RESULTS NOT TYPICAL Blog Tour Digest: Week 1

So how are we all this fine Friday? Sick of me yet? If the answer is yes, boy, do you have a way to go before this blog “infect the internets” tour is done and dusted! If you’ve been ignoring my Results Not Typical blog touring shenanigans as a method of self-defense, fear not, because this handy little blog tour digest post will catch you right up…

The What What What?

I just self-published a novel, a chick-lit/corporate satire thing called Results Not Typical, despite saying on numerous occasions – in print, HTML and public – that I’d never self-publish a novel. To not-so-subtly convince all of you to run out and buy it (PLUG ALERT: it’s only $2.99 in e-book!) I arranged a little, 3-week, 16-stop (and growing!) blog tour of the magical interweb. The idea is I stop by a different blog or website every weekday to either answer a few questions, write a guest post or talk about flip-flops. That’s what’s up.

Where I Was This Week

The tour kicked off on TweetTreats.org, where Jane Travers got me discussing important issues such as WeightWatchers, the Black Gates of Mordor and how that thing Aldi claims is mayonnaise is, in fact, not mayonnaise. In an act of perfect blogosphere synergy, Jane started her blog tour for Tweet Treats on Catherine, Caffeinated the very same day. If you don’t know what Tweet Treats is, you can watch this video I made earlier:

Monday morning it was off to Maria Duffy‘s blog, Write Now Mom. Maria is the soon-to-be-bestselling-author of Any Dream Will Do, which will be published by Hachette Ireland next month. (Much squealing!) I took her kind invitation to stop by to talk about finding the right time and place to start writing your novel, albeit with my tongue firmly planted in my cheek…

Twitter friend and fellow coffee-lover Laura Pepper Wu was the hostess on Tuesday, and the venue was her website, Ladies Who Critique. If you’re looking for trustworthy women writers to help kick (or gently push!) your book into shape, that’s the place to be. Laura interviewed me about all things self-publishing, British Vs American English and Writer’s Butt, or Writer’s Bottom or Arse as we’d call it here.

Wednesday was the turn of the internet’s favorite Crabbit Old Bat (her words!), Nicola Morgan of Help! I Need a Publisher, surely one of the very best writing advice blogs on the web. In this interview she reminded everyone that I’d said I’d never self-publish a novel, but have done just that – thanks a lot, Nicola! – so we discussed the reasons why…

Are you exhausted yet? Think of me, writing all these posts! But it’s only Thursday of week one, and today we stopped by Alison Wells and her lovely corner of the internet, Head Above Water. This stop was a guest post about my least favorite part of writing a novel: the bit in the middle. I have a great idea for a novel, and I know what happens in the beginning and the end. But what is everyone supposed to do for the 80,000 words in the middle, eh?

And finally Friday, Emma Newman hosted me on her blog, Post-Apocalyptic Publishing. (Best name ever, right?) On this stop I asked the question ”Who is reading the 99c e-books?” and examined what’s actually happened when someone clicks “Buy” on your Amazon listing and how, potentially, you can use this information to your advantage. She’s also giving away some e-books so if you pop over there today you might win one.

(Some of) The Reviews are In!

I was very nervous about how people would take this book, seeing as it’s quite a bit different from your average women’s commercial fiction read and about an evil weight loss company. But – phew! – some reviews have come in, and they’ve all been great. Way better than I’d even hoped.

(And I am LOVING the puns, people.)

Shirley Benton (author of Looking for Leon) said over at Chick Lit Club: “When I read the blurb for Results Not Typical, I was slightly concerned that the corporate element of the book was going to alienate me as a reader and that I’d find it hard to get into the story because of that – but as soon as I started reading, I gobbled the book up (no pun intended). It’s a delightfully satirical tale, with a fresh perspective on the well-established theme of weight loss, and a quirky writing style. Just like its title, this book is anything but typical and if you want to take a chance on something completely different, this is the story to choose.”

Marsha Moore (who you may also know as Talli Roland, author of The Hating Game, Watching Willow Watts, Build a Man and one of the few blogs I make sure I read every day) said on Amazon.co.uk: “Having read Catherine Ryan Howard’s non-fiction and enjoyed it very much, I was eagerly awaiting the publication of her first novel… and wondering if Catherine’s wit and humour would translate as well in a fictional setting. I’m pleased to report it did — wonderfully! Results Not Typical is anything but your typical read. Packed full of entertaining characters — some you can’t help sympathizing with and others you’ll love to hate — Catherine’s tongue-in-cheek take on the weight-loss industry will be easily digested (sorry! no pun intended!) to anyone who has ever attempted a diet. Highly recommended. I can assure you, you’ll never look at a muffin the same way again!”

A review from Leah of ChickLit Reviews almost made me cry I was so delighted with it. I read every review those ladies write and trust them implicitly, so to get the thumbs up from them was just fantastic. And judging by their review, they really “got” the book. It’s quite long so please do pop over there and read it, but their conclusion was that “it’s so nice to read something that’s different, to read something that’s not your regular girl-meets-boy fare. Catherine has a natural flair for story-telling and her writing is immense. [Results Not Typical] was such an enjoyable read … I thoroughly recommend it.”

Thank You, Steve

This was also, unfortunately, the week that we learned the tragic news that Apple founder Steve Jobs had passed away at the age of just 56. In the beautiful words of Leo Babauta, I found my dreams through his machines. Jobs has also been very important to everyone here in Cork because we are one of the homes of Apple in Europe (I love that when I buy from the Apple store, my product gets made on the other side of my city!) and so hundreds if not thousands of Corkonians have been employed because of him since the early eighties. So I wrote this.

The blog tour continues until October 21st. Follow its progress here.