Our deal with HarperCollins

I said on here the other day that I had some exciting news to share. We weren't allowed to say anything until today but its now official: Louise and I have signed a four-book deal with HarperCollins. They are going to publish Catch Your Death first, in early 2012, followed by a sequel to Catch Your Death, then Killing Cupid and a fourth thriller. Catch Your Death and Killing Cupid are going to remain on sale as eBooks but be re-published by HarperCollins. The exact details have not been finalised but I'm pretty sure this is the first time this has happened.

Louise and I are so happy - we've worked for a long, long time to get here. I actually started writing in 1993 and submitted my first novel back then. I got an agent in 1998 but she never managed to get me a deal. I kept trying for years before finally giving up a few years ago..until the Kindle platform came along. When we put Killing Cupid live in February we had no idea anything like this would happen. It's been like a dream.

I'm going to put up a full blog post tomorrow that tells the full story and the how and why of it all, but in the meantime here is the press release. The moral of the story: Never give up on your dreams.

HarperFiction have moved quickly to snap up internet sensations, Louise Voss and Mark Edwards, whose two self-published novels have stormed both the Amazon Kindle and the Amazon Books chart. Catch Your Death, their second novel, has remained at the top of the Kindle chart for weeks and sold 42,000 copies in the month of June, while Killing Cupid, their debut, remains in the Top 10. The authors have sparked huge interest, appearing on BBC Breakfast, Sky News, Radio 2 and Radio 5, along with numerous newspapers and sites including BBC News, The Guardian and The Telegraph.

Kate Bradley secured World Rights for four books with a six-figure pre-empt from the agent Sam Copeland at Rogers, Coleridge and White.

Bradley said 'When Killing Cupid and Catch Your Death were submitted, I ripped through them in just a few hours and it was clear that we had found something very, very special. Louise and Mark have done a fantastic job of publishing their own books in the digital space and I'm thrilled that we are going to take them to the next level, both in terms of their ebook profile and in the physical market. They are writing clever, fast-paced, psychological thrillers that are highly addictive and we can't wait to get these out into the wider world.'

The first book Catch Your Death will be published as a physical edition in early Spring 2012, while the ebook editions will continue to sell online.