David Simpson's Blog, page 7

New Blog!

It was 8pm last Thursday when I relaunched my catalogue of books as self-published e-books for just 99 cents and it was a great week that surpassed my expectations. Here are some numbers to consider:

I gave 2 paperback copies of Post-Human away on goodreads.com and had 409 requests in the 5 day span, and 250 requests on the final day alone!

My website maxed out on the number of free Kindle Post-Human downloads permitted (200) and I had to find a new service to meet the demand.

Post-Human is now listed as the #1 Favourite Self-Published Science Fiction book on goodreads.com, currently beating out 124 other books.

Post-Human, amazingly, is actually outselling its sequel, Trans-Human on Amazon.com, despite the fact that people can find Post-Human for free on my website, on goodreads.com, and on my blog.

229 people marked Post-Human as "to read" in the last five days on goodreads.com.

All in all, not a bad start. I'm hoping to keep the good times rolling for as long as I can, and this past week, along with Amanda Hocking's story from a week earlier, has inspired me to keep writing as much as I can to meet this new, substantial audience that was apparently out there all along, and that I just needed to abandon my publisher to find.

One of the major things every serious novelist needs is an awesome blog, so here it is! Relaunched as well and ready to go. Please come check it out! There is a lot here and it will be updated often. Thank you to everyone, as usual, for your support, which without, I would be nothing.

Thank you. Nikola Danylov! (Reader appreciation day 9)

Today's thank you goes out to Nikola Danylov. Nikola isn't technically one of my readers, since he only discovered me a few days ago, but as soon as he heard about my decision to put my debut novel online for free and to drastically reduce the price of my other books, he decided that this was the time to help me out. Nikola, A.K.A. Socrates on Singularity 1 on 1, is used to interviewing the big stars of science and technology and had recently been interviewing some of the biggest stars in science fiction. When he saw that I was about to take a big leap and take the destiny of my books in hand, he decided to give me the same treatment as the big stars and interview me in the same platform. The interview was excellent, the page he created was first rate, and Nikola did all of this out of the goodness of his heart. Thank you so much for giving me a hand up, Nikola and exposing me to your blog's viewers.




To Watch my Skype interview with Nikola CLICK HERE

Thank you. Nikola Danylov! (Reader appreciation day 9)

Today's thank you goes out to Nikola Danylov. Nikola isn't technically one of my readers, since he only discovered me a few days ago, but as soon as he heard about my decision to put my debut novel online for free and to drastically reduce the price of my other books, he decided that this was the time to help me out. Nikola, A.K.A. Socrates on Singularity 1 on 1, is used to interviewing the big stars of science and technology and had recently been interviewing some of the biggest stars in science fiction. When he saw that I was about to take a big leap and take the destiny of my books in hand, he decided to give me the same treatment as the big stars and interview me in the same platform. The interview was excellent, the page he created was first rate, and Nikola did all of this out of the goodness of his heart. Thank you so much for giving me a hand up, Nikola and exposing me to your blog's viewers.


To Watch my Skype interview with Nikola CLICK HERE

Thank you. Lori Hettler! (Reader appreciation day 8)

Today's thank you goes out to Lori Hettler! I met Lori almost two years ago when she approached me through goodreads.com and asked if she could review Post-Human (that seems like ancient history now, when bloggers approached writers and asked them about reviews; now it is the other way around!) She wanted to review Post-Human for her blog for The Next Best Book Club, which is a huge club, and her blog seems to have been growing exponentially. The exposure was much appreciated, so when she asked me for a paper copy (she still preferred to read paper editions if possible) I happily obliged. Her review was kind, all went well, but when I approached her just a few days ago about getting Trans-Human or The God Killers reviewed, I got the answer that I was expecting -- Lori was swamped! Book bloggers are now highly, highly in demand because they drive sales. As books go electric, readers are more and more depending on bloggers to review books so that they know, not only what is out there, but what is good. Lori has been huge for independent and small publisher writers and has been in their corner from the very beginning. Who knows how much help she has been to how many writers out there? Too many to count. Despite being too busy to review my latest books, she was still happy to provide me with the spotlight and asked me to write a guest blog where I detailed why I had decided to republish my books on the Kindle at my own price point. Even when she's too busy, she's still able to somehow help. Lori, thank you so much for being there supporting small authors, for reading my book, and for continuing to help me out! You. Rock.

Thank you. Lori Hettler! (Reader appreciation day 8)

Today's thank you goes out to Lori Hettler! I met Lori almost two years ago when she approached me through goodreads.com and asked if she could review Post-Human (that seems like ancient history now, when bloggers approached writers and asked them about reviews; now it is the other way around!) She wanted to review Post-Human for her blog for The Next Best Book Club, which is a huge club, and her blog seems to have been growing exponentially. The exposure was much appreciated, so when she asked me for a paper copy (she still preferred to read paper editions if possible) I happily obliged. Her review was kind, all went well, but when I approached her just a few days ago about getting Trans-Human or The God Killers reviewed, I got the answer that I was expecting -- Lori was swamped! Book bloggers are now highly, highly in demand because they drive sales. As books go electric, readers are more and more depending on bloggers to review books so that they know, not only what is out there, but what is good. Lori has been huge for independent and small publisher writers and has been in their corner from the very beginning. Who knows how much help she has been to how many writers out there? Too many to count. Despite being too busy to review my latest books, she was still happy to provide me with the spotlight and asked me to write a guest blog where I detailed why I had decided to republish my books on the Kindle at my own price point. Even when she's too busy, she's still able to somehow help. Lori, thank you so much for being there supporting small authors, for reading my book, and for continuing to help me out! You. Rock.

Thank you. Aria Cheng! (Reader appreciation day 7)

Today's thank you goes out to Aria Cheng! Aria is a local reader of mine who actually had the pleasure of meeting in person (although it was rushed because she had to rush off to her job at the student union building at UBC). She bought two paperback copies of my books and I delivered them personally this past summer right before I headed down to the beach. Aria also did something really neat, using my books during one of her graphic design classes and designing her own version of the Post-Human cover. It was really neat to see an alternate cover (which I think looks great). Aria, thank you so much for your support, for reading my work, and for being such a great and supportive friend!

Thank you. Aria Cheng! (Reader appreciation day 7)

Today's thank you goes out to Aria Cheng! Aria is a local reader of mine who actually had the pleasure of meeting in person (although it was rushed because she had to rush off to her job at the student union building at UBC). She bought two paperback copies of my books and I delivered them personally this past summer right before I headed down to the beach. Aria also did something really neat, using my books during one of her graphic design classes and designing her own version of the Post-Human cover. It was really neat to see an alternate cover (which I think looks great). Aria, thank you so much for your support, for reading my work, and for being such a great and supportive friend!

Thank you. Unusual Ape! (Reader appreciation day 6)

Today's thank you goes to Unusual Ape, who is unusual indeed, but only in his kindness! For reasons unknown to me, Unusual has always been a wonderful supporter of mine, sending me encouraging comments, and even helping me out when he can. I recorded an interview about a year ago and wanted an MP3 version of it to put on my website, but I couldn't figure out how to get it. I still have no idea how Unusual Ape did it, but after telling him that I was having trouble, minutes later she shot me an MP3 version that he'd made with perfect sound quality. Why would someone be so helpful and encouraging to someone else that they've never even met in real life? You know why? Because he's an unusual ape indeed. Thanks so much for your support, Unusual! I always know that I can count on you as a friend and as a supporter!

Thank you. Unusual Ape! (Reader appreciation day 6)

Today's thank you goes to Unusual Ape, who is unusual indeed, but only in his kindness! For reasons unknown to me, Unusual has always been a wonderful supporter of mine, sending me encouraging comments, and even helping me out when he can. I recorded an interview about a year ago and wanted an MP3 version of it to put on my website, but I couldn't figure out how to get it. I still have no idea how Unusual Ape did it, but after telling him that I was having trouble, minutes later she shot me an MP3 version that he'd made with perfect sound quality. Why would someone be so helpful and encouraging to someone else that they've never even met in real life? You know why? Because he's an unusual ape indeed. Thanks so much for your support, Unusual! I always know that I can count on you as a friend and as a supporter!

$0.99 Kindle ebooks and Post-Human FREE!

Click Here to get your Free  Post-Human ebook.

Happy Thanksgiving, American friends! As some of you who regularly follow my posts know by now, last Saturday night I read an article about author Amanda Hocking on Yahoo that blew my mind and kept me from getting some much needed sleep that night. Amanda couldn't find a publisher, so she decided to put her books up on sale on the Kindle. She moved a couple of hundred books in the first month, but in the second month she moved six thousand, the third ten thousand, and that December she sold 169 000 books!

As you can imagine, I was a little teeny weeny bit envious of her amazing success. So I've decided to use her strategy, which is to forgo a traditional publisher, who sets my Kindle prices way too high, make my own Kindle version (which, by the way, is extremely hard to do and took all week) and price them at the lowest price point possible, which is just 99 cents. (I'll be getting 35 cents per copy, in case you are curious.)

And as an extra bonus to help get this started, I am offering the Post-Human Kindle edition for FREE! I tried to get Amazon to let it be free, but they wouldn't let me because it is a self-published edition, but you can download the Kindle version for free by going to my website, and downloading it there! Don't have a Kindle? Not to worry! If you have an Android or an iPhone, you can get Kindle Apps, likewise if you have a tablet. Don't have those either? Well, you're still not left out in the cold! There is a PDF version you can download and read on your PC or Mac, all on my website.  Post-Humannovel.com


Thank you, thank you, thank you so much for all the people who have purchased editions of my books in the past, who have written kind reviews, told friends, or been supportive to me personally. I feel like a shmuck asking any of you to do anymore for me, but please, if you have some time, tell your friends who you think are looking for something good to read about the writer who's giving away a book he worked really hard on for free, and his other two books for as close to free as he can get!

You are all eternally awesome :)




Here's the link to get to the 99 cent Kindle editions of Trans-Human or The God Killers. :) Thanks again to everyone. :)




Kindle Edition of Trans-Human and The God Killers for $0.99