To start the New Year, Shame: A Novel has been selected by the American Amazon Kindle editors as one of their “January 100.” This means that for the month of January it is being specially priced for Kindle customers at $2.99. Follow this link to the “January 100”:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html...

Sometimes an author despairs as to why a particular book doesn’t seem to catch on with readers.“Shame” was one of those books. It received critical raves, but its sales disappointed. My (then) publisher Simon & Schuster couldn’t figure it out; I couldn’t figure it out. The novel was optioned for film, and then optioned again, but then Hollywood lost interest and it seemed the book was doomed to oblivion. When my current publisher Thomas & Mercer came to me and said they would like to reissue “Shame,” I was excited. I hoped this was my chance to finally get the book out to readers. Still, I asked Thomas & Mercer if I could make editorial changes to the book. I wanted to update it, and even more I wanted to address a few niggling issues that had rankled over the years. I am sure my new publisher thought I was crazy, but then again most authors are. They allowed me to change everything and anything I wanted. Now I am glad I made those changes and revised the book as I wanted. The world of Kindle has given it a second life. Yesterday I was shocked (pleasantly) to see that “Shame” was the 28th most downloaded book in the United Kingdom Kindle Store. I was also gratified to see that “Burning Man” was the 36th most downloaded book in the U.K. Kindle Store (even though it was hard to imagine the older book was outselling the newer). Maybe F. Scott Fitzgerald was wrong. Maybe there is a second act in American lives. I can only hope so. Happy New Year to all!


- Alan Russell on January 1, 2013