I've been finding it terribly difficult obeying the embargo on one particular press release this week, but I'm finally allowed to tell you that Pan Macmillan is publishing Cristiano Ronaldo's first and only official book, MOMENTS. Pan will be publishing partner to Pedro Paradela de Abreu of Ideias & Rumos, who launched the book in Portugal last Saturday.

MOMENTS is one of those books that everyone in the business feels a bit of a thrill about publishing; even those with little interest in 'the beautiful game' can see that such a unique insight into the world of football’s biggest star has got to be a hit. Pan's non-fiction publisher Richard Milner tells me that in the book, Ronaldo shares thoughts on some of his best moments on and off the pitch. It's a sumptuous book too, with over 150 photographs to accompany the text.

I'm told by trusted sources that he's also thought to be extremely gorgeous, so here's a picture of him sharing a joke with the Portuguese coach, Luiz Felipe Scolari, at the Lisbon press launch.

Meanwhile, in other excitement, the Pan Bookshop  is planning a big ‘summer extravaganza’  on Friday 20th July. They sent me this report about their plans:

For those of you who for some reason haven't picked up on this yet, this is the day of the midnight Harry Potter launch. There will be more written about books and bookshops than any other day this year and the bookshop has sensibly thought to take advantage of the acres of print to promote other aspects of bookselling.

In the morning there will be various entertainments for the under fives; at tea time we have two top-notch authors for older children and in the evening the adults will take over. The centre piece of this part of the day will be a history event to celebrate what a great year it has been for history books. Also featuring will be  the ever wonderful and wise Isabel Losada plus advice on getting your novel published from the very experienced Michael Cady. A blues band will play until the shop closes at 10pm, only to reopen at midnight for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows to go on sale.

I'm pleased to say that the book will be sold at full cover price; independent booksellers like the Pan Bookshop may not be able to compete on price but they can certainly compete on the individuality and creativity of their promotions, and those in the queue for their copy of this much-awaited book will be entertained royally by the sounds of it. We hope to see you there.