The folk at Focus were in touch today to let me know that the first royalty cheque for Homepages reached them this morning.

They’ll keep receiving royalty cheques every quarter for as long as there are sales of the book, so please do keep the orders coming in

Happy new year! Oh wait, it’s February already…

The book is, as promised, still on sale and, as of today, has sold 153 copies – a royalty cheque of just over €700 will be making its way to Focus Ireland later this month.

Sales were helped along in the quiet month of January by a couple of lovely features in PC Live and Nós magazine.

If you haven’t picked up a copy already, please do – €4.61 per copy sold will go to Focus Ireland. The book will stay on sale for some time yet!

I’m hearing from lots of people that their copies of the book have arrived – delighted they’re making it in time for Christmas! My own arrived last Friday and it’s a real thrill to see the printed article.

Much like Amazon, Lulu have a ratings and reviews area – I’d be much obliged if anyone who’s read the book could take a moment to go over here and add a rating or a review (or both!)

Thanks so much to all who have supported the project so far. It’ll still be on the “shelves” in the new year, so if you’ve missed the boat for Christmas, there’s still lots of time to order a copy.

Happy Christmas!

Well, that week flew.

Seven days after going on sale, Homepages has sold 125 copies and raised almost €600 for Focus Ireland. As of this morning, it’s riding high at number 9 on Lulu’s weekly sales chart. (And yes, I’m aware that it’s in some, um, interesting company!)

I also got my mitts on an actual printed copy of the book this morning! It looks fantastic – great paper quality and a lovely glossy colour cover. Lulu appear to be shipping promptly – so far so good.

And last but not least, a huge thanks to the Irishblogs crew for making this their blog of the week, and hi to anyone who’s clicked over from there – here’s a shortcut to the important bit.

As of this afternoon, 104 copies of the book have been sold. That’s a whopping €479 for Focus in less than five days. Hurrah!

My WordPress dashboard tells me that there are scads of posts linking to this site, which has helped hugely – thanks a million to everyone for all the plugs so far. A wee mention in yesterday’s Metro was lovely to see, too.

One quick note on shipping – Lulu have extended their Christmas shipping deadlines, and there’s still one day left for guaranteed delivery to Ireland via standard shipping (more details here). It’s approximately €12 and I’m told this covers up to three books.

A few people have been asking about the book cover. It was designed by the lovely Katharina Pommerien, whose portfolio is here.

I’d highly recommend Katharina for her creativity, efficiency and all-round good nature. The original brief was somewhat, um, vague, and she managed to transform it into something beautiful. Thanks Katharina!

Thanks a million to all who came out to Le Cirk last night for the book launch (including my parents!) It was lovely to put names to faces and say thanks in person to those who contributed.

As of right now, 65 copies of the book have been sold, making a total of €300 for Focus. If you haven’t already, pop over here to order your copy (or copies!)

I’ve put together a press release and a bigger version of the cover page over here – please use, use and re-use to spread the word and help crank up those sales figures!

I’m thrilled to announce that Homepages – Tales From The Irish Blogosphere is now available to purchase here for €14 plus P&P. €4.61 of this will go directly to Focus Ireland. It’s a busy time of year, so get ordering…

Thank you so much to all of the contributors, and to everyone else who assisted along the way!

Please do continue to spread the word so we can raise as much as possible for Focus in the run up to Christmas.

And do feel free to come along to Le Cirk this evening (Monday 8th) at 7pm to celebrate!

Ask and ye shall receive…

I’ve reserved a couple of tables in the ground floor bar of Le Cirk on Dame Street for 7pm next Monday, 8th. All are welcome for a couple of drinks to celebrate the launch of the book – although the book itself will only be present in virtual form!

The cover’s ready, the foreword’s written, the proofreading is (almost) finished, the nitty-gritty formatting work is underway.

All being well, this book will hit Lulu’s virtual shelves on Monday. I’m dead excited.

I’ll be posting a list of contributors here tomorrow, so stay tuned. Full purchasing info and details of virtual launch party to follow!