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.
Hi there, just finished dead stop. After reading your comments above just wanted you to know that I never really noticed the cover of the book until now. I was searching for zombie genre and Your book synopsis is what drew me in at first. The great story and characters is what kept me interested from that point on. Im hoping there is a sequel in the works in the future? Loved this book very much. One of the better reads I have had in a while. Looking your other books up on amazon as I type this atually. Hoping for a sequel!
ReplyDeleteThank you, very much! That kind of feedback is extremely helpful. I'm really glad you enjoyed the book.
ReplyDeleteJust finished dead stop and I loved it! I was looking for a good halloween read and saw all the glowing reviews. Being from Dallas, I thought " hey I like horror...and zombies are scary...plus its in Texas...lets give it a go." So glad I did. I couldn't put it down. Ive read some lately on Amazon that were just plain awful. Terrible dialogue...no character development...gah! Yours was a treat! That said...I would dive right back onto a sequel happily. I cheered for the characters and cared about what happened to them...and please don't get me started on Harley. Swoon! Anyway, thanks for the scares. Great read...
ReplyDeleteThank you! That is most appreciated!
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