Adding Sales Rank Widget to Site

Though the sales of TICKER are still modest, I thought I would add the sales widget from NovelRank.com to help people easily track sales of my first novella.


So TICKER went live on April 8 and as of April 25, I have 13 sales. I seem to get sales in clusters over the weekend. I'm optimistic that sales will increase as I learn how to promote my writing.

Sample Sunday: The Villain Cometh

In this Sample Sunday, I feature the introduction of the villain "The Ticker" to our hero Angela from my novella TICKER. Of course, how you do this in a "real time" thriller is important since every action has a direct effect on what happens next. In this case, the villain isn't what he seems.

Forty One

The police officer walks over to Angela.
She looks at him.
It hasn’t registered yet.
Safe?
The young woman looks down at the body.
She looks over at the bag with the bomb attached to her wrist.
The young woman looks at her watch.
11:19 AM
Still more than enough time for the police to remove the bomb from her.
But will the police believe her?
After all, she is the one who started this.
The hold-up.
The hostage situation.
“I was kidnapped.” Angela tells the office.
“They strapped a bomb to my arm.” She pleas. “It will go off in forty minutes.”
The police officer lifts his weapon up at her.
“I didn’t do any of this!” Angela says.
No answer.
The police officer steps back.
“I have a bomb attached to me.” Angela says lifting the bag up as evidence.
He steps back to the hallway.
“Please don’t leave me here!” Angela screams.
The police office looks outside into the hallway.
“Please help me!” Angela pleas.
The police officer looks back at her.
“You are in big trouble.” The police officer says in a very familiar voice.
The same voice from the hotel room.

My Guest Post at Pugetsoundspeaks.com

This week, I am doing a guest blog at Philip Chen's Pugetsoundspeaks.com. I talk about the Kindle revolution and how this is going to change how books are written around the 99 cent format.

For me, I use the 99 cent price as an opportunity to write "movie-like" novellas. Stories designed to give you a 2-hour thrill ride - much like a movie. 

Check it out here. http://pugetsoundspeaks.com/id8.html

Big thanks to Philip Chen. Author of "Falling Star"

My very first Interview at Indie eBooks

TICKER has been on sale for about five days now and I have 5 sales. That's actually not bad since there hasn't been much exposure. However, now the word is starting to get out there. A special thanks to Nadine at IndieeBooks.Blogspot.com for interviewing me and featuring TICKER.

Check it out.

http://bit.ly/e6JlV5

Sample Sunday.

It's my first Sample Sunday. So I thought I'd kick things off with the first chapter of my first novella "Ticker." This is a 11,000-word Novella told in 60 chapters. Starting from sixty to zero.

Sixty

TICK. Tick. Tick.

Twenty alarm clocks go off at exactly 11:00 AM.

The hotel room explodes in bells, rings, beeps, bonks, Koo-Koo chirps and Class rock radio.

Angela is stunned awake.

Her eyes try to focus.

She sees red out of the corner of her eyes.

“Hello Angela.” A muffled, modulated male, voice bellows over the alarm clocks.

“Wake up...Angela.” He orders

Angela raises her head.

The alarm clocks instantly stop. But the ringing in the young woman’s ears persist.

She feels a sharp pain on her left wrist.

Angela pulls her left arm. She tugs. 

She is handcuff to a small bag.

Angela reaches over, with her free hand, to inspect the bag.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” The voice announces. 

“It is 11 AM and 30 seconds. You have fifty-nine minutes and twenty-five seconds to live.” The voice says.

Angela stands up. She looks at the Mac laptop.

She is beginning to remember being chased in the parking garage at her job.

“No one would ever suspect a woman. If you are wondering why I chose you. A random choice. Congratulations.”

Angela looks down at the bag.

Sold my first copy of "Ticker" while still in "Publishing" mode!

Hell everyone. My name is Michael Drake.
I am the author of "Ticker."

This was going to be my "Hello World" first post. I didn't plan on reporting anything beyond a formal introduction and announcement of my new novella "Ticker."

Then this happened.

I submitted my book two days ago. I went into publishing mode yesterday afternoon. I didn't even have this blog up or any posts on Kindleboards. So I thought it would take about a week before getting my first sale.

Well, sale #1 happened sometime between late last night and early this morning.

Yes, I woke up at 6 AM. And made checked my "Sales report" expecting nothing.
And there it was.

1 sale.

I have no idea who purchased it or how they even found it. But I am grateful and it is giving me the juice to keep going.
Yippee!