So, I’m at 618 ebook sales as of this posting. I’m slipping down the Amazon lists because everyone else is selling, but I should have expected that. Still #5 on Hot New Epic Fantasy Kindle Releases. In the 30′s and 40′s for the other lists.
The only thing that I keep hoping for are Amazon reviews. I have 3 and I know there are some out there who are still reading. I guess I’m getting impatient and antsy because I thought a few more would turn up by now. I’m talking reviews from people that I’ve never spoken to or interacted with, which I guess is a key to my idea of success. If a person who never read my blog or talked to me gives me a review (preferably 3-5 star) then that means I hit a nerve somewhere.
I think this is the final piece to the puzzle and it’s probably the hardest one to get because it has to be done without the author’s influence.
I can understand being impatient especially about reviews. I will do my best to read a bit faster and give an honest review w/o bias.
Thanks. Like I said, I know several people are working on it. I guess things moved so quickly that I’m expecting everything to move quickly. 618 ebooks in less than 3 weeks seems like an amazing feat to me.
It is a huge deal but after what I’ve read so far I’m not surprised. You’ve done an amazing job. I’ll bet you hit at least a thousand if not more by the end of your first whole month of sales.
I’ve got my fingers crossed on that. Be nice to go to my first convention with the ‘over 1,000 sales’ pitch that I could make. Be even better if the sequel is out too, but I won’t rush that.
I’m sure you can do it. I’ll put an extra plug for ya on my FB page.
Thanks. Every plug helps. I’m running out of witty tweets to make. I’m one step away from ‘Just buy it already!’
I don’t know if you are a photo shop user or artistic designer but you could do something artsy with your title and plug that about too.
I don’t have the talent or the software for that. I don’t have much artistic talent beyond writing. Even my stick figures look horrible.
Hah! I can do more than stick figures but nothing special.
aww, even if you are slipping in the ranks a little (and heck it has to happen sometime right?) 600+ sales is still EPIC. I hope you’re giving yourself enough credit
Maybe it’d be a good idea to not obsess over the numbers so much :3 You’re only going to make yourself more miserable. And not to be a total moron because I haven’t been paying too much attention, but do you have a link to your book that I can read a synopsis at ? For some reason it didn’t occur to me that I should actually figure out what this book I keep hearing so much about is actually .. well.. about. XD
I’m actually not miserable and I’ve been waiting for the slip for the last two days. I’m back up now, so I’m starting to feel like I’m entrenched in the lists for a while. Hoping I can capitalize on it, but I think I have plenty of time to get the sequel out.
Here’s a link to the Amazon site or I can email you a pdf copy if you want to read and review it.
There are also the first 25 sections under my Beginning of a Hero category.
Beginning of a Hero (Legends of Windemere)
aww, normally I’d love to read it, it does sound quite interesting, but I’m a total tense snob and present tense makes me want to pull my hair out. lol
That’s a shame. Personally, I never understood the issue with present tense. I’ve met so many people that claim it’s a problem, but I never get told why. Is it simply because most books are past tense?
It has to do with traditional story telling, usually when people hear a story it’s past tense because someone’s telling us something that’s already happened.. it’s been the natural tense for stories since the days of cavemen. It’s so natural to us in fact, that using a different tense (like present or future) seems really unnatural. It’s not that it’s bad, it’s just really hard for people to get used to after reading past tense their entire lives. In that sense, attempting to read a story that’s in present tense is very immersion-breaking for me… the tense stands out so much that it’s very difficult to get into the story and forget the writing.
That seems a little unfair to anyone trying to write in a different tense. Personally, I write in present tense out of instinct. I’ve always done it for some reason. Doing it otherwise feels unnatural to me and I lose immersion in my own story. I’ve tried it before and it was a horrible experience. The tense of my story has been one of the big debates between me and a few friends, which always leaves me confused as to why it’s really that big a deal. Though, it is starting to look like there is a surge in present tense books such as Hunger Games and Game of Thrones. So, is it possible that the tradition might be getting either changed or challenged?
I guess a big wonder that I have is why people can’t give it a try with an open mind. One of my friends read my book openly saying he hated present tense and, as expected, he complained about it the entire time he read it. He even tried to rewrite my book in past tense and ‘prove’ that it was better, but it felt like he sucked the spirit out my story. I asked him about the story and the characters, which he never even thought about. It was all about the tense. So, I do apologize if I’m a little long-winded and defensive here, but it’s something that I really have trouble understanding the iron-willed resistance against. I do thank you for putting it into some perspective though because you’re the first person to ever give me a proper, personal explanation.
don’t apologize :3 from one side, i’m one of the haters, but I can also understand and accept that the preconceptions about tense are slowly changing (and need to). I think a big obstacle to the tense has to do with the internet actually. The most common place you find present tense writing is in online roleplaying, and because of that I think it’s gotten a bit of a negative rap. People sort of assume that if it’s in present tense it’s going to be juvenile and not well written. It’s not true of course, but it’s a preconception a lot of people have. I’ll admit when I read present tense it often reminds me of online roleplaying and makes me cringe – but I can also admit that the deficit is in my own way of thinking. I admit I’m a tense snob. I’m sure in time the preconceptions about the tense will change and people will get more accustomed to it, it’s just that it’s just now becoming popular in writing, and it’s going to take awhile for it to catch up to thousands of years of the past tense monopoly.
Interesting that you mention online playing. My books began as a Dungeons & Dragons game that I was in during college. I was writing present tense before this, but I wonder if this influence locked it into my mind never to be shaken loose. I’ve been told many times that my books read like movies, which I’m guessing has to do with the tense. Maybe in the near future all tenses will be treated as equals and we can focus on hating what really matters: poor comma usage.
haha agree! I read a story just yesterday where there were no commas used at ALL. how is that even possible?
I’ve seen a lot of comma problems and I’m sure I make some myself, but commas aren’t explaining that well in school. They’re kind of glossed over and touched on when needed. A high school teacher of mine actually kept me after school to drill commas into me. It was one of those ‘you’d have such great talent if you just got a handle on this one thing!’ situations. Truthfully, most people aren’t sure how to use them.
618 sales??? I’m so jealous! I don’t have access to my sales stats because iUniverse is silly, but I bet you it’s something like 50. Grrrr. What’s your secret???
I think it’s the .99 cent price and all of the advertising sites I signed up with early on. The real rush came when I got onto one of the Amazon genre lists. That seems to have been the big push that I’m still working off of.
50 sales through iUniverse is a lot better than what I did when I tried. I think I had 10.
Is the the option for you to email a pdf still available? because I’m 16 and unfortunately cannot buy it as I have no debit/credit card. If so my email is oogundipe2@gmail.com
Sure, but the cover art won’t be attached. Is that okay?
It’s completely fine. Thank you, you’ve made my day
You’re welcome. I’ll send it right out. Enjoy.