Back at it ...

After a nice relaxing (for the most part) vacation in Brazil, I'm back at work today. Considering the books are expected to start hitting stores today (I've been too busy to check) and I closed on my house, it's been a pretty eventful day.

Can't wait to see what's next.

Meanwhile, some old business. This just came across the wires. Someone should get these guys a copy of "Who's No. 1?"

WASHINGTON – The Senate plans to hold a hearing next week looking into antitrust issues surrounding college football's Bowl Championship Series.
It will be the second hearing on the BCS held on Capitol Hill this year, following a contentious one in the House in May.
The Senate Judiciary Committee Web site says the hearing will be next Tuesday in the committee's subcommittee on antitrust, competition policy and consumer rights.
Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, the subcommittee's top Republican, had sought the hearing. His office did not immediately return telephone and e-mail messages.

Some 14 months later, I'm finally finished

I'm happy, pleased and relieved to announce that I'm now completely finished with this year's version of the Huddle Up series. While having something checked out in my car, I finished the final proofs for the Michigan book.

While it's a little strange to be making final changes one day before the first four editions are due to start hitting stores, so be it. Nothing about this project seemed to go as expected, but nevertheless we're all thrilled with how the books have turned out.

For for the big question: How long before I start working on the 2010 versions? My guess is two weeks.

P.S. Yes, those are real Wolverines, and not the "Red Dawn" kind.

First contact

The first books have arrived and I couldn't be more pleased. They really look great.

Last night I was particpating in the "Crimson Literacy: Up Close and Personal," fund-raising event benefiting the West Alabama Literacy Council and while signing books just laid these four editions before me. Just about every person was, "Oh, what's that?"

I think we have a hit on our hands, even if my friend Aaron did find a scoring error in one of them (which will be fixed for next year's edition).

Included are a couple of size references, and each is 312 pages.

The last book cover, and look I'm famous

Here's the last book cover, which I have to admit looks pretty great, and I'll actually be proofing this final version in the days ahead. How cool is that?

Meanwhile, I'll be taking copies of the first four editions (more if they arrive in time) to the Crimson Literacy: Up Close and Personal, an event benefiting the West Alabama Literacy Council on Friday evening. I should be in an interesting "mood" after flying back from Brazil earlier in the day.

Yes, Brazil.

For more inforation, check out the details below (in a previous blog), or the story in today's Tuscaloosa News (www.tidesports.com).

Look, more book covers

A quick break from vacation (geez, that sounds weird) to post covers of the Giants and Irish books (I had to snag them off Amazon.com -- they aren't even on my publisher's site yet).

Looks like Ohio State fans have already started ordering some of their edition, and I'll be finishing up Michigan when I get back. Apparently printed copies of the Tennessee, Texas, Ohio State and Giants books are waiting for me at home, so I have something to look forward to at the end of the trip. Enjoy!

[Update: Have seen the Michigan cover, and will post a better Notre Dame cover as soon as I am able.]

I don't want to say it's going to be a long year for Auburn fans, but ...

Fans may find this very telling about the upcoming season: I was told today that the Auburn edition of the 2009 Huddle Up series has been put on hold because there haven't been enough pre-release orders.

In short, Tigers fans aren't in a buying mood, probably because they aren't very optimistic about the upcoming season. Oops.

Anyway, we're all set on the other eight, although I still have yet to see the final proofs for the Michigan book (which will be the final release). As of now, Auburn, Georgia and Southern California will be the first three added versions for 2010.

Sorry Tigers fans.

Book covers!

Just saw these on the Triumph Books website, and I have to say I really, really like them.

I'll post more when I see them, but these will really get noticed.

Look what I see

Ok, they doesn't show much, but the first listings of the Huddle Up series can be found on the Barnes and Noble website (link below). There's not much to see, no cover, and for some reason they have me down as "Chris" instead of Christopher. But still, I can't help but be pleased and excited for their release. The New York Giants book already has a sales rank, go figure.

List price, $12.95. I didn't know that. Pretty affordable, especially if purchased on-line.

Meanwhile, I heard from my publisher today, and a copies of the first four versions (Giants, Ohio State, Tennessee and Texas) arrived from the printer and he's thrilled. Not only should I see them soon, but so will you in stores ... like this one: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/results.asp?ATH=Christopher+Walsh&SZE=10&SAT=11

UPDATE:
Here's Books-A-Million: http://www.booksamillion.com/search?type=author&query=Chris%20Walsh&id=4417454714869
and Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Chris+Walsh+2009

P.S. For Alabama fans, the NCAA penalties handed down Thursday will not make the 2009 version. The book is already at the printer. Somehow I believe you won't mind.

And now, a bit of a break ...

It's extremely late/early on a Sunday night/Monday morning, and I've just finished going over the Oklahoma proofs (the book looks good). For now, that's it. For pretty much the rest of the month I'll be relaxing in Brazil or freaking out over the upcoming move.

I still expect to see at least one edition of the Huddle Up series during the next few days, and if I do I will post the cover immediately, and we'll be doing the final proofs for Auburn and Michigan later this month. In the meantime, I hope everything goes well while I go through some dramatic (positive) changes in my life.

Almost there ...

My understanding is that I might see the first books sometime next
week, which means they could start hitting stores by the end of the month. As I've posted before, the first ones out will be Tennessee, Texas, Ohio State and the New York Giants.
Meanwhile, I finished up the proofs for Notre Dame and Alabama, and will be going over Oklahoma during the weekend.
That leaves just Auburn and Michigan.
Yep, we're that close. Can't wait.

Great view, big pool, no basement

Big news on the personal front, I've purchased a house and will be moving in at the end of the month. Since the government wants to give me an $8,000 tax credit as a first-time home buyer, who am I to say no?

Anyways, the place is terrific. To quote the listing: "New roof (2006), new hardwood flooring, new ceramic tile, new hot water heater, new paint and the back yard has been excavated by adding a retaining wall and French drain."

So what does this have to do with my books? Simple, the front room will be my new office/library. Nothing quite inspires like hardwood flooring.

More doom and gloom ...

Sales of print ads during the first quarter fell nearly 30% industry-wide, according to the Newspaper Association of America -- the worst drop since record-keeping began, in 1950. On-line ads fell 13 percent.

This from TheStreet.com (and remember that the stocks were already at extremely low levels):

Newspaper stocks were broadly lower across the board Tuesday. The New York Times fell 5.4%, Gannett was down 8%, the Washington Post slipped 4%, E.W. Scripps was off 10%, and Journal Communications was down 5.3%. News Corp., publisher of the Wall Street Journal and the New York Post among other titles, had inched higher by a few cents, or just over 1%.
"What we're seeing is an accelerating rate of decline across all advertising categories, which is beyond the worst-case scenario," said Edward Atorino, an analyst with the Benchmark Co., as he looked over the figures on the NAA web site for the first time. He paused to take another look, and then he said, "This is really horrible."