In our latest interview we had a chat with Palace fan and author of The Palace Addiction, James Howland to find out more about the popular book.
Q. What is The Palace Addiction?
The Palace Addiction is my personal story of following the team in the 2009/10 season, which of course saw us enter administration and nearly lose the club that we all love so much. While the stories and experiences are mine, I hope they are ones that football fans can identify with and can provoke the emotions that are usually tapped into on a Saturday afternoon.
Q. How did the book come about?
I had always wanted to write the story as I believed there was enough drama off the pitch, memorable matches on it and amusing tales in the pubs before and after games to make an interesting read. However, as we often are, I was stuck in the busy rat race of life and never really had time to sit down in front of a computer to work on the project until the early part of 2014.
I was saving to go to the World Cup and one Palace-less Saturday, I came across the first two chapters that I had started to write in 2011. With my new found time, and lack of hangovers as I looked to avoid over-spending in pubs at the weekends, I continued to write the tale. It was as much for me to relive the dramatic season than anything else. I never expected it to actually be read by other Palace fans.
When researching the finance brochure that former chairman Simon Jordan put together, I got in touch with a moderator from a popular Palace forum site who expressed a keen interest in the book. I sent him each chapter as I wrote it and he encouraged me to self-publish.
On completing the book in May 2014, I kind of put it to one side again until October by which point I was living in Sydney. I started to review, edit and improve the book and looked for a few Palace fans with proof reading experience to help ensure that there were as few mistakes as possible.
Q. Do you have a background in writing?
No, I was a complete novice at both writing and publishing so I got in touch with Palace fan Mike Pudney, author of the book Just Visiting. He gave me some invaluable advice about how to publish my book.
Q. How did you get the club involved?
I just got in touch with Steve Browett in Ferbuary and asked if he would be interested in writing a foreword for the book. While he was very helpful and keen, he was not able to guarantee reading the book and write a piece for me in time. However, he did put me in touch with Mike Pink, head of retail at Palace, to discuss selling it in the club shop.
Q. The book includes some great comments from former players. How did you go about getting them?
The first was Palace defender Matt Lawrence who I contacted through Twitter who was excellent. After receiving such an enthusiastic response from Matt, I contacted the clubs of a few of the key players from that season. Johnny Ertl was really keen to get involved and wanted to know if there was a book launch that he could attend. Danny Butterfield was incredibly keen too, as was Clint Hill, who sent me his piece on the evening of a Queens Park Rangers defeat this season, perhaps allowing him to reminisce happier times.
Former manager Paul Hart sent me his mobile number to get in touch but then he seemed to stop all contact. It was disappointing but only a week or so later he was appointed manager of Notts County. He did get back in touch despite clearly being very stressed and occupied with his new role. Shaun Derry, while presumably still getting over the disappointment of being sacked, got in touch two days before the release date and was keen to get involved. I had a phone call with him from The Bay of Islands in New Zealand.
The original idea was to put a small comment from each of them at the back of the book but they all sent me so much that it fitted really nicely to be able to drop their insights throughout the book.
I want to make it clear that all I did was send an email to their current clubs. It was the individual players who then got in touch with me and wanted to get involved. The club, and that season in particular, clearly meant an awful lot to those players. This came across as clearly in their words as it did on the pitch five years ago. I know Clint, Danny and Johnny all have copies of the book. Ertl even tweeted a picture of himself reading it.
The Palace Addiction by J. Howland @FootballAddicti with memories of us players from 2009/2010. What a season! #cpfc pic.twitter.com/jj7zXlgGo9
— Johnny Ertl (@JohnnyErtl) May 7, 2015
Q. Did you you expect the level of interest that you have had with the book so far?
Not really, I was not sure how sales would go but to date nearly 500 copies have been sold which I am delighted with. The club shop have sold out but they have ordered more for the new season. Most pleasing of all, I have had lots of lovely messages on Twitter, the BBS, Holmesdale Online and Amazon from Palace fans who have read and enjoyed the book.
The project was never going to make me any money. I put the price as low as possible as I had a preference for sales over profit but hearing people praise it makes me very proud.
Q. What is next for you?
I am currently working on The Palace Addiction 2 which follows the season that has just passed as I supported Palace from a distance – Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Australia and New Zealand, meeting plenty of fellow Eagles along the way.
Q. Finally, and more importantly, where can fans get hold of a copy of The Palace Addiction?
It is available from the club shop once they have stocked up for the new season but you can head to Amazon if you want some summer reading with a Palace theme.
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