First World Cup 2010 e-book released

A soccer fan who spent a year reporting on the World Cup has released his story as an e-book. End Quote

(1888PressRelease) July 18, 2010 - A unique insight into how an England football fan spent a year reporting on the World Cup has just been released as an e-book.

Written by Mike Towers, "How I Wasted A Year Writing A World Cup Blog" tells the story of how a blog went from a hobby to an all-consuming passion by the time the World Cup arrived.

"Of course the provisional title was little more upbeat," said Mike, "and then Germany battered England, so it had to be changed."

Spanning twelve months and 270 pages, the book explains how and why Mike set up the World Cup Bafana Bafana 2010 blog before moving on to a month-by-month breakdown of the build up to the 2010 World Cup and the tournament itself.

The original idea was to provide a news service for football fans in the run up to what is still the most exciting sporting event on the planet. As Mike explains, things didn't quite go to plan.

The reason why is very simple. Although he's a self-proclaimed footy anorak, "wherever I looked there were more interesting things to comment on than who scored what goal and when."

So while the blog's first six months (July - December 2009) included lots of analysis on the qualifiers and the draw for the finals, Mike also found time to announce the Rik Mayall World Cup song to the world and invent quotes from Diego Maradona.

He also poured scorn on the idea that watching football in 3D is somehow cool, and established The Liam Brady School of Interminable Moaning.

From January 2010 the pace quickened; the terrible attack on the Togo team was followed by the John Terry affair, the launch of a chocolate bar which upset the Scots, Mike's Best World Cup Player of the Decade series, and far too many ill-judged promotional campaigns linking brands with the World Cup.

May saw Mike's plans for the blog fall into place as interest in the site grew and teams took part in final warm up games prior to the tournament.

He still found time to write a history of English football under Conservative Governments, presented a vision of the World Cup as imagined by deranged lunatics, and renewed his rivalry with a sports writer on California's Long Beach Post.

Then came the crushing disappointment of England's campaign, which Mike was none too pleased about.

"Apart from the shock of such a poor performance against Germany, most of my audience just melted away once England went out. I went from 500 visitors a day to below 100. And I had to rethink the provisional title of 'England 2010: we stuck it to the Germans!', because, as we now know, they battered us."
Undaunted, Mike ploughed on until the bitter end to see Spain scoop the big prize, picking up a bronze medal from an American sports website along the way for his satirical sideswipes at Paul the Octopus.

And that's pretty much how the book goes: serious and humorous blog posts accompanied by a commentary supplied as Mike wrote each post, analysis and stats about the blog's evolution (Mike didn't know anything about blogging before he started), and lots of social media stuff, including his Twitter feed.

Like a normal book, readers can use the contents page at the start to follow Mike's "Wasted Year" in chronological order. The only difference is the book is in PDF format which you download from the Internet and read on your computer. So by way of example, anyone looking at the contents for December 2009 will see a list of posts. You then go to the start of the chapter, find the post you are looking for, and begin reading.

So while "How I Wasted A Year Writing A World Cup Blog" didn't have a happy ending for England fans, Mike is determined to keep the memory of the last twelve months alive.

"The experience was great fun and is definitely something I will do again. England for Euro 2012!"

"How I Wasted A Year Writing A World Cup Blog" is available for £4.95 from http://www.authorsonline.co.uk/book/937/How_I_Wasted_A_Year_Writing_A_World_Cup_Blog/

Mike Towers is available for interviews. Please e-mail mike ( @ ) worldcupbafanabafana2010 dot info or call 07799263839.

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