Hitting The Bestseller Lists

Recently I saw a writer running a 99 cent promo on his ebook and state that he was hoping to hit the USA Today bestseller list. 

As someone who hit the list a few years ago, I can testify that it's possible for any writer to hit that list nowadays. Usually it involves a Bookbub promo, with either the mystery category or thriller category, to really push the book up the charts for a couple days. Depending on the time of year, only a few thousand units sold within a week's time will be enough to land you on the list — most likely near the tail end, but still. 

However, this particular writer's book is currently exclusive to Amazon. In fact, he was running a Countdown Deal. Not that it matters one way or another, but the simple fact is that no matter how many units he sells within a week's time, he won't hit any national lists. 

Why? 

Well, because of the exclusivity. 

There's a reason Amazon Publishing titles never hit the New York Times bestseller lists, despite the fact they can at times outsell most of the other books listed. I don't know where the fine print is, but a book has to be available on more than one platform, and has to sell a certain number of copies on each platform before it can even be considered as being added to a list.

As publishing is a rapidly changing landscape, where books are constantly selling as different speeds, it's impossible to say how many units an ebook needs to sell to make a list, though I have heard that over 10,000 units is needed to hit the New York Times list, while with the USA Today list you're probably looking at close to 5,000 or more. Really, it depends on what other books are selling well that week, the time of the year (certain seasons are busier than others), etc. 

I forget how many copies of The Serial Killer's Wife sold when it hit the USA Today bestseller list — at least 5,000, I know that. And I know that the next year when I ran a promo on the same book I sold the same amount of copies, if not more, and yet it didn't make the list. The same with No Shelter — I sold close to 5,000 that week without it hitting the list.

So really, when it comes down to it, it's all about luck. Selling as many copies as possible between Monday and Sunday, of course, but also selling more copies than the thousands and thousands of other books out there. 

Is it possible hitting a list without having a major publisher to back you? 

Yes. 

Is it something you should depend on when running a promo? 

Absolutely not — not even if you have a major publisher backing you. 

Visit The Land of the Dead For 99 Cents

My novel Land of the Dead (previously The Dishonored Dead) is just 99 cents everywhere for the next several days. While I love all my books equally as if they were my children (and in a way I guess they are), if I had to pick a favorite, it would be this book. So grab it! 

Kindle | Nook | Kobo | iTunes | Google Play

While you're at it, sign up to pick a free paperback copy of the novel over at Goodreads. 

Newsletter Easter Eggs

Many, many years ago, when I helped edit Flesh & Blood magazine, I came up with this idea of easter egg haikus. Basically, every issue would feature a haiku by a top horror writer. The writer's name would not appear on the cover or even the table of contents. There would be no announcement that the writer had a haiku in the issue. The haiku would just be hidden among the pages waiting for readers to find it.

I forget how many haikus we ended up doing. I know we published haikus by Douglas Clegg and Ramsey Campbell. I think we also published some by Tim Lebbon and Edward Lee. There may have been a few more, but the magazine folded not too long after. 

Anyway, I always liked that idea, and recently I've been thinking what I could add to my newsletter to make it more than just me pimping a new book or story. After all, these days every writer has a newsletter, and for good reason. It's one of the best ways to communicate with readers. But with so many newsletters out there, it's difficult to set yours apart from everyone else's. Especially when the cold hard reality is that, on average, half the people who sign up for an author's newsletter almost never even open them.

And so, taking a cue from the me of many, many years ago, I decided to add easter eggs into my newsletter. 

The past week I've been telling people that I'm going to soon send out a new newsletter, and that if they're Brian Keene fans they might want to sign up. Some asked why they would want to sign up for my newsletter if they were Brian Keene fans. Well, I couldn't really tell them, could I? That would ruin the surprise. Fact is, I probably shouldn't have even said anything at all. But as this is the first time it's happening, I thought it would be a good idea to give everyone a heads up. 

The newsletter just went out and included an excerpt of a work-in-progress of Brian's called The Complex, which should be completed sometime later this year. Right now, the only place anybody can view the excerpt is in my newsletter. 

I plan on doing similar stuff in the future. I only send out a handful of newsletters every year, so I can't guarantee every newsletter will include exclusive content by another author (at the most I try to highlight books by other writers I've enjoyed), but at least once or twice a year a newsletter will feature an original short story, poem, essay, or novel excerpt from a bestselling author.

So if you missed out on this past newsletter, ask someone who already subscribes to forward you their copy. And, hey, sign up now so you don't miss out in the future.

Where's the Third Man of Wax Book?

That's the one question I'm asked most by readers, and the answer is always the same: It's coming.

I like Man of Wax, The Inner Circle, and Legion a lot, and I really do want to write the third book, but the sales haven't been strong for most of the series. Which means I'll be putting a lot of time and effort into a book that, in reality, won't sell very well (the third book of a trilogy, as you can imagine, always sells the least). If the books in the series were selling like gangbusters, you can guarantee I'd already have the third book out.

But — but! — I do plan to finish the blasted thing. I just have a few more projects to work on first — projects that will ensure I still have money coming in over several months, which is rather important. Right now I'm working on a project I can't talk about, and then the plan after that is to write two new Holly Lin novels, and THEN write the third Man of Wax book. However, I'm willing to make a deal with everyone. If the books in the Man of Wax series gets to a certain level of reviews, I'll tackle the third book after the project I'm working on right now.

Currently on Amazon Man of Wax as 87 reviews, The Inner Circle has 41, and Legion has 27. I'll make the third and final book a top priority when Man of Wax hits 100 reviews on Amazon, and The Inner Circle and Legion both hit 50 reviews each. I don't know when it happened, but Amazon doesn't even require you to write that much of a review anymore — just a few words will do. And the reason for this? The more reviews a book has, the more Amazon recommends it to readers, the more those books sell.

So ... whaddya waitin' on?

Test, Test, 1, 2, 3

Haven't blogged in a while, I know. Apologies. Only ... well, I haven't had much to blog about. Just been busy. Anyway, my website got a major facelift, so if you haven't checked that out you should. Also, I'm not sure this will go through RSS feeds that people already have saved, so basically this is a test.