If you give the counter in the upper left-hand corner there a quick glance, you’ll see that One Drink is currently sitting at 119 of the 200 free units needed to unlock the next discount for Dead Silver. Currently it’s only at a 33% discount, but if One Drink‘s counter hits 200, the discount goes to 66%. And if it somehow reaches 500 … Dead Silver will be free!
We’re halfway through the week now, so time is starting to tick down. Be sure to grab your copy to help that number climb, or if you already have, leave a review to add a 10 to that number!
And if you’ve somehow been on this site for a time and completely missed the basic crux of One Drink, you can read a sample here, but here’s the gist of it: Jacob Rocke is a “Spook,” an individual licensed by the National Security Agency, Unusual department. Which means he’s one of the few whose job it is to actually deal with things that go bump in the night. Usually, while Unusual, these cases tend to be fairly standard. So when a client tracks him down claiming that a ghostly wolf bounded through her walls and attacked her husband, it’s definitely Unusual. Not too much. At least, not at first …
In just over a day, One Drink has moved 99 units! Halfway to unlocking the next sales tier for Dead Silver! Keep it rolling! If it can hit enough, Dead Silver ends up free!
Don’t forget: If you’ve already purchased a copy of One Drink, a review on Amazon or Goodreads counts as 10 units moved, so you can still help tick that number up by jumping on one or both places and leaving your opinion on the book! Or you can just do the classic thing and share the sale!
Be sure to watch that counter in the upper-left tick along! We’re halfway to the second reward tier!
All right, so this topic has been on the list for a while, and it’s high time it gets crossed off. Which means … I’ve got to talk about it. Time to see how much knowledge I can impart! So here goes!
So, before on this site (several times in fact, if memory serves) we’ve spoken about the three act structure, or the rise and fall of action, or pacing … Like I said, if memory serves, this topic has come up quite a bit. Anyway, with that, the classic plot timeline has come into play. You know the one. Rising and falling action, a climax, all that jazz? Hang on, I made one at one point. Take a look.
Yup. That thing. Like I said, we’ve talked about it before. And we’ve touched on key points, such as the falling tension, the climax, the resolution, the stinger, or even the various parts. But one part of that timeline that I don’t believe has ever been talked about on this blog is the moments of rising tension.
Round one is here, and the rolling sale is underway! See that sweet counter in upper left? That’s keeping track of all the status of the sale so far! What’s on sale, what’s up next, what the next unlock is, and of course the next title coming down the pipe with that achieved unlock.
So don’t forget! Spread the word and get those units moved! Or leave a review on Amazon or Goodreads! The clock is ticking. Dead Silver is currently sitting at 33% off, but it can go much, much lower!
On Friday, a book jumped to the #1 spot on Amazon, out of nowhere; it quickly became obvious that the author had used a clickfarm to gatecrash the charts.
The Kindle Store is officially broken.
This is not the first time this has happened and Amazon’s continued inaction is increasingly baffling. Last Sunday, a clickfarmed title also hit #1 in the Kindle Store. And Amazon took no action.
Over the last six weeks, one particularly brazen author has put four separate titles in the Top 10, and Amazon did nothing whatsoever. There are many such examples.
All right, people! We’re only a few days away now from the start of the first round of the Rolling Sale, which begins July 17th. That’s right: This coming Monday! Prepare now!
What is a rolling sale? Good question! It’s a domino effect sale, really. How it works is that one book starts out on a discount of some kind, and then the number of copies it sells determines the coming discount of the next book in line. The better the first book does, the deeper the discount for the second title, all the way down to free. Then, once that book goes live with its part of the rolling sale, its sales then determine the discount of the next book after that, and so on until every book has been given a spot on the list.
What’s this mean for you? Well, it means that the better a book does during its time in the spotlight, the better a deal you’ll have when the next book arrives. So you want a book to do well.
But … what if you’ve already bought the book in question? After all, One Drink, the first one in line, has been out for years, and it’s not exactly expensive to start with. Are you out of luck?
No. A sale is a sale (even if it’s a free copy). But so that those who’ve already grabbed a copy can still get in on things, I’ve added an additional rule: A review of the book on Amazon or Goodreads will count as 10 units moved. So if you’ve already bought the book, you can still do something to kick that counter up for the next title.
Additionally, sharing the book can help out too. If you post a link on Facebook or Reddit and three people grab it, that’s three more sales towards hitting the next tier for the next book. Even KDP reads during this time will count towards the total number, so that those with Kindle Unlimited accounts can help out as well. Each read complete through KU will count as one sale, though this will put the readers on a bit of a clock to finish things before each deadline!
Okay, so, we’ve got the basics of how this works down. Now the question on everyone’s mind: What are the tiers? What sort of numbers need to be reached? What book is going to be available at a discount next week? What about after that?
Good questions. Let’s answer them! The first domino in this rolling sale is none other than One Drink, the Urban Fantasy-Mystery novella that was the first thing I ever released! Now, One Drink is pretty inexpensive at the best of times anyway, being 99 cents, so there’s not much further down it can go than “Free.” Which it will be, starting next Monday and running through Friday. Yup, entirely free. No charge.
Remember, though, if you already have it, leaving a review for it counts as 10 sales. Or if you’re really extreme and haven’t bought it, buy a copy, read it, and then leave a review, for a total of 11 sales. But that’s pretty dedicated. You don’t have to do that, but you could. No one would complain, I imagine.
Especially as this would further everyone else’s goals in helping move the next title in line to the next sales tier.
First of all, I apologize for how late this post is (it’s Tuesday). Turns out, I’d almost forgotten that I had a meeting at my part-time Monday. Now, I can’t work currently, but I can attend a meeting. So I did, forgetting until Sunday night that this automatically conflicted with the Monday morning Being a Better Writer post. I then got up a little early to try and work something out, but didn’t get too far before I had to head off to work.
Side note: The knee is still recovering. Trying to get my back pay for the several weeks worth of work I was unable to do. We’ll see what happens. Wish me luck!
Anyway, so today’s topic. I want to dive right into this one headway, because it’s a good one. Often here before I’ve talked about show versus tell, right? And yes, that’s show versus tell, not show don’t tell. The first is proper (all things in balance). The latter is overblown purple prose taught as a guideline to push writers into showing, but then unfortunately not untaught.
Anyway, there are, if memory serves, several blog posts on that very topic here on the site. But I want to go one step further and tackle something that usually comes right on the heels of telling someone to “show” something.
Yes, that title is pungent. As was that. Gotcha looking though, I hope. Because it’s time for the news update! There are a couple of things to bring up, from an injury, to new fiction, to progress on Jungle, Patreon, and info on a Rolling Sale! So keep reading!
So first, why the pun in the title? Well … because one of the things that’s been controlling my life lately has been a knee injury I acquired last month at my part-time job. And on Wednesday, at long last, I got to go see a doctor!
So, turns out I tore my meniscus, which is why I was limping everywhere and pretty much couldn’t walk for a short time (a few weeks, really). It still hurts and swells up a little if I walk very far at all. But the good news? It’s not a permanent injury. Or at least, it doesn’t look like it. If it’s not healed in a few weeks I need to go back and get it looked at again, this time with an MRI, but at the moment the doctor’s pretty sure that it’ll make a full recovery. Now I just need to worry about collecting my workman’s comp (this was a work-related injury) and hope it’s enough to keep me financially solvent. In the meantime, I’m wearing a brace or a wrap everywhere (up from just the brace) and taking anti-inflammatory meds to help with the swelling.
I’ve never wanted to be able to go on a walk so much in my life. I can’t wait to be able to get exercise again.
Anyway, that’s the news on the injury. May I be walking fully again soon! So, onto the next bit of info!
Yup, I’m an American. And that means that once a year, when July 4th rolls around, I freaking love it.
Okay, yes, I know it’s tomorrow. But back home, when I was younger, it was a multi-day celebration (I believe it’s up to a week of events, now).
Anyway, long, roundabout way of saying no Being a Better Writer post today or tomorrow. It’s the 4th! Go light some fireworks, set up some boom. Do not light a forest on fire, though. Play responsibly, people! But if you’re American (or just want to celebrate the date of American Independence since we celebrate with lots of boom), have some fun! Get the grill out! Read a ridiculous pulp adventure! Whatever!
Oh, speaking of reading, though … Did you know that the Nominations for The Dragon Awards close in just 21 days, not counting today? That’s right, three weeks from today, the nomination period will be over! Which means that you’ve only got three weeks to check out all the different nominations you can make, form your own list, and hit submit! Don’t forget, whatever you nominate did have to release during the July 1st 2016 to June 30th, 2017 period though. After all, this award is for the new stuff released in the last year.
So, you’ve got three weeks to finalize your nominations! Get to it!
And enjoy your 4th of July. I’ll see you all later this week.
Unusual Things 