Tag: Total Addiction

18 Sep 2012

The Euphoria of a Book Launch

The ephoria of a book launch

Two days ago, I had the Belfast launch party for the book Total Addiction: The Life of an Eclipse Chaser. I am now reflecting on how different the process is of publishing a book versus completing academic work.

Academic writing

I have spent many years in formal academic study, writing thesis after thesis for each of my honors, master’s and doctorate degrees. For each ‘book’, the writing would take around a year (two for my doctorate). Submission was stressful which involved juggling impossible deadlines and multiple demands while working full time. This was then followed by anxiety about the viva process. After each successful viva, the thesis was bound, submitted, and then left on the shelf. Although each of these achievements was celebrated at the time, the celebrations often came months later following the viva.

Personal book writing

Launching a non-fiction book about my passion of eclipse chasing has been completely different. The writing and work and deadlines are the same, but the motivation is different. With a personal book, there is no viva, but there is the anxiety about others reading and making public judgments about your work. The build-up to the launch is exciting, as you think of ways to increase your profile and that of the book. Momentum builds, as you stay with the project and roll with it. The launch itself – what a great experience. A public book launch is about celebrating and sharing this achievement with others. And how wonderful to see people queuing to have you sign it! And to see people reading it! For the whole of my launch, I was grinning from ear to ear. And I’m still grinning now.

Belfast Book Launch 2012. © Paul McErlane
Belfast Book Launch 2012. © Paul McErlane
Belfast book launch party. (c) 2012, Paul McErlane
Belfast book launch party. (c) 2012, Paul McErlane
Me and Terry Moseley, one of the nine featured eclipse chasers, at my Belfast book launch for Total Addiction. One of the best days of my life! (c) 2012, Paul McErlane
Me and Terry Moseley, one of the nine featured eclipse chasers, at my Belfast book launch for Total Addiction. One of the best days of my life! (c) 2012, Paul McErlane
10 Jul 2012

Hot News!

The publication of my book Total Addiction: Life of an Eclipse Chaser has been brought forward from September to the end of July. The publishers and myself have been working behind the scenes in order to meet the earlier deadline. It has only been in the past week that I have really started to let people know that the book is available to pre-order. Since then, the book has become an Amazon bestseller – topping the Theoretical and Mathematical Astronomy Category, and at one point I was also second in the Hot New Releases in Astronomy. I know it’s not a competition, but it was rather exciting to be up there above the likes of Prof Brian Cox, Sir Patrick Moore and Prof Stephen Hawking – if only for a week.

My sincerest thanks to everyone who is pre-ordering the book. If you would like to pre-order through Amazon, please click on this link: (again, apologies for the length – still can’t figure this hyperlinking out):

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/364230480X/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=364230480X&linkCode=as2&tag=beiinthesha-21″>Total Addiction: The Life of an Eclipse Chaser</a><img src=

This is my first book sold on Amazon, so I never really took notice of what the ranking figures meant, and how they were calculated. When the book is a bestseller, these rankings are updated hourly, which means I am constantly checking to see where the book is positioned. It’s yet another one of the things I have learned during the process of publishing a book – it has been a fascinating journey.