Thursday, May 05, 2011

always good to hear

It's always good to receive feedback on my earlier self-published works. In 2004 I wrote a shit-awful zombie novel entitled "36 Hours." It did surprisingly well (being mentioned in at least two magazines as an example of how self-publishing is no longer the "commercial publishing stepchild" but a decent competitor in quality books and book sales). I hated the book, nonetheless, and tried to make it unavailable; but the self-publishing company was making too much money, and partnered with Amazon to have it featured there as well. This enraged me (because despite its popularity, it was poorly written, in an awful format, and just downright wretched), so I decided to rewrite the book. I rewrote every single scene, included a few extra chapters, basically added an extra 200 pages to the 340-page novel. The end result was a 600-page zombie novel which has become very popular (according to ratings; I get few actual reviews). Although it's selling well (despite it not yet being available in the major marketing channels), like I said, I get few criticisms and reviews. I appreciate critical feedback and really chew through it to hone my talent. And reviews encourage me amidst the silence of my readers. So when I got this email today, from some fellow named Peter, it really made my day:


"I loved this book!!!!! You fucking rock! You took a typical zombie thriller and brought it to a whole new level. What happened at the end? I've always wanted to read a book like that. I hope you write others like this; I LOVED it!!!"

Be a pal. Buy a copy. :)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

"24 hours later"....


-Ams

darker than silence said...

hehe. classy.

where we're headed

Over the last several years, we've undergone a shift in how we operate as a family. We're coming to what we hope is a better underst...