Author Archives: Peter Darbyshire
Well, that was unexpected
Updated to reflect the new rankings. OK, I really have to go and do some work now!
One of the interesting things about watching The Dead Hamlets go out into the world — don’t forget to call, Hamlets! — is the way the book has renewed interest in the first Cross novel, The Mona Lisa Sacrifice. I knew some people would come to The Dead Hamlets first and then pick up The Mona Lisa Sacrifice, but I’d just assumed it would give the ol’ Mona Lisa a minor boost in sales.
Instead, the two novels have been running neck and neck, and The Mona Lisa Sacrifice has had intriguing spikes in sales where it shoots ahead of The Dead Hamlets. (Yes, I compulsively check my Amazon ratings, just like any other author. I need to do something when I’m not writing but the baby is napping on me!) So it’s nice to see the second book renew interest in the first one — or generate new interest, whatever is the case.
I was blown away and excited to see The Mona Lisa Sacrifice hit No. 5 in Amazon.ca’s Contemporary Fantasy bestseller list, while The Dead Hamlets hit No. 9. Mona Lisa also hit No. 7 in Amazon’s Historical Fantasy bestsellers, while Dead Hamlets hit No. 9. I don’t think any of my books have charted that high before. As a bonus, The Mona Lisa Sacrifice hit No. 25 in the CanLit bestseller list. I never expected to be a CanLit bestseller at all with these books!
Anyway, thanks for reading my Cross books. Knowing there are people out there who like them makes it that much easier to finish the third book in the series.
Ebooks now 50% off!
My publisher ChiZine is selling all their ebooks at 50% off until Sunday, March 15th, to make up for the technical difficulties as they switch ebook distributors for Kindle, etc.
Get The Mona Lisa Sacrifice, the first book in the Cross series, for $5.
Get The Dead Hamlets, the sequel to The Mona Lisa Sacrifice, for $5.
That’s right, you can get each book for less than the price of a Starbucks drink. And they’re better for you than that Starbucks junk. Well, better for your body. The books are probably kind of harmful for your mind….
Awwww
My two Peter Roman books are like best friends on the charts. I can’t wait to see how they get along with the third book!
Some more review love
I was happy to see a nice review of The Dead Hamlets in the Vancouver Sun, one of my hometown papers. Actually, it’s a nice review of the Cross series, so that’s even better. My favourite line: “Come for the chase scenes and the grave-digging, stay for the literary references, strewn like candy thrown from a parade.” He’s right — I am having a great time writing these books!
Coffee Break: I Stole Your Cream and Sugar
So that reddit thread about piracy got people talking online. Here are the relevant reads:
- “9.6 times what I bring in in a YEAR from Amazon.” – M. Todd Gallowglass writes a blog post about how many pirated copies of his books are available on one site alone and what that may be costing him.
- “Is this immoral?” – reddit responds
- “If you’re an author, piracy doesn’t matter” – Writer Jake Kerr weighs in on the subject.
In other news:
- The Days of Meta-Meta: Fictional Characters and What They Might like to Read
- How and why Thomas Wharton went hybrid – Part 1, Part 2, Part 3
The politics of piracy
I may have weighed in once or twice on this reddit thread about whether book piracy is OK or not. Spoiler: I don’t think it is.
Business stuff!
Some good distribution news from my publisher, ChiZine. Full press release follows:
TORONTO, Ontario (March 2, 2015) — ChiZine Publications is pleased to announce it has signed new distribution agreements for its trade titles in Canada and eBooks globally.
CZP trade paperbacks will now be distributed in Canada by PGC/Raincoast. Worldwide eBook distribution will be handled by Trajectory.
CZP’s trade paperback distribution outside Canada will continue to be handled by Diamond Book Distributors.
“We’re looking forward to working with PGC/Raincoast,” says Brett Savory, co-publisher of ChiZine Publications. “They have a tremendous reputation helping independent publishers rise above the noise. With our growing catalogue of titles, a partner who can get our titles into the hands of fans nationwide is a big plus.”
“Trajectory is also a major step forward,” adds Sandra Kasturi, CZP’s other co-publisher. “Their innovative technical approach to eBooks makes them an industry leader. We embraced eBooks from the beginning, and Trajectory can help us extend our reach even farther.”
Technical difficulties — please stand by
I was alerted to the fact that the ebook versions of The Mona Lisa Sacrifice and The Dead Hamlets have stopped showing up on Kindle and related sites. Not to worry — it’s just a backend technical issue as my publisher switches distribution providers. I expect the ebooks to be available again shortly. Of course, you can always order direct from the publisher and give them a bigger cut of the money!
This also seems like a good time to sell ChiZine’s all-you-can-eat subscription service. Read until you throw up!
Coffee Break: What people are reading around the web
Because the Internet is for distraction.
- The Art of Agenting: “It’s harder to sell a book to a big publisher now than it was ten years ago, I think. The blockbusterization of the book industry has had the same effect as the blockbusterization of Hollywood—among many other industries.”
- A call to self-published fantasy authors: A contest to get reviewed on 10 of the top fantasy blogs
- Former MFA teacher trolls the web: “Anyone who claims to have useful information about the publishing industry is lying to you, because nobody knows what the hell is happening.”
- Chuck Wendig responds to the former MFA teacher: “I’m so angry, I’m actually just peeing bees.”
We have a winner, may his soul rest in peace
The dice have spoken and there’s a winner of the Black Quill giveaway contest I held to publicize my new novel, The Dead Hamlets. I will be dispatching the dreaded Quill and a free copy of the new book by undead courier, post-haste. I won’t speak the winner’s name here for fear of summoning various unnatural things, but rest assured that he was most instrumental in getting word of the new book out. So blame him for all the ails the book causes in the world.
I had a great deal of fun with the contest, and I’d like to thank everyone who took part. Thanks for helping promote the new novel — it certainly needs all the help it can get in these uncertain times for the publishing industry.
peter darbyshire 