The reviewer of Viking Reviews was kind enough to review The Man Behind The Bar on their blog, and it has been a stellar one. Quite frankly, I don’t think I’ve ever said anything as encouraging and positive for my own work. Getting positive feedback from people I’ve never met before in my life is quite overwhelming, and I’m grateful for it. I’m very happy this story has accumulated so much positive feedback, even though it’s not one of my familiar genres. It motivates me for the future.
Okay, enough self-worship for one day. You can read the review here. If you’re looking for something new to read and don’t know if it’s going to be up to your expectations, have a look around the books reviewed by Viking Reviews. Lots of titles there, as well as other things that may be interested in. You may also want to keep them under consideration for your work.
Apparently it’s World Book Day today. I’m not much for world days personally, but I figured this is a good chance to give something to story lovers around the world (and increase my readership, of course). So, starting from today (Sunday, April 23) my Amazon-hosted short story, The Man Behind the Bar, will be free for two full days (until Monday, April 24). It’s under 3500 words, so it shouldn’t take you more than 10-15 minutes to read it (most likely, less than that). Grab a cup of coffee and relax. Did I mention it’s free?
You can find it here. Enjoy, and please consider leaving a review. If Amazon gives you a hard time reviewing it, try Goodreads.
My first self-published short story, The Man Behind The Bar, is out and waiting readers and reviews. You can find it here.
The past never really stays hidden or forgotten. Ben Stingler left his past for a quiet life, until a young man steps in his bar, and brings with him all the things Ben tried to put behind him five years ago. An overdue debt is back on the table.
I hope you enjoy it. If you do, consider leaving a review.
As promised, this will be the cover for the first short story I plan on publishing through Amazon.
The Man Behind the Bar – Coming 9 April 2017
The past never really stays hidden or forgotten. Ben Stingler left his past for a quiet life, until a young man steps in his bar, and brings with him all the things Ben tried to put behind him five years ago. An overdue debt is back on the table.
A few weeks ago, I mentioned that I intended to publish some of my short stories on Amazon. Some are previously published on literary magazines, some are not. I was hoping to start my career in self publishing with a science fiction short story I wrote a while ago, but it’s still under consideration (I submitted it around last Christmas) and it seems it won’t be reviewed for at least a few more months. Last time the magazine updated their twitter status as well as their online tracker, they were still reviewing submissions from August 2016 and there are about 500+ submissions before mine. So, I guess I’ll start with another story instead.
Which brings me to my question: would you like to see the cover for the story before I hit the publish button? I know cover reveals are usually for novels rather than short stories, but I’m learning things as I go along about Amazon and self publishing, and I don’t know if revealing a cover for a short story is something people would like to see. However, I’d like to know what you think. In the meantime, I’ll start creating some advertising images about it on Pinterest (you can follow me or any of my boards here) and see if I can
generate some traffic and hype. Because, you know, marketing demands it.
I’ll be honest with you, it’s moments like this that the dreaded beast of Marketing rears its ugly head. In all my academic years (and they were plenty), Marketing was the only subject I failed and had to resit the exam during the summer. Its concepts simply eluded me at the time, and, quite honestly, I doubt it will be any different now. I hoped I’d never ever have to hear the word Marketing again. Bet that beast is having the laugh of a life time right now, huh?
Today also marks the anniversary of my first story that got accepted for a magazine. Needless to describe how excited I was when I got the email. I remember I read it four or five times to make sure I didn’t misread it. Three
years later and four more publications in various magazines, and the feeling of being accepted, of knowing someone out there not only read my story but also liked it still makes me elated.
I wonder if this new endeavour through Amazon will be as exciting.
