Blake Friedmann clients at 1 and 2 in The Bookseller ‘Accelerators’ chart!
August 27, 2010
The Bookseller 'Accelerators' chart, for titles that have been out for at least two weeks and have experienced the biggest rise in week-on-week sales, features Blake Friedmann clients in the top two spots this week. STATE OF EMERGENCY, the first book in Sam Fisher's new E-Force series, is at number one in the chart with sales showing a 726% rise on last week. It is closely followed by TOMMY'S WORLD, the seventh of Billy Hopkins' fictionalised memoirs, with a 541% increase. The paperback launch of STATE OF EMERGENCY coincided with a huge marketing campaign with posters throughout the London Underground, and the book featuring in promotions at WH Smith, WHS Travel, ASDA and Tesco. Its place at the top of the 'Accelerators' chart comes hot on the heels of the book being number 9 in the iBook chart on August 16, and is more good news ahead of the launch of the second in the series in January 11. The E-Force series is a contemporary techno-thriller series. The E-Force is a non-political organisation, financed by an obscure offshoot of the United Nations, with access to the newest technologies only just off the drawing board. They provide specialist rescue in times of global emergency.
Chart success for TOMMY'S WORLD is the latest event in a successful summer for Billy Hopkins. ASDA have marked the paperback release of TOMMY'S WORLD with an exclusive special edition, and Billy Hopkins has also been awarded an Honorary M.Ed degree by University College Plymouth St Mark & St John in recognition of his contribution to literature and teaching. He joins a distinguished list of honorary degree holders from the university that also includes Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Sue Barker and Chicken Run animators Peter Lord and David Sproxton.
Praise for Sam Fisher:
'With a good spread of characters, plenty of techno babble and a nail-biting rescue sequence that takes up the majority of the book, STATE OF EMERGENCY will absorb readers of action-thrillers...an interesting read'.
--Amanda Greenslade, The Specusphere (online)
'Fans of adventure fiction will not be disappointed.'
--Kimberly Allsopp, Bookseller & Publisher
Praise for Billy Hopkins:
'TOMMY'S WORLD is a delight from start to finish...told with warmth, humour and that special bond of love that exists between father and son, this is a revealing and uplifting tale of an ordinary man and his extraordinary life.'
--Lancashire Evening Post
'The characters will stay with you after you've finished the book, but what you won't be left with is the sickly sweet taste of nostalgia. If you like to learn something from a good story then this could well be the book for you.'
--The Bookbag