Amazon Price Matched SCRAPING THE BONE: TEN DARK TALES To FREE Again

So, for those of you who might remember, last year I had Amazon price-match my short story collection SCRAPING THE BONE: TEN DARK TALES to FREE since I had it listed for FREE on sites like Barnes and Noble and Kobo.  While free it saw several thousand downloads every month, and helped increase interest in my other titles (JIMMY mostly) due to the previews I had at the end of the book.  Then something happened.  One day the price returned.  Confused, I contacted Amazon to see if they could put it back to FREE, but Amazon wouldn't do it.    At the time I had no idea why, but then, a few weeks ago, realized what it was.  The title had come down from Barnes and Noble because when I went to change the cover one day through Smashwords, I didn't realize it had to be resubmitted to all the sites it was on. Because of that it eventually came down from Barnes and Noble, which in turn caused the price to become un-matched once Amazon became aware of this.  Thankfully it is FREE once more now that I have it back on Barnes and Noble (I don't think Amazon will price match with Kobo for some reason, though I could be wrong), and, hopefully, will stay that way forever.  As many authors have said, and as I can attest to, having one title listed for FREE at all times is a great way to increase interest in your books, especially if it is the first in a series or some sort of sampling of your work like a short story collection.  

Ups and Downs - My Amazon Kindle Publishing Experience Thus Far

July will mark the two year anniversary of my decision to self publish an ebook with the Amazon Kindle program.  My novel JIMMY was the title I chose to do this with, its near publication with Dorchester before they crumbled making me think it would be the best choice for such an experiment (plus no other publishers seemed interested in it despite the fact that it had been with a major publisher for nearly a year and only pulled due to the downward spiral that company began to take).  Since that day, much has happened with my writing career, the biggest change being that due to the sales I was seeing early on, I could actually support myself with my writing.  Being able to do that was really cool.  Even better, for the first several months, sales were increasing every month, even with upward price changes on the title, which made it seem as if I could only expect good things to occur in the coming years, my decision to self publish the best one I had ever made during my (then) ten-year career.  Adding to this theory of continued success was my expectations that the release of my next novel TEXT MESSAGE, which had only needed to be fine-tuned a bit after my release of JIMMY, would experience a similar path after publication, both titles making it so I not only could pay all my bills, but also make it so I was able to move back into the Chicago suburbs, my mind growing weary of being out in the middle of nowhere.    

This was not to be.  TEXT MESSAGE never sold like JIMMY, one big reason probably being the first cover, which, while good, had not been done by the same professional that handled JIMMY and simply lacked the quality required to stand alongside other professionally produced ebooks.  What was really frustrating was that the professional who had done the cover for JIMMY had agreed to do the cover for TEXT MESSAGE, but then never got back to me with it after months of inquiry, which is why I sought out another artist at the last minute.  A series of poor reviews within the first couple of weeks probably played a part in this as well, all complaining about the brutality within the book.  Many of these arrived after trying out the free promo period newly offered by Amazon.  Several thousand people downloaded it during that period, many of whom didn’t seem to be fans of such books, and subsequently slammed it.  Experiencing that, after having seen the constant customer praise for JIMMY, startled me given the high hopes I had for that second book.  Thankfully, things have gotten better for TEXT MESSAGE, a new cover and several mentions of it within horror circles by people who enjoyed it followed by an increase in positive reviews, having helped a lot.  Even so, it has never matched the sales that JIMMY has seen.  Not sure why since it is a fun story, one that many fans have said is their favorite of my work thus far, but, alas, such is the way of things within the writing and publishing world.

Not long after TEXT MESSAGE, I released a short story collection titled SCRAPING THE BONE: TEN DARK TALES, which, while constantly praised by customers, has never gotten more than thirty sales a month.  Once again, I have no idea why it doesn’t do better, but it is the reality of that title.  Thankfully, I did manage to have it price-matched to free for a period of time last year, which did seem to help bring attention to my other titles, especially once preview pages of my other titles were added at the end.  Sadly, Amazon unmatched it after only four months, thus the book has gone back to only seeing around thirty sales a month, and doesn’t generate the same drive toward my other titles like it did when free.  As of writing this, however, the price match has returned in the UK and Canada, so, hopefully, the US edition will see it matched again soon.  Once that happens, I think (hope!!!) there will be an upswing in sales on all my titles. 

A year after releasing TEXT MESSAGE I finally had a third novel ready to go, one that was titled NIKKI’S SECRET.  This was the first novel I wrote following my uploading of JIMMY and TEXT MESSAGE, one that actually generated quite a bit of interest from publishers who, after having seen the success of JIMMY, asked if I would be interested in having them publish a future title.  For a while I considered this, my thinking being it would be great to have some titles self published and others traditionally published, but then, given the growing inquiries from fans on when I would have another title released, I decided to do NIKKI’S SECRET myself, since it would be out much sooner that way.  Unfortunately, as happened with TEXT MESSAGE, NIKKI’S SECRET didn’t sell, though this time it wasn’t a result of a poor cover.  People just didn’t buy it.  Even more bizarre, despite having posted about its release several times, I continued to get inquiries from fans on when my next title would be released, which meant my Facebook posts weren’t being seen by those who they were directed toward.  In reply to such messages, I informed them that the book was out and provided a link, which always resulted in a sale.  Sadly, there were not enough in those first couple of weeks to move it into a good ranking, something that I had expected to happen given all the previous inquires into when it would be released; something that I knew could cause a snowball effect on sales since others would see it on the bestseller and popularity lists.  Since then the novel has picked up some momentum, and ten positive reviews, but again, like TEXT MESSAGE, has not generated the same interest as JIMMY.  What’s weird is many MANY people write to me about that title, and TEXT MESSAGE, telling me how enjoyable they are, and often share the links with their friends who then buy them and write to me as well.  Because of this these two titles sell at a consistent rate each month, which is fantastic, but still not at a level high enough for me to be financially comfortable, especially knowing that any drop in sales on JIMMY would be disastrous.  Simply put, JIMMY is the breadwinner novel.  Without it, I would not be able to make ends meet.

In early 2013, things took an interesting upturn.  On a whim, I decided to list JIMMY for free with Amazon to see if I could get some new readers interested in my work.  Listing things for free was something I hadn’t done in nearly a year, not since deciding to see how well my titles faired on other ebooks sites (not well at all, and not worth the lost income from the borrows they used to get when exclusive with Amazon).  So, I listed JIMMY for free, all without any publicity beyond posting about it on Facebook and asking some of my author friends and readers to share the link.  Later that afternoon, I decided to see what the free download rate was like and to my shock saw that I was nearing the ten thousand-download mark.  Even more amazing, when I refreshed the page, nearly one hundred copies had been downloaded during that short span of time.  By the end of that first evening I was averaging a thousand downloads an hour on JIMMY, something which made it difficult to do anything but watch my computer screen, my mind completely blown away by the sheer volume of people that were clicking the ‘buy now’ button. 

By the end of that download period, one which saw me relocating to a friend’s house since she didn’t have an internet connection and I needed to pry myself away from being able to status check the download rate (plus I love spending time with her), I had had over twenty thousand downloads.  Why it wasn’t more given the initial ten thousand download first day I do not know, but guess the momentum started to fall after the first two days.  Even so, that was a huge total of downloads, one which gave my book more exposure that it ever had had up until that point.  Even better, nearly seventy new reviews came in during the next couple of weeks, most positive.  The high number of free downloads also pushed JIMMY up to the top of the popularity lists, which then caused it to make the top one hundred bestseller lists.  During this period, I was seeing between thirty and fifty purchases a day, something that I figured would last given the snowball effect.  I also had a feeling it would help increase the sales on my other titles.  Wrong!  After about two weeks, JIMMY fell from the popularity and bestseller lists.  Fell HARD.  Since that period, I have only been selling between three and five copies of JIMMY a day, the monthly total on that title barely reaching the hundred sales mark.  Making it worse the other titles took a fall as well, each one only averaging about twenty sales a month.  Why this happened, I do not know, but it did, which is why I now am spending a lot of time with friends and my parents, the fact being I can no longer afford to support myself with my writing.  Pay rent and bills, yes (mostly), pay for food and gas, no.  Hopefully this will change soon.  Hopefully with the release of my novel DARK HARVEST in the coming month, as well as a unexpected short novel that no one but myself and few close friends know about, will turn things around.  If not . . . well . . . I shall cross that bridge when it comes (all while avoiding the temptation to jump over the side).

So, the point of this post (if there is one), is that one can never really say for certain what will happen with their titles.  Every step from the novel writing process to the editing to the cover design, uploading and publicity can be perfect, yet titles still might not sell.  On the flipside, one might suddenly find themselves on the bestseller list one morning, all without having done anything all that significant in the publicity department.  That’s what’s crazy about the world of publishing, nothing is certain.  Even making it onto the bestseller lists, which I have done three times now, is no guarantee that things will be all downhill from that point forward.  All one can do is keep writing and releasing titles. 

An Almost Moment – My GHOST IN THE GRAVEYARD Screenplay Experience

Looking back at my career as a writer, the word CAREER being used to signify the moment I decided to sit down and write ten pages every day come hell or high water rather than the day I actually started making a living from it, I’ve come to realize I have had quite a few ‘almost’ moments.  What is an ‘almost’ moment?  To me, an ‘almost’ moment is a period of time when it looks like I’m finally going to make it big with my writing, a moment when events have played out that make the chances of me waking up to great success one morning entirely possible (as a writer one often thinks upon such moments, mind viewing it as a ‘one day’ possibly, but that is different from being in the midst of it based on things unfolding within one’s career that seem monumental).     

The first ‘almost’ moment I ever experienced came back while I was still in high school, a change in pace from my normal writing routine during a three day weekend in October having seen my completion of my first ever screenplay.  It was titled “Ghost in the Graveyard” and was about a group of adults that are lured back to their hometown to play the childhood game one last time.  Like most things I’ve written, I have no idea what possessed me to write this particular piece, but do know I wanted to see if I could actually do an entire screenplay during a three day weekend.  The answer was, YES, I COULD, but was it any good?  The answer to that seemed to be YES as well, at least for a while.  Two months after my writing of the screenplay, I got word from an agent that they wanted to read it based on a query I had sent (they actually called me, which was really cool).  After that they told me they really loved the screenplay and that the timing was perfect, because such horror stories were really hot at the moment (this was late 2001), and said once it was sent out they would probably get many offers.  Needless to say, I was pumped.  Who wouldn’t be?  And then, nothing . . . 

Several weeks came and went without word, my hope of hearing from them before the start of the Christmas and New Years holiday going unrealized (just imagine how epic that holiday period would have been knowing I had sold a screenplay).  After that my hope was to hear something by the end of break, thereby allowing me to bring amazing news to my teachers upon my return to class (I figured having a screenplay bought at eighteen would seem pretty impressive to them and finally give validation to all the statements I’d made about one day being a writer full time).  This did not happen.  School started once more and eventually it was time for first semester finals, a full month and a half having passed since hearing their praise of the piece.  And then one day, having come home early since the final tests only took place in the morning, I found a letter from the agency waiting in the mailbox.  Having always been contacted by phone when they needed to tell me something, I was thrown off by the switch to postal communications, but then told myself it was probably a contract.  WRONG!  It was a rejection letter, one that said they were no longer interested in representing my screenplay.  WHAT?  After all that talk about how they loved it and felt others would as well, and now they were giving it back?  It didn’t make any sense and was a huge blow.  In fact, I was devastated.  Here I had thought I was about to make it big, my mind envisioning trips to Hollywood once it came time to film, as well as cool movie release events once the film was complete, not to mention a fantastic check that would support my decision to write full time once school came to an end followed by offers to work on other screenplays.  But no, that did not happen.  Even worse, no one else was interested in the screenplay, thus, the piece that had been highly praised in the beginning, went into a box in my bedroom, one that now has four screenplays in it, all my efforts in such endeavors never even making it past the query stage from that point on.

Fortunately, this first ‘almost’ moment didn’t kill my motivation to continue writing, my mind thinking if I could get that close to success that early in my career (I had been writing for almost two years at that point), then that meant good things were probably right around the corner.  I also sold my first short story a few months later to a horror magazine, which added to my confidence.  Little did I know eight years would pass before I could actually make a living from my writing, eight years that saw many MANY ‘almost’ moments.       

Guest Post - Chernobyl Diaries Horror Movie Review

The Chernobyl Diaries (2012) is one of those movies that can be really predictable, but that does not take away from its impact. It plays on the curiosity that a lot of people have about what the area in and around Chernobyl is like ever since one of the world's worst nuclear power plant disasters happened there in 1986. 

The thing that strikes you right away about this movie is that you feel like you have seen it before. The set-up is very familiar. It is a group of friends who visit Russia and decide to take a tour of Chernobyl. It is a simple premise that, as expected, goes very wrong.

The power in this movie comes from the fact that it pulls off this worn-out premise very well. The predictability of this movie does not prevent it from being completely terrifying and fun to watch.

Director Bradley Parker uses a lot of lighting tricks and implied action to get our minds racing. Where Parker keeps the audience interested is in his attention to detail. The sequence of events that happens in the movie could have easily skipped over details such as the effect of the weather on the characters and the setting. But rather than skip over those details, Parker uses them to help enhance the build-up in the movie.

Anyone who has seen a few horror movies will know that this one is definitely building up to something. This movie lacks the outright viciousness of "The Hills Have Eyes," but it uses that kind of distance to let us see just enough to understand where things are headed.

Another interesting element that Parker uses in the movie is that not every character's fate is revealed. We do not always learn exactly what happens to every character on the tour and that creates an element of tension that helps to make the ending that much more powerful.

The ending of this movie is almost anti-climatic. The pace of the movie definitely picks up as it gets closer to the end and then we are suddenly left in limbo. The audience is forced to wade through several minutes of almost useless footage that provides no real insight into what is really going on. Then, without warning, the ending is revealed.

After 80 minutes of some pretty good terror scenes, we are suddenly thrust back into the Soviet Union of the 1980's. In some ways, the ending works and in other ways it absolutely does not fit the movie at all. It seems as though the ending were thrown together at the last minute just to bring the film to a conclusion.

All in all, the Chernobyl Diaries is a decent horror movie. You see some things that you have seen a hundred times before mixed in with some completely original ideas. The biggest disappointment is the ending, which does not seem to do the rest of the movie any justice at all.

You can watch Chernoblyl Diaries on Directv’s OnDemand. If you are looking for a good horror flick that is worth the price, then you will not be disappointed with the Chernobyl Diaries. Also, the movie isn’t as impactful on your television as it is if you were watching it in the theaters. However, you will still get the scare that you are looking for.

Author: Eddie Duncan is a writer and blogger for Cable.tv. He loves to write about horror movies and entertainment. You can look to Eddie for the scoop on anything! You can follow Eddie @Eddie20Ford.

New Cover For TEXT MESSAGE

So, I couldn't leave it alone and decided to once again change things up with the cover of TEXT MESSAGE.  What do you all think?  I'm really happy with this one and love the way it looks as an icon, which is really important when dealing with ebooks.

I also really like the smoothness this one has.  The last cover I made for TEXT MESSAGE (below) had a very grainy feel to it, which didn't look bad, but just didn't seem right to me after a while.  Plus the name and title text didn't stand out enough as an icon.

Random Update

Been a little while since I wrote an actual post (as opposed to a quick snippet about something) so I thought I'd share some updates on what has been happening recently.  Most currently, I just got over being really REALLY sick thanks to a burger I ate at a party late Saturday night.  The trouble began with violent vomiting around 3:00 AM Sunday morning and then diarrhea for the rest of the day, all while I was staying with a friend who had just cleaned her bathroom the day before.  Making it worse, I actually missed the toilet on the first try, mostly because I thought I was going to be sitting when the trouble started and then subsequently tripped over my pants when trying to twist myself around to lean over the bowl.  Yeah . . . not one of my finest moments.  Even when standing properly for subsequent episodes I occasionally missed, the gagging so violent that it totally threw my aim off.  Very gross.  And it didn't end there.  Once back at my parents place (it was, after all, Mother's Day) I spent the rest of the afternoon and evening pissing from the ass, the liquid bowels so fierce that I did eventually start to bleed come Monday.  Now, thankfully, I'm all better, though very VERY worn out.

Wait, did you say party?  Yes, I did.  It was a fun one too as you can see from the picture below :)  Now if just hadn't eaten the hamburger . . .
 

In addition to the party and food poisoning, this weekend saw the release of an author interview I gave Ray Wallace last week for his newly designed website.  Now, unlike other interviews, I actually stuck to the truth when answering questions this time around, so, there will be no stories about my fleeing rabbit Koala bears in the outback or fighting giant squids from the side of a cruise ship.  Such fictitious tales, while fun to spin, just didn't seem right this time around.  I also didn't include my very true tale of the disastrous climb up Everest that saw my being forced to eat a Sherpa.  No reason not to tell that story except for the fact that it is just too soon to talk about it, thus I shall save it for a future interview.

Click the banner below for the interview:

Let's see, what else have I been up too.  Well, there was that thing with that girl, but that probably isn't appropriate here.  I also already shared a picture of my lady friends roasting marshmallows on my burning chest from the week before -- can you believe I've gotten hate mail for that?  People have also said no educated person would do such a thing, which must mean my college degrees were all scams.  Oh well, there are very few people whose opinions matter to me, and most of them were involved in the fire play.  All the others thought it was pretty cool when seeing the pictures.  

Ah, I know something relevant to an update here.  My three novels are now in print.  Yeah, yeah, they were supposed to be out last month, but getting the right professional look for the books was a bit tougher than I imagined it to be and since I'm never one to settle for a standard below that which I set, I kept going back and working on them until they were just right.  Well . . . until I thought they were just right.  The final copies I ordered last week once the books went live did not match the proofs I had ordered, the proofs being better, so now I'm trying to figure out what the deal is.  As of this morning I'm pretty sure it was fixed, but won't know for sure until more copies arrive (at the rate I'm buying proofs my books should all be bestsellers by now!).

So, that's about it.  Nothing much more to update.  Talk of making JIMMY and TEXT MESSAGE into movies has started again, but I'm not sure if that will get off the ground.  Having mentioned this a few times, however, people have started asking me who I would pick to play the roles in the two books.  Answering that isn't easy, though I do think it would be cool to see Tom Hanks as Mr. Campbell from TEXT MESSAGE :)  What are your opinions on this.  Also, who do you think would make a good Jimmy? 

JIMMY Is Now In Print

It took a little longer than expected, but my novel JIMMY is now available in print on Amazon for $7.99.  Eventually it will also be sold in stores and other online book markets, but once that happens the price will have to go up due to Amazon's distribution costs, so for now, to keep it at $7.99, I'm holding off on having it go beyond Amazon.