Rob Blackwell's Blog, page 8

A chance to get 8 books for zero dinero—including mine.

The following is in reference to The Masquerade Crew:

Their adventure started a little more than six months ago. Since they posted their first author-requested review on October 1st, they're going to officially celebrate their six month blogaversary between now and April 1st, which is the first day of the A to Z challenge. They encourage you to come back for that because for 26 days in April they're going to post writing tips from some of their followers.

In the meantime, they're kicking off this party with a mega giveaway. Roughly half of the authors of their 5 star reviews have agreed to give away copies of their books. This is your chance to win up to 8 free books. Click on the book covers to go to their review.









A Soul to Steal
by Rob Blackwell









Force of Habit
by Marian Allen









The Punished
by Peter Meredith









CurbCheK
by Zach Fortier









H10N1
by M. R. Cornelius









Spirits Rising
by Krista D. Ball









Everything I Tell You Is A Lie
by Fingers Murphy









Blood Passage
by Michael J. McCann


Enter Below for your Chance to Wina Rafflecopter giveaway<a href="http://rafl.es/enable-js"&am... need javascript enabled to see this giveaway</a>.

How KDP Select Made Me a Bestselling Author

It's no secret I'm a big fan of KDP Select. The first time Idid a free promotional day, I was blown away at how many downloads the bookreceived.  I was also pleased with theresulting sales a week later.
But that was nothing comparedwith my second experiment with free promotional days. Instead of building thesuspense, let's go straight to the numbers—and then I'll explain why I had somany more sales the second time versus the first. Below is a chart of paid booksales for the first seven days after my free promotional event.
As you can see, the free promotion in February vastlyoutpaced the one in January. In January, I sold 73 books in a single day, atthe time a record for A Soul to Steal.In February, I sold 351 books in a single day. I had two other days where salestopped 220. All told, I sold 246 books in the seven days after the freepromotion in January—a number I was very pleased with at the time. In contrast,I sold 1,250 in the week after the February promotion. (Side point: I priced the book at 99 cents for two days following the January promotion, but I did not lower the price in February, leaving it at its regular $2.99.)
So, what changed? Why was it so much more successful thesecond time than the first? While I can't say anything with certainty, I have afew educated guesses as to what happened.
1)                 The book gota new, more professional coverOf all the factors, I believe this is the most significant.I liked my old cover, which you can still see here, but it screamed self-published. Accordingly, while folks had no hesitation indownloading it for free in January, they didn't rush to buy it afterwards.Sure, it got a boost, but not nearly what it would have likely received had Ichanged my cover earlier. Please take note of this, indie authors. If salesaren't where you would like them to be, your first thought should be to look atyour cover. If it doesn't look like a Big Six cover, it's time to get a newone.
2)                 I ran thepromotion for two days instead of oneFollowing the advice of several other authors, I ran mypromotion across two days (a Tuesday and Wednesday), rather than just one. I'ma little unclear on exactly how much this helped, mostly because more than10,000 people downloaded the book on the first day and "only" 5,000 downloadedit the next day. Still, given how much weight Amazon's algorithms put onpopularity, the combined downloads were enough to keep A Soul to Steal front and center in the Kindle store over theweekend. Had I just done a single day, I'm not sure that would have happened.
3)                 I engaged inmarket layeringIn January, I stopped all advertising prior to the freepromotion. I had been using Facebook ads successfully, but was hoping the KDPSelect experience would free me from being dependent on them. In February, Iwanted to follow Jeff Bennington's advice and "layer" marketing following myfree day promotions. (If you want more details on this strategy, check outJeff's excellent how-to guide "The Indie Author's Guide to the Universe" here).As a result, I turned on the Facebook ads again in a big way, spending $50 aday and using my two most successful ads that I had. I also used World LiteraryCafé's Social Media Mania to promote the book. It's difficult to know how much impact this hadindividually, but it's not a coincidence that the same day the promotion ranwas also its most successful. A free excerpt received more than 2,000 hits onthat day. Was it worth the $40? Easily.  Overall,Jeff is right. If you want to ensure your book's success after using a freepromotional day, your best chance is to layer on marketing as heavily aspossible.
4)                 I changed mygenre and hit several bestseller lists If you look at the January numbers, you can see the boost insales fell off rather quickly. After Day Five, they largely fell back into"normal" range. But after getting such large numbers in the initial days afterthe February promotion, my sales continued to be far stronger than normal for amuch longer period. Even now, sales are decidedly better than prior to the freedays. Why? Well, for starters, the novel hit #1 on Amazon's Ghost bestsellerlist, and #4 on all of Horror.        Over that critical weekend, it also charted highon the Suspense, Thriller and even the very competitive Mystery and Thrillerbestseller lists. This actually brings me to another point. In January, my bookwas slotted under Ghost-Horror and Occult-Horror. But in looking at the Kindlestore, I felt like I was narrowly limiting the novel's exposure. Yes, the novelqualified under Occult, but I was essentially doubling down on Horror. Honestly,I've never been entirely comfortable slotting A Soul to Steal there anyway. It's a mixture of several genres,including mystery and thriller. Looking at similar novels by Blake Crouch andJoe Konrath, I decided to switch genres, abandoning Occult and moving toSuspense. This can be risky, and you must make sure you aren't changing genresarbitrarily, but the novel truly fits under Suspense. As a result, I likelyreceived more downloads on the free days from people looking for thrillers, andnot necessarily horror books. And I definitely received more exposure byappearing on those bestseller lists. Once I was part of those lists, the bookcontinued to receive higher than normal sales even after the initial boost fromKDP Select was gone.
Nothing, of course, lasts forever. Although these numbersare very exciting and I continue to have higher-than-average sales, if you lookat the bestseller lists, A Soul to Stealhas largely tapered off. I also have no idea if this kind of success is repeatable.It's possible that every free day brings less of a bump because so many peoplehave already downloaded the book. I may look back at this as the novel's high point.
But all in all, this experiment has been a gigantic success.I've had more positive reviews in the past week since the promotion than at anytime since its initial publication. I'm receiving regular Facebook postscomplimenting the novel. Beyond sales alone, the novel has clearly attractedmore readers—many of whom are excited about a forthcoming sequel.
I can't guarantee others will have the same experience. J.D.Currie has a nice round-up here of what others have reported,and it's clear there is variance. But I will say this: Unless you are sellinggreat numbers on Nook, iBook or Smashwords, there is no good reason not to trythis route. It might not pan out, but if it does, you could find your novel issuddenly a bestseller.

What I've Learned After Six Months As a Published Author

This week marks a big moment for me: the six-monthanniversary of publishing my first novel, "A Soul to Steal."
I honestly had no idea what I was getting into.
It was, in retrospect, a last-minute decision. Themanuscript for the book had been sitting on a shelf for a few months after anagent told me the novel was excellent, but was going to have trouble finding amarket in the current environment.
After that experience, I had no idea what to do. Like a lotof others, I saw a New York Times story about Amanda Hocking's success and thought, "What the hell?" I had alwaysbeen convinced self-publishing was an act of desperation, the kind of thingthat would make you untouchable as a potential "real" novelist. But the world waschanging, and Amazon's platform seemed like a great way to get the book outthere without someone charging me thousands of dollars.
I did some prep work, making sure the book was clear oftypos (the novel had long been edited and proofed before I sent it to theagent, so this was a final check), asked a friend of a friend to make me acover and created a Facebook page.
That was about it. I had no blog, barely any Twitterpresence and no friggin clue how I was going to sell any books. I wasn't naïve—Iknew this was going to be tough—but I figured I could learn everything I neededto know on the fly.
What have I learned since that day? Here are a fewhighlights:
1)      Peopleare awesomeI had a lot of fears about puttingthe book out, the strongest of which was what you would expect: I worriedpeople would hate the novel. It didn't fit neatly in any genre, combiningelements of mystery, suspense, the paranormal and even urban fantasy (a genre Ididn't even know existed.) Would people get it? Was it any good? The response,I'm happy to say, has been overwhelmingly positive. Book bloggers were verypositive, readers have been kind and, in general, I've received a lot of nicecompliments on the book from people I've never met. They have also beenremarkably supportive, urging me to keep writing, offering comments on theblog, and filing reviews on the novel. My book now has an actual audience, andits fans are growing.
2)      Mynovel is not a Halloween bookSince my novel climaxes onHalloween night—and centers around the origins of the holiday itself—I wantedto publish it well before All Hallow's Eve. In theory, I thought I would sell alot of books in the lead-up to the holiday, and then watch my sales disappearright afterward. I was so convinced of this that I consoled myself on Halloweennight that I had a great run and would do even better next year. But do youknow what happened? Sales actually increased after Halloween. November wasbetter than October, and January ended up being better than November and Decembercombined. February, which started as my slowest month, was a new monthly salesrecord. My point? People want to read scary books regardless of the time ofyear.
3)      Thisis like a second jobI look back at the me from sixmonths ago and wonder – if I had known what I was getting into, would I have stilldone it? When I published, I thought I could query a few book bloggers, sitback and wait for sales to roll in. I didn't understand the time and energy Iwould invest in getting the book launched—and then maintaining it. I ended upquerying hundreds of bloggers, 30 of which agreed to review the book (and onlyhalf of which ever did). I spent hours perfecting Facebook ads and thenreaching out to various Facebook sites for books. I started a blog, joined Triberrand then KDP Select. I've read dozens, if not hundreds, of blog posts fromothers on how to maximize sales. I've also been working on a sequel every day.In short, novel writing has become another full-time job. So would I do it allover again? Yes, in a heartbeat. In the past six months, I've become a bonafidebestselling horror and suspense novelist. Just to watch my book ranked on theHorror bestseller list near Stephen King's excellent 11/22/63 was the thrill ofa lifetime. It didn't stay there forever, but it doesn't matter. I got a tasteof what success can feel like. And it felt pretty damn good.
I don't know what's in store forthe indie author community, the book industry or, for that matter, me. Butlooking at how many indie authors are on the Kindle bestseller lists, I can saythis: if you work hard at this game and produce quality novels witheye-catching covers, the future looks pretty damn bright. 

Top Five Reasons to Purchase A Soul To Steal

A Soul to Steal iscurrently burning up the charts, thanks in part to a free give away I heldearlier this week. If you downloaded it for free already, fantastic! I hopeyou'll take the time to read it and enjoy it. If you do, please leave a review on Amazon. If you didn't catch the free day, don't worry. The novel is only$2.99—well worth the price of admission. How can I say that? Why do I think youwould like the book? Let me count the ways.
5. You won't guess the killerI never set out to write a mystery, instead thinking I waswriting a thriller. But a key question overhangs the book: who is LordHalloween, the elusive serial killer who targets Leesburg, Virginia?When I wrote the novel, I worried everyone would figure it out. But I've beentold by virtually every person who read the book that they had no idea who itwas. Yet I didn't pull a cop-out, either. The novel does not end with mesuddenly introducing a random new character who turns out to be the killer.Think of this as a challenge: if you figure out who did it, you will be in thetop echelon of elite readers.
4. Instant indie credIf I become a mega best-selling novelist one day, you cantell all your friends you read my book before I made it big. "I discovered himfirst," you'll say. Then you'll go on to detail all the ways in which I'm nolonger as good as I once was and I've become too commercial. "He sold out,"you'll say, with your friends nodding sagely. "It used to be about the stories.Now it's just about the money, you know?"
3. It's surprisingly funnyI am not a terribly serious person. So despite the fact thatthe novel involves a serial killer, the Headless Horseman, an ancient Celticmyth and a bunch of innocent people dying, it also has a fair amount of humor.One consistent feedback I've received is that my characters are well-developedand likeable. For example, Janus, who provides much of the comic relief, hasproven to be one of the most popular characters in the book.
2. It's scary, but not goryThe novel is a mix of mystery, suspense and the paranormal,and technically falls under the Horror category on Amazon. If you like thrillsand chills, the novel has plenty. But it's not a gory book. If you are scaredof words like entrails, spewing and mangled, you're in luck! None of thosewords appear in the novel (although they do appear in this blog post, for whichI now must apologize). I don't like gore. It's not that it bothers me, I justdon't find it interesting and it can ruin a perfectly good scary scene.Accordingly, you won't find gore in ASoul to Steal.
1. The ending is "amazing."I could tell you a lot of thingshere, including that the book is an addictive page-turner or the first in a trilogythat promises to get even better as it goes on. But probably the novel's bestselling point is its ending. When I started writing A Soul to Steal, the ending is what I had in mind. Everythingbuilds to that point. Yes, it's part of a trilogy, but this is a complete book.I'm not trying to hold back for the sequel. This novel is carefully structuredto lead to a satisfying conclusion—one you won't see coming. But don't take myword for it, read the reviews.Vanessa the Jeep Diva wrote: "Wheneverything came together and all the pieces finally fell into place I wascompletely shocked. The ending was fantastic."
So what are you waiting for? A Soul to Steal is a top-ratedmystery/thriller with a supernatural twist. Buy it now and see what all thefuss is about.http://www.amazon.com/A-Soul-To-Steal-ebook/dp/B005JVEXX0/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1330125591&sr=8-2

Top-Rated Supernatural Thriller A Soul to Steal is FREE Today (Feb. 21) and Tomorrow (Feb.22)

So in a fit of insanity, A Soul to Steal is currently free in the Kindle store. Curious about the book? There's no better time than now to check it out. It has a 4.9 rating with 40 reviews and has been praised by critics and readers for its mix of mystery, suspense and the paranormal. There's also a little humor and romance in there as well. The novel will be free today (Feb. 21) and tomorrow (Feb. 22) and after that, it's back to $2.99.

Here's the link to download it here: http://www.amazon.com/A-Soul-To-Steal-ebook/dp/B005JVEXX0/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1329838118&sr=1-1

I meant to post this in the morning before any results had trickled in but I was off to a later start than normal. As of 10:30 a.m., it is rapidly approaching 1100 downloads already! My last free day, in mid-January, netted 6486 downloads by the day's end. I'll be interested to see where this ends up.

Like I did last time, I'm planning to follow up with sales numbers, just to let everyone know whether offering your book for free really has a big impact.

Attention Buffy Fans: The Master Says You Should Read A Soul to Steal

I don't normally go in forcelebrity endorsements, but I'm thrilled to announce that Mark Metcalf, theactor who played "The Master" in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, has read and enjoyed"A Soul to Steal." He graciously provided me with thefollowing quote, which refers both to "A Soul to Steal" itself and the largertrilogy it is part of: The SanheimChronicles:"I am happy to cheer Mr. Blackwellon as he draws us into his supernatural thriller The Sanheim Chronicles." – Mark Metcalf, The Master, Buffy the VampireSlayer.As Buffy is one of my all-timefavorite TV shows, and The Master is one of my favorite villains, I couldn't be happier.  Why do I love The Master? Because he's the only villain to kill Buffy twice! Because this is such a kickfor me, I've decided to link to the scene in which she kills him. It's not great quality, but it'll do. 

 Ishould also note that Mr. Metcalf famously appeared as "The Maestro" onSeinfeld and Neidermeyer in Animal House.Hope you enjoy this clip from Animal House!

Judging a Book By Its Cover

When I first published "A Soul toSteal" back on Aug. 29, it's an understatement to say I was flying blind.The amount of research I had donewas negligible, I didn't have a blog, I barely had a Twitter presence and myknowledge of book blogs was practically nonexistent. Rather than taking thetime to learn all of that, I did what I usually do when undertaking a newactivity—I jumped in feet first. It was either sink or swim. For the most part, this was a gooddecision. I feel like by instinct or dumb luck (probably the latter), I made alot of right calls. The best was that "A Soul to Steal" was in good shape whenI published it. I had revised it several times, had it edited and had soughtand incorporated professional feedback on it. It was ready for prime time. What I didn't think through was thecover. At the recommendation of a friend, I contacted a very talented artistwho agreed—at no charge—to mock up a cover for me. He had several intriguingdesigns and I had my own ideas and ultimately we settled on the one you see tothe left—the Headless Horseman racing down a path at midnight.It was a good cover, evokingmystery and suspense, and I was quite happy with it. Several of my friends likedit too, noting that it had an old-timey, grainy feel that made it unique.But that uniqueness came at aprice. Although I like the cover andbelieve the artist did a terrific job, the flaw in it was that it didn't looklike the kind of cover you would see on a Big Six title. It was proudly,defiantly indie and while I liked that idea, I didn't realize its significance.There were other issues which can be laid at my doorstep: the overall look wastoo dark and it was difficult to see when reduced to a very small size—which itwas, all the time, on Amazon. Also a problem: the image wasn't good enoughresolution to put on the print version of my book. In December, my sister-in-lawhelped me design a cover for the print version, this one going away from theHeadless Horseman. Instead, it was a photo of Virginia woods. Again, I liked the evocativefeel and the hint of mystery it provided.But by then I was deeply troubled.I didn't like having two different covers—one for print and one for ebook—andneither seemed the kind of cover art that was going to get an immediate,gripping reaction. About two weeks ago, I decidedenough was enough. As I mentioned, I jumped in with both feet when I publishedmy book, concerned about spending any money on the book and watching it drag medown financially. By now, however, it was clear I needed to hire an artist whowould give me a cover for both versions of the book—and one that looked exactlylike the kind of cover you would see in a book store. Enter Travis Pennington of Pro Bookcovers. Travis, a writer himself, came up with the design and then patientlymade various tweaks and revisions to it. In the end, I think he got it justright. The new cover is bold, brash anddemands attention. It has the Headless Horseman on it, but it's not trying torecreate the look of "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" (which is good, because thebook doesn't either.) I hope it will win the novel some more attention. Most importantly, it also lookslike a "real" cover. The original one might have screamed indie, but that's adangerous position. When people buy a book, they usually aren't looking forsomething hip or different—they are looking for something that grabs them anddoesn't let go.With this new cover, I think "ASoul to Steal" does just that.

"The Only Way to Lose is To Give Up": An Interview of Rob Blackwell by Paranormal Reads

I was fortunate enough to have Paranormal Reads  feature "A Soul to Steal" for an entire day on Feb. 1. If you don't know the site, they are very supportive of indie books and are well worth checking out.

One of the administrators, Tif Borka, interviewed me about the book and gave me permission to re-post it here:


PR: Whatmakes A Soul to Steal so unique?
Rob: It's a lot of different genres rolled into one. It startsout a mystery, becomes a thriller and includes elements of urban fantasy,gothic novels, journalism procedurals and even paranormal romance. It's funnyto me when people say that this book isn't their normal genre but they enjoyedit anyway – because I'm not even sure what genre the book is. I really thinkthere is something there for everyone. A lot of people try to figure out whothe killer is, while others focus on the love story between Kate and Quinn, mytwo protagonists. Others are more interested in the Celtic myth that ties thesetwo plotlines together. It works for different people for different reasons. Plus it has the Headless Horseman in it but doesn't repeator retread "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," which I think people really enjoy.
PR: Didyou wake up one day with the idea for your book or did it build in your headtill you wrote it down?
Every story I've ever had just builds in my head. Sometimesit's the beginning of a story, but more often it's the end. In the case of "ASoul to Steal," I had an image of what became the final two chapters. The trickwas figuring out how we arrived at that point and what happened to make itpossible. That process built over months in my head. Honestly, and you can check with my wife on this, I walkthrough a lot of my life inside my head. There are always stories playingthemselves in my head and I'm always adding to and revising them. "A Soul toSteal" was just the first one I committed to paper.
PR: If youcould sum up A Soul to Steal in three words what would it be?
You Are What You Fear
Okay, that was five words. Boiling it down further istricky but I'd go with this: Fear Defines You. Or maybe it should be: FearDefines You?
PR: Canyou tell us a bit about where you call home?
I grew up in Great Falls, Virginia, which is a suburb of Washington, D.C.When I was a kid, there wasn't much development out that way, so you had thesewonderful old, spooky forests that my friends and I used to play in. It'spretty easy to see why I developed an unhealthy obsession with the HeadlessHorseman because I always imagined him suddenly coming around the corner. I still live nearby, but unfortunately the area is a lotmore developed now. I have some wonderful biking trails near my house, but it'snot quite the same. Part of the reason I set the book in Loudoun County,which is still near D.C. but further west, is because it has some of the samelandscape. Leesburg has recently expanded, but towns like Waterford and Aldie still resemble theirpre-Civil War days, complete with thick forests, rolling hills, etc.
PR: What'sbeen your most memorable moment so far in your writing career?
The most memorable moment was just two weeks ago. I madethe book free for a single day and it just took off! The highest number ofbooks I had ever been able to sell in a single day was 34. When I made the bookfree, I started watching it jump by 20 and 30 books at a time. Later that day,it started going up by 100 or 200 every five minutes. It was an amazing feelingto know that my book was being downloaded by so many people in a single day—iteventually was downloaded by about 6,500 people. I don't know how many willactually read it, but even if 10% did, that's a lot of people that now have mybook. I was over the moon.
PR: Howlong did it take for you to come up with your character names? Did you ever goback and change them or just stick with them?
I'm absolutely terrible with character names! Other thanQuinn, the main character, every single name in "A Soul to Steal" was changed,sometimes several times. It actually got pretty confusing for me at somepoints. Honestly, picking names is my least favorite part of writing.Frequently, I lift the names of friends or people I know. I don't usually taketheir whole name, just their last name. This isn't always a compliment as insome cases the character might turn out to be a jerk, or worse, die. I have toexplain, "I don't really want to kill you, you just have a cool name."Hopefully they believe me.
PR: Whatwas your writing process for A Soul to Steal?
Almost the entire first draft of "A Soul to Steal" waswritten on an old Handspring PDA (like the original Palm Pilot). I had a25-minute subway ride into D.C. at the time and would pull out the Palm Pilotand a folding keyboard, hook them up and get to work. This was great forproducing copy quickly, but it didn't give me a lot of time to plan or thinkahead. As a result, the first draft was a mess. I put it away for two or threeyears before I even looked at it again.When I returned to it, I really rebuilt it from the groundup. I took a lot more time, but I focused on removing anything extraneous andensuring the narrative really made sense. It was a chapter-by-chapter affair.Interestingly, this has been my approach to writing the sequel, which I'm doingnow. I focus on writing each chapter the way I want it, and then moving on.It's tough because you can't linger too long—you have to get the story out oryou'll get distracted and forget what you need to be doing—but you also can'tjust write without purpose. You get a lot of extraneous copy by doing that.
PR: Do youhave a favorite place to write?
I have an office in my house where I can look out at thewoods behind me. It's not a very big room, but it's very homey. Truthfully,though, I will write anywhere and sometimes be surprised how I can shuteverything out. The other day I pulled out my laptop on a plane flight,assuming I really wouldn't be able to get in the groove of writing. I waswrong. I banged out a chapter in less than an hour—which is not easy for me todo—and really felt like I was hitting all the right notes. Sometimes I can sitalone in my house for that amount of time and not be able to write a thing. I'mnot sure why sometimes it comes easily and other times it doesn't.
PR:  Who isyour biggest supporter with your writing?
My wife, Maia. She didn't see "A Soul to Steal" for years.I had kept talking about writing a novel and then when I finally did, I lockedit away because I knew it wasn't any good. I didn't want her to read it thatway. Once I revised it (rewrote it, really), I finally showed it to her and Iwas so nervous. If she hadn't liked it, the novel would have gone back in thedrawer, likely forever. Worse, I would know if she didn't like it. We've beentogether since we were around 19, so we really don't have secrets. Fortunately,she really enjoyed it. She laughed at the right parts, and didn't want to putit down at the right parts. Just knowing that she loved and believed in thebook was a huge relief for me. But it didn't stop there. She made the novel significantlybetter. Maia is a very talented writer and editor in her own right and she wentthrough the book page-by-page improving copy, suggesting changes, askingquestions, etc. I didn't make every change she suggested, but it was anincredibly helpful process that improved the characters and descriptions andclosed holes in the plot.Since then, every time I have doubted if the book is anygood, or whether I should publish it, Maia has been very supportive. Withouther, there is no way I would have made it this far.
PR: Whatis some advice you would pass along to an up and coming writer?
Write what you want to read anddon't give up. Authors have to be careful not to just try and write somethingthey think is popular versus what they really care about. I didn't set out towrite in a particular genre, but I just picked the story in my head that seemedthe most ready to be a novel. It's important someone doesn't think they have towrite dystopian YA novels because that's what's popular. If they like thatgenre, by all means try and write your own. But if you'd rather read somethingelse, go write it. The first reader is you. If it doesn't sound too odd, Iactually like my own book. I've had years to put it away and then re-read itand think, "This is good." That's really important. Secondly, you have to persevere.Very few will be able to write a single novel and watch it become a bestseller.If you are serious about being a writer, you need to get out there and go doit. There's never been a better time. You don't have to apply for an agent orpublisher anymore. All you have to do is write a good book, get itprofessionally edited, hire a great cover artist, and start selling it. If thatfails, write something else. The only way to lose is to give up. 

How to Anger Friends and Alienate People (Redux)

Let's face it: it's hard to promote your own book. When I decided to publish "A Soul to Steal," I knew I'd have to do some marketing, but I really believed that given the right set of circumstances, my book would be discovered on it's own.But that isn't how it works. With the flood of indie books out there, it's hard to get attention for your novel. So what's a budding author to do?Well, you can query book bloggers and start a blog, and maybe buy some advertisements. But that sounds like a lot of work. So I thought about it long and hard—at least two minutes—and came up with a few options that I decided to test out. I'm sure one of these will put me on the road to bestseller any minute.
1)                  Fake my own deathA couple of weeks ago, a Facebook book blogger decided that the best way to get attention for her new page was to pretend she had been in a life-threatening car accident. The details were gruesome: her brother, 5-year old Duncan, was dead, and the blogger herself supposedly slipped into a coma.The stunt resulted in a wave of attention as good, normal people—who had no reason to think the blogger was making this up—offered their heartfelt best wishes, prayers and assistance. Eventually, however, the truth was uncovered. Apparently she had made up the story to a) earn "likes" for her page on Facebook, and b) receive free books from authors looking to promote themselves on her page.Which was totally bizarre. For one, what happened when the truth was uncovered? Virtually everyone who had liked her page immediately "unliked" it and she ended up deleting the page. For another, who sends books to a blogger in a coma?Lesson: Faking my own death would undoubtedly win the book more attention, but it's hard to see much upside beyond that. Since I'm dead, I can't write sequels, promote my novel or, oh yeah, ever see my friends again. Also, it violates one of my basic codes of conduct: Don't be an asshole.
2)                  Steal From Other BooksQuentin Rowan caused quite a stir when it was revealed that his much praised debut novel, "Assassin of Secrets," was mostly plagiarized. And when I say mostly, I mean all of it except the words "the," "but" and "bootylicious."Seriously, Rowan—whose own nom de plume, Q.R. Markham, was also stolen—is like the Olympic gold medal winner for lifting from other books. He stole virtually every line from somewhere: old James Bond novels, assorted spy thrillers, Ladies Home Journal, etc. When the truth came out, Rowan didn't even have the good sense to slink away in shame. No, this guy actually published an article in The Fix, a magazine about addiction, claiming that plagiarism was like an addiction. He was young, under pressure and when he scored a valuable book contract, felt strangely compelled to steal from other, better writers rather than making up his own book. His "confession" is hilarious in its absolute narcissism. He admits he was a liar and a thief, but wants us to give him credit that he fessed up so readily after he was caught. Also, his parents cried when they found out and his "beautiful" girlfriend left him—and now don't we feel bad for saying all this mean stuff about him? No, I don't feel bad, Quentin—if that is even your real name. The only thing I want to know is where you stole your "confession" from. Lesson: Stealing from other books a) will be discovered and b) is not a form of flattery. Sure, Rowan's book sold really well in the aftermath of the accusations—even as his publisher tried to yank it from shelves—but it's hard to build much success off that.
3) Marry a Kardashian
Seriously, I don't know who this isSeriously, I think this is my best bet. Apparently, marrying a celebrity instantly makes you a celebrity too. So all I need to do is find a Kardashian and marry one—I don't even need to stay married to her for very long—and boom: I'm famous and the book is a hit.There's just one problem: I have no idea who the Kardashians are. I'm being totally serious. The funny thing about pop culture is that I usually absorb it unconsciously even when I don't care about it. I can tell you about the recent plot twists on "Two and a Half Men," and I've never once watched the show. I don't know how I know this: it's the most useless psychic power there is.But with the Kardashians, I'm totally lost. I don't know who they are, where they came from or why they're famous.Lesson: It turns out I'm already married and my wife was not pleased with this suggestion.
4. Write a good book
Here's another idea. Rather than looking for a short-cut, I could just take a long time to write and polish a book, release it into the wild, and ask people to buy it. If it's good, maybe, just maybe, it will sell some on its own via word of mouth. If not, I can write another book, and hope that eventually, I'll gain a following. It's hard work, but it doesn't involve lying to friends and family, stealing from authors I love, or figuring out who the Kardashians are.  Lesson: We may be onto something here. I will have to give this more thought.
So, what do you think I should do? Marry a Kardashian? Steal from Stephen King? Leave a comment below!

P.S. This post is a repeat of one that originally went out in December. Apologies for any who have seen it already.

From Mania to Reality: The Results of My Amazon Select Experiment

The decision to give away my bookwas not an easy one. My fears were divided into two contradictory concerns: 1)that no one would download it and 2) that so many people would download it, therewould be no one left to buy it when the promotion was over. I needn't have worried on eithercount. If you want the short version of myKDP Select (or Amazon Select, if you prefer) experiment, and whether you shouldjump in yourself if you are an indie author, I will say this: Run, don't walk,to join this program and try it for yourself. I gave away more books than Icould have possibly imagined, and still sold more in the following week than Idid in the entire month of December. For me, this program has already been aphenomenal success. If you want to know the longversion, read on:
Day 1 – The Free Give AwayI gave away the book for free onTuesday, Jan. 17. I picked it because it was the beginning of the week (givenMLK day on Monday), and weekends and holidays had never been particularly kindto me in terms of book sales. As I mentioned, I was nervous about how manydownloads I would get. I was hoping for 1,000 or maybe, if I was really lucky,1,500. I figured this was a big enough haul that it would give me some momentumfor the rest of the week. I was unprepared for the delugethat resulted. By the time I woke up at 6 a.m. E.S.T., I already had given away75 books. It was an auspicious start, considering that the give away hadn'tbegun until 3 a.m. my time and the data I received was delayed by roughly anhour and a half.Throughout the morning, the numbersteadily rose, often enough that I could check it every two minutes or so andsee it increase by 20 books. For a guy whose best sales day was 34 books, thiswas amazing. Around lunchtime, I noticed the rate had started to slow. I had alreadygiven away 600 books and I felt certain I would now reach my 1000 goal.I wrote my wife a note telling heras much—already viewing the day as a success—and stopped watching theblow-by-blow sales figures. About an hour later, I checked the number, hopingit had reached 700 books. Instead, the book had exploded while I wasn'twatching. I had now given away 1300 books, or "sold" more than 700 in a singlehour. I got up to fix myself tea. When I came back, that number had jumped 200more.By this time, I was giddy. I couldkeep refreshing the sales figures every second and watch them jump by two dozenevery time. By dinnertime, I had given away 2500 books, far outside my wildestdreams. By the time I went to bed, I was past 4500 books and seemed likely toget to 5,000. When I got up the nextmorning, I had given away a total of 6,486 books (estimated). I reached #40 inthe entire Kindle free store. I'll admit it—I tried to sleep, buthad trouble. I was excited. It took me four months to sell 1,100 books. I hadjust "sold" almost six times as many in a single day. Secretly, I felt surethat the next day was going to be just as amazing. I had dropped the book's priceto $0.99 and hoped to build enough momentum to shoot up the bestseller charts.
Day 2 – Reality Pays a VisitI sold—for actual money—73 books on Wednesday, Jan. 18. It was mybest single sales day ever and pushed "A Soul to Steal" into the Top 100 Horrorbooks on the Kindle charts, and near the top of two subcategories: Ghost andOccult. You might think I felt pretty goodabout all this. But to be honest, I felt like someone coming off a great high,which I suppose I was. It's tough to watch your book "sales" jump by 100 or 200in a five minute period one day and then slowly watch them increase the next.Also, I had hoped that my 99 cent approach would goose the figures even more. I couldn't help but wonder if I hadmade a massive mistake. Sure, my book was now in the hands of 6,500 morepeople, but would they even read it? And what if I had just saturated mymarket? Still, I was happy that the bookwas in the Horror bestseller chart, which was totally new for me. I had evenbeaten "The Shining" on that day. Even if only for a moment, that was afantastic feeling.
Day 3 – Reality Kicks My ButtIf I was wary on Wednesday, I waseven more concerned by Thursday that I had made a big mistake. Instead ofrising at a slow but steady rate, I had sold only seven books by 7 p.m. This wasat 99 cents. My novel had fallen off the Horror bestseller list and dropped downthe subcategories to boot.With the numbers so low and feelingI was back to where I had started before my free give away, I raised the priceback to its original $2.99. Strangely, this seemed to boost sales a bit. In all, I sold 24 books on Thursday.
Day 4 – I Wake UpAt some point on Friday I realizedI was thinking about this all wrong. I used Facebook ads—and spent a lot ofmoney—to sell those initial 1100 books. The book had turned a profit, butbarely. On average, I spent $15 to get $16 or $18 worth of sales, almostbreaking even.In a matter of days, however, KDPSelect had changed all that. I had sold nearly 100 books in two days. Yes, muchof that was at 99 cents, but still… It took me four weeks to sell my first 100books. So no, I wasn't in the Horror bestseller list anymore, but people werefinding my book on their own. I wasn't advertising anywhere or even posting onvarious Facebook pages. I decided to stop focusing on thesales figures, except for the purposes of this blog post. Ironically, this newattitude seemed to produce good kharma for the novel. It sold 31 copies (at the regular $2.99 price) on Friday.
Days 5 and 6 – When You Least Expect It…On Saturday, I had my secondbiggest sales day of all time. I sold 57books and the novel rocketed back into the Top 100 Horror bestseller list. OnSunday, I sold 41 books. This time I didn't take it forgranted. I knew from other blogs that my sales figures were likely to dropafter a few days. Instead, I focused on the fact that I had just sold another100 books in two days. Even if sales dropped to zero, KDP Select had been asuccessful experiment.
Days 7 and 8 – Back to NormalI sold 9 books on Monday and 11 on Tuesday. In total, in my weeksince making the book free, I had sold 246 books. Considering I had sold only211 in the entire month of December—and spent $345 on Facebook ads at the time—thiswas a remarkable feat.No, my novel isn't in the Horrorbestseller category (honestly, it's more mystery than horror, but never mindthat for right now). No, it's not selling dozens of copies a day.But importantly, it's still sellingevery day, with no help from me. As I said, I've spent a lot of money and timedesigning and redesigning Facebook ads. If you want to know how to sell yourbook using FB ads, I can give you advice (and will in a later post). But it'san exhausting process trying to micromanage your marketing. For me to be ableto sit back and sell 10 books a day without lifting a finger is exhilarating. I don't know how long it will last.It may be that sales drop off to zero again soon. But I will tell you this: I'mdamn happy I tried Amazon Select. In the past week, the book has earned threemore 5-star reviews, two of them clearly from people who picked up the book forfree. I've significantly expanded the number of people who have heard about mybook—and might buy the eventual sequel. My total (paid) sales have jumped to morethan 1350 books. All in all, not bad for a week's work. Even better, I have four morepromotional days to use before April. Will they be as successful? I have noidea. It may be that with so many authors using KDP Select now, the impact willbe less. Or it could be that so many people have already downloaded my book forfree that fewer will be interested this time around. But you know what? That sounds alot like my initial fears (no one will download it and no one will buy itlater). They proved unfounded the last time. The only way to see what happensis to take another shot—and see what happens. What about you? Have you tried KDPSelect? What was your experience? Please let me and others know in the commentsbelow.