Fabulous News! Update for Readers and Listeners

More 5-Star reviews, an unexpected honor, and more.  What a month!

This has been an amazing year so far, and the last two weeks in particular have been stellar. 

First, some fantastic news that I received just today.  Every week Kirkus Reviews features one author to showcase as its “Author to Watch.”  Guess who is this week’s honoree?  Kirkus sends out a weekly newsletter to industry professionals (agents, film producers, that sort of thing) with the “Author to Watch” feature at the top.  You can find this week’s newsletter here.  You can also see the feature by going to the Kirkus Reviews site and clicking on the Pro Connect tab (I will be at the top of it only for a week but will be included in the list of past honorees thereafter).  Is that cool, or what?  Further, I don’t know how often Kirkus features indie authors like me in this fashion, but a quick check shows that I’m in some excellent company and that the past few honorees are with publishing houses (which I by no means knock!)

Screen cap from Pro Connect newsletter

Last week I ran a Kindle Countdown promotion for A Journal of the Crazy Year.  It did very well.  As authors—especially indie authors—know, Amazon sales rankings are quite volatile, and it’s always dangerous to brag about them.  But I have to say that the novel performed well all week, peaking at #2,464 in the national all-category rankings.  Further, it was in the top 100 for most of the week in its book category (post-apocalyptic sci-fi), peaking at #34.  When I checked the Countdown listings in its category, it had moved to page 1 and was outperforming all but two competitors at that moment.  I don’t consider that too shabby for an indie author who had not a clue what he was getting into when he started down this road two years ago.

Many thanks to those of you who’ve given one or both of my novels a try.  I really, really appreciate that, and doubly appreciate it when satisfied readers take the time to write a nice review and post it on the book’s Amazon review page (which links off the product page); this is more incredibly helpful than you might realize both in terms of future sales and also access to newsletters that help get the word out about sales promotions.   Four brand new Five Star reviews recently went up.  Samples:

“Linda” writes:  “A great read!  Absolutely loved it, had everything I look for in a book.  As soon as I started reading about the historical dreadful plague that came to London in 1665, and then the disease that swept 1916 wartime France that caused soldiers to sleep and not wake up, I was sucked right in to the very end. I especially liked John's character.  He had a wonderful blend of innocence, smart independence, and a great sense of humor. Anyone who likes suspense and ‘I can't wait to see how this ends’ kind of books will really enjoy this one.  A definite 5 stars!”

Cynthia A. Stevens writes:  “I loved it, and thought the historical perspective was fascinating!  Can't wait to see this author's future works.”

Lisa Romo writes:   “This book caught me right from the beginning and I couldn't put it down. Highly recommend it and have done so to many of my friends who loved it as well.”

I don’t claim to speak for other authors (although I’m just guessing that we’re all an emotionally needy bunch) but when I write I fantasize that readers will react to my words in just that fashion.  Thank you so much Linda, Cynthia, and Lisa, and to everyone else who’s taken the time to post kind words in the past.  (And if you’re not particularly verbal, I also appreciate those who post good a rating alone without much in the way of words—those help too!  Believe me!)

Last week’s promotion was punctuated by not one but two incredible coincidences—if that’s what they were.  By February of this year, A Journal of the Crazy Year was already shaping up to be eerily prophetic enough to land me an appearance on Coast toCoast AM, where George Noory and I spent the better part of two hours talking with each other and with late-night radio listeners about the possibility that a zombie apocalypse could really happen, and what to look for.  (Remarkably, like me George is a former TV news director).  Last week two major events took place that were ripped right out of the pages of the novel—the crash of a jetliner at the hands of a suicidal pilot, and the reappearance of the sleeping sickness.  I wrote a blog entry about that which has zipped right to the top of my most-popular list, and given the number of clicks it received I think it’ll be up there as the undisputed champ for a while.  I will be honest and say that the number of “coincidences” that are piling up regarding what I wrote in the novel is beginning to freak even me out.

In addition to writing fiction, I also do some political bloviating (okay, a lot), with the occasional detour into satire.  A couple of days ago I wrote a piece poking fun at the Iranian nuclear talks.  I was insufferably pleased with myself at the results, and I’m happy to say the entry has been bouncing around the Internet and is getting some clicks.  Already it’s the tenth most-clicked item on a blog that now has nearly 200 posts.  Sad to say, the reality that’s unfolding is only slightly less ridiculous than the satire.

What's on YOUR bookshelf?

Last week Broadcasting & Cable featured me in a piece about former TV news directors who go bonkers change careers.  The article is behind s subscription wall (here it is for those of you who do subscribe); for non-subscribers, the photo from it, showing me doing what everyone should be doing, is at right.  Many thanks to reporter Michael Malone (who, believe it or not, is an indie author too).

And finally—I am off the air today because I took the day off in order to get a scary medical test done.  I had a strange coincidence pop up regarding this, which I’ll address on tomorrow’s Friday Night Campfire Tales.  And yes, for those who don’t live within radio transmission range of Tucson, no doubt I’ll blog about it too.  Or you can stream the show here (and people do—this week we heard from one of our loyal listeners who was in Texas on a road trip).  My program (cleverly titled The Forrest Carr Show) airs weekdays 5pm to 7pm MST, which this time of year corresponds to Pacific Daylight Time.

###

Find out more about my novels, press appearances, and other scribblings on my website, www.forrestcarr.com, where you can read editorial and reader reviews, download a free sample chapter for each book, and find purchase links for the electronic and hard copy editions.  I also invite you to visit and “like” my Facebook author page and to follow me on Twitter (I almost always follow back).  

Support your local indie author.  Share this post!

© 2015 by Forrest Carr.  All rights reserved.