The Autobiography of a Serial Killer but for the Grace of God

[Tommy]

My beloved "Monstrous" has been out for going on a dozen years, and has been laying almost completely fallow for the last five. The death knell was sounded by a reader from Amazon ranking it among his all-time three favorite books. I also had the frightening experience almost from the get go of being showered with gifts, a twelfth century penny among them. Frightening for how tempting it was to allow myself to be led away from my anonymous cocoon to meet a fan who perhaps loved my book too much. I got a bit carried away with the assessment of others that I had written a "classic", cult or otherwise, and stopped orienting marketing efforts toward the group I originally thought would get the most out of it, namely forensic psychologists. Finally I stopped marketing altogether, because playing chess was more fun than keeping my mind on murder. I was curious whether cream could really rise to the top by word of mouth for a book most appreciated by loners, and my experiment now has its answer. These days I'm a church mouse who could really use the money, so here I am again. Also, I'm probably a bit more able to withstand potential success than when my book first came out.

Monstrous at Amazon

Monstrous at BookCrossing

[Vanessa Eden]

well.

[Crissy]

I could be wrong, but the $20 price tag may have killed it.

[Vanessa Eden]

lmfao Chrissy

[Steph]

Why Hermaphrodites? Is there a scene where the protagonist bathes in the spring of Salmacis? The Amazon link doesn't work, by the way.

[Tommy]

Steph wrote: The Amazon link doesn't work, by the way."

Thanks for pointing that out. This was absolutely the wrong post to be posting at the last minute before having to run off for work, as I see now that people actually view these things.

[Tommy]

Crissy wrote: "I could be wrong, but the $20 price tag may have killed it."

I honestly don't see why people would pay for anything anymore, beyond the bare necessities, now that there's infinite free coolness on the Web. Long as you're contented enough with the latest thing under your nose. No one who has liked Monstrous has ever complained about getting five or ten or fifteen dollars enjoyment but not twenty, and the information is out there-- or if not, I'll spill it in here-- for a person to get a good idea whether they'll like it or not.

[Tommy]

Steph wrote: "Why Hermaphrodites?"

'Ladies, Gentlemen and Hermaphrodites' is the attention-getter I used almost twelve years ago to snare my most demonstrably appreciative reader. Indicative of what kind of marketer I was in my previous life, I never used that successful wording again because it never again felt fresh. It's a greeting that comes from a more encompassing place than the usual, that tries to leave no one out, and which befits a book that tries to leave out nothing worth saying.

Probably not appropriate for this thread, seeing how it appeared for viewers, I have dropped the greeting in favor of my book's subtitle.

[Tommy]

Crissy wrote: "I could be wrong, but the $20 price tag may have killed it."

Monstrous is now out on Kindle for 99 cents.

Also what's new in the past year-plus is you can hear me Um and Er at YouTube via the MonstrousWalker Show.

The Virgin Gary

[Tommy]

But why would I show you that one when I can show you this:

Biggest Mindfucks Ever Written

Basically, because it didn't exist as of yesterday.

[Tommy]

Steph wrote: Is there a scene where the protagonist...

I better clarify that "Monstrous" is nonfiction, outside the world of protagonists. I'm reminded of my favorite New York rejection: "I usually like dark fiction, but this is too dark even for me".