Tag Archives: indie publishing

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!

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


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


May 2011 Summary

Lots happened in May.  I’ve been extremely busy with non-writing things like life and the day job, so not as much on the writing front happened as I had hoped.  Here’s a run down:

  • I did manage to edit and release a new short story, To Be With You in Heaven.
  • Smashwords is still not live. It’s back with them for I believe a fifth attempt.  The last rejection was due to two hard carriage returns in the licensing message that was copied from their own website.  They should rename themselves to Analwords, or better yet, AssWords.  Here’s a suggestion from someone who has been in business for twenty years: do one review, identify all the reasons for rejections, then reject.  That way, the author fixes everything, and your employee wastes his time only once.  This would bring the process down to tops two weeks, rather than two weeks each round.  We are now in month three of trying to go live on Smashwords.  Amazon Kindle method: 1 day.  Result: hundreds of sales and revenue for both parties.
  • The print edition is live and selling slowly as I expected.  Print books from unknowns don’t sell–this is more a vanity thing for friends and family (have you bought yours yet?!?!?)
  • Sales are doing great in my opinion.  Specifics below.
  • I set up a Twitter account.  Please follow me: @jrobertkennedy
  • Amazon.com killed book tags (more in a separate post).
  • Amazon.com moved all promotional discussions to a separate board which at first concerned me.  My sales however have increased dramatically.  Not sure if there is a correlation.

Sales Summary

Sales were great.  In May I sold 161 digital copies of Depraved Difference, plus 5 copies of my short story, Loving the Ingredients.  Considering LTI is a short story and the same price as a full-length novel, I think that’s a good indicator that if I were to have more books available, there would be significant spin-off sales.

Memorial Day long weekend saw huge sales, with several days in a row selling 15+ copies a day, which would be a 500 a month pace.  I’m curious to see what happens in June since it is my assumption that it was holiday related. That being said, yesterday was a great day as well, with 16 sales and it wasn’t a holiday.

I peaked momentarilly it seems at #94 (I have the printouts to prove it!) on the best sellers list for Police Procedurals in the US.  And I do mean brief.  So brief it only showed on the book page, but none of the actual bestseller lists which I guess are updated on a different schedule.  Since this was so brief, I wasn’t able to test out my theory of “top 100 generates its own sales to keep you in the top 100″.  I am now at 206th which I still t hink is phenomenal.  In the UK I keep floating between 28th and just out of the top 100. 

So overall sales to date:

241 Depraved Differences

8 Loving the Ingredients

Am I still happy with these numbers?  Very!  My sales for May were almost double April’s with the only promotion being once-a-week postings on the Amazon discussion boards, and the occassional tweet or blog post.

Looking forward to seeing what June brings!


New Short: To Be With You in Heaven

To Be With You in Heaven Cover

To Be With You in Heaven

My latest short story is now live on Amazon Kindle for only 99 cents.  Here’s the blurb:

What would you say if the one you loved most lay dying beside you?

To Be With You in Heaven is a heart-wrenching tear jerker about a couple’s final moments together after a horrendous car accident.

From the author: After writing the first draft of this story several years ago, I sent it to my parents to read. A few hours later I got this response from my father:

“You made your mother and grandmother cry.”

To Be With You in Heaven is a 1400 word short story, and also includes The Story Behind the Story and About the Author sections.

If you’re looking for a quick read, then grab a box of tissues and download To Be With You in Heaven for only 99 cents on Kindle.

Buy Now From Amazon!


Order Signed Copies of Depraved Difference

Depraved Difference

Depraved Difference

Since I have so many friends around the city, country and world, I keep getting asked, “How can I get a signed copy?”  In response, I have set up a page on my website for your to order.

Here you can order a signed copy using PayPal.  I set the shipping for the US at $10 because I don’t know what it will be. Once somebody orders, I’ll adjust it, most likely down, and refund the excess if it is ridiculously over.

So, all you friends, family, acquaintances, co-workers, fan-boys, etc., here’s your chance to show your support and order a signed copy of Depraved Difference.

Here’s the full link:

http://www.jrobertkennedy.com/order_autographed_copies.htm

Thanks for your support!


Bonjour! Depraved Difference now Available in France

Oui! C’est vrai! Ok, not sure if that is right, but I think I just dispelled one myth that all Canadians speak French.  Non, ce n’est pas vrai.  Most of us don’t.

The Depraved Difference paperback is now for sale in France for all mes French amis:

http://www.amazon.fr/dp/1461075858/

And wow! They even have free shipping on just one book.  I guess when your entire country fits inside one of our provinces, you can do that.

Rolling Rrrrr… Robert


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