Run From The Reapers is climbing the Charts

Words: 5,424
Time: 4pm - 2:30am (3 or 4 hrs of breaks)
Mood: Great
Impression: It's good

So I've had a couple of interesting things go on in the last couple of days. First Fixing Cupid has gotten another 5-star review. This time it's on Barnes and Noble. Second, Fixing Cupid is being offered in a free promotion and 2,500 people downloaded it in the first day pushing it to #3 in Free humor and #75 free over all. It's nice that people find the book interesting. Very few free books get this type of attention.

The most important thing that has gone on though is that Run From The Reaper, which was offered for a free promotion made it to #2 in Occult fiction and #17 in thrillers before it was taken off the free list. That's not the great news though. The great news is that once it came off of the free list, it started selling. The book is now climbing the charts. This morning it was #82 in occult and right now it's #57.

I have to say that this makes me feel a lot better because I was feeling a tremendous amount of distress because I kept thinking that it is a great story with a great cover and blurb yet people weren't buying it. I had come to believe that it was because people didn't know it existed. It seems that it was true.

I'm not sure how long it will keep climbing because the price keeps shifting between $1.99 and $2.99. But today alone it has sold more books than it has in it's pre-free list history. That feels nice.

The book I'm really excited about becoming paid again is Fixing Cupid. I have always believed that this book has the most upside and its number of free downloads has proven my point. So when this book becomes paid again, it should sell even more copies than RFTR did. And finally the book will be worth all of the effort I put in it. But we'll have to see.

Friend recruiting starts now; 5 star reviews

Words: 3,541
Time: 2:30pm - 10:15pm (2 hr break)
Mood: Great
Impression: Good

I watched Charlie Rose 2 nights ago. On it was Jim Collins. He is the author of one of my favorite books Good To Great. He has come out with a new book about how start ups survive difficult times to become great big companies.

It was an interesting show and I learned something from it. I'm proud to say that I have many of the qualities of his example of great start-up company leaders. I have incredible focus, I have incredible devotion to projects, I think of things from both a creative and business stance and if I'm given time to make an important decision, I use ever minute of it researching all sides before deciding.

There was one thing though that I pretty glaringly lack. Jim was telling a story about this guy who was the first to make it to the North Pole. He mentioned that one of the things that allowed him to make it there on time and to bring his entire team back alive was that not only did he cover the territory he said he would during the bad days, but when he had the good days, he only traveled the alloted amount, no more. I don't do that. I will cover my allotted amount of work on a bad day and then try to do twice as much on a good day. I'm positive that that is not going to help me return from the North Pole alive.

So thinking about that, I have decided to allow myself not to finish my latest story tonight. Instead I will do 2 editing passes on the story I wrote yesterday, create the cover for yesterday's work and then publish it. I should be done by about 6am. I'm not sure that it is exactly what Jim Collins would recommend, but baby steps, right?

I think generally speaking I'm running out of gas on the writing though. My plan was to push as hard as I can until Dec 20th and then take a break. My goal for this month was to release 8 new titles. I had to work on Samurai Zombie Hunter for the first week of the month so that time was shot. Since then I have published 2 shorts and I've written 1 and a half others. I will probably start another on Saturday and all three should be published by Monday.

That will leave me 9 days to release three more books. It's doable, I guess, but it seems that I'm needing more rest periods than I did last month. I'm not sure how many 15 hr days I've done this month but I know there are fewer. This week alone I've had 2 non 15 hour days and it's just Thursday. I'm just slacking I'm telling you, but according to Jim Collin's research, 15 hour days are bad anyway, so maybe it's a good thing in disguise.

But if I can manage to make my quota of 8 titles this month, I will have 21 erotic titles overall. So If I can do 6 by December 20th, that would mean that I have 29 or 30 title (the count includes compilations) before I take my 3 week break. That number is important in the erotica game because 30 titles is the magical number when author are thought to take off in earnings. What does "taking off" mean? Well I would love to believe that it means between $4k and $6k a month. I'd take it, but we'll have to see if it is actually offered to me.

I think that most of the people who took off at 30 titles had something that I won't have though, more time. Most people don't write 30 titles in three months. Time is important so that Amazon can do their algorithm magic that puts your titles in front of a lot of eyeballs. But, like I said, we'll see.

On another front, I got a confirmation this week that I am still as psychic as I have always been. I would usually explain what happened but it is kind of personal to someone else so I can't. But needless to say, I am god damn impressive... And Tao of Psychology is a really great book that I have proven to be incredibly accurate multiple times. And the 2 main times have been incredibly impressive.

Other highlights since I last wrote. My books Fixing Cupid and Run From The Reaper have both received 5 star reviews. It was the first for Fixing Cupid and the first for Run From The Reaper on Barnes and Noble. RFTR is averaging 4.5 stars on B&N. Cool!

Also, I've made a realization that I am once again down to having only about 6 or so close single friends in Los Angeles. It used to be that whenever I had something I had an extra ticket for I could pull someone on a moment's notice. Now, all of my old reliables are married or engaged or in a serious relationship. WTF? So now I have to go out recruiting. Damn it!

It should be good though. I'm also looking to fill the slot of a close female buddy that may or may not be in a commit relationship with someone else, but you have to open about the fact that you think I'm attractive, you have to secretly like me as much as your boyfriend, and you have to make time for me on a regular bases. That's slots been open for a while now and the person I've been grooming is clearly not going to work out. Let me know if you know of anyone that fits the bill.

Now I'm back to work.

I'm happy again, Samurai Zombie Hunter and other revelations

Words: 10,000
Time: 2 days
Mood: Great
Impression: It's good enough

Lots of interesting things have happened since my last post. First about today's writing. I'm combing two days of numbers because last night I finished writing at 4 AM and my head hurt something fierce. I was able to write 5,500 words for the day even though I went to see a movie screening of J. Edgar Hoover. I didn't like the movie.

Today about 4,500 words and took lots of breaks, but I still could finish the story. And now again, even though I stayed very hydrated and kept eating and eating, my head hurts again. This time I had to stop. I will just finish tomorrow. It is times like this that I'm reminded that writing isn't like making a widget or a cog.

When you think of it, writing is kind of an amazing thing. It is one of the few professions where the practitioner creates so much of the end product. A movie director might be another and some inventors are another. And because a writer has to create every single moment in their head, it makes writing quite an ability. My fall back thought always was that anyone can write. But perhaps that's not true. Maybe it takes a special person to write a story even though almost anyone can tell one.

Now onto a few of the interesting things. After a year of working on it, Samurai Zombie Hunter is released. The book is unlike anything else out there and I'm proud of it. I reread it before I put it out and the book is damned interesting. The editor of the book referred to me as a talented storyteller after reading only half of it and the second half is even better. The story's backdrop is this zombie world, but the heart of it is a human story about what it takes for a human (specifically a man) to not feel alone. It's unique I tell you.

The second big thing is that October was my first full month of selling erotica and in that first month I sold over 700 books. That is quite an accomplishment. It took me writing 11 books but it was still quite a feat. It also meant that I made enough to cover more than my month,s expenses. If it continues for the next few months, I will be able to only write as a source of income. That would be awesome! I was kind of ashamed that I was writing erotica initially, but then it dawned on me, with only him creativity and words, I can bring people to the point of sexual excitement. As a man with an ego, that is pretty friggin' cool!

Third bit of big news. I'm happy! Some of you might remember a post from a while back when I had hit my lowest point. It was low... and the post was dark. In it I very openly expressed how displeased I was with my life and hoped that it would draw to a conclusion as quickly as possible. Well, all it seem to take to pull me out of it was to achieve a life long goal of sustaining myself in a field that I can't be fired from, revolves around creative expression and is compensated based on merit. Well, that ended up to be writing. And me having sold what I have, makes my life make sense again.

I always believed that I should have been able to do what I did last month. And now that I have, the world makes sense again. And now that it makes sense again, I can trust all of my other beliefs again. And now that I can trust all of my other beliefs again, I feel a sense of peace that I have haven't felt in over 4 years. I have become the man I set out to be when I was 17 and this time I mean it in a good way.

So please check out Samurai Zombie Hunter. I swear it is a good book. Just read the sample chapter if you don't believe me. If you don't like it, don't get the book. It isn't for everyone, but if you like the sample, you will love the book. Please enjoy!