Dave Cornthwaite

DATE has been on the shelves for a year. It has an average rating of 5 stars on Amazon and an ever-growing list of positive reviews, but the most rewarding thing about this, my second book, is that I self-published despite receiving several offers from conventional publishing houses.

It was a leap of faith, much like a number of the steps I took during my search for love. If your heart is halfway between your gut and your head, it’s probably a good place to start when facing a tough decision.

I was more nervous about releasing DATE than almost anything I’d ever done before. The choice to go solo meant that the success or failure of the book rested at my feet. With anyone else involved it would be easy to shift blame should the thing not be received so well, so I removed that incentive to take the pressure off and took the plunge.

It’s horrendously risky, being a modern-day bloke and sharing your feelings (really, men have feelings?!) with a wider audience. Sometimes it’s unwise even with someone you truly care about, especially when they’re not quite on the same page as you.

‘Yeah,’ said No. 33, ‘you see, it’s things like that which you should really keep inside.’

Because it’s a candid, open, brutally honest story I wasn’t sure how DATE would be taken, especially by people who didn’t know me, but thankfully that jump into the unknown has been worth it for countless reasons.

Some of them are below, in the form of reviews from strangers:

“This was the first time I bought a book without knowing much about it except for what it says on the tin: 100 dates in 100 days. The initial attraction for me is that it was seemingly a book about dating and *love* written by a man. I was intrigued, so much so that I read it in less than 3 days and cannot stop recommending it to my friends. Written with wit till the end this story of Dave’s dating adventures really will bring a smile to your face!”
- Harriet 

“A dating endurance adventure written by the male of the species, I envisioned humourous tales and scandals but was pleasantly surprised by the reflection and the realisation that this is a book about self-discovery. This is not a guide to dating or how to understand the opposite member of the sex, but its refreshing to realise that men (some!) are actually out there looking for something more. If you feel your faith in men needs justification read this book!”
- HellsBells

“I just plain loved this book! Dave’s view on women, love and dating is humorous, touching and very real. I was immediately drawn in to the world of extreme dating and the search we all have for that special someone, and laughed out loud more times than I could count! As a reader, you experience a definite rollercoaster of emotions and can’t help but be cheering him on from the sidelines. “Date” gives an interesting insight to the way men think on the dating scene, and shows that true romance and the ideal of finding “the one” are still things that we all desire when we get right down to it. This is no fairy tale, but a modern and realistic look at love, dating and the human condition that will make you smile, break your heart and have you cringing in sympathy in parts! It is a challenge to create something that will appeal in equal measure to both sexes but “Date” more than achieves this; as a woman you feel privileged to have this rare view of the single male psyche, and guys you’ll find this mad adventure incredibly relatable regardless of your marital status! All in all a fantastic read; clear your weekend because you will want to read it all in one sitting!”
- C. Davis

“This book was delightful to read. It’s not just a humorous book about online dating experiences. Everyone can benefit from the emotions and insights that Dave shares with the reader about his search for true love. I wish that more men could be open and communicate better about their true feelings and emotions in relationships.”
- Sandy 

• Get your own copy of DATE on Kindle or in Paperback
• Have you read it? Leave a review here

Whether you’ve read DATE yet or not come on down to Kaff Brixton on Thursday 21st June at  7pm to join me for a book reading, general dating discussion and a bit of subsequent revelry.

Kaff is just a short walk from Brixton Tube (Atlantic Road) in London and has a great selection of drinks, comfy sofas and , most importantly – a fine pile of cakes to choose from. 

If you have any questions or favorite parts of the book that you want me to read from – tweet me @davecorn or leave a message on our Facebook page

The book of DATE, plus a beer and cake – what more could anyone ask for on a Thursday night?

See you there!

http://www.kaff-bar.co.uk/

64-68 Atlantic Road, Brixton, London, SW9 8PY

To find out more about Date, visit www.thebookofdate.com

‘Is it good?’ they ask.
‘Well, I’m kinda biased.’

I enjoyed writing DATE (probably more than I did doing the research) and I found great pleasure in sitting opposite someone on the tube the other day as they were reading the book and shaking with what I think was a thorough case of the chuckles, but if you want an honest assessment of whether you’ll enjoy this read, take a look at the reviews on Amazon.

And if you have read DATE, please please write your own review, however you feel about it!

> Read reviews of DATE on Amazon
> Get a paperback 
> Purchase for Kindle

Leading up to Valentines Day, not only do 100% of Kindle sales of DATE go to our favourite charity CoppaFeel! but Dave will personally deliver all paperback orders within London’s Zones 1 & 2! He might even consider some Zone 3 deliveries too!

He’s in training for a series of new challenges in 2012 so delivering copies of DATE around town helps everyone! So if you order a copy of DATE, expect Dave to rock up on his skateboard within a few hours!

> Read a free sample
> Check out the reviews
> DATE on paperback
> DATE for Kindle

Help us raise £’s for CoppaFeel! With Valentines Day approaching I thought I’d share the love around, and I need your help.

Between now and 14th February I’ve lowered the price of DATE on Kindle, and I’m asking EVERYONE to buy it. EVERYONE! Yes, that includes you! You can read a Kindle book on your Kindle, or any iPad, iPhone, Blackberry, Android phone, Mac or PC with the free Kindle App downloaded, it’s easy!

 

SUPPORTING BREAST CANCER AWARENESS
Throughout this offer I will donate 100% of profits on Kindle sales to breast cancer awareness through CoppaFeel! If you’d like to meet Kris, the lady who set CoppaFeel! up, here’s the foreword she wrote for DATE. If you’re not convinced yet, you will be after you read this, she’s quite amazing and so is CoppaFeel!

I’M SOLD ALREADY!
Great! - Download the Kindle App here - BUY DATE ON KINDLE, HERE

INCENTIVE - £3 DISCOUNT ON THE PAPERBACK
Everyone who buys a Kindle copy of DATE (and this goes for anyone who has bought a Kindle copy previously) will receive a copy of the paperback for £5, that’s a £3 discount!

MARKETING - LET’S GET ‘DATE’ TO THE TOP OF THE TABLE ON AMAZON
Amazon rankings are not based on total books sold, they’re correlated on short bursts of sales, and although I have no way of knowing exactly how many copies need to be sold for DATE to go right up towards the top of the rankings, I do know that on days when only 20 copies have been bought, it’s been right up there. It was even No.1 in Relationships on Amazon for a little while.

Of course, the higher the book is ranked, the more copies will sell, which theoretically will keep it right up there, generating more money for CoppaFeel! 

HOW TO GET INVOLVED
1) If you don’t have a Kindle, download the Kindle App to your iPad, iPhone, Android, Blackberry, PC or Mac - download Kindle here

2) Download your copy of DATE - download Date from here (or if you’re not in the UK, here)

3) If you’d like to order a discounted Paperback - fill in the short form here and we will send you a link to order your copy for £5 + P&P.

4) If you’d rather donate to CoppaFeel without buying a copy of DATE, that’s cool too. Donate here

Tomorrow (Thursday 12th January) at The George on the Strand I’m lucky enough to be speaking alongside two inspirational blokes. Host and organiser Chris Martin, who himself has rowed just a couple of oceans, says it’s looking to be a busy evening but if you have a spare hour or two things kick off at 6:30pm - tickets on the door

Meet Alex Flynn
Alex was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease at the age of 36. Since then he has vowed to run Ten Million Metres in order to raise £1 million pounds for the Cure Parkinsons Trust

Meet Shaun Quincey
In 2010 Shaun rowed solo between Australia and New Zealand, a distance of over 2000km through some of the roughest seas on Earth. Why? Well, one of the reasons was that in 1977 Shaun’s Dad, Colin, did exactly the same thing… 

If you’d like to come along to the event full details are available @ http://www.talesofadventure.co.uk

And there’s a Facebook group for the Tales of Adventure, too - check it out

I made myself a promise in 2008 that took less than two years to break. The night I got home from the London launch of my first book I sat on a sofa with a copy of BoardFree on my lap, and quietly told myself that now I had one, I could have more. I decided there and then to try and publish at least one book a year for the remainder of my days.

Of course, now it’s closing in on 2012 and I still haven’t published another one. There are no excuses, I’ve just been lazy. 

But now it’s time for a change. I’ve slotted together most of the other pieces of my unconventional jigsaw and now have a decent idea of what shapes will squeeze into the remaining holes.

A few months after BoardFree came out in March 2008 I embarked on a challenge which I hoped would result in a new book. Finally, it has. Ironically, my self-set book-a-year goal was bang on target as I completed draft one of Manuscript Two by February 2009, but then the very crux of the book’s content matter led me to shelve it indefinitely.

So consumed I was by my ridiculous quest to find someone to love (and perhaps someone to love me back, too) that once I thought I’d found what I was looking for I didn’t feel quite right completing the book. Then, earlier this year, I picked up those dusty sheets of paper and had a read-through, and to my surprise remembered that I’d written a book that didn’t make me vomit in my coffee.

With the supportive and pressing urgency of a friend who loved the book even more than I did, I finished it off during a three-week paragliding trip to Nepal and set about finding a publisher, because that’s what you’re supposed to do when you write a book, right?

I was made a couple of offers, but they didn’t sit right. I believed in the story and for all the opportunity of having a company professionally edit and distribute a book on my behalf, I felt that they didn’t really believe in it as much as I did. My previous publisher gave me massive confidence by simply putting my first book on the market, it was all I’d ever wanted. But then they refused to re-publish in Australia despite speedy sales, and even now they won’t allow me the rights to make BoardFree into an e-book. It’s a horrible feeling when you’ve invested so much in something and it ends up suffocating beyond your control.

This blog was going to be focused on why I’ve decided to self-publish my second book, but Al Humphreys has recently written a similar post far more eloquently than I could manage, so if you’re interested in the now very real competition between self and traditional publishing do go and read Al’s thoughts. 

I want to give the next one some life. Financially I might be taking a risk by turning down offers and going solo, but the freedom to sell and promote and then recreate this hapless tale into new formats (next step is to take it to the stage!) is starting to give me the butterflies that I was searching for when I first embarked on the project four years ago. I’ve sold more copies of BoardFree through my talks than I have through shops, so although it’s a shame that this time around I won’t experience that wonderful rush of blood when seeing my book on the shelves, at least it’ll save my friends some time because I won’t be rushing into to every book shop to see whether they’re stocking me!

So, with 8 days to go before the digital copy launches (and a couple of weeks before paperbacks are available), I’d like to introduce DATE. It’s the tale of a man trying to find a girlfriend by rather foolish means: by attempting to date 100 women in 100 days. I did it so you don’t have to. I mean it, you really shouldn’t try this at home! It was a brilliantly colourful yet utterly confusing three months, and the book will hopefully make you laugh, sob and go ‘ahhhh, he’s a loser!’

Here’s to everyone who has written a book without an advance. We’ve all got a little story in us somewhere, and sometimes it’s good to get it out.

> Visit the DATE website for some samples and a place to register your interest.

> Buy a copy of BoardFree
> Like the DATE Facebook page
> Follow DATE on Twitter