Twenty Major: smoking in Dublin book shops

22-03-2007

by Maxim Kelly

Irish Blog Awards winner Twenty Major landed himself a book deal from publisher Hodder Headline on Thursday.

The foul-mouthed denizen of notorious Dublin smoke easy Ron's Bar managed to somehow blag a two-book deal from the publishing house which normally commissions a wide range of poets, authors, journalists and essayists for its fiction and non-fiction titles.

"This Twenty fellow is not the kind of guy you can control," said Ciara Doorley, editorial manager at Hodder Headline Ireland.

Doorley told ENN that publishers are increasingly keeping an eye on bloggers as a source of writing talent and the Twenty Major blog ticked a lot of boxes for what a publisher looks for.

"It incorporates Twenty's take on modern Ireland. It's popular, it's 'now', it's successful, and scores for longevity and development too," she said.

Twenty has won top prize at the Irish Blog Awards as well as the Most Humorous Blog title twice in a row, and claims around 1,500 unique visitors daily from 60 different countries.

It's expected that Twenty's foray into the world of high literature will expand on the escapades of his pals known and loved (or detested) by his loyal readership: Jimmy the Bollix, Stinking Pete, Ron the Bar Man, Splodge, Lucky Luciano and Dirty Dave.

Hodder Headline said the story will follow the rag tag bunch around the streets of Dublin as they try to find out who killed their friend Jim of Vinyl Records, and in an exclusive interview with ENN, Mr Major said the storyline of book number one -- expected in spring 2008 -- will be based in Dublin and have strong connections with the music scene.

"Regular readers might have an idea of what it'll be," he told ENN. "The deal does mean a lot to me, but there'll be less time for petty crime and pub drinking. The life of a tortured writer is appealing though: sitting up late into the night agonising over a pint of Jameson topped with a Guinness head. Mmmmm..." he told ENN.

Dropping out of character for a moment, the author behind Twenty Major -- who cannot be named for humanitarian reasons -- is a fan of any writing "crude or funny" and cites Douglas Adams of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy fame and Wilt author Tom Sharpe as inspirations. Closer to home, Myles na gCopaleen, pen name of Flann O'Brien, is also a literary hero.

"I'm not going to name names, but there are loads of talented writers out there in the Irish blogging scene. Blogging gives anyone an audience and it's indiscriminate. Unlike newspaper writing, there's no sub-editor who'll cut your 2,000 piece down to 400 words so you can be as brief or wordy as you want -- and it's cheap."

The author, who is by profession a writer, said the exposure created by the inaugural 2006 Irish Blog Awards and this year's event was fantastic.

"For anyone that wants to be a writer, look to blogging. It opens up the publishing world to everyone and allows you to build up a published portfolio whether you want to be an author or journalist. I'm very happy to get this deal," he said.