming up the details of the book launch at Warwick Business School: 6pm on 20 July at the Scarman Road building. Get in touch if you would like to come along.

Financial Management and Accounting in the Public Sector

There are many reasons behind my writing of this blog but I guess the main one is to support my book. Routledge will be publishing Financial Management and Accounting in the Public Sector in April 2011. I'm really excited about that, especially as it will be published in the USA and Canada as well as in the UK. This blog will help me in a couple of ways:

  • as an outlet for some of the material that I have amassed from my research;
  • as a resource for my students
  • as a resource for any other people studying public sector management, particularly if they are not accountants and don't want to be accountants; and
  • if I'm lucky, it will draw some attention to my book when it reaches the shelves of real and on-line book stores.