Great news from Waterstone's

Waterstone's is to stock our book! They don't stock books by any old riff raff so we've had to do a lot of work to reach this stage. All three Lancaster stores have ordered copies and will have them in before Christmas. These stores are in King Street, Corn Market and Lancaster University.

Other Waterstone's stores will soon also be asked to stock it. If you've not yet seen a copy of the book please support us by having a look at it in one of their stores. If they don't have a copy in stock they'll find the book on their system and can order you a copy.

We'll keep you updated on stock in other branches.

Another Book Signing Event

Roll up! Roll up! We are pleased to announce another book signing.

On Saturday 12th December the Phil & Steve roadshow makes its way to The Corner Bookshop in Garstang. We'll be there from 11am to sign copies of the book, and at 2pm will be presenting to customers a talk about the funny things we've recently heard people say. Free mince pies and mulled wine, no less, will be served for the 2pm performance, so come early to avoid disappointment. More details of the event are at GarstangBlog.

Garstang is 11 miles from both Lancaster and Preston, so we hope many of you will support us and this excellent book shop by joining us on the 12th. While you're in the town you may as well get the socks for Uncle Brian and the turkey. (No, not socks for the turkey - that would be silly.)

We were due to be back at the Borders store in Cheshire Oaks on Thursday 10th December, but they've told us that all events at all Borders stores are cancelled due to their impending closure.

When we were at Borders in October, Beat About The Bush was the best-selling book of the day, so we're hopeful of great things in Garstang. We hope you can join us.

Stockists of the book

Updated 19/12/09
The book is now available to any high street store. We can't possibly keep track of which stores are stocking the book but these are the ones we know of:

• Burnley - Badger Books, 22 Keirby Walk - 01282 421334 - Website
• Carnforth - Carnforth Bookshop, 38-42 Market Street - 01524 734588 - Website
• Chester (Broughton Park) - WH Smith - 01244 532188 - Website
• Chester - Bluecoat Books, 1 City Walls - 01244 318752 - Website
• Colne - The Bookshop, 22 Church Street - 01282 871440 - Website
• Garstang - The Corner Bookshop, 8 Thomas's Court, Thomas's Weind - 01995 602910
• Great Harwood - Pam's Bookend, 67 Queen Street - 01254 882477
• Lancaster - Waterstone's, Unit 5/6, Corn Market - 01524 842561
• Lancaster - Waterstone's, 2-8 King Street - 01524 61477
• Lancaster - Waterstone's, Alexandra Square, Lancaster University - 01524 32581
• Lancaster - The Bookshop, University of Cumbria - 01524 60125 - Website 10% off everything for students
• Lancaster - Christian Book Centre, 5 Mary Street - 01524 841655 - Website
• Mold - The Bookshop, 33 High Street - 01352 759879 - Website
• Penrith - Bluebell Bookshop, Angel Square - 01768 866660 - Website
• Shotton - Bethany Books, 5 Chester Road West - 01244 813532 - Website

Book Launch & Signing Review

The signing and launch of a new humorous book about everyday language is hailed an unprecedented success by a national chain of book stores.

On Saturday 10th October 2009 Phil Woods of Connah’s Quay and Steve Smith of Lancaster unleashed to the world the power of their take on the English language.

The book launch was held at Borders in Cheshire Oaks from 6.30pm and during the day a very successful signing session was held which far exceeded the expectations of Borders. The day finished with Beat About The Bush being the second best selling product and the best selling book, beaten only by football trading cards.

‘Beat About the Bush: The Funny Side of Language’ looks at all the funny things we say in everyday life without giving them much thought. We all say things like ‘Don’t count your chickens before they hatch’ and ‘It’s a different kettle of fish’ but we rarely count chickens and most people use a kettle for water, not fish! There are plenty of books that look at the origins of such sayings but none quite like this book, as Phil and Steve look at the literal translations, and that alone makes us all think before we speak.

At the launch Phil and Steve talked about the book’s history and gave a short stand up routine talking about funny things we all say. These included a mix of material from the book and some brand new material. They shot down in flames the usefulness of slippers with no backs, and they asked why people reply ‘Ooh anywhere nice?’ when told by a friend that they’ve just been on holiday. Phil and Steve said: “No, we got the ‘Nightmare Holidays in War Zones’ brochure and booked two weeks in Beirut on a building site overlooking a mortuary. It was terrible and we’ve already booked for next year.”

Borders put on a magnificent event and have invited Phil and Steve back to do more signings, as well as promising to tell other branches of the book’s high demand. Phil and Steve would like to thank everyone who attended and hope that everyone enjoys having a laugh at their new book.

‘Beat About the Bush: The Funny Side of Language’ is available at Borders in Cheshire Oaks, as well as online at Amazon, Play, WH Smith, Waterstone’s and many other sites. It is also available at many high street book stores.

TODAY IS LAUNCH DAY

Well, many hello's to you all on this fine Saturday morningtide. It is 7.01am and the larks are singing in celebration of our book launch day, well I think that's what they are singing about!!!

So all are invited to either come and meet us during the day from 11am - 5.30pm when  we will be signing copies of our book and/or at 6.30pm for the official launch. The event is at Borders in Cheshire Oaks, near Ellesmere Port on the Wirral. It just a stones throw from Liverpool, well actually it's not, if you could throw a stone from Liverpool to Cheshire Oaks you would be snapped up by the UK Hammer Association of Throwing (or HAT for short).

We'd love to see you there. Have a happy day and enjoy the larks.

A post about a chat about the book about a bush

We recently had a chat about what's in the book, and even filmed it for your delight. Steve talks funny and Phil gets all befuddled about America, but it's still a handy cut-out-and-keep summary of 'Beat About The Bush: The Funny Side of Language'.

See it on our YouTube site here.

We're rather excited about Saturday's book signing and launch at Borders, Cheshire Oaks. While we're busy signing books our chat will be playing on a TV in the store, and that will be followed by some funny out-takes we put together. We can't promise that Denis Norden or Anne Robinson will be there to talk you through our mistakes... mainly because they won't be.

That's all from 11am, and at 6.30pm we have the official launch of the book. We'll be talking about the background and history of the book, performing a sketch, making one of our infamous recipes, and taking questions from the floor (and from people on it).

We hope you can join us on Saturday for the signing or the launch or both. Please have a look at our YouTube site too, which will continue to grow.

You're Invited to the Book Launch

Our official book launch will take place on 10th October at Borders in Cheshire Oaks, Ellesmere Port, Cheshire. We will be there signing books from 11am and the official launch will begin at 6.30pm with a specially prepared comedy sketch by Phil & Steve.

We would like to invite everyone to the launch and hope that you will accept that invitation. We are sure that you'll have a good time.

Any books bought on the day will be signed by the authors and there will be a short time after the launch for more to be signed.

New Sketches

Fresh from the early success of our book, and to concide with our weekly column for http://www.laughtub.com/, we have filmed a couple of short sketches. You'll see that they are based on the same theme as each other, and on the same theme of the book, which is comedy based on our obvservations of how we all use everyday language.

You'll find them here on our YouTube page: http://www.youtube.com/user/beataboutthebush

The sketches are called Runner 1 and Runner 2. No prizes for guessing why.

Please let us know what you think of them. As we like them anyway, there'll be more!

THE BOOK IS FINALLY HERE

It's been a long time since we have spoken to all our special friends in Internetland, but fear not! Phil & Steve are back to fill your lives with lexographical humour once more.

On the 22nd August we received official notification from the publishers that our book 'Beat About the Bush: The Funny Side of Language' has been officially released. We understand that in a few days we can order books to get our book launches organised. We anticipate that the first book launch will be in 2-3 weeks at Borders in Cheshire Oaks, Ellesmere Port, with a further launch in Lancaster (home of the Steve). We will also be organising some signings in the coming months. We'd love to see you there.

The book is available now from many online shops, including Amazon, WH Smith and Blackwell. It will be in high street shops very soon.

In the book we take a step back from the everyday language we all use and look at what we're really saying... with very funny results. In fact this book will have you laughing your head off... well, maybe not because that would be very painful, but you'll certainly laugh a lot while hoping that your head stays on your neck.

We have further news to excite you on this warm, drizzly, summery winter's day. We are currently working on a new website at http://www.philandsteve.co.uk/ which will be an interactive observational comedy website. A chapter in the book relates to this website, so once you've got yourself a book you can start planning how you can have fun with language. We'll let you know when the website is fully operational.

Phil & Steve talk about the book

Cover Design Update

We have had contact from the artist who is designing our front cover. The first draft has been recieved and we like it, however we are requesting some small changes.

Our cover artist is Jamie Runyan from the Chicago area.

This is a quote from a website description of the artist "Jamie has a Bachelor of Arts degree in English with a Latin minor, giving her a unique understanding of the balance between words and image that is vital to good design." I think this makes her perfect to design the cover for our book based on the humour of everyday English language.

When we have a final design I will upload it to our facebook group and here.

Post created by Phil Woods

A photo and a video

A PHOTO AND A VIDEO BUT WHICH ONE IS WHICH - If you know the answer call us on 0909090909090909 calls cost £350 per minute, all the money goes towards the charity for those poor forcibly retired bank chairmen. If we raise over the £2 million threashold needed to provide a decent standard of life for one banker, for one whole year, we will try to raise another £1 million so we can have a seat in the House of Lords.

Please do not call the number. Any calls to this number may still be charged even though it is a wholly made up number. Calls will be recorded for blue peter staff training purposes. Keep up repayments on your mortgage otherwise your DVD player may be repossessed. You must be over 85 years old and have the signature of your grandmother to verify your identity. Insurance will be invalid if you do not answer all the questions honestly with falsehoods. All our Indian call centres are based in the UK. Calls from mobile networks will be proof that you are considerably more stupid than first anticipated. All complaints will be dealt with within 48 working years. These conditions are available in braille for the deaf and/or sign language for the blind. Written quotations are available in all good bookshops.

LINKS TO OUR OTHER SITES

We have recently set up some groups on social networking sites. We are told that this is the way to maximise the popularity of the book. On these sites you will find previews, videos and also the chance to meet other like minded comedy lovers who have already joined the group.

So here are the links you need (I have used tinyurl to shorten a couple of links);

My Space - http://www.myspace.com/beataboutthebush

Facebook - http://tinyurl.com/beataboutthebush

You Tube - http://tinyurl.com/beatvideo

Enjoy the groups and videos and keep coming back for more.

Post created by Phil Woods

Work on the back cover

The publisher has sent us some searching questions about the book and ourselves, the responses to which will help form the back cover text and a press release. We 've filled this in and sent it off, together with a photo of ourselves for the back cover, as requested by the publisher.

They got back to us a few days later - just a couple of days ago - with their proposed back cover text, which we've approved subject to some minor changes.

Post created by Steve Smith

The First Preview

A preview of the illustrations by Brian Woods for the book. It relates to the following cliche;

I’m over the moon

1. I am absolutely delighted.
2. I am higher than Earth’s only natural satellite.

Post created by Phil Woods

The excitement mounts!

Things are getting exciting now! The publisher has answered a few of our questions about what happens after we sign the contract. We were happy with the answers so we've taken the plunge and signed.

Within a couple of weeks we expect to hear from them after they've checked the text, had some ideas about layout and the cover, and that sort of thing.

A big development on the way to this has been the addition of illustrations to the book. After considering our options, Phil's dad was persuaded to dust off his charcoals and has come up with some cracking drawings. On the off-chance that the book should fall into the hands of someone who doesn't find it funny, the drawings add yet more life to it and should raise a titter from even the staunchest supporter of sombre times.

Post created by Steve Smith

The History

15 Years ago Phil Woods and Steve Smith overheard someone in a shop saying "We're all in the same boat", on looking around the area neither Phil nor Steve could see a sea faring vessel. This was the start of what could be the hit comedy book in 2009. Here are some questions that you may or may not be of dire askment;

What is the book about?

It is a look at the English language and the things we say without much thought. With many cliches and sayings followed by some of the craziest (but very clever) stories you'll ever read, strange recipes, songs and even an agony aunt section. Every section is designed to make you laugh out loud.

Why has it taken 15 years to produce?

It hasn't taken 15 years to produce, it took 3 years to produce and has been sitting around for the last 12 years on Steve and Phil's computers. Recently they sent it to a couple of publishers who both came back with contract offers. This blog will take you for this ride with the authors as the book gets edited, illustrated, published and into the shops. Phil & Steve will regularly update you on what is happening, and i'm sure that thier humour will come out in this process also.

When will it be released?

Later in 2009. We anticipate 3-6 months from now.

Where will it be released?

Officially in the UK and USA, however in this age of the internet I suppose it'll be available just about anywhere.

Have the authors written anything else?

I would have said that at some point in thier lives they have written something else. Only this morning Phil left a note for his wife as he went off to get some milk in. However they do not have any other books published.

Will we get any previews on this blog?

Yes. Steve and Phil will choose parts of each section of the book for you to sample.

How often will the blog be updated?

As often as time permits. Mainly when anything happens or they decide to come on here and talk to you. Naturally.

Post created by Phil Woods