by John Gilstrap
A couple of weeks ago, I posted our marketing strategy for Hostage Zero which included a limited time free giveaway of the ebook version of No Mercy in all e-formats. In principle, it seemed like a good idea: We’d let people have a risk-free peek at the first book in the series, and with luck, they’d have whetted appetities for the second installment.
Well, apparently the strategy worked. Within hours, No Mercy shot to #1 on the free-book Kindle list, where it stayed for its entire free-book run. The attention brought some very hot reviews to the amazon.com No Mercy page, and sparked some favorable cyber word-of-mouth. That’s all good, but free is free. Then a funny thing happened.
When the free-book status expired on July 5, No Mercy stayed at the #1 slot, only this time in the PAID Kindle Store, outselling Stieg Larsson’s Tattoo series books. I told myself it must be an anomaly. After a couple of hours, I figured it would slip off the list. Only it didn’t. The book stayed at #1 for over two days. As I write this, 4:37 on July 8, it’s still at #3 in the Kindle Store.
It gets better. Hostage Zero–my new release–is currently at #61 and climbing (falling?) in the Kindle Store. Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol is #62.
All of this is very cool, but I have no idea what it means in the larger sense. Hopefully, the trend will contine and my books will become one of those word-of-mouth sensations that sets the world on fire; but it’s also possible that this is a brief flash–fun for a while, but ultimately not a big deal.
It’s not at all clear to me whether the ups and downs of the ebook market has any effect on the paper-book market. When a Kindle reader calls her Luddite Aunt Betty to say that she just read this amazing book, Aunt Betty will need to be able to find that book in the local bookstore in order to share the experience. I venture to guess that No Mercy will be a hard find this far after its initial publication. Can a runaway ebook prompt a bricks-and-mortar bookseller to restock a title? I guess we’ll see.
Hell, I don’t even know how much I make off the sale of an ebook.
Whatever this is that is happening, though, is very, very exciting.
Monthly Archives: July 2010
The Virtual Water Cooler
The other night I found myself debating the merits and pitfalls of social networking with a group of friends. As always, people seem to fall into one of two camps: there’s the group that thinks Facebook and its ilk are slowly destroying the social fabric, ensnaring people into shadow lives that are only experienced virtually. On the other side are people who think that social networking sites have made it much easier to connect and stay in touch with people, improving their daily existence.
The subject initially came up because of an event I attended recently. “Pop up Magazine” is a one-night only live magazine produced in San Francisco. Like a print mag, it’s divided into “Shorts,” “Features,” etc. For me the most fascinating “feature” of the night was an interview with a former Guantanamo Bay prison guard. Apparently after he was discharged, his stance on things that had happened during his stationing there shifted. The soldier made it a mission to seek out former prisoners and apologize to them- and to find them, he used Facebook. The woman interviewing him asked, “Why Facebook?” And he looked at her as thought she’d asked why he considered using the telephone to call home. Apparently there are numerous FB groups subscribed to by both former guards and prisoners where they interact, swap stories, and try to find common ground.
I found that absolutely fascinating.
Now, I understand the argument against these networking sites. There’s something terribly depressing about seeing a couple tapping away at their various electronic devices in complete silence during dinner- as I witnessed the other night at a restaurant. But for some of us, the social networking tools have filled a void. Could we live without them? Absolutely. But I would miss my virtual water cooler.
Of course, I’m a bit of a rare case. I spend most of my day alone, in total silence. I work best under those circumstances-and I’m not someone who minds being alone. But aside from the UPS guy, without Facebook, my day would be devoid of most social contact.
Maybe that’s not a bad thing (although it does lend itself to bouncing a ball against a wall for hours on end, or typing the same sentence over and over…)
I love the little breaks spent chatting with people online. I get a kick out of what people post up there (within limits- I have no interest in knowing about your pet’s digestive problems, for example, or what you just scratched). The day after the final episode of LOST aired, I spent a almost embarrassingly significant chunk of my day discussing it with people. Maybe if I worked in an office, I wouldn’t need that. But having contact with the outside world, even if it’s only virtual, is a good thing for me.
I’ve always been terrible about staying in touch. But through these sites, I’ve been able to reconnect with friends from elementary school, high school, college, and my time in New York. (And one of those people volunteered to be a beta reader, providing some of the best insights into my latest manuscript).
My mother just set up a reunion with her college roommates, people she hadn’t seen in decades, via Facebook.
And of course, what would I do without my daily Kill Zone fix? I’ve made acquaintances across the world. Engaged in debate with people I probably would never have met otherwise. I’ve spent my entire adult life living in cities where chatting with strangers is a rare occurrence. But the online networking sites remove that wall, and suddenly I find myself discussing Nora Ephron’s send-up of THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO with people in Tulsa, Akron, and Tokyo.
So…virtual water coolers: yea or nay?
The Return of Payne Harrison
By Joe Moore
Back in the 1980s, I was a huge fan of techno-thrillers. I loved Tom Clancy, Larry Bond, Dale Brown, Stephen Coonts and others, many of whom are still around and made the transition out of the Cold War into today’s military oriented thrillers. In 1989, a friend recommended STORMING INTREPID, and I quickly 
became a fan of a new writer by the name of Payne Harrison. Now we’ve all heard the cliché about a book being so good that you can’t put it down. That was the truth with STORMING INTREPID, the story of the U.S. using the space shuttle to deploy the Star Wars defense system and how the Soviets manage to hijack the space craft. It was an intricate plot with a great deal of in-depth info on the technical side of things. Outrageous and totally fun.
Harrison landed on the New York Times bestseller list and followed up INTREPID with THUNDER OF EREBUS, a military thriller set in Antarctica, BLACK CIPHER, and FORBIDDEN SUMMIT. I read them all and eagerly waited for the next.
But a strange thing happed on the way to thriller #5. Harrison disappeared off the literary scene. I didn’t think much of it until one day many years later when I was going through my books looking for a particular novel and noticed all of Harrison’s books on my shelf. I realized it have been quite a long time since his last. I did an Internet search for his name and came up with very little info except notes about his previous books. Every so often, I would repeat the search with the same results. Thirteen years went by and I assumed the worst: perhaps Payne Harrison was no longer with us. After all, why would a bestselling author just disappear and quite writing thrillers?
Then a couple of weeks ago, an Amazon promo pinged in my inbox promoting the return of Payne Harrison and his new thriller, EUROSTORM. I put in my advance order and eagerly waited for the notice that it shipped. The book arrived last Friday, and I finished it over the 4th of July weekend.
Despite the 13 years absence, he has not missed a beat. The style, voice, and plotting are exactly as he left off. Reading the book was like running into an old friend after a long time apart. And EUROSTORM is like a thriller on steroids. There’s his usual huge cast of characters, impeccable research, slingshot pacing, and heart-stopping, cliffhanger chapter endings.
EUROSTORM involves deadly engineered viruses, terror and bloodshed on the Bullet Train from England to France, the reanimation of the Third Reich hierarchy after they were frozen decades ago, and the coming together of French and U.K. military assault teams with a big helping hand from a Chicago detective to stop a diabolical plan to murder millions in the name of the new Fourth Reich.
EUROSTORM is not perfect as no book ever is. In order to cover an immense amount of territory involving dozens of characters, Harrison must utilize omniscient third person POV. The camera is always at a distance so it’s hard to really “feel” for most of the characters. But this technique won’t stop you from rooting for the good guys and wishing nasty stuff on the baddies.
If you enjoy extremely fast-paced thrillers that cover a huge amount of ground and information while keeping you on the edge of your barstool, read EUROSTORM by Payne Harrison. I only hope I don’t have to wait another 13 years for his next one.
How about you? Have you ever had to wait what seemed like forever to read the next book by a favorite author? How long did you wait, and was it worth it?
Open Tuesdays
It’s time for another Open Tuesday while our blogmate, Kathryn Lilley, is on medical hiatus. Bring us your questions, comments and discussions. If you have a question about writing, publishing or any other related topic, ask away in our comments section. We’ll do our best to get you an answer.
And don’t forget you can download a copy of FRESH KILLS, Tales from the Kill Zone to your Kindle or PC today.
It must be love, Ebook love..
You’ll have to bear with me as this is my first effort blogging on the iPad and it feels rather weird – but I have to get used to it as my family and I are embarking on a two month camping odyssey taking in most of the national parks in the Western United States. Tomorrow we head to Sequoia National Park and then Yosemite to start things off. Although I hope to be blogging from the road, there will be a few Mondays where we will be of the grid – but I am hopeful that my trusty iPad will keep me on track. Let’s just call it an adventure.
The one thing I do know for sure is that I am now an official ebook convert. I have to confess I initially viewed ebooks with trepidation. I was fully wedded to my paper book world – until now. Yes, it’s official I’m in love…okay and perhaps just a little addicted to my iPad.
It’s been only a couple of weeks and I have already amassed over 30 iBooks, 5 kindle ebooks and 28 Barnes and Noble ebooks. Now most of these are freebies I admit but still, it’s getting to be a bit of an addiction – believe me I am trying to be restrained! I just can’t help myself. I have also found myself trolling through the free ebook titles on all the sites – hey, you just never know when I might want to read that historical western or that paranormal erotica… Interestingly enough my major worry with ebooks used to be how to differentiate between the legitimate versus the self published but now I am actually browsing I find it is easy to see the distinction ( call me a snob but I haven’t downloaded any books from smash words as yet). To me the fact that publishers are giving me the chance to read titles like John’s No Mercy is great marketing and already I can see how free ebook samples can lure new readers in.
I also love how I get to carry a mini library wherever I go. On a recent flight I could keep my kids entertained with a variety of Beatrix Potter books complete with illustrations and it felt reassuring to know that I could read a number of other books in an instant if they wanted me too. In the past I have been weighed down by all the books I have had to carry.
Okay so enough of the love fest – what excites me is how technology has reinvigorated my love of books and, even more importantly, my children are just as excited as me. The reading experience has not been lost at all – just made a teeny bit cooler. So what piece of technology has done the same for you? Do you remember the thrill of the Walkman or watching your first VHS movie? What technology do you think will help reignite the passion for reading?
What Do You Do When You’re Not Writing?
By James Scott Bell
I am temporarily indisposed. Away from my computer and all my ideas for my next blog post. What I have here is a friend’s iPad and only a few moments before I move on.
So please excuse the brevity of this post, and allow me to ask a question: what do you like to do when you’re not writing? Is it something that takes you completely away from scribal concerns? Or is your writer switch always on? (I’ll return next time with more substantial thoughts from this writer’s warehouse.)
The Loss of A Perfect Setting
John Ramsey Miller
We all have our favorite locations––places in our hearts that we put to the pen. Places change. Some locations change subtly or dramatically. I wrote New Orleans, a place that changed at a snail’s pace when it did, until Katrina decimated her down to the ancient bones. The city is coming back at a snail’s pace, and it will never be the same as I remember it.
For the past many several years I have fished almost exclusively for Redfish and Speckled Trout in the brackish inlets and marshes south of Houma, Louisiana. My friends and I stay at a cabin in Falgout Marina, and we fish the lakes, marshes and often around several of the oil rigs ten miles out in the Gulf with Captain George Landry. Landry has spent his life hunting and fishing those waters and he knows the lakes and marshes better than any pelican does. What we are seeing on TV–the weeds covered with oil––are rich fishing grounds populated with marine life as well as a huge variety of wildlife. During their mating season, I have seen flocks of Pelicans–huge clouds of thousands of them sailing in loose formation, falling and dipping up shrimp, small trout and then taking to the skies again to sail like kites. Alligators, bottle-nose dolphins, hawks, egrets, gulls, deer, rabbits, crabs, shrimp …the list is endless. When I see the reeds covered in oil, I think of the times I’ve watched those reeds move as huge Redfish cut through them chasing dinner. I hate what has happened to those grounds, but the truth is we have been heading toward destruction of those wetlands for decades as salt water incursion has been killing off those wonderful natural places thanks in large part to oil exploration, conservationists being relegated to “on the corner with a bullhorn” status, and Louisiana’s unmolested political and big oil corruption, lack of funds or the politicians’ true desire to do anything to save them. It was because of the ongoing destruction of the wetlands that Hurricane Katrina and Rita did so much damage, since the shrinking wetlands act as a natural buffer against those kinds of disasters.
So, I am buying BP gasoline almost exclusively because I want them to stay solvent enough to be able to pay the billions to fix what they have helped destroy. Not to reward them for getting caught doing what most oil companies do without the same degree of unfortunate results. The truth is that none of the oil companies have cleaner hands than any of the others and neither do we. The oil companies have NEVER cared about what they destroy to get to the oil we demand to run our cars, tractors, motorcycles, lawnmowers.
I may never get to fish Sister Lake, Lake Mechant, or Lost Lake again and that saddens me immensely, but I am sadder for the generations who will never enjoy those places as I have, and never marvel at the pelicans filling the skies, the dolphins flanking our boat as we skim the flat water with the wind in our faces and the smell of salt water in our nostrils.
I am sick at heart for the thousands of people who make their livings from the renewable bounty of the marshes and lakes, all of the people who love the seafood that comes from those places, the fish and animals who will perish, and for all that is being lost and will never be the same. I have little faith that the oil will ever be completely cleaned up, because government and industry and the rest of us have such short attention spans, and words of promise do not always translate in effective action. I cannot believe that the oil can be cleaned up. Our ability to screw up beyond the bounds of science to fix those things is growing exponentially. I suspect the oil will be there poisoning everything it can get to for decades, and I predict that the next big disaster will take our eyes off the oily creatures, the dying lakes and marshes. Beaches with tar balls by the millions, lost jobs from a lack of tourists… Oysters, shrimp, crabs and the fish we harvest for our tables will likely be produced in Chinese ponds, and the drilling will go on…
History proves that we can adapt and move on, accepting loss here for gain there…
I have used this place as a setting in several of my novels because it is an enchanting, fertile, amazingly beautiful, complex, delicate and mysterious. It is now lost to the past, but burned indelibly into my imagination. I suppose I will keep using what it was to me in my novels, and I don’t want to add what it is now to that memory.
It’s An Honor To Be Nominated
By John Gilstrap
www.johngilstrap.com
One week from now, I’ll be in New York, attending my fifth ThrillerFest. I’ll have finished my CraftFest presentation, “Broken Bones, Ballistics and Backdrafts: Technical Stuff That Writers Should Get Right” and I’ll be a day away from finding out whether or not my book NO MERCY won the Thriller Award for Best Paperback Original.
I won’t lie to you: I really do hope that I win. A win would mean a lot at many levels, drawing attention to myself and my work at a pretty impressive level. Let’s face it, no one’s career has ever been harmed by winning a major award.
With that on the table, I won’t lie a second time: When it comes to judging “best” in any artistic category, the honor truly does lie in the nomination, irrespective of the ultimate winner. Think about it: a jury of my peers named a product of my imagination as one of the five best out of the pantheon of alternative titles. That’s pretty high cotton.
In fact, it’s very high cotton. I judged a major contest last year, and I know better than most how difficult it is to wean the choices to a final fifteen, let alone a final five. Once that’s done, it’s almost anticlimactic to name one of the five titles as the ultimate best. Fact is, the cliche nails it: The honor truly does lie in being nominated.
Somewhere out there, a finite number of people already know who will win every category of the Thriller Award. If I’m on the list, I will be beyond thrilled. If I’m not, I will be merely thrilled. Either way, I’ll have had a kick-ass great time in New York, hanging with some of the finest people on the planet.
I’ll try to fulfill my obligation here on the Killzone next Friday, but if I’m AWOL next Friday, please forgive me. As for the Saturday night results, keep an eye out for my tweets (@johngilstrap). Win or lose, that’s where I’ll report it first.
Here’s this week’s discussion question: Do awards matter in your decision to buy books? If an author is honored with the Thriller or the Edgar or the National Book Award, does the fact of the award ever compell you to buy a book that you otherwise would not read? How about an Oprah pick?
Distressing Damsels
First of all, if you haven’t taken advantage of the free download of John Gilstrap’s Thriller nominated book NO MERCY yet, it can be found here. You won’t regret it.
Apparently we’re in the middle of a movie-themed week, ranging from Jaws to Predator.
So here’s my contribution.
I made the mistake of watching the film New Moon the other night (I know, believe me, I know. It wasn’t by choice. I lost a bet.)
Fresh off my post on the incomprehensible hype surrounding The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series, I figured there was so much hoopla surrounding Stephanie Meyers and the films based on her books, there must be some fire to that smoke.
Right?
Apparently not. Now, I haven’t read Ms. Meyer’s books (and I’m unlikely to, since watching the films was less enjoyable than a double root canal). I can see where they might appeal to teenage girls-all those strapping young men, barely clothed- and hey, apparently they can’t even indulge in carnal relations with you, since that would result in death- likely yours. It’s all terribly romantic.
But good Lord, the dialogue- stilted to the point where someone says something, someone else responds, yet there’s no evident correlation between the two statements. I liken it to conversations between four year-olds, where one says, “The sky is green,” and his friend answers, “I like cake,” and we’re supposed to believe they’re having a conversation. I kid you not, the repartee in the film is that abyssmal and stilted. If they’d pushed the envelope a bit further, it could have qualified as a Dada masterpiece. (Another example: check out the tagline on the movie poster above. “Love. Life. Meaning. Over.” Huh?)
But that’s not what I found most disturbing. No, apparently the bill of goods that millions of teenage girls (and their mothers) are currently subscribing to is that Bella, the female heroine, is, in fact completely weak and needy. Without male assistance, she can barely get through the day. Forget saving herself- whenever danger strikes, she pretty much curls into a ball and waits for one of those strapping men to show up (which they continue to do, with annoying frequency, for no apparent reason).
Now, I understand that the damsel in distress holds a hallowed place in our lore. But this was impotency and weakness to an extent that I found extremely unsettling. Maybe it’s because I personally am a fan of strong female protagonists. In a pinch, I’ll even settle for moderately capable ones. But this image of the female as a creature constantly putting herself in danger (stupidly: think naked girl wandering into the woods in a slasher film-that stupid), and wallowing if there wasn’t a man around, was disconcerting. At one point, a woman who had been the victim of abuse by her werewolf fiance was lauded for sticking by him because “he couldn’t help it.”
All of this struck me as a giant step backward.
Am I the only one who felt that way?