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.

Almost There!

I've just ordered proof #3 for Dead Stop. Errors from the previous two copies have been fixed, and the placement and size of the title on the cover has been corrected. Unless something really unexpected shows up in this copy, I should be hitting the publish button on the print edition late next week.

I'm confident enough in this draft that I'm now moving on to working on the ebook version. Now it's time to play with the vagaries of ebook formatting. I always love this part (not!). Trying to figure out why it puts spaces between paragraphs when your document doesn't have those...trying to figure out why the third link in your active table of contents doesn't work...trying to figure out why it decides to put a page break where you didn't put a page break...and generally by the end of it I'm trying to figure out why I didn't just become a plumber instead.

Oh well, it is what it is...and I'm almost done. Besides, I really like this story. Hitting that publish button is going to sorta be like saying goodbye. I'll kind of miss these characters. They were fun.

Anyways, it's coming soon.

Why We Order Proofs

My second author's proof for Dead Stop came in the mail today, and I can already see the need for a third.

I felt the title and name were a little too small on the first proof, so I had them enlarged so they would be more visible in a thumbnail. The result was the cover in the post below this one. I think the enlargement itself was an improvement, but once the actual author's proof arrived in the mail I could see there was a problem. As can be seen in the photo above, the alteration also brought the title right up against the bottom of the cover. That wasn't so evident when just looking at it on the Createspace preview.

So that's no good.

The lesson here is never trust what the preview on your computer says it's going to look like. Always order a physical copy and see what the real deal is going to be.

I will be raising the title part and uploading it again. Then I'll have to order a third proof to find out for sure what the outcome will be. I will also give the interior manuscript another go over as well. It's coming soon, but it has to be right!

Polish, polish, polish!!!

Tweaks and Corrections

I have just uploaded a corrected manuscript of Dead Stop to Createspace. Lots of words were cut, lots of apostrophes were added (one of my proofreaders asked me if I had some kind of moral aversion to apostrophes) and some misspellings were fixed.  Overall, the manuscript is almost there. Once I get this author's proof back, I'm hoping it will pass a full inspection.

 I also intend to upload a slightly altered cover (above) as well. It's pretty much the same thing, except the title and author part has been enlarged. This is to help it be more visible and clear on thumbnails. It does seem to be an improvement.

So far, that September deadline still looks eminently doable.

Last of all, an author named Dean Wesley Smith demonstrates a rather novel idea on his blog. He is making print copies of single short stories. I have a few of those laying around. Hmmm.....

Goodbye to a Friend

This morning I lost a friend.

After being diagnosed with cancer a couple of months ago, Caraboo passed quietly in my bed while I sat next to her.

I just hope Heaven has lots of sunny window sills and a pantry full of canned tuna.  :_(

Vacation

Yep, it's that time again.

That wonderful, once-a-year week when we throw two hyperactive children into a small car and drive them down to Galveston...where we will herd them through all kinds of sites and attractions while stuffing them so full of sugar that they will literally be vibrating. And this is what the wife and I call fun...

Anyways, I shall take my proof of Dead Stop with me and do some more error catching while the kids sleep....assuming they ever sleep. Then hopefully I'll be ready to make an amended manuscript to upload to Createspace. But, until then....

Enjoy the summer!