If you haven't been on my blog for the last few days, I've got a new ebook experiment going on.
Earlier this year, I asked three fellow writers if they wanted to collaborate on a horror novel. I've worked with each of them before (F. Paul Wilson, Jeff Strand, and Blake Crouch) and they're all consummate professionals.
The result of our efforts, DRACULAS - A Novel of Terror, will be released on Kindle, October 19. You can currently download the first 50 pages for free, and pre-order the ebook.
Now we're attempting to generate some buzz prior to the launch, by treating this like a traditional release rather than an indie release. That means we're looking for a few good reviewers.
Do you want a free advance reading copy of DRACULAS?
Here’s what you do…
Send an email to draculasthebook@gmail.com and confirm that:
1. You will post a review of DRACULAS by October 18 on your blog or website, along with a link to Amazon’s pre-order page (which will be provided to you along with the book and press release.)
2. You will post that same review to Amazon’s DRACULAS page when the book is officially launched on October 19.
3. Make sure to include your name and the web-address of your website or blog, which may be linked to from this blog when the book goes live in the Kindle store.
Your email address will of course be kept confidential, and anyone who writes a review, good or bad, will be thanked in the acknowledgments of a future edition of DRACULAS.
We anticipate having a final manuscript of the book ready to email on or before October 1.
IF YOU DON'T HAVE A BLOG OR WEBSITE...
No problem. We're going to have a dedicated DRACULAS website page. Write a review, email it to the above address, and we'll post it there. Then you can link to your review via Twitter and Facebook, if you use them. You can also post reviews on Goodreads.com and Shelfari.com.
You can also email the above address for interview requests.
Thanks in advance for helping us spread the word! And please email draculasthebook@gmail.com and not me directly. We want to make sure your email is read, not lost in my huge stack of unanswered emails.
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24 comments:
Are non-US residents (but Amazon Top 1000 reviewers) eligible? Would love to review it!
Everyone is eligible. DRACULAS will be available worldwide.
Great marketing idea... I expect you'll generate some good numbers this way. If the novel is as good as the marketing, this will be a terrific read!
E-Mail sent! I get 35,000 unique readers per day. I'm sure some of the have a Kindle. :)
Thanks guys!
Great marketing. I'm taking notes.
The only question I might have is why you're starting promo on a novel that isn't finished yet. What's the rush?
Jude - the rush is, since we don't have to wait 12-18 months for the production machinery to get going, this book is going to be published less than three weeks after we type "The End." We've got a lot to do before Oct. 19!
A REVIEW
Not for the lovers of flossing
Heinrich August Ossenfelder. Remember that name. He started it all in 17something with a poem about a guy who after being rejected by the woman of his fancy intends to seduce her in the middle of the night by giving her the vampire's kiss, drawing her blood. It was considered quite erotic at the time. Flash forward to now, a day and age where vampires have become immensely popular among the young and older readers. Twilight introduced the metrosexual vampire, gay but not gay, in touch with his feelings, highly emphatic, any girl's best friend forever (and ever), and probably source for many a wet dream. Del Toro's and Hogan's The Strain was quite different fare, offering a brutal and ferocious breed of blood suckers. The Fall, second installment of their vampire trilogy, will hit stores soon. Most recent is The Passage by Justin Cronin, an epic dystopian tale with bloodthirsty and glowing vampires. I tried Twilight, loved The Strain, and devoured The Passage.
And now we are offered DRACULAS, written by Blake Crouch, Jack Kilborn/J.A. Konrath, Jeff Strand, and F. Paul Wilson. Is it any good? Do they bring anything new?
F*** yeah!
These guys don't mince words - they mince meat. The pace is warp, the pain and fear is palpable, and their take on blood sucking creatures is frightning. Like the authors their draculas don't pull punches, with an unrelenting appetite for 'warm red candy'. These suckers don't brush between meals, they're an orthodontist's worst nightmare. DRACULAS is full on pedal to the metal bloody horror. This is not for the faint hearted, nor for those who like their vampires touchy-feely, well behaved and classy dressed. And you would have to be seriously deranged to find anything remotely erotic about this tale - no wet dreams here.
DRACULAS has the potential to become a classic in its genre, it will certainly be a much discussed book. Can't wait for 19 October, when the complete novel will be available.
What's the rush?
What Blake said. We want this ready to go before Halloween, and our goal is to have 150 reviews by then. Once it goes live, we want the whole world to know about it. We want it to hit big.
Ebooks normally don't have pre-orders. At least, not the self-pubbed ones. As far as I know, we're the first ebook that is actually trying to drum up some serious pre-launch publicity, like print books do.
The cool thing is we can do this before we're even finished, because the turnaround time is so fast. If it works well, this may be the future model for how ebooks are launched.
Thanks, Jeroen!
Thanks, Blake and Joe. What you guys are doing is certainly exciting, and I wish you best of luck with it. I'm not sure I can manage a review by Oct 18, but I'll certainly buy a copy when the book is released. Looking forward to it.
Just read the teaser pages. Good job. Very professional, no doubt. I don't even like horror, but good writing will get you every time.
I'd love to review it for my blog. Just in time for Halloween, too. :)
The requests for Advance Reading Copies has been overwhelming. Thanks to everyone who has written so far. We're still in the throes of finishing the 3rd act of this novel, but rest assured we'll be in touch with everyone when the book is done. People have asked, and no there isn't some number we're going to hit and cut this promotion off. We will send out a review copy of DRACULAS to anyone who makes a serious request.
Blake
Okay, I want it known that I tried. I don't normally read horror. Sorry, I shouldn't admit that over here, but I don't like to be terrorized. My very active writer's imagination takes up where the story leaves off and-- well, nightmares.
But I figured, meh, vampires, how bad could it be? I haven't read/seen Twilight, but I was a big fan of Dark Shadows, back in the day. I've seen the campy Bela Lugosi movie. I've read a few of the cute vamp/romance novels. Vampires aren't scary. They're amusing.
Ahem. I apologize for underestimating you all.
I did manage to read all of the first 50 pages in the excerpt. But I'm not sure I can read more because, holyfuckingdamnit guys, this stuff is scary. I'm currently trying to decide whether the act of deleting it from Kindle would be therapeutic or merely delusional.
Okay, yes, a part of me would like to read on and root for the few remaining still-mostly-alive sympathetic characters to emerge victorious with all their original teeth intact. But I just don’t see this ending well. Then again, is it supposed to? I don't read horror, so I'm not sure.
But I DO need to be able to sleep at night. With the lights off. Without any big burly chainsaw-wielding men standing guard at my door. Big burly men should probably be put to better use, right? Of course they should.
Not the kind of review you'd want on Amazon, but for what it's worth:
For those of you who love this kind of thing (ie, being scared absolutely senseless), I highly recommend DRACULAS. Well, what I read of it anyway. Compelling and very well written. It does exactly what "A Novel of Terror" is supposed to do. And then some. Damnit.
You've been warned. These vampires are not amusing.
@KD - Please post that review on Amazon. It's terrific. (kill the swearing though, or they'll delete it)
These vampires are not amusing.
Well, I like the way Blake described it: ultraviolent, tongue-in-cheek fun.
It's sort of like the movie Zombieland. Not really frightening, but more a vehicle for laughable gore. Creepy, yes, but in a popcorn way.
@KD, I second that request. It's a great review.
Good luck guys! Obviously, can't wait to read it.
Oh good grief, guys, I can't post that on Amazon. Not when I haven't read the entire book. Sounds like a good way to be dismissed as a wingnut. I do have a wee bit of writerly pride.
Besides, you all are such rank amateurs, what if you totally run off the rails and the rest of the book ends up sounding like a regency romance, after I told everyone what a great horror story it was? Hey, it could happen.
Seriously, I'd be happy to write a real review, but I'd have to-- oh hell, I'm going to have to read the whole thing, aren't I?
Fine then. I'll send an email. So long as you all are okay with a review that's probably going to start off, "There's a darn good reason why I don't read books like this..."
This might be the only horror fiction I ever read, so give it your best shot.
And when I show up at work with dark circles under my eyes, I am so going to tell my co-workers it's because of these four guys, total strangers really, who have been taking turns keeping me up all night, invading my dreams, not letting me get any sleep.
By the way, whichever one of you wrote the line about rescuing the kids from the hospital -- "We need to get them safe so they can be sick and die in peace." Absolutely hysterical. Loved it.
The book is not without humour. It's just sort of, um, drenched in blood.
I emailed you to review, but got no reply.
My first batch of reviews are up, if you doubt I'm a reviewer:
Digital Spotlight Fiction Reviews
http://tinyurl.com/2czqubr
@James - we got your emails, in fact we got a lot of email...over 80, and we will be sending EVERYONE who wrote to us the advance copy of DRACULAS, so no worries! The book just isn't done quite yet.
Thanks!
Blake
Right on...My own new thriller, The Remains, reached the Number 1 spot this week under Hard-Boiled Kindle fiction "Hot New Releases" under similar circumstances....
Marketing, marketing...hmmmm
Cheers
Vin
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