David Kessler's "Mercy" is in the shops

Tomorrow I will be going to Waterstones in Sutton to do a reading from my new thriller Mercy. I fear that there will not be all that many people there, despite a bit of publicity in the local paper, as we are doing it in on a winter evening. It might have been better if we had arranged it for Thursday, which is late shopping day... or Friday when young people like to go out in the evening.

However what's done is done and however many or few people come, I will do my reading, sign the copies of the books and hope that everyone one of those customers who buys the book will read it and then recommend it to half a dozen other people.

The books is available in W H Smith, Waterstones and all good bookshops. It is not yet available in the supermarkets. As I have said elsewhere, in this commercial Christmas period, I can't hope to compete with the likes of such literary luminaries Katie Price and Martine McCutcheon. Suffice it to say that there is a chance that I will be in the supermarkets after Christmas, for the New Year promotions.

I've also decided to advertise the book myself. The major publishers generally will only advertise the books of their bestselling authors. This is perfectly reasonable. The market for books as a whole is elastic, and the major publishers reason that if they advertise their mid-list writers then they would simply be competing against themselves. This is less true of the smaller publishers. But the smaller publishers are at a disadvantage in other respects.

But whilst the publishers have many writers, I have only one ME, and if I do not make it, I get no comfort (or support in my old age) from the knowledge that other writers have. So tomorrow morning, I will take the plunge and commit just over £3000 to advertising my book Mercy.

And I sure hope it pays off...