It's now almost exactly 61 hours (2½ days) since I put 'Take The Star Road' out on Amazon (it 'went live' at 3.57 p.m. last Tuesday). I've just woken up (my back is doing its usual thing, and telling me that no, I can't sleep any longer) to find this:
Wow. At the time of writing, 'Take The Star Road' is the 8th-best-selling e-book in all of Kindle (paid) Space Opera, 10th-best-selling in all Space Opera on Amazon (print, e-book and audio-book), and 12th-best-selling e-book in Kindle (paid) Military SF!
Friends, I don't know how to thank you. I could never have even dreamed about (let alone aspired to) numbers like these without your enthusiastic help in buying the book yourselves, and even more importantly, getting the word out to others that it exists and is worth reading. It's still very early days, so I can (and do) hope for further improvement on these figures; but even at their present levels, I would never have expected or predicted this, so early after launch!
From the bottom of my heart, thank you all very, very much. Please don't stop! This is worth waking up for!
Peter
about halfway through the book, and can hardly wait for more. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations! I'm happy for you.
ReplyDeleteQuestion: Where did you go to get the book cover?
@Mad Jack: My wife and I both looked at several online image catalogs, picking out a few dozen that took our fancy. We spent a couple of weeks going through possibilities, then I compiled a short-list of images and gave it to her. Out of all of them, she liked this one.
ReplyDeleteWe sat down with Oleg Volk to design the cover around that image. I asked him to darken the top and bottom, and he suggested reducing the beam of light projected upwards from the tower. He resized the image to fit Amazon's requirements, added the text and its shading effects, chose the color, and positioned it in the picture. I think he did a great job!
There have been suggestions that I should use a font for the text that's more 'sci-fi' in appearance. I'm thinking about that, and I'll look at some samples. If I decide to do that, we'll adapt this cover to use the new font when the second book comes out in July. However, that may not happen, because this font has the advantage of being clearly readable in a tiny thumbnail image on Amazon.com's Web pages. I won't change it unless the new font is just as readable.
Congratulations!
ReplyDeleteLittle over halfway through it (need to sleep), and yes, it does read like the Heinlein of the 1940-1950s. I'd mention a few passages I liked but I hate spoilers (Radetsky).
ReplyDeletebought the book 1st day you announced
ReplyDeleteit. Finished it less than 8 hours, enjoyed it, look forward to the next.
nmljr
I enjoyed it. I'm looking forward to future installments.
ReplyDeleteIt did feel very old-fashioned; it reminded me a lot of "Space Angel" by John Maddox Roberts.
I used it as my excuse to buy a Kindle. :D
I've loaded up 'King of the Khyber Rifles" and "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" as chasers.
Is it only Kindle?
ReplyDelete@Grand: Yes, it's only sold by Amazon in Kindle format. However, I've made it DRM-free, so you should be able to convert it to another e-reader format using free software such as Calibre.
ReplyDeleteI'm nearing the halfway point, and ... you'd done it, sir. I'm hooked.
ReplyDeletePeter, just finished the book, in my opinion it is a great read. Some people may think that comparisons to R.A. Heinlein and C.S. Forester are a negative, I think just the opposite. Your book seems influenced by both of them and all to the good. I eagerly await the sequel.
ReplyDeleteJD
Great book, really very Heinlein-esque in some ways. Reminded me a lot of Starship Troopers (the book not the awful movie). I'm looking forward to number 2 in the series.
ReplyDeleteI haven't got a kindle and I'm too computer ignorant to use an e-reader, any chance of a paper version?
ReplyDeleteCharles Craig
Charles, look for a paper version soon. Trouble is, it takes a lot more formatting, layout, typesetting, etc. than an e-book, and I have to find time for that whilst simultaneously preparing Book 2 for publication and working on the manuscript of Book 3. If I had 30+ hours in the day, it'd come in very useful right now!
ReplyDeleteCharles, you can also get the free Kindle for PC app and then read Peter's book on your computer. That way you don't have to wait for the dead tree version.
ReplyDeleteJust ordered to the FodGuy's Kindle - please let us know when the personally autographed dead tree versions are available! ;-)
ReplyDeleteSemper Fi'
DM
I bought and finished your book, and quite enjoyed it. My sole complaint is that after reading your blog for so long, I find it hard to differentiate the characters' "voices" from the tone of your blog writing. Aside from that it was a very enjoyable read and I look forward to a sequel. You have brought my "author who's blog I read" count up to three, along with Marko Kloos and Michael Z. williamson.
ReplyDeleteRead it in one sitting, whens the next one coming. Superfod
ReplyDeleteBought it as soon as I saw your announcement, but will be a week or two til I can get to it. (Had to finish Book 3 of Game of Thrones, and I had started Monster Hunter Legion, and I plan to read Marko's book, too.)
ReplyDeleteI remember reading sample chapters a while back, and I've been looking forward to the whole thing ever since. Just have to get some quiet time, since I suspect I'll have trouble putting it down.