Another push for Zombie Punter, please?

So, last night, I had this plan, nay, this vision, of trying to market Zombie Punter for one night, just like I had with the free Twilight parody. Well, early on, I kinda got sabotaged by my own body and had a fatigue attack. So I wandered off to the couch after making one sale. I woke up at 6 AM, stumbled back to the computer, and…still have only one sale.

I realize it will be harder to sell a book than to give one away, but one isn't going to pay any bills. So, people who've read Zombie Punter, please, let me ask you once again to consider going to Smashwords and buying a copy for 0.99. One, because it's something like a tip for the story you read. And two, because if you buy a copy you can also leave a rating or a review.

I could try to appeal to new readers first, but here's the dealio, yo…yo. Despite being in this writing gig for four years, I'm still a POD writer to a lot of people. So any price, even 0.99, is too high to pay if there's a risk that the story sucks. I know that, you know that. We know that. They know that. But you know what? You folks who read Zombie Punter, you know it rocked. Lots of you either wrote me to say so in the blogs, or you emailed me, and there are a few favorable reviews here and there for Zombie Punter. One might even say glowing reviews.

But to really help out the sales effort on Smashwords, I could use a broad range of opinions and ratings. I appreciate the help I got when the story was first released, but now I need to make a new push and get more people onto Smashwords. So, I'm asking you to consider leaving a 0.99 tip and a rating and review as well. I cannot stress enough how much your opinion means for the success of my work. On my own, even my best ballyhoo got one sale. So obviously, very few people believe my hype. And that's depressing, but there's not much I can do about that.

I realize that the folks who thought it was a two star book or below are less likely to buy another copy just to post a low review, but hey, maybe the 2.5 crowd can still chip in their 0.99 cents. No, you can't offer just two cents. Inflation is a bitch for everyone these days. If you really can't see it in your heart to offer financial support because you hated the story that bad, you know you could leave a note on Facebook or Tumblr as a review, or on some social site. (You could even toss out a short review on Twitter.) At this point, even a bad review tweet counts as a review for me.

If you liked the book and you're flat broke, please keep the same thing in mind. There are all kinds of ways that you can do a short review and post it for free to help me get new readers. Goodreads lists Zombie Punter, so you can post a review there, or over on Amazon. I really do need to see at least 100 new sales before I can proceed with my plans for Confessions of a Zombie Lover. Without those funds, I can't hire an artist for the cover or put any money into a banner ad campaign. The book will die for lack of funds. If you claimed to like the story, I would hope that you'd want the second book to come out.

New readers, I know, I'm asking you to take a risk. But Zombie Punter is a fast read, being only 38K long. Most people can read the whole thing in an hour or two. Yes, it's zombies, but there's only a leeetle gore to make it appropriately dark. Then it gets all weird and twisty in the middle, like all my stories do. And there's a dude killing zombies with a bastard sword. Yeah! Sure, there is just a bit of teh gay in the story, but it's only a small part of the main character's various subplots. There's really a lot to like about G once you give him the chance to introduce himself. And hey, you can read the first 50% at Smashwords before you make a decision.

I'm sorry if I come across as begging, but I'm not sure readers appreciate how hard it is to promote anything without vocal support from fans. I need you, and I need your help. Without you, all I can do is scrimp and beg for one sale at a time. With your help, I might have a chance at giving G the wider audience he deserves.