The Burglar's Dog sketch book part 4

Another of Garen's cover sketches:

The Burglar's Dog sketch book part 3

Another Dog sketch from Garen:

The Burglar's Dog sketch book part 2

Another Burglar's Dog cover sketch by Garen Ewing. Click to enlarge.

The Burglar's Dog sketch book part 1

The finished cover for The Burglar's Dog has received a lot of praise, but how did we come up with it? Basically, we provided a brief to designer Garen Ewing, he outlined some ideas in sketch format, and then, along with author Mark Jones, we knocked ideas back and forward before settling on the final design. Every day this week we're going to be posting one of Garen's rough cover sketches on the blog. This is what the dog could have looked like. Click on the image to see a bigger version.


This week we're also offering another chance to get a Burglar's Dog enamel badge. Click here for details.

Pub Quiz video

A quick look at the mayhem that was The Burglar's Dog pub quiz. (Thanks to Lee for the vid.)

Christmas catalogue

The Hexham Courant's Christmas Catalogue features reviews of both the Burglar's Dog and Wor Al. You can view PDFs by clicking on those links.

Plugging the Dog

Two nice bits of publicity for The Burglar's Dog in The Journal newspaper this week. First up an interview with actor Craig Conway, who offers up a shameless plug for the book, even managing to squeeze in the RRP. Good job that man. Next a huge two-page spread in the Culture section, bumping Patrick Stewart and the the RSC across to a side column. Sorry about that Patrick, but when you're hot you're hot...

Pub Quiz photos

Quizmaster Phil Hoffmann with the Burglar's stunt dog

Stu from Tonto gets to know the dog

The winning team, clearly delighted with their Geordie hamper

The Burglar's Dog gets quizzical

Chaotic, foul-mouthed and a lot of fun - last night's The Burglar's Dog Pub Quiz was a very fitting way to launch our latest book. The venue was the Newcastle Arms, the Dog's favourite bar - and one of the few he doesn't slate in the book. It was standing room only and clipboards and biros at the ready as 16 teams did battle over three very taxing rounds.

Image from www.theburglarsdog.co.uk. We forgot to take a camera, so if anyone has any digital photos of the event please email them over!
There were hiccups, naturally. Compere Phil Hoffmann managed to read just one solitary question before the PA system packed in. Not to be defeated, Phil leapt onto a chair and delivered the rest of the quiz in very loud voice. The general knowledge round was mindbending (Sample question: 'What is the combined number of whole legs owned by Paul McCartney's wives?' Answer: Three), and the picture and music rounds were extremely testing, but by the end there were three teams tied in first place with 41 points out of 60. A quick tie-breaker saw one lucky team walk away with a 'Geordie Hamper' containing Brown Ale, stottie cakes, pease pudding, pickled onions and black bullets. What a result.

Thanks to everyone who came along and took part in the quiz, and bought books and badges. Special thanks to Phil Hoffmann for doing a great job as compere in testing circumstances. Thanks also to Burglar's Dog author Mark Jones and Burglar's co-pilot John Egdell for helping organise and run the night, and to the staff at the Newcastle Arms for serving up the booze. The Burglar's Dog is available from all good bookshops. Get more details here.

Burglar's Dog 'bigger than the Bible'

It's only ten days since The Burglar's Dog was released, but we're already happy to label it a resounding success. Mark Jones's vitriolic Newcastle upon Tyne pub guide has struck a chord regionally and nationally, and booksellers are (almost) falling over each other to stock up on copies before Christmas. We're calling it 'the North East publishing sensation of the year', but we're not sitting back with the cigars yet. The success (albeit on a relative scale) has been built on a lot of hard graft, and there's plenty more to do as the Christmas shopping period gets into swing.


So why has The Burglar's Dog succeeded where so many other independent publications have failed? The most obvious reason is that the content is fantastic. In terms of writing quality, Mark Jones's 'non-fiction pub guide' wipes the floor with many of the supposedly 'more literary' tomes around at the moment. Ian Robinson of BBC Radio Newcastle said during an interview with Mark, 'It's a great book, it's beautifully written, and it's very, very funny'. His co-presenter Paul Wappat added, 'For a tenner, you'll never laugh so much.' We very much concur. The book has also enjoyed invaluable 'word of mouth', building on the popularity of the Burglar's Dog website to become something of a cult, and it has been great to overhear people discussing the book in pubs and at Newcastle United football matches!

Another reason is that the book looks great. It has an eye-catching cover by Garen Ewing, and we made the decision to get it printed on good quality paper by a printer used by many of the UK's biggest publishers. At 304 pages it's a hefty volume that feels very satisfying in the hand, something that means a lot to book broswers (on the downside it costs us a fortune to post). Some might say it's 'bigger than the Bible' (bigger than those Gideon hotel ones, anyway).

The third reason is that we've put a hell of a lot of work into this, spending weeks hitting the pavements and phone lines attempting to drum up interest from wholesalers, booksellers and the press. This would be a good place to thank everyone who has supported the book - there are still a lot of people in the book industry who are passionate about books. Naturally there are also plenty who don't appear to know their A from their E, and we've suffered plenty of bloody noses after running into their brick walls. But, hey-ho, that's life for you.

Overall the experience has taught us who we can rely on and who we can't, and allowed us to build up an invaluable list of contacts. The process has had a very steep learning curve, and that's the main thing we've gotten out of the project as publishers. Friends who have watched the book's success have asked how much money we're 'raking in'. The honest truth is that we're probably not going to make a penny. The book should eventually make a small profit, but that will go back into the company to fund future projects. This has been about putting out a book we believe in, and making it a success. We've achieved that and are pretty proud of it.

Our recent attempt to make The Burglar's Dog an Amazon bestseller (i.e. hit the Amazon Hot 100) very nearly came off, with the book reaching a ranking of 189 on the day of our 'Burglar's Dog Enamel Badge Giveaway / Amazon Bestseller Attempt', still quite an achievement. [UPDATE: It later hit a rank of 165 before Amazon temporarily ran out of stock, scuppering the plan!] The book DID oddly top the Atlases & Maps bestseller list, ranked number 1, so we did sort of make The Burglar's Dog an Amazon bestseller - an Amazon Travel & Holiday: United Kingdom: Atlases & Maps bestseller. And that's got to count for something, right?!

Recent print coverage for The Burglar's Dog has included Accent, The Informer, Neon, The Sunday Sun, and, as previously blogged, Viz. The book is available from The Back Page, Blackwell's, Bookworld, Borders, Fenwick, Waterstones, [WHSmith is missing from this list for reasons which will be blogged about soon...] Amazon.co.uk, and from tontopress.com. And I can add, quite honestly, get it now while stocks last...

We're holding an 'exclusive' Burglar's Dog Pub Quiz tonight. A report and pictures will follow.

Alas WHSmith and Tesco

A couple of weeks ago I wrote a post about our attempts to try to get our books stocked by bricks and mortar booksellers. Since then we've had further successes, and further setbacks. So here's an update...

Our books were already stocked by Gardners Books ("the UK's leading book wholesaler" - www.gardners.com), and now they're also stocked by Bertram Books ("the UK's leading book wholesaler" - www.bertram.com). We've naturally found it much easier to get our books stocked in local branches of major bookshops, but this week Borders decided to stock The Burglar's Dog nationally. But the big news is that we have finally managed to get Wor Al and The Burglar's Dog in WHSmith - in one location at least. Visitors to the Gateshead Metrocentre will now be able to purchase both books from that branch of Smiths, although other branches remain unmoved. The big WHSmith on Newcastle's Northumberland Street is now the only book shop in the city that isn't stocking either book. We're still working on them, but in the meantime shoppers might like to cross the street to Virgin or Fenwick, walk up to HMV, or down to Waterstone's, or across to Blackwell's, or drive across to Borders... You get the idea. Tesco are the other retailer that remain uninterested but on our hitlist.

On the subject of problems getting the books on the shelves, this week we had an astonishing exchange with out local library service. Details will be posted soon...

Meanwhile, The Burglar's Dog is out on Monday. It's beginning to get publicity, which you can see on our media page. And if you buy the book from Amazon on Monday you can get a free Burglar's enamel badge. Full details here.

Stu Recommends Again

Book - Complicity by Iain Banks

Ah... Iain Banks. This book was first published in 1994 and went straight on my Christmas present list. I hadn't read any of his work for a while and thought I'd pick this book up again after discussing it on Tonto's Creative Writing course over the summer. Banks is an absolute master - This book is a fine example of how to switch point of view from first person to second person and also one of the most unsettling openings to a novel you'll read in a long time. I prefer to see his books in the old black and white covers, although with this version, you can pick it up for one pence! That's right... a single English penny! Complicity is a stunting exploration of the morality of greed, corruption and violence, venturing fearlessly into the darker recesses of human purpose. Add to that some sex, mystery, S&M, computery stuff, some more corruption and murder and you're back in the familiar world of Iain Banks.

Music - Hit Parade by Paul Weller

All the die hard fans have been complaining about this box set. It hasn't got any demos, alternative versions or unreleased tracks on it. So what? It's a four disc set of practically everything Weller has done from The Jam to The Style Council to the Paul Weller Movement and plain old Paul Weller.

Weller is more popular now than he's ever been, attracting a whole new generation of listeners through his influence over all these new indie kid guitar bands and maybe this set is just what a new listener needs. It's just a shame he invited some of them on stage at the BBC Electric Proms recently to murder some of his most dearly-held classic tunes. If you're one of the die hards... you know you'll buy it at some point, even if it's just for the booklet included. Hit Parade could be sub-headed: Every decent Weller track you need without having to buy albums or find and download off the net.

Film - Yellow Submarine by The Beatles

It'll cost you an arm and a leg on Amazon, but every household should have one.

Ch*ff*ng br*ll**nt!

We've teamed up with Viz comic, Newcastle's finest potty-mouthed periodical, to promote The Burglar's Dog on the famous Letterbocks page. In the brand new issue 160 you'll see this:


Readers without jeweller's eyepieces can click on the image to see a bigger version. We *think* the sender of the Star Letter gets a free copy of the book. That'll be "Charles Turner", then:


Meanwhile, we're holding a Burglar's Dog pub quiz in Newcastle on Thursday 16 November. It's an exclusive no riff-raff invite-only type affair, and if you're quick you can get an invite here.

Burglar's Dog fans will also want to get hold of one of our exclusive enamel badges. Get more details about that here.

More Paul Recommends

It seems everyone else is recommending The Burglar's Dog, and rightly so, and this month I'm also recommending:

Book: Twelve Grand Jonathan Rendall

Rendall, a boxing writer, was handed a £12,000 advance and told to gamble it and write up the results. But things didn't go to plan, and what starts as an account of a humorous gambling journey turns into a drink-addled tale of personal hell. It's highly original, brutally honest, and brilliantly written - Rendall's occasional columns on boxing, gambling and drinking in various broadsheets are always worth reading regardless of your interest in the subject matter. Subtitled 'The Gambler As Hero', the book inspired a Channel 4 series, which was also excellent and deserves a repeat on More4. You can get Twelve Grand for as little as 50p here. And you can read his brilliant recent Observer piece on tracking down his birth mother here.

CD: Give Up The Postal Service

Combining the melodic pop sensibilities of (Death Cab For Cutie's) Ben Gibbard and the electronic beats and twiddlings of (Dntel's) Jimmy Tamborello, The Postal Service is a side project that is much better than either musician's day job. I normally have an aversion to 'electronic' music, but this is something special - gems of pop songs dipped in shiny beats. Think Technique-era New Order polished up for the noughties and you're partway there. As a taster, you can see Napoleon Dynamite director Jared Hess's excellent video for cheery nuclear holocaust anthem We Will Become Silhouettes here. You can get Give Up here.

DVD: A Room For Romeo Brass

This Shane Meadows movie starts off with twelve year-olds Romeo and Gavin befriending grown-up loner Morell (Paddy Considine), and for the first act it could easily be an old Children's Film Foundation picture. But everything changes when Morell, obsessed with Romeo's sister, becomes unpredictable and violent. The film then revolves around a brilliantly edgy and genuinely terrifying performance from Considine - certainly living up to his reputation as a British De Niro. His final confrontation with Gavin's dad is one of the scariest and most intense movie scenes I can remember. Morell is a psychopath, but in Considine's hands you can't help feeling sorry for him. You can get the DVD for just £4.97 here.

More news

Would you Adam ‘n’ Eve it?

Our latest title, to be released on 06.11.06, has appeared on Waterstone’s We Highly Recommend list.

The Burglar’s Dog is getting heaps of publicity in the run-up to officially hitting the shops. We could (and will, someday) rant and rave about the difficulties of becoming a ‘new’ and, God forbid, so-called ‘local’ publisher, so having the backing of a major seller in our hometown is a BIG deal.
If you can make the photo out, you’ll see the manager’s comments saying it is on their essential reading list and that it is one of the funniest books he has ever read. Sans bribe, I may add.

Interestingly, if you look closely at the photo, you may be able to make out another book below The Burglar’s Dog. It's by some fella called Dan Brown, I think.















We'll be posting regular updates on the progress of this title. For those who are aware of The Burglar's Dog already, you'll understand why this is a eagerly anticipated book. We've actually had press contacting us to conduct interviews and features, which was a refreshing change.

It will be launched in Newcastle on 16th November and as the saying goes, is available in all good bookshops as well as online stores and our own website.

Loads of news

We're announcing lots of new stuff today, and it's probably best if I just paste in our newsletter announcement:

*More Tonto Short Stories - submissions invited*
Following the huge success of Tonto Short Stories, we're delighted to announce submission details for More Tonto Short Stories, a further anthology of new writing. This is your chance to have your story published in a top-quality anthology distributed worldwide. Get full details here:
http://www.tontopress.com/submissions.html

*New creative writing courses announced*
The website now contains details of a range of brand new courses for early 2007. Practical, comprehensive and fun, they're ideal for writers looking to develop their writing with a view to publication. Book your place here:
http://www.tontopress.com/courses.html

*New manuscript critique service*
As part of our comittment to encouraging and developing new writing, we're launching a unique and valuable crit service that's all about developing you as a writer and improving your manuscript. As an introductory offer we're offering 30 percent off the service, so hurry along here:
http://www.tontopress.com/crit.html

*Free UK shipping on all current titles*
Christmas is inevitably approaching fast, so were offering free UK shipping on all of our current titles, including the brand new The Burglar's Dog, plus a range of other offers including double packs and money off specials. See here:
http://www.tontopress.com/books.html

There have also been a lot of changes to our website, hope you find something there of interest. Let us know what you think.

The smell of old books

Paul Smith has launched a new aftershave called 'Story', described this month by Arena magazine as 'the smell of old books'. 'I love books,' Smith explains on his website. 'When you open one it's exciting. You're about to discover something new or enter a different world.' The bottle and packaging are very nice, with the logo typed on Smith's old Olivetti typewriter. I haven't had a chance to sniff the stuff, so can't confirm that it has 'the distinctive smell of antique books – of ageing paper and leather, the essence of time gone by', although if the nice people at Paul Smith would like to send me a bottle I'd be happy to oblige. See more at http://www.paulsmithstory.com/.

Free Book

Congrats to Lee Rourke who was the random winner picked from the Tonto Press random winner picker.
Stay tuned for more free stuff in the future...

Tonto Press Free Book Giveaway!

Good afternoon
Feeling lucky?
As it is Friday the 13th, we're breaking the rule and making something good happen. Today we're giving away a Tonto Press book to one lucky person. All you need to do is email us.
We'll randomly select one person from the emails we recieve, which will end at 4 pm GMT today - 13.10.06
Please put 'Give me a free book' in the subject line of your email.

The Night Shift

Theatre fans may recognise a familiar face at Northern Stage next week. Our mate Craig Conway, seen last night in Wire in the Blood, is appearing in The Night Shift from 18-21 October. The play goes on tour around the UK after the Newcastle dates, so watch out for it in a theatre near you. Oh... and tickets are free... get yourself along!