Dead Stop: Post Mortem

So, Dead Stop seems to be a bit of a success.

Woohoo!

In it's two weeks of existence, it has already become my bestseller by far. I'm really gratified to see people enjoy it so much, even as I try to understand why it's doing so much better than my other works.

Is it the cover?
Is it the genre?
Is it the story?

I have submitted it for lots of reviews, but none of those have come back yet. I ran a one day free giveaway on it at Amazon.com and that's when it's rank initially fell below 10,000, but it had actually been doing okay for a completely unannounced work before that. Since then it's rank has held pretty steady around ten thousand, which is the best of all my other stories.

I'm very happy with the story and characters in the book, but I like to think I do a pretty good job in that regard in all my stories. So I'm looking at the way this is happening and I really have to wonder how much cover and synopsis play in all of this. Joe Konrath seems to think these are two of the most important things for indie books, and I'm starting to lean towards agreeing. Remember, none of the review blogs have reviewed it yet, so that seems to be the main basis people are buying it on.

I may go back to look at the covers and synopsis's of my other stories with an eye towards improvement.

Another possibility is that zombies seem to be a very specific genre with a dedicated fanbase. There are some truly passionate followers of the genre out there.  So there may be a pool of readers out there waiting for each new release to come out in that field. If so, I'm really glad I did my homework before writing this book because passionate fans of a genre can be the most demanding.

Either way, it's been a pretty good two weeks and I'm about to start off my next project in a good mood. I'm reading through one of my shelved novels at the moment with an eye towards starting it up again. But while I'm doing that, I'll be sure and keep an eye on this in order to learn all I can.

Post Partum Decompression

Well, my latest progeny has been out in the world for almost two weeks, and I've been busy promoting, posting, and pestering every book blogger I think might even have a chance of being willing to review Dead Stop. Paperback copies of the novel have been mailed as far as England. Heck, I even got one blogger to review the book I released earlier this year...Shades. And I'm playing with the Amazon KDP Select promotions as well, trying to learn that. That's been educational as well.

So I've been busy.

But what I haven't been doing is writing.

The thing about marketing is that it requires a certain mindset and focus that somehow seems antithetical to writing. It's like you can't do both at the same time. Currently that is okay, but I do need to get back to writing soon. But for now, I just want to focus on getting Dead Stop the best start I can. So I'll focus on marketing a little longer. And since i can't seem to write, I'll get some reading in instead.

So it's all good.

It's "Alive!"

Dead Stop is now available at Amazon.com in both paperback and kindle versions.

This is my humble contribution to the zombie genre, using an updated and what I think is a more realistic version of the old graveyard zombie. I actually did quite a bit of research before starting this book. I wanted these zombies to ultimately both make sense and be frightening at the same time. I guess time will tell if I succeeded.

It's the story of a small and varied group of people who find themselves caught in a nightmarish and deadly situation. They are trapped in a rural truck-stop by the residents of the nearby county cemetery during the middle of a fierce storm. Many have already died, and their time is running out before the dead get into the building where they are hiding. Their only hope is to find a way to escape before dawn.

The paperback version costs $8.99 and the Kindle version is currently available for $2.99. .

Countdown to Launch

Dead Stop has been cleared by Createspace and is on it's way to Amazon.com. The ebook version is under review and should hopefully clear in the next 24 hours as well. Both versions should be available soon. I'll be sure and post when they are.

For now, I just wait.

The writing and editing are done. Now I catch myself staring stupidly at my laptop, trying to think about what to do. Novels are like that. They sort of become the reason you're sitting down in front of your computer. Then when they're done, you're left staring at the monitor and wondering "Now what?" Maybe that's why they can become hard to let go of....why the writer always wants to do "just one more editing pass." Because once it's gone, there is nothing to do but start over.

Time to move into the uncharted territory of a new project.

But not quite yet.

There is still a little time to enjoy the sense of closure that comes with a finished project. Maybe even have a celebratory dinner with a friend or fellow author. Then I will have to make sure all the proper announcements are made, and that people get to hear about it. There is still much to do. But...

...the novel is written.