Scott Kelly's Blog, page 5

The Blue – #1 free novel on Amazon.com

After around 20,000 downloads in one day, The Blue has risen to #1 on Amazon’s Top #100 Free Novels list… at least until Monday, when the sale ends.

Blue notes

Selling hundreds of copies – and having tens of thousands downloaded – of my experimental novel The Blue has been interesting. The reactions range from astonished to depressed/angry. Some get it, others are intrigued by it. Some are bored and depressed.

I never intended to lead with The Blue; it was supposed to be a highly personal novel that sat in the back of my catalog, waiting for my truest fans who wanted the most of what I consider uniquely my own. I wrote it out of frustration at the temptation (and effort) of writing something more commercially appropriate. The Blue is a bit of a “fuck you, I’m going to write exactly what I want to write.” Which is apparently bleak and disconcerting. I was going through a lot of personal drama, as well, which is reflected in the story. It is the novel that I was meant to write at that time.

Now I’m turning my attention back to more commercial novels. Still working hard to keep them ‘mine,’ but putting a different foot forward. What I’m most excited about is marketing [sic] like I am The Blue – methods that I know will result in hundreds of sales.

I am certain that the results with [sic] be greater than what I’ve seen with The Blue so far, as that book has its hook and broader commercial appeal. I just need to wait a few more months to see if it’s the right time to truly market [sic] – it all depends on what certain interested parties say.

The Blue and Amazon KDP

Had a good experience with The Blue and Amazon’s KDP program this weekend – did my five free giveaway days, managed to climb up to the #42 top free book. I was #2 in literary and #4 in thriller.

After the giveaway ended, sales spiked – I shot up to #4300 or so in paid books. Sliding down a bit now, as the week gets underway, but the increase in sales has been impressive. I’d heard KDP Select was losing its steam as a marketing tool, but I think I’ll probably stick with it a bit. I’m keeping [sic] out for various reasons, and I’m very open to partnering with a publisher for The Blue and [sic] – but instances like this make self-publishing seem very viable.

Wattpad and [sic]

I’ve been experimenting with different avenues for getting my work out for a couple of years. Around 2008, I started mucking around on the internet – my agent had just moved on to a different gig, and I didn’t have anything mainstream in the works. I didn’t want to jump directly into self-publishing on Amazon, as I knew there’d be no sales if I didn’t have a following. I also wanted time to get my books up to snuff.

I landed on Wattpad with Frightened Boy, which had already been the #1 novel (briefly) on a competing site, BookRix.com. It was featured, and thus far has netted about 1,500,000 clicks and around 4000 “votes.” It’s been the 6th ‘hottest’ Thriller book and the #1 Thriller/Action story on the site. It’s not a young adult book and has still done fairly well, so I don’t think the idea that only young adult makes it on Wattpad is true.

[sic] brought more interesting results. I knew from experience that most of the readers on Wattpad (I’d say 70-80%) are teenagers – this is largely due to Wattpad’s very popular app for the iPhone. Many teens have iPhones but no budget to buy media for them, so an app which promises hundreds of free stories to a broke teen is very appealing.

[sic] isn’t marketed as heavily as some other Wattpad stories, and it has only been up for about six months. But, the amount of votes it receives in comparison to the amount of times it is viewed makes it one of the most highly rated stories on the site. As of this blog posting, it has 840,000 ‘clicks’ and 8209 ‘votes.’ It’s been the #2 hottest Thriller story and the #1 for Thriller/Mystery. Most of the books I see on Wattpad (outside of a few select genres), and especially the featured ones, are not doing quite (nearly) so well in the vote count. Some stories have twenty times the clicks, but the same or less votes.  That, combined with [sic]‘s high scores on Goodreads and Amazon, have put it in a unique position. I’m hoping to capitalize on that soon.

Not only that, but the response from teen readers has been worth the experience. The comments section for [sic] is full of notes about this being their favorite book, or even their experiences attempting to play Eureka themselves. I don’t know that Wattpad is the right route for everyone – it’s undeniable that the audience swings toward young-adult – but personally, I can see how it’s given my career (even my Amazon sales) a significant boost. [sic] has a very robust presence online, which has made marketing it very effective – and a lot of that energy has come from its presence on Wattpad.

[sic] on Wattpad

[sic] on Goodreads

[sic] on Amazon.com

Motion

I’ve been busy. I’ve almost got the first section of my new book ready to be read. It’s been an interesting experience, writing in third person and outside of my comfort zone. I’ve spent a lot of effort trying to make this still feel like one of my books, so that it sits comfortably next to [sic] and The Blue, despite the fact that it’s historical fiction and in third person. 

What I’m really trying to ‘get at’ in the book (like I tried to ‘get at’ identities in [sic] or our personal realities in The Blue), are all the self-destructive tendencies that plague mankind. Our need to dominate,or to pleasure-seek to the point of damaging ourselves, or our tendency to choose the easiest short-term path instead of the superior long-term path. I think technology, which plays a large part in my new story, will be a useful way to highlight these things. The way we use technology amplifies those natural traits, and makes it easy to be examined through a story. Taking something like nuclear power, for instance, and using it to craft a bomb, reveals a little bit about the priorities and the mindset of the time. 

There has also been some interesting news on the “impending deals” front. Too early to say anything for sure, but keep your earballs open. 

The new book

It’s a big departure for me. I’ve been talking about writing these for over a year, but got caught up with [sic] and The Blue, and so I only had about eight scenes written. Here’s how different it is:

-It’s in third person

-It’s in past tense

-It’s set in New York in the 1920′s

-It’s actually a trilogy of books

So, some big changes for me. I knew this was coming years ago, which is what made me want to write The Blue. The Blue was the novel where I got to really focus on that narrow, first-person stream of consciousness style that I’ve written in my whole life. Now I need to broaden that lens and write in third person.

I think the general things I’ve learned from my past few books will carry over into this new one, though. Economy of language, dialog, etc. are all basically the same when switching from third to first person. I’m going to make sure this book feels like I wrote it, and doesn’t become generic.

Also, I’m going to need early EARLY alpha readers who don’t mind seeing me embarrass myself as I stumble through this.

Independence

I wrote this flash fiction story back in 2010. Thought I’d share it with you all now, what with all the political turmoil on my news feed today.

Independence

The acrid smell of the gasoline that dripped from the rusted fuel tank of Curtis’ Ford didn’t have its usual soothing effect on him.  On a good day, the smell brought back memories of his father; of crawling into his old Ford. Today, small pleasures did nothing. Today, the gas leak was just that: another problem in a long list of them. The foremost being, Curtis had been stuck at the same red light in the middle of the night, with no vehicles around, for what seemed like ten minutes.

The long barrel of the rifle under Curtis’ seat slid forward against the back of his leg. The rancher shifted his foot against it, pushed it back. The red light wasn’t his biggest problem. Why did they have to take his son? He shook his head at the pile of folders on the seat across from him – the seat where Kolton should have been – and rubbed his cheeks.  He was tired.  He hated visitation, he hated judges, he hated lawyers.  Nothing was simple.  The entire system was fucked, all the way down to this goddamn red light.

It was some sick trap where every effort he made bogged him further in the muck.  The motions filed to free his son only resulted in more counter-motions, responses, pleas. Everything cost money, and as though to punish him for arguing in the first place, the responses to what he set into motion cost even more money. The harder he struggled, the further he sank.

The only answer was to think outside the box – fuck it, break the box, and demand freedom.

Curtis had never seriously thought about hurting anyone before.  Then again, he’d never had a child kidnapped – kidnapped – by the State. They’d driven him to this.

To have his own son taken, held prisoner, and for what?  Fines and fees that were a part of a system he’d never wanted a place in.  They could take their machine and run it fine without him.  All his family had ever wanted was to be left to their own devices.  That’s how it used to be.  He just wanted the right to do the same.  The world hadn’t changed that much.

He could take his son, hide him on the property they shared; the cops could come looking all they wanted, they’d never find him.  Put him in one of the old deer blinds that had been reclaimed by the roots and vines around it. Hide him there, bring him food. That’s what he’d do.

They’d taken his only child.  A young man now, but still.

He had guns.  They had guns.  That was really what it came down to.  If they wanted his family, they could come take them.  Better dead than a slave.  White knuckles clutched the worn material of the steering wheel, bone on bone.

“Fuck!” He growled at the red light.  It was two in the morning; there wasn’t another car in sight.  Was it broken?  Why couldn’t he move forward?  He stared at it, angry red eye, the system staring back at him.

And Curtis’ will to fight drained from him, like someone poked holes in his feet and the anger poured out. Five minutes of sitting obediently at a red light, in the dead of night, not another car in sight.

The Blue is available on Amazon.com

I finished it. You can get The Blue from Amazon.com.

Releasing [sic] and The Blue as eBooks is a part of a larger plan. I consider these two novels to be my foundation. They best represent what I believe makes me a unique writer – they encourage thought, they are gritty and real and exciting. I’m most likely going to branch out now, and my next set of novels will be geared toward a major publishing house. But these two books will be available, and allow me to establish myself as a writer.

I’m especially proud of The Blue. Those of you who were beta readers know what I mean; I couldn’t have written it if I hadn’t developed as a writer from the time I wrote [sic].  Derek’s journey is an interesting one.

Blue-er

Almost… done… with the Blue. I keep finding new things I want to change/add. On the other hand, I don’t think many works of art failed because the artist worked too hard at it. Stick with me here, it’s coming. Right now, I’m using AutoCrit to check over my work and make sure everything ‘pops’ and that none of my paragraphs are poorly written. If you’ve never heard of AutoCrit, I recommend checking it out – it is essentially the grammar editor from Microsoft Word, but on steroids. It will show you words you repeat too often, or if you start too many sentences with a pronoun, or if you overuse common words like “It” and “there” within your work. You can find it at www.AutoCrit.com.

The Blue

I’m really happy with The Blue. More happy than I’ve ever been with one of my books, which up until [sic] I’ve basically hated. I promise to have this done soon. My last revision turned into a full scale draft, which has ended up really making the book a lot better of a read… but it’s gotta be perfect.