Their review, itself, was quite awesome. You can read it by clicking on the link under the graphic below this paragraph. I'm awfully proud that, though my pre-release efforts were a little haphazard (sorry; still learning!) and the book wasn't met with as many initial sales as I'd have liked, it has quickly gathered three excellent reviews by professional reviewers. Were I a traditional publisher, now would be the time I'd toss the book out into the market, but unfortunately the mechanics of Indie publishing don't work like that.
That said, I'm proud of how well we did in their poll over the past couple of days. And when I say "we" I really mean WE. You know, I've compared big initial success to winning the lottery, and from a mathematical standpoint it's still an apt way to look at it. The odds of winning the jackpot in a small lottery are about the same as the odds of writing a best-seller right out of the gate. But it's really not the same; winning the lottery doesn't require the all-important 3F's: friends, family, and fans. I can win the lottery (well, not according to recent results, but it's still a mathematical possibility) all by myself. What the past couple of days have proven to me, though, is that I can't succeed as an author by myself; my success will have to come with the help of other great folks.
Like y'all.
So, y'all stepped up to the plate in a big, big way. It was a nail-biter, to be certain. I started the two-day event well over ten percentage points behind the leader, solidly in third place. I reached out for help, and many answered as I watched the differential drop below two digits. We closed out the first day a few points behind, and then, as the second day opened and I really deployed the ground game, we shot up into first place. For, um, a few hours. First one, and then the other, of the top three overtook us and we fell back into third place once again. But the foundation had been laid, and come end of evening it was amazingly gratifying to see Prophecy on top by well over ten percentage points.
WE WON!
Again, for that I am deeply grateful.
Now, in the spirit of a) doing what I promised I'd do as celebratory effort, and b) getting Prophecy out there to be read, I've already set in motion for Amazon to allow free downloads of Prophecy all day Friday, September 5th, Saturday, September 6th, and Sunday, September 7th. Please, if you haven't gotten a copy and you're into fantasy novels at all, get yourself a copy at that point. Please, also, once you've read it, toss me up a review on Amazon and/or Goodreads; believe it or not, those mean as much to me as the pros' reviews. Third, please tell your friends about this free offer.
A lot of people I've spoken with don't like "free" books because they know how much effort goes into it for the author, and to that, I say fair enough. Please, download it anyway, and read it. If, after reading it, you feel it was worth the read and you can't deal with getting a good book for free, then you can always toss me $2.99 on Paypal.
Believe me, though; what's most important to me at this point is that Prophecy be out there, getting read.
Well, no, that's not the most important thing to me. What's most important to me is expressing how much gratitude I feel toward all my friends, family, and fans.
Thank you!
- TOSK
You rock!!
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