An Overwhelming Success

Well, that was fun.

Last week’s free e-book promotion resulted in 12,824 downloads, about half of which were for A Small Sacrifice. This is way more than the 300 – 500 I’d been hoping for. For a brief moment Grind Joint was the #1 hard-boiled free download, #3 in Police Procedurals. A Small Sacrifice cracked the Top 100 overall at #75, and was the #2 Mystery.

The lion’s share of the credit goes to those friends and friends once (or more) removed, who accepted my request to help with the promotion and ran with it beyond my wildest expectations. My reaction moved from happy through flattered to humbled as more people tagged me in Facebook posts and folks I’d never heard of posted comments and Likes and indicated they’d downloaded at least one book. The only occurrence on my writing career that exceeds it is the launch of Grind Joint last November, and that had cake, so the comparison isn’t really fair. I mean, you know, there was cake.

Several stepped up to offer guest posts on their blogs, even though they may already have given me a push there: Paul Brazill, Ben Sobieck—who also alerted me to the rankings on his own initiative—Laura Roberts, Gerard Brennan, and Patti Abbott; my visits to Holly West’s and Jay Stringer’s spaces are upcoming, as is an interview and blog post for Lance Wright on OmniMystery Magazine. Laura is also providing an interview opportunity.

I know I didn’t catch everyone who extended themselves on my behalf, as random comments came in that made me wonder, “How the hell did this person find out?” No matter how; I’m grateful.

It’s no news to anyone that writing is a solitary endeavor, but no one, with the possible exception of J.D. Salinger, wants to write in a vacuum. Some level of public presence has to be obtained, and maintained, not the easiest of tasks for a profession tailor-made for introverts. I began writing crime because that’s what I read, having no idea what kinds of people I would eventually come into contact with. This is no news to anyone who’s been around, but crime fiction writers are, by an overwhelming majority, the most benevolent and generous group of people I have ever come in contact with. To all of you, I am profoundly grateful. Don’t be bashful about making sure I know of anything you’re promoting; I’ll be disappointed if I don’t get to return the favor.

Breaking News: Patti Abbott has had a story chosen for the 2014 Bouchercon anthology. Congratulations to Patti, and to everyone who had stories selected. Hopefully, she’ll be at the conference so The Beloved Spouse and I can congratulate her in person.