Comments for Bigmouth Strikes Again

Comment on A wee update on that whole free-ebooks adventure by Gary

Gary — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 15:25:25 +0000

Oh, indeed, although I very much doubt it’s sustainable. But yeah, at 34p or thereabouts per book that’s £500 in a week. That’d almost cover the booze bill :)

Comment on A wee update on that whole free-ebooks adventure by Stephen

Stephen — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 15:22:55 +0000

That’s not bad at all. If sales remain around that level you’d not be quitting your day job, but it’d be a very nice supplementary income, no?

Comment on I write like Douglas Adams by Gary

Gary — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 13:31:55 +0000

Rutty, it’s high praise indeed. DFW was one of the best-loved novelists of recent memory, based largely on one book, Infinite Jest.

He was also a bloody great journalist: this piece on cruise ships is great (PDF):
http://www.harpers.org/media/pdf/dfw/HarpersMagazine-1996-01-0007859.pdf

Comment on I write like Douglas Adams by rutty

rutty — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 13:22:58 +0000

I got David Foster Wallace.

I don’t even know who he is

Comment on Cracking Amazon UK’s top 100 by Gary

Gary — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 08:58:38 +0000

Yep, 26 people this month. To be fair, sometimes it’s because people hit the buy button when they mean to hit the sample button or wish list one.

Comment on Cracking Amazon UK’s top 100 by grammarwitch

grammarwitch — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 00:27:53 +0000

Do people really ask for a refund for a *99p* book? I didn’t even know you could do that.

*wanders off, shaking head sadly*

Comment on Cracking Amazon UK’s top 100 by gary

gary — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 21:30:29 +0000

I don’t think so, no. Agents don’t necessarily reject because they don’t think you’re any good; they often reject because for whatever reason they don’t think you’re right for their portfolio. Sales are part of that, certainly, but often it’s just that they have limited resources and won’t represent a book they don’t absolutely love.

This is still small potatoes too: while I can legitimately call it a top 40 bestseller now, or a number 1 humour bestseller or whatever, the actual sums are very small: three and a half grand gross and about one grand net over six months. If the book continues to sell at the current rate that’ll change somewhat, but it’s still very little return.

Comment on Cracking Amazon UK’s top 100 by Squander Two

Squander Two — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 19:40:32 +0000

Does the fact that you’ve done this indicate that various publishers were wrong to turn you down? Surely, if you can crack Amazon’s top 100 by yourself with sod-all marketing and largely for free, they could have used their marketing budgets and other resources to wangle some profit out of the book?

Comment on I write like Douglas Adams by Stephen

Stephen — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 17:43:15 +0000

Heh! Just might do that…

Comment on I write like Douglas Adams by Squander Two

Squander Two — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 14:42:03 +0000

Blurb for your book: “Writes like the deranged lovechild of Oscar Wilde, H P Lovecraft, and Dan Brown.” I would buy that, just out of sheer horrified curiosity.

Comment on Cracking Amazon UK’s top 100 by Gary

Gary — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 14:15:02 +0000

Heh. True.

Comment on Cracking Amazon UK’s top 100 by Hunnymonster

Hunnymonster — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 12:45:00 +0000

Better to sell 11 and refund 10 than sell 0 though :)

Not such good news if you sell 10 and refund 11 – that way penury lies…