Spartacus: The Gladiator

parthianbow · Post by **parthianbow** » Tue September 13th, 2011, 12:51 pm

If I can bring half the presence that Whitfield brought to the role, I'll be happy.

Thanks, EC2 and DianeL!

Matt Phillips · Post by **Matt Phillips** » Tue September 13th, 2011, 7:02 pm

Congratulations, Ben!

I'm greatly enjoying The Forgotten Legion, by the way, and looking forward to reading more of your novels.

DianeL · Post by **DianeL** » Wed September 14th, 2011, 11:22 pm

Saw a mention of Forgotten just a minute ago at Absolute Write, too!

parthianbow · Post by **parthianbow** » Tue December 13th, 2011, 5:29 pm

Just to say that the US release date of Spartacus has now been set: it's June 5, 2012.

I'll be heading over the pond to do my bit for the publicity drive. With luck, I'll get to meet some of you!

LoveHistory · Post by **LoveHistory** » Wed December 14th, 2011, 6:25 pm

That's great Ben. Thanks for letting us know!

fljustice · Post by **fljustice** » Wed December 14th, 2011, 7:36 pm

Definitely let us know! If you're heading into New York City or environs I would love to attend an event or get together for coffee/drinks/whatever works.

DianeL · Post by **DianeL** » Tue December 20th, 2011, 2:59 am

*Fingers crossed for a trip to VA*
*Fingers crossed for a trip to VA*
*Fingers crossed for a trip to VA*

annis · Post by **annis** » Thu December 22nd, 2011, 6:48 pm

I was interested in your comment elsewhere about the growing importance of pre-orders, Ben. Is this a relatively new phenomenon? Chris Gortner also mentioned it not that long ago.

parthianbow · Post by **parthianbow** » Tue January 3rd, 2012, 11:36 am

Ah, this was where you posted about pre-orders, Annis! Yes, they are increasingly important to fuel the first 4 days of a book's release. Books are released in the UK on a Thursday, but sales are counted from a Monday to a Sunday. If there are a lot of pre-orders, it follows that a book is more likely to hit the bestseller charts in its first 'week' of release.

parthianbow · Post by **parthianbow** » Tue January 10th, 2012, 8:15 pm

Got a nice review of Spartacus in a UK national newspaper, the Daily Mail.

Also got featured in the 'One Minute With...' section of another UK daily, The Independent.

And for those of you who are in the UK (as BBC iPlayer can't be used outside this island unless you pay for it) and interested(!), I'll be on the BBC Radio 4 book programme, Open Book, this coming Sunday, the 14th of January. Talking about - you've guessed it - Spartacus!