855 and Counting...

855... that's the number of book downloads of The Girl Who Died Backward that have occurred so far at the moment I write this. The free promo period for the first book has been a big hit so far. The bulk of those were on Friday and Saturday. Sunday seems to have slowed down a bit but that only seems natural. There are two more days to go, but I have to say I'm already excited. The book placed in the top 10 of the two sub-genres it's listed in (even making it to #1 on the chart for a while) in the US, UK and Germany. I'm intrigued to see what happens once it's no longer free and starts to sell at the list price of $.99 (or the equivalent in non-US countries) and I'm also interested to see if people will start reviewing it.

There has been a lot of talk about free (or even $.99) Kindle books and whether people actually read them or just end up collecting them, despite their intention to read them eventually. It's an interesting question, and one I probably won't be able to answer in terms of my own experience for a while yet. I think with this sort of thing it's a marathon and not a sprint. Most people have a big reading list piled up (I know I do!) and a new book by an untested author might not jump to the top of the pile. So I'll have to be patient. But I have to say—at the end of the day—I'm delighted that 855 people (so far) could potentially be reading my book. I would love to make a living at writing and hope people will buy this book and the future installments... but I've got to admit, just getting the book out there is really exciting for me.

I just "locked down" Book 2. If you've got Book 1 you already know the title, but I'll announce it on the website (along with the synopsis) on February 17. Having read it several times again in the last couple of days while making final edits, I realized that although I think Book 1 is a great introduction to the characters, Book 2 actually feels a bit more representative of the series in both its tone and execution. I'm really happy with the way it turned out because writing Book 2 ended up being the hardest of all of them, with the possible exception of Book 7. But I'm exceptionally happy with the way it turned out and can't wait to share it with everyone February 24.

Now, I'm off to watch the return of The Walking Dead... I hope they get off that farm soon!