Anyway, the numbers aren’t all that important in the grand scheme of things. Far more important is the number of terrific books and writers I’ve come across during the course of the last six years or so of Crime Always Pays; the friends I’ve made and the colleagues – reader, bloggers and writers alike – that I’ve met.
It’s been an amazing experience. Crime Always Pays started off because I had a book to promote back in 2007 – THE BIG O, co-published with the tiny but perfectly formed publisher Hag’s Head – and we literally did not have a penny to spend on promotion. The plan was to piggy-back the terrific Irish crime writers who were emerging then – the likes of Tana French, Gene Kerrigan, Declan Hughes and Alex Barclay – all of whom were taking giant strides along a path laid down by John Connolly, Ken Bruen, Julie Parsons, Colin Bateman and Eoin McNamee. As it happened, the blog morphed into something entirely different for me, and has since – a couple of hiccups notwithstanding – developed a life of its own.
Things have gone pretty well for me as a writer over the last six years. I have no idea of whether they’d have gone so well if I hadn’t been blogging, or if they might have gone a little better if I hadn’t had the blog as a distraction. One thing I do know is that I’d be far poorer in terms of people. For a certifiable curmudgeon and pathological loner such as myself, that’s a pretty big thing.
So there you have it. If this is your first time here, or your one thousandth time here, you’re very welcome indeed. A heartfelt thanks to everyone who has made Crime Always Pays what it is simply by making the effort to check in once in a while to see what’s happening in Irish crime writing, and here’s to the next six years.
Finally, for those of you curious as to what the very first post on Crime Always Pays was, clickety-click here …
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