Kindle Fiction Updates

Hello!  Now you look great, but please stop grooming yourself and listen up.

In September, my novella Beast In The Basement was fired into the eyeballs of an unsuspecting public.  It's a twisty, turny, shocky horror-thriller story about personal responsibility, revenge, obsession and censorship.

Then in October came A Sincere Warning About The Entity In Your Home.  That one's a short (well, if you can call 10,000 words short) ghost story which simply aims to scare the hell out of you.

This post is a bite-sized news buffet about what's going on with these two books.  An update smorgasbord, if you will.  Here goes...

* * *

A few weeks back, something unexpected happened with A Sincere Warning About The Entity In Your Home.  I released it in two versions: a Kindle ebook and a personalised, physical letter which could be snail-mailed to your home.

I expected maybe 1 in 500 people to order the letter, especially as it's much more expensive than the £0.96 ebook.  But no - there was a veritable deluge of orders, which was thrilling.  At one point, the Bespoke Deluxe Paper Edition was selling as well as the ebook.

I've really enjoyed putting these letters together for people and will no doubt continue to do so if orders continue.  It takes a fair deal of work to tailor each one specifically to the recipient in several key ways, but it's worth it.  I'm indebted to the walking ideas machine John Higgs (whose novella The Brandy Of The Damned is a must-read) for an extra idea which capitalises on the physical nature of a letter.  The reactions have been great and this story seems to have genuinely scared people.  Even more so when it arrives on their doormat addressed to them.

So that's been a barrel-load of fun.  A couple of lovely people have picked up on the physical letter idea and interviewed me about it.  Take a bow Michelle Goode, who quizzes me on her Write So Fluid blog here, and Leila Johnston who fires questions my way at The Literary Platform here.  If you run a site/blog and would like to interrogate me like some vicious drill sergeant, just e-mail me here.

A Sincere Warning About The Entity In Your Home has received a splendid review at The Reluctant Geek and hopefully others will follow.  Again, send review requests here.  Some of my favourite Amazon reviews of the book can be found here, here and indeed here.

Beast In The Basement has also pulled in some fine and often rather flattering reviews.  Here's a list of links to review in which people say nice things about it.

Starburst magazine
The British Fantasy Society
The Eloquent Page
El Dink
The Reluctant Geek (features a couple of interview quotes from me)
Byte The Book
Circus Hooker Smut Regime (as you might imagine from the name, this site is Not Safe For Work)
Fan Girl Confessions

I'm pleased to say that I haven't had to be selective in finding good reviews as (touch wood), there has yet to be a bad one - even a three-star Amazon review was very complimentary!

Here's an interview with me at Starburst magazine's site, which focuses on Beast.

This interview at the nicely-designed You've Got Red On You mainly focuses on the film Stormhouse, but also discusses horror in general and mentions Beast.

Since Beast's release, Amazon Prime members in the US have been able to borrow it for free from the Kindle Lending Library (see here).  As of October 25, UK Amazon Prime members can now do the same (see here).  No need for guilt either, as participating authors in the Kindle Select scheme are paid each time their book is borrowed.  Everyone's a winner.  (UPDATE November 11: you can now borrow A Sincere Warning About The Entity In Your Home for free too.)

* * *

I'm very happy with how these books have performed, and may well publish more fiction direct to Kindle next year.  I do have two non-fiction Kindle projects in the works.

In the meantime, since these two fiction books haven't gone the traditional publishing route and have zero marketing budget, I'd appreciate any help you can give them.

If you read and enjoy either book, please consider helping out, whether it's just by hitting 'Like' on the book's Amazon page, telling a friend, tweeting, status-updating or writing a review (which is such a big, big help).

Total truth: everyone who helps either Beast In The Basement or A Sincere Warning About The Entity In Your Home is guaranteed one angel wing in Heaven.  And everyone who helps both books gets two.  And let's face it, two will be handy.  Good day to you!

* * *

A SINCERE WARNING ABOUT THE ENTITY IN YOUR HOME at...
Amazon UK 
Amazon US
Amazon Germany
Amazon France
Amazon Italy
Amazon Spain
Amazon Japan
Official page ScaryLetter.com, with details of the Bespoke Paper and Electronic Editions.

BEAST IN THE BASEMENT at...
Amazon UK
Amazon US
Amazon Germany
Amazon France
Amazon Italy
Amazon Spain
Amazon Japan
Official page HorrorNovella.com

You don't need a Kindle in order to read Kindle books.  Here's Amazon's handy guide.