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Defending Jacob

John and Me

February 14, 2013

John Kenney and me

John Kenney and I have been the best of friends for almost 40 years now, since we met in 9th grade at the Roxbury Latin School in Boston. Now John has published a debut novel, Truth in Advertising, that is hilarious and poignant and has received glowing reviews. (Truth in Advertising also happens to have the greatest book trailer ever. This is what happens when a veteran ad man like John turns his attention to book publicity.)

Recently John and I did a joint appearance at the Boston Public Library in Copley Square (that’s the BPL in the background of that photo), and we met with a reporter from the Globe beforehand to talk about books and how two guys from the same tiny school managed to become novelists. I’m not sure we ever answered that question, really. When we’re together, John and I tend to talk fast, finish each other’s sentences, and laugh a lot. But somehow reporter Bella English managed to turn our rambling conversation into a story, which ran in this morning’s newspaper. Many thanks to Bella and Globe photographer Dina Rudick for capturing such a nice moment. Read it here.

Filed Under: Personal Tagged With: Boston Globe, Defending Jacob

2012 Wrap-up

January 6, 2013

It’s been a while since I posted one of these updates, so here are a few year-end developments for Defending Jacob.

  • The novel was named to several “best of 2012” lists, including Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kirkus Reviews, Toronto Globe and Mail, Kansas City Star, and my hometown Boston Globe.
  • Stephen King included Defending Jacob on his list of “the best books I read in 2012,” in Entertainment Weekly, calling it “the best crime-and-courtroom drama in years.” Very cool.
  • If that isn’t surreal enough for you, Google’s Zeitgeist 2012 list placed the book at #5 and its author #2 among trending search terms for U.S. books and authors, that is, “search queries with the highest amount of traffic over a sustained period in 2012 as compared to 2011.” Mom, is that you Googling me over and over?
  • The town of Sharon, Massachusetts, chose Defending Jacob for its annual “One Book, One Town” program, which means everyone in town will read the book or face criminal prosecution. Or something. (I will be visiting Sharon as part of the event on Saturday, April 6, 2013 at 7:00 pm at the Sharon Middle School.)
  • And just for fun, my favorite pull-quote from a review: “I am so in love with this book, I would marry it if it asked me.” Now that belongs on the cover of the paperback.

The mass-market paperback edition of Defending Jacob goes on sale February 26. The trade paperback edition (the larger paperback format) is coming in a few more months.

As ever, thanks to all of you for sticking with me. Happy 2013!

Filed Under: My Books Tagged With: Defending Jacob

Akcyza!

October 31, 2012

dj_poland

New ad campaign for Defending Jacob in Poland. Akcyza! (That means exciting. I think.)

Filed Under: My Books Tagged With: Defending Jacob

On the subway

October 26, 2012

NYC subway reader

Reading Defending Jacob on the NY subway (via Underground New York Public Library)

Filed Under: My Books Tagged With: Defending Jacob

Dispatch from Paris

October 26, 2012

dj paris metro ad

A cool new advertising campaign for Defending Jacob to run in and around Paris, including the Metro, and train stations all over France. (Courtesy of my French publisher, Michel Lafon.)

Filed Under: My Books Tagged With: Defending Jacob

Défendre Jacob, the book trailer

September 28, 2012

Book trailer for the upcoming release of Defending Jacob in France (Défendre Jacob, available October 11 from Éditions Michel Lafon ).

Filed Under: My Books Tagged With: book trailers, Defending Jacob

Happy 49th

September 8, 2012

appearance

One nice thing about doing an appearance on your birthday: the crowd just may sing “Happy Birthday” to you. This is me conducting the singers at the Duxbury, MA, Public Library last July. It was my 49th birthday. The event was sponsored by the Westwinds Bookshop in Duxbury. (Photo by Julius Prince.)

Filed Under: My Books Tagged With: author appearances, Defending Jacob

Picturing Jacob

September 7, 2012

I have a bit of a strange request: My publisher is looking for photos of Defending Jacob on display in bookstores. I don’t have any, but I said I’d call out the troops.

So if any of you happen to be in a bookstore in the next few days and you happen to have a smart phone on you, I’d be very grateful if you would snap a picture of the book and send it along. The photos will be used for an in-house presentation at Random House; the idea is to show how prominently bookstores are displaying the book.

To sweeten the pot, the best photo will win a signed first edition of any of my three books — your choice.

Either post your photo here on Tumblr or email it to me direct at bill@williamlanday.com. Be sure to let me know what bookstore your photo shows.

Feel free to share this message, forward it, tape it to your forehead, etc. The more submissions, the better.

Thank you!

Filed Under: My Books Tagged With: Defending Jacob

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