Book Signing and Updates

11 Comments

I’m doing a book signing this Saturday at the Layton, Utah B&N from 7-9 PM. I have totally forgotten to publicize this, so if you’re a Utahn, do me a favor and tell your friends. I’ll have copies of everything, including the just released The Grimnoir Chronicles: Spellbound.

Speaking of which, I got my Bookscan numbers yesterday. It had a pretty darn good release for a hard cover. I don’t know about making the NYT though. Keep in mind that it is calculated based on certain specific secret bookstores that report in, whereas Bookscan is a more general nationwide list that takes account of around 70% of all books sold. I sold a whole lot more books than the folks that were at the tail end of the NYT last week, but there are too many variables to guess about this week, like where they sold, and what else came out that week to compete with me.

That’s the tail end of the list. To keep things in perspective however, John Grisham sold literally 53 times as many of his new books as I sold of my newest book last week. 🙂  

MHA is still kicking booty even three months after it came out. Here is the Locus bestseller list:

  PAPERBACKS    
1) A Clash of Kings, George R. R. Martin (Bantam Spectra) 11 2
2) A Game of Thrones, George R. R. Martin (Bantam Spectra) 14 1
3) A Storm of Swords, George R. R. Martin (Bantam Spectra) 11 3
4) A Feast for Crows, George R. R. Martin (Bantam Spectra) 10 4
5) The Name of the Wind, Patrick Rothfuss (DAW) 6 –
6) Monster Hunter Alpha, Larry Correia (Baen) 1 –
7) Kill the Dead, Richard Kadrey (Harper Voyager) 1 –
8) Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury (Del Rey) 21 –
9) Empress of Eternity, L. E. Modesitt, Jr. (Tor) 1 –
10) The Hobbit, J. R. R. Tolkien (Del Rey) 29 –

I’m only behind George Martin and Patrick Rothfuss, the biggest name in fantasy with an awesome TV show and the most critically acclaimed guy in fantasy… This is like the 10th time I’ve been on Locus’ bestseller list. Maybe one of these days they will actually, I don’t know… do something crazy, like mention that I exist or maybe review something I wrote.  Naw…

And last but not least, about yesterday’s Book Bomb. To summarize the results.

HOLY FREAKING CRAP

Yep. Best Book Bomb EVAR.

Rob Well’s Variant shot up the charts. You can see the blow by blow in actual post as the stats updated through out the day. The Monster Hunter Nation rallied. The word was spread. A whole bunch of other authors and bloggers picked up the torch. Rob’s friends got on FB and Twitter. They harrassed their coworkers and bought extra copies for their relatives. It was CRAZY.

When I started this, I though we’d give Rob a nice little nudge. In the past book bombs I’ve been able to get people up into the top 20 of their genre. I didn’t know about this one though, because Rob was in one of the most competitive genres in the entire business. But it didn’t matter. You guys were all like, “whatever, gimme ten more copies.”

By the end of the day, Variant’s rating had improved over 10,000% to become the fastest thing moving up the charts on all of Amazon. That means Rob beat books that had just been on TV. Rob beat books whose authors had just been interviewed on national news programs.

Rob beat damn near EVERYBODY.

We got him up to #57. That’s FIFTY SEVEN out of SIX MILLION.  For one day, Rob Wells was in the top 100 books in the world. The only person ahead of him in his genre is one of the best selling series in history with a mega big movie coming out.

So our little Book Bomb beat books with massive advertising budgets, gigantic marketing pushes, TV shows, and big Hollywood movies.

Basically, we kicked serious ass.  🙂

And most importantly, it gave Rob a boost. Financially, he wont’ be able to see the numbers for a week, but yesterday should have put a serious dent in his advance. Strategically, his writing is now in front of a lot of new people who will hopefully become long term fans. And morale wise, Rob knows that there are people who love him and want to support him as he gets through his trials.

Good work, Monster Hunter Nation and friends. I am honored to know you. You guys rock.

Veteran's Day

2 Comments

Thank you.

Thank one of our warriors today. They have done more for us than we can ever know.

And welcome home in a few days, Tony B., of America’s Finest. Now come get your crap out of my basement. 🙂

Book Bomb Variant TODAY! Get a good book for a good reason

39 Comments

Amazon link to Variant:  http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=monshuntnati-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&asins=0062026089&ref=tf_til&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr 

Today is the day to go purchase Variant by Robison Wells from Amazon, and then to tell all of your friends to do the same.

Why?

The purpose of a Book Bomb is to get as many folks to buy the same book in the same general time frame in order to boost that books stats, so that it shows up higher on the various Amazon bestseller lists, which helps them sell even more books.

But why this book?

First off, Variant is a good read. I’m one of the cover blurbs saying that I read it in one sitting. That is true. It is a solid book. I’ve plugged it before.

But secondly, and more importantly, Rob Wells is a good guy, family man, great writer, and a friend of mine, who has fallen on some really tough times. Rob was recently diagnosed with a severe panic disorder. What that means is that something in his brain chemistry has gotten out of whack, and because of that his fight or flight reflex switch is constantly in the ON position. His doctors have been trying different drugs to see what can get that flipped back to OFF, but in the meantime it has been very bebilitating. 

As a result of his illness, Rob was laid off of his job last week. He’s got no ill feelings toward his employer. They did what they had to do. But now Rob’s sick and unemployed.

Rob has written a few other books, but they were for small regional publishers (and trust me, those don’t pay very good), and Variant is his first national sale.

Now normally a writer would love to quit their day job, but most of us aren’t able to do that until we either have a gigantic hit or we’ve got five or six books in circulation. I’m sure Rob would love to be a full time writer, but he sure as heck wasn’t planning on doing it yet.

So the purpose of this particular Book Bomb is to give Rob a boost, in morale and in sales. The dude has had enough stress lately. So this isn’t charity, because you get a really good book out of the deal. You get a good product, but at the same time you get to help somebody who could use a hand. I think that is a pretty sweet deal.

And when I say good product, I mean it. I started Variant thinking that it was a sort of a modern take on Lord of the Flies, and that alone was entertaining, but then there’s a mystery beneath all of that with one heck of a twist. Variant is being marketed as Young Adult, but think of it as a solidly written book for anyone, just without as much violence or profanity you’d get out of a typical Larry Correia novel. 🙂

Wait, that’s another selling point. Because it is technically YA, that means you can give a bunch of copies of Variant as CHRISTMAS PRESENTS!

Here is the review of Variant from Elitist Book Reviews: http://elitistbookreviews.blogspot.com/2011/08/variant.html 

And Variant made Publisher’s Weekly Top 10 list of best books of 2011. http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/best-books/2011/childrens-fiction#book/book-1 

Last night Variant was at #6,068 overall out of six million some odd books, and #74 in his genre.

Right now it is at: Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,947 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Through out the day I will update this as it goes up. I want to get Rob as much of a stat boost as possible so that he can sell more books and get new fans.

So, please tell your friends. Post this on your Twitter, Facebook, or blog. Let’s hook a brother up.

EDIT 1:  Already the Monster Hunter Nation is wrecking face.

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #991 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

EDIT 2:  The Monster Hunter Nation is driving your enemies before you, and hearing the lamentations of their women, Conan style.

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #426 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

EDIT 3: Congrats, MHN. You just scissor kicked a bestseller list in the throat! (that’s a good thing)

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #256 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

EDIT 4: We have now put Rob Wells higher on the Amazon list than I got with my top bestseller, Monster Hunter Alpha… Hey, wait a second… I should totally book bomb myself!

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #106 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Also, of interest, Amazon has a Movers & Shakers list, which shows the books that have shot up the most. Variant is now #3, having moved up 5,624% in one day. I heard that one of the books we just passed was the big interview on NPR yesterday… So congrats, Monster Hunter Nation. You have defeated NPR.

EDIT 5: Well, Monster Hunter Nation, you are the Oprah Book Club of the blogosphere… Only better armed, and with better taste, and if Tom Cruise tried to jump on your couch you would put him in a choke hold.

We have broke into the top 100. This is an amazing achievement.

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #86 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

EDIT 6:  Rob is going to have to name his next kid Owen Zastava Wells at this rate. We’ve moved from, wow, nice Book Bomb, into HOLY CRAP territory.

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #72 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

And this just in, Variant is the top #1, biggest improvement on all of Amazon. It is the #1 Mover and Shaker bestseller having improved 10,166% in the last 24 hours. This is truly the best Book Bomb EVAR.

EDIT 7:  I can’t even say how amazing these results have been.  That’s 61st out of every book in the world. Today Rob Wells has Won The Internet.

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #61 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

EDIT 8: Rob is still kicking serious booty. What an astounding run

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #57 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Busy week and random updates

15 Comments

First and most important, remember to buy, and thus Book Bomb the hell out of Variant tomorrow, November 10th, and tell your friends to buy the hell out of Variant tomorrow, to help out the ill and recently laid off friend of mine, Rob Wells. http://www.amazon.com/dp/0062026089/ref=as_li_tf_til?tag=monshuntnati-20&camp=14573&creative=327641&linkCode=as1&creativeASIN=0062026089&adid=1B4V4Y5278KQEEAA7GPS&&ref-refURL=http%3A%2F%2Frcm.amazon.com%2Fe%2Fcm%3Ft%3Dmonshuntnati-20%26o%3D1%26p%3D8%26l%3Das1%26asins%3D0062026089%26ref%3Dtf_til%26fc1%3D000000%26IS2%3D1%26lt1%3D_blank%26m%3Damazon%26lc1%3D0000FF%26bc1%3D000000%26bg1%3DFFFFFF%26f%3Difr

Right now Rob is at: Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,068 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

I want to see if we can’t get him to #1.

EDIT: Nevermind, he’s in the same category as The Hunger Games. 🙂  Let’s shoot for top 10.

In other news, I went to the dentist last week, for the very first time in 5 years… Yeah, I know. Don’t yell at me. I was self-employed for 3 of those and didn’t have dental insurance, and since I’ve had my super awesome day job with insurance, I’ve been too busy and procrastinating.  That said, the good news is I only had a single tiny cavity, which isn’t too shabby at all for a man with an aversion to flossing. The bad news is that I had a chipped tooth, broken a filling, and cracked a crown. I spent two hours yesterday getting grinded on, and get to go back for 3 more visits.  

My next door neighbor is my dentist. I need so many repairs that I’m sure he’ll purchase himself a new snowmobile this year to ride around Yard Moose Mountain. I want him to name it Correia’s Teeth.  On a serious note, I’ll plug Capitol Dental in Ogden, because they made having a jagged chunk of porcelein extracted from your gum about as pleasant as could be.

In other news, I’m still cranking along on Monster Hunter Legion. I have a killer deadline, and I’m working hard to get it wrapped up by Christmas. MHL will be out in September 2012.  After that I’ll either be working on the series with John Ringo, depending on where John is on the outline, or I’ll start working on Warbound. The sequel to Dead Six will be worked on at the same time. Mike doesn’t get back from Afghanistan until February or March, but my half of Swords of Exodus is mostly done already.

I will get the Bookscan numbers for Spellbound’s release week tomorrow. I have absolutely no idea how it is doing. So far my MH series is my bestseller, with even the ones that have been out for a few years still turning in solid numbers every single week.  MHI has remarkable staying power. MHA made it 12 weeks in the top 50 in fantasy nationwide. Hard Magic has done well, but not up to MH numbers, though I need to remember that hard backs and trades cost more, and the mass market isn’t out until next year, so I suppose it is actually doing pretty darn. Dead Six has done respectable, but not a big hit like the others. I don’t know if that is because it is out of my regular genre, or because there is a coauthor, which is too bad, because it is awesome. 

The day job has been hopping. I don’t talk about it much on here, but the small military contractor I work for has been growing steadily and winning new contracts. I’m getting an assistant soon, which will be very nice. I figure I’ve got about one more year of doing the two jobs thing, and then I’ll need to start phasing myself out.

Speaking of multiple jobs, November 1st was a milestone. I let my CCW instructor certifications lapse. I hadn’t taught a class in a year. I’ve just been so busy with work and writing that the idea of killing a whole Saturday to teach a pistol class was just impossible. I will miss it, but there was just no way I could stay current and give the quality class that I wanted to. Back in 2007-2008 I was one of the busiest instructors in the state, teaching 10-50 person classes three or four times a month.

It was a lot of fun, I met a lot of wonderful people, and learned a ton. You wouldn’t believe some of the stories I’ve heard. I got to certify a couple thousand people, and I know of a few of them who had someting bad happen, and were then able to go on and get their money’s worth. 🙂  I will miss teaching.

Prepare for the MOTHER OF ALL BOOK BOMBS

42 Comments

Mark your calender. On Thursday, November 10th, I’m going to book bomb somebody, and not only that, I’m going to ask all of you for help spread the word because this particular author is in dire need of a boost.

I’ve already plugged Variant by Robison Wells once before. I know many of you read it and liked it. Rob is a friend of mine and a member of Writer Nerd Game Night. Variant is an excellent read, sort of a sci-fi take on Lord of the Flies with a twist, and don’t just take my word for it, it made the Publisher’s Weekly list of the top books of the year. (which is quite the honor, despite PW hating Hard Magic and giving it a sloppy review that made it obvious their lazy ass reviewer only read the first 1/4 of the book. Ultra good Grimnoir and ultra evil Imperium my ass) 🙂  

But I digress. Variant was one of the best books I’ve read this year. I stayed up late to read it in one sitting.

Normally I wouldn’t bomb the same book again, but Rob is also going through a really tough time. A little while ago he was diagnosed with a severe panic disorder. Basically, something in his brain chemistry has gone out of whack, and his fight or flight reflex is constantly switched on. As a result this has really screwed up his life. He has been trying to get it under control and his doctors have been experimenting with different treatments trying to find the one that will click.

Recently, Rob was laid off from his day job as a result of his illness. This is a real financial hardship for him and his family.

What many people don’t realize about writers is that we keep our day jobs until we have about five or six books in circulation, and sometimes longer depending on how well they are selling. Writing isn’t the most steady of paychecks. (I’m doing well enough now that I could just be a writer, but I happen to love my day job, so I plan on doing it for probably another year).  You’ve got to earn back the advance and even then you only get paid every six months. Variant is Rob’s first book on the national market. He had a ways to go before he would be able to quit the day job, but his illness totally wrecked that plan.

So I want to book bomb the HELL out of Variant. I want to shove that thing up the bestseller lists on Amazon and I want to give my friend a hand.

What is a book bomb? Well, Amazon has its own bestseller list. It is calculated hourly and you are given a sales rank based up on how you stack up against the other six million books on there. It is some sort of strange rolling average algorhythm, but what it comes down to is, the more books that are purchased during that particular time frame, the higher you rank. The higher you rank, the more of their top 50 or top 10 lists you show up on. The more of those you show up on, the higher you go, the more attention you get, the more books you sell.

By getting as many people as possible to purchase the book on a single day, it really kicks a book up the rankings.

So mark your calenders, this Thurday the 10th.

Amazon link to Variant:  http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=monshuntnati-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&asins=0062026089&ref=tf_til&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr 

If you were planning on buying a book anyway, I highly recommend Variant. I recommended it before its author fell on really hard times.  Unlike most of my stuff, it is appropriate for adults and teenagers. My 11 and 9 year olds have both read it and really liked it, but they read grown up books anyway. So it makes a good Christmas present. Even the lovely Mrs. Correia really liked Variant, and she is the toughest critic I know.  

If you’ve got a blog, I’d like to ask a favor and please post about this. Rob is a good dude and needs a hand. And you get an awesome book out of the deal.

I’ll put up another post on Thursday linking to some reviews.

EDIT:  And here is Rob’s blog, http://www.robisonwells.com/   He doesn’t know I’m doing this yet.