Category Archives: Kindle

Tick Tock

Tick Tock Cover

Tick Tock

A Detective Shakespeare Mystery, Book #2

Crime Scene tech Frank Brata digs deep and finds the courage to ask his colleague, Sarah, out for coffee after work. Their good time turns into a nightmare when Frank wakes up the next morning covered in blood, with no recollection of what happened, and Sarah’s body floating in the tub. Determined not to go to prison for a crime he’s horrified he may have committed, he scrubs the crime scene clean, and, tormented by text messages from the real killer, begins a race against the clock to solve the murder before his own coworkers, his own friends, solve it first, and find him guilty.

Billionaire Richard Tate is the toast of the town, loved by everyone but his wife. His plans for a romantic weekend with his mistress ends in disaster, waking the next morning to find her murdered, floating in the tub. After fleeing in a panic, he returns to find the hotel room spotless, and no sign of the body. An envelope found at the scene contains not the expected blackmail note, but something far more sinister.

Two murders, with the same MO, targeting both the average working man, and the richest of society, sets a rejuvenated Detective Shakespeare, and his new reluctant partner, Amber Trace, after a murderer whose motivations are a mystery, and who appears to be aided by the very people they would least expect—their own.

Tick Tock, Book #2 in the internationally bestselling Detective Shakespeare Mysteries series, picks up right where Depraved Difference left off, and asks a simple question: What would you do? What would you do if you couldn’t prove your innocence, but knew you weren’t capable of murder? Would you hide the very evidence that might clear you, or would you turn yourself in and trust the system to work?

From the internationally bestselling author of The Protocol and Brass Monkey comes the highly anticipated sequel to the smash hit Depraved Difference, Tick Tock. Filled with heart pounding terror and suspense, along with a healthy dose of humor, Tick Tock ‘s twists will keep you guessing right up to the terrifying end.

Read a sample by clicking here.

Tick Tock, the latest novel from J. Robert Kennedy, now available in eBook format on the Kindle.
Buy Now From Amazon!

The Protocol Celebrates Two Months as #1 Best Selling Men’s Adventure on Amazon UK

The Protocol CoverA quick update since some have been asking:
  • On October 12th I tweeted that The Protocol had hit #1 in the UK, and it has remained there almost every hour of every day since. I’m extremely pleased with this, needless to say.

Here’s a few more:

  • Depraved Difference has sold over 10,000 books and has remained pretty much consistently in the top 10 Police Procedurals in the UK for three or four months now. It peaked at #59 overall, and today was around #106 overall, out of almost one million books. Not bad for a nobody!
  • The Protocol in now a best seller in the US as well, currently #15 on Men’s Adventure, and #39 on Spy Stories & Tales of Intrigue.
  • Brass Monkey is now a best selling the US and UK, currently #88 on Men’s Adventure in the US, and #25 on Men’s Adventure/#36 on Spy Stories & Tales of Intrigue in the UK.
  • Reviews continue to pour in, and with a few exceptions which I don’t take personally (you can’t please everyone!), they are almost all 5 and 4 star. Currently all three books have an average rating of at least 4.5 out of 5.
  • A new milestone: On Apple Canada, Depraved Difference is in the top 10 of featured mysteries on the iBook store, and shifts between #1 and #2 on the What’s Hot list of Police Procedurals. So for those of you with iPods/iPads, you can pick it up for only 99 cents and read it with the iBook app. Just go to the Store in iTunes and search
  • The new book is almost done, but I lost almost six weeks this second half of the year due to various health issues, the latest a two week doozy (is that a word?) of a cold. This means my hoped for Christmas release will be delayed, but hopefully only slightly.

I’d like to once again thank the over 14,000 people who have purchased my books and helped make this author’s dream come true. You have my humble gratitude.

Regards,

Rob


10,000 Books Sold!

Many sources claim the average book sells 100 copies. They recently updated that to 150 to take into account eBooks.

Well, as I Tweeted yesterday, I have sold my 10,000th book. Yes, almost all of those are eBooks, but who cares? Ten thousand people are now (hopefully) enjoying my books. When I made the decision to go Indie earlier this year, turning down a traditional publishing deal, I never expected this level of success. All three books are selling well, with The Protocol rapidly growing and pushing up the bestsellers lists. Brass Monkey, the sequel, and priced at $2.99, is also moving up as readers discover the series with the discount-priced The Protocol.

I’d like to thank the over 10,000 people who’ve taken a chance on this unknown author, and I look forward to entertaining you further.

And stay tuned, I will be announcing details about the next book in the coming days!

Thanks again,

Rob


I’m Back!

I’ve been away (from the blogosphere) for a couple of months. I was fighting a bad infection for almost a month but am recovered and managed to avoid surgery, and during that month (June/July), I was in too much pain to do any work, including promoting Depraved Difference.  Some remarkable things happened during that time that I’ll blog about now.

1. My theory has been proven (sort of). Get in the top 100, and the book promotes itself.  In the UK I’ve been on the top 100 of Police Procedurals for three if not more months (I’m too lazy to find out when I first hit it).  Now I’m consistently in the top 20, usually in the top 12, and have pushed as high as #7.  UK sales now are over half of all sales.  In the US, I peaked in the top 10, but have since fallen over the past month. I think this is because the book only peaked in the top 10 range due to a blog featuring it for one day which drove sales for a couple of weeks.  The book then slowly dropped off, and with me doing no promotion work for over two months, it has now finally dropped out of the top 100 for Police Procedurals.  I will be starting promo again as this is a great book, the sales proving that (more in a minute). So, my revised theory is that you need to get in the top 100 of a large category, or the top 20 of a smaller category, to self-sustain.

2. Sales! I’ve sold over 3500 copies in the past five months which is huge. I’ve been #1 for English Police Procedurals in Germany, #7 in the UK, and in the top 10 (I can’t remember what) in the US.  This from an unknown author with no advertising budget. Am I pleased with that? Absolutely!

3. The Protocol. I bought back the rights from my publisher for The Protocol, and have already sold many times more books than they did with zero promotion on my part, just people who bought Depraved Difference then bought The Protocol.  As of today, it is already on the bestsellers lists in the US and UK for Spy Tales & Stories of Intrigue as well as Men’s Adventures. As of today I start promotion on The Protocol because…

4. Brass Monkey.  The sequel to The Protocol is now out! Brass Monkey was released yesterday, and is available on the Kindle for now, paperback in the next few weeks. It is priced at $4.99 as opposed to 99c, as readers should discover this book by reading Book #1 in the series, The Protocol (at 99c), then be willing to pay a regular price (still 1/2 to 1/3 what the big names are charging), since they already like what they have read by me.

So to summarize, thousands of ebooks have been sold, I’m hobnobbing with the elite on the bestsellers lists, and I now have three books available, and can’t wait to see what happens over the rest of the year.

And what’s next besides me promoting the books and annoying you? I’m writing a sequel to Depraved Difference which I hope to have available by Christmas.

Thanks to the thousands who have supported me!


1000th Copy of Depraved Difference Sold

It seems like only last week that I posted that the 500th copy had been sold (actually, it was last week).  It took two and a half months to accomplish that.  As of yesterday, only nine days later, I have sold another 500 copies, bringing the total to 1000.

I’d like to thank everyone again for all their support.  I guess the next milestone that makes sense is 2500 copies.  I wonder how long that will take?

Rob


A Remarkable Day

Here’s what happened yesterday:

  • In the first 12 hours, I sold more books than in all of April
  • In the entire day, I sold 127 books (my previous record was I think 39)
  • I hit #17 on the hourly Police Procedurals best sellers list (and am still there)
  • I hit #95 on the hourly Suspense best sellers list (this is the first time I’ve cracked that list, and am at #99 at the moment)
  • On the more stable daily lists, I hit #54 on the Police Procedurals, and #228 on the Suspense
  • EDIT: I hit #730 on the overall list of over 750,000 books.

So why did it happen?  I did some Googling to see if I could find a review or some mention of the book, but didn’t find anything yesterday.  I searched again today and did find something.  It appears I was the book of the day on a blog site:

http://ebooksforabuck.wordpress.com/2011/06/21/depraved-difference/

Needless to say, I’m very curious to see where things go from here.  I fully expect sales to not continue like yesterday (in fact, I’ve only sold 6 today, whereas I had sold over 30 at this point yesterday).  What I expect is for the sales to drop back to the 30-40 sales level that I’ve been experiencing, and then slowly climb as I move up the daily lists, and those that downloaded the sample during yesterday’s frenzy actually purchase the book over the coming days/weeks, and as more of the now 800 strong group of readers tell their friends.

One day spikes are nice, as they can create opportunities, but steady growth is the ultimate goal.  Any other sites out there wanting to feature Depraved Difference, please do!

Rob


Depraved Difference Gets Another 5 Star Review

Here’s the latest from Amazon UK:

5 out of 5 stars
This one is a keeper!
19 Jun 2011
By Blue Liverbird (Liverpool)
 
This review is from: Depraved Difference (A Detective Shakespeare Mystery) (Kindle Edition)

There are few books that I have read, which, while reading them, have made me literally exclaim “Oh my god” out loud, this is one of them. A brilliantly thought out plot with believable characters. I’ll be keeping this one on my Kindle to read again!

 


500th Copy of Depraved Difference Sold

I just sold the 500th copy of Depraved Difference on Amazon Kindle.  That doesn’t include the paperback which might be a couple of dozen, mostly hand sold.  As I’ve stated before, the paperback is of no concern to me, it is the eBook that is the future.

I read recently that they just up’d the average number of copies a title will sell over its lifetime from a paltry 100 copies, to a still paltry 150 copies, due to the explosion in eBooks.  Yes, you read that correctly.  The average book only sells 150 copies over its lifetime.

I’ve sold 500 in less than three months, with sales continually increasing (I’ve already sold over 250 this month, and we’re only half way through).  I keep thinking that the sales will slow down, but they don’t.  This could be the proof I’ve been looking for; once you get into that top 100 of a category, the sales take care of themselves.

I’d like to thank everyone for their support in getting to this milestone, and I look forward to letting you know when I break 1000 copies, which at this rate, might be far sooner than I expected!

Rob


Latest review is in and it’s another 5 star!

5 out of 5 stars  – Shock and awe!

June 11, 2011 , by lacharr “read much?” (Fl Ct USA)

Amazon Verified Purchase

I wasn’t sure what to expect having only one review to go by, but it didn’t take me long to become completely involved in this novel. I did nothing but read once I started it. I won’t spoil, but the ending blew me away! I will try to be patient while Robert works on his next work of art, but please don’t take too long and for God’s sake, let me know. I don’t want to miss it!


Depraved Difference now available on Nook

Barnes & Noble now  have the NOOK Book (eBook) edition of Depraved Difference available.  They also have the print edition.  Here are the links:

NOOK Book for only 99 cents

Paperback (at the best price I’ve seen yet of $10.04)

So if  you have a nook, there’s no excuse not to buy the eBook!  And come to think of it, if you have a pair of working eyes and fifteen bucks tops, you also have no excuse!


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